Broken Ankles

Hearing Bogo will not be going to Roch and announcing a retirement.

That’s what she said.

But yet VO is such a better defensive option rather than Skinner. In Ralph’s world.

Binge watched season 2 when it released. Great series.

It makes no sense whatsoever. Tim Murray reported in to PLT and it was assumed that PLT would be involved in all aspects of what a GM does (UFA signings, trades, etc). PLT was not close to what was happening in the amateur leagues and TM was seen as a scouting guru. PLT hired TM because he was lacking and felt TM could improve this shortcoming in the scouting department. I can see where you hope your supervisor fails at something, so you can move up one rung, but not the other way around. Patty was a defacto GM at the time he left. Whatever disagreements he had were at a level higher than him, not lower.

Meaning if Sam was not playing with Jack, but was playing with O'Reilly (2015-2018), the results would have been similar to those with Jack. Taro was concerned about the results if Sam was playing alongside ROR. By using 2018/2019 data that removes ROR from the equation, I'm suggesting that using his replacements were less than replacement level 2C, so that should be considered in the result/numbers you provided of Sam without Jack.

Nice effort on pulling this, especially considering the O'Reilly factor. I think the assumptions are fair that if you included a top rated center with his numbers in 2016/17 they might be show better. But this also mean the inverse is true. You take into account that the 2018-19 lines where Jack has a slightly better Goals for, High danger, etc and assume that when not paired with Sam, Jack was playing with Jeff most of this time. (I believe 20% of his TOI was with Jeff, and not Sam). While Sam was playing with Casey, Evan, Conor, Vlad and Tage when not with Jack. (Shown below as a % of total on ice for 2018/19). The results displayed for a positive Corsi and only a slightly worse than scoring for are not bad considering the caliber of center and wingers he played with. I would love to try to see how this manifested in this years numbers, but unfortunately a stubborn RK refuses to pair Jack with Jeff, and split Sam from Jack so who knows. Either way, the numbers to me show that if paired with a competent center (2C) and a better than average LW (Johansson) Sam has a positive upside to the analysis provided.

Agree with all this, plus add in an extremely poor PK unit. Dovetailing on your point about Scoring chances (raw), the SCA the Sabres rank #11 in the league. Now these chances are not qualified as A/B/C but comparatively they are in the company of the Caps, Panthers and Avs, and better than the Preds and Columbus. They are #18 in total shots against. And lastly they are #12 in High Danger Chances against. Not bad. These positions do not reflect them being a bottom seven points team. Being third worst in PK% (and really close to the absolute worse), coupled with a below average save percentage (#21) point to goaltending in general. Consider this: Winnipeg is in the bottom 5 in all these categories (Shots against, High danger against, Corsi 5v5 against, Scoring chances against) yet somehow in a playoff position. Losing your top four defense-man will do that to a team. But their offensive prowess keeps them in games. And having Helleybuyck doesn't suck.

I know. Agitation. Kinda like Marchand.

If Eichel is in his prime now, and Sams one year older than Jack, how is Sam not in his prime yet? ????

Could not agree more. I am extremely concerned about the current managements bond or ties to draft picks or players brought in via trade. Specifically Carter Hutton. A new GM would look at this situation, the flexibility of a buyout and this guy would be gone in the off-season. Especially with talent like Holtby or other UFA goalies this summer. I would doubt the current regime makes any changes at the position and stays with the status quo until his contract expires next year. The experiment has failed. Same to a lesser degree with Montour and Casey. A new GM with no ties to these players can be much more objective in evaluating these assets as collateral in a trade.

Shero? Do Better (or so I have heard)....

Burokovsky and Kadri were trades. Nichushkin was a UFA and a nice reclamation project. He’s a good example of a player surrounded with great talent and asked to play a 4th or 3rd line role can play without pressure and get elevated to the second. Whether it’s a trade or UFA the point remains that they made moves and have improved their standing.

If you feel strong about this you need to bet it pronto. The Sabres are -240 on the money line. DET is +205. Vegas sees this as an easy win tonight. The Isles for example are only -210 against the Kings, and they are HOME.

#1 please.

Good call out. Should the Sabres be in on B. Holtby this summer? As a bridge to UPL? If another team is offering term, I would think we are out. The Sabres can save $1.8M with a buyout this summer, and they already have a fair amount of cap space.

While I can say Olafssons defense before injury was improved from October, I cannot see that much of a difference between the two. And what is RK’s rationale coming out of the break? When it’s not an either or situation. To Ligrs point about stats with/without Jack, it was imperative that he get jump started out of the gate against OTT. And it just didn’t happen. It’s like RK being stubborn to his detriment. I think I saw a partial shift where he was on with Sam and Jack and within seconds a scoring chance.

A good GM that can evaluate forwards (Sakic) could manifest this collateral into something much faster. also - read this on why it’s easy to move on from Girgs and Johan. https://www.google.com/amp/s/clouducation.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/leadership-and-the-5-monkeys-parable/amp/

You mean on this team that has not sniffed the playoffs in 8 years. I like Son of Lars, but he may be the only UFA that has any return value. We need to move on from the past, so take what you can get. Maybe Larsson plus another part can get you into the second /third round.

Sakic wins trades, we dont Turris for Girard Burakovsky for 2nd and 3rd Grubaur for a 2nd Graves for peanuts top 4 for Duchene Zadorov and Compher for O’Reilly plus drafting four spots ahead of Buffalo in 2017 gave them Makar and us Casey.

Larsson and/or Girgensons would garner morethan the others (if anything at all). They are UFA's. They have been associated with more losing than others on the team. Why wouldn't you attempt to trade them?

Pretty sure Dudley is a $hite-Ton older than Babcock. By like 15 years.

This is the correct answer. Had proper planning and logistics been done, they could easily have had a licensed supplier make a run of officially branded goathead Jerseys. Some for the players themselves, and others for the fans coming to pay homage to their 90's team. You think those fans coming (that night or later) might have purchased a few of these sweaters?

Borgen is definitely one, and could be a possible pair with Pilut on the third next year. The ascent of Joki on the right makes Montour somewhat expendable. Especially how you pair. Dahlin, Joki and Pilut are PMD. You have Risto and Borgen as SAH. You cannot give a large free agent contract to him when you still need another LD to pair with him. McCabe is not the answer in my opinion. Question is what kind of return would he garner? Plus McCabe has been part of the losing, so even if I can get past this there just needs to be a purging of players associated with the losing.

Comparing organizational decisions over the past six years to Buffalo’s will almost always look favorably on the opposition. That is not the debate. The comment originated on whether or not the Columbus GM is Great. It was never is he better than JB. I think that is obvious.