pi2000

ok coach <sad cozens noises>

With this marathon stretch of games you'd think the older vets would need a break here and there, guys like Okposo or Staal.... but no, he sits a fresh young Cozens instead, a kid who has legs for days and has been playing well.

Highly qualified president of hockey ops with full privilege to do anything they want.

It's still amazing to me that for how bad this team has been and for how long, I can't remember the last time they actually fired a coach during the season. Ron Rolston 2013? You're basically telling the players that the organization is OK with losing and we'll reevaluate the coach after the season. If they were truly desperate to win, they would've moved on from some of these clowns much sooner. That's how you build a losing culture.

============================================================== BUF even strength goal differential through 19 games = -23 BUF even strength minutes played through 19 games = 994.23 TRpm(team relative +/-) is the diff btwn actual+/- and exp+/- exp+/- is a function of %min played at ES and team ES goal diff %min is % of ES minutes played ============================================================== Team Player TRpm GP +/- exp+/- %min BUF Jake McCabe 7.01 13 2 -5.01 21.8 BUF Rasmus Ristolainen 6.23 11 1 -5.23 22.7 BUF Riley Sheahan 5.32 18 1 -4.32 18.8 BUF Curtis Lazar 3.93 16 0 -3.93 17.1 BUF Jacob Bryson 3.09 3 2 -1.09 4.8 BUF Rasmus Asplund 2.88 4 2 -0.88 3.8 BUF Dylan Cozens 2.76 14 -1 -3.76 16.3 BUF Matt Irwin 1.67 9 -2 -3.67 15.9 BUF Jeff Skinner 1.42 15 -3 -4.42 19.2 BUF William Borgen 1.41 4 0 -1.41 6.1 BUF Casey Mittelstadt 0.70 6 -1 -1.70 7.4 BUF Jack Eichel 0.63 16 -6 -6.63 28.8 BUF Tobias Rieder 0.18 16 -4 -4.18 18.2 BUF Kyle Okposo -0.02 13 -4 -3.98 17.3 BUF Brandon Davidson -0.09 2 -1 -0.91 3.9 BUF Henri Jokiharju -0.45 14 -6 -5.55 24.1 BUF Brandon Montour -0.55 16 -8 -7.45 32.4 BUF Tage Thompson -0.55 9 -3 -2.45 10.7 BUF Cody Eakin -0.74 18 -6 -5.26 22.9 BUF Victor Olofsson -1.60 18 -8 -6.40 27.8 BUF Eric Staal -2.86 18 -9 -6.14 26.7 BUF Sam Reinhart -3.45 16 -10 -6.55 28.5 BUF Colin Miller -4.07 18 -11 -6.93 30.1 BUF Taylor Hall -5.00 18 -12 -7.00 30.5 BUF Rasmus Dahlin -8.33 18 -16 -7.67 33.3 ==============================================================

He sounds like a politician.

Reporter: Did you injure yourself in warmups? Eichel: No, I hurt myself in New Jersey. RK: When I mentioned it, the specific region that actually took him out of the game, the first time I had heard about it was warmup, but that he was injured that he came out of that jersey game injured was clear to me but it turns out there were multiple lower body injuries and whatever, i mean it uh, the point is that he came out of jersey hurt, uh the uh the warmup call uh and the region that ended up being aggravating it was his first time back in his skates since that game uh and it changed the game and now were working on his health and getting him fit again.

Because trading a franchise center with his talent would be a mistake. He'll eventually snap out of it, and the team will be better off with him on the roster. I'll predict he has a breakout game here soon and everybody here will be singing a different tune. Fickle fans.

3 studs: 3 duds: eichel, reinhart, hall, olofsson, skinner, staal, okposo, eakin, reider, lazar, sheahan, mittlestadt, dahlin, risto, davidson, montour, jokiharju, irwin

Skinner with Jack and Sam.... and they make stuff happen. Imagine that.

🤦

It's a high risk PK strategy. If Dahlin gets moving and rotating they can break this pressure generating scoring chances from the high slot or down low as the D press up.

Will there be more goals scored than goalposts hit?

