pi2000

He didn't even skate, he pulled up at the top of the circles. Just inexcusable. And why is Risto trying to stick check Fabbri when Larkin is about to go backhand shelf? If you watch the replay you hear somebody yell "keep movin!!" right after the goal is scored.

Flagg did hits, not faceoffs. The raw numbers are available at NHL.com, you know where to look. Talking about hits, 5 of the top 7 hitting teams are playoff teams ? while 0 of the bottom 4 hitting teams are playoff teams. Say it with me... CORRELATION

Here's a novel idea, how about they hire a president, a GM and a head coach who actually have some minimum amount of experience at those positions.

You're cherry picking hits. I've already stated, again, that there is no correlation between takeways/60min and winning, and only very slight correlation to hits/60min. Now do your same analysis for FOW% and blocks/60min.

Most of the teams who rank in the top 5 for FOW% are playoff teams. None of the teams who rank in the bottom 5 for