If he requests a trade you simply tell him, and the entire league, that you're not trading him. If he holds out, you let him hold out, if he checks out you let him self destruct. Think of it as parenting a whiny spoiled kid who refuses to do his chores.

There's several reasons for this... Their PP1 is the same lineup as last season with the exception of adding Hall to the mix. Their umbrella of Dahlin, Olofsson, and Eichel have been together for a few seasons, have elite puck movement and shooting skills. 3 of the bottom 5 PK teams are in their division. They're 2nd in the league in offensive zone PP face off win %. Why they're struggling to score 5v5... Historically low shooting % at even strength (5.3%). As someone who played at a high level, I have no explanation for this. The amount of posts they've hit, etc. is unlike anything i've ever seen. You may have a game here and there where the team just can't score no matter what.... but this team, this season, has had many many games like this. This is not RK's fault. This is by far the worst case of bad puck luck I've ever seen. Consider, there's only been 1 team in the past 13 years (couldn't find stats before 2007) that had an even strength shooting % less than 6%... the 2014-15 Coyotes tank squad. There are 8 former 20 goal scorers on this team, the shooting % can only improve as they play more games. It has to.

The time to fix the goaltending situation came went over the offseason. Now their hands are tied and they're going to have to overpay for a starter with picks and prospects if they want to upgrade Hutton. Unless a fair deal comes along, I would not recommend mortgaging their future for what is most likely going to be another season out of the "playoffs". I'm using quotes here because this is not a normal season, they're playing in a stacked 8 team league. Considering where they are in the standing, and with a shortened season... even with peak Hasek I'm not sure they could make up enough ground at this point, especially considering the teams they'd have to chase down.

This is the only correct answer. To compare this team statistically to past seasons, or any other team in a different division, is apples to oranges. They're playing in an 8 team league, 6 of which made the playoffs last season. They had a 10 month hiatus, replaced half their forwards, a 1 week training camp, no pre-season, play 10 games, then a 2 week break... come out of break sans their top defensive pairing, then their #1 goalie and #1 player get injured. To bundle that up and use it as ammo to say this is the worst Sabres team that ever existed, and the coach should be fired, and the captain traded... is simply being short sighted and hitting the panic button.

Sorry to hear this. Hoping for the best for your mother 🙏. Stay strong, friend.

How you can say PHI didn't look like a top team? Did you watch the game? 40 shots on net, their puck movement, goaltending, etc.. were all first class.

IMO this is simply a product of the league re-alignment, schedule, and covid outbreaks. They replaced 50% of their forwards this offseason (counting Girgensons). It takes about 20-25 games to sort things out. Even longer without a proper training camp and pre-season. They had a 10 month break, whereas 6 of the 8 teams in their division played in the playoffs. They played 10 games to start the year, then got shut down for 2 weeks. They were averaging over 3 goals a game in their last 5 before the shut down. All the while other teams are continuing to building chemistry and fine tune their play after the long off season. The wrong thing to do right now is to panic and pull the plug on RK and Eichel and other guys that haven't hit their stride yet. We knew going in that there was a very distinct possibility they would struggling this season. It's not what anybody wants to hear, but the right thing for them do right now is to be patient and to stick it out. In the long run, playing the likes of WSH, BOS, PHI, NYI, and PIT... will be best for their development.

Who gives a ***** if Eichel is frustrated with the losing.... that doesn't mean you trade him. If he sulks and checks out, then so be it. Too bad so sad, enjoy your $80 million and you'll go down in history as mentally fragile loser, nobody feels bad for you. Look at guys like Yzerman, Sakic, Stamkos, Ovechkin, etc.. who stuck with their team's through thick and thin, and ultimately were rewarded. They've had storied careers because they never gave up even when things looked hopeless and season after season of losing... but they stuck with it and ultimately brought home a championship.

3 stud: Mittlestadt, Rieder, Eakin 3 duds: Reinhart, Bryson, Hall

BUF even strength shooting pcnt is currently 5.26%. That's the worst EV sh% going back at least the past 13 years... worse than any 2014-15 tank team. Their scoring chance shooting % is 8.42% (historically league average is around 13%). PHI is currently >22%. I'm not sure how else to explain this other than they're cursed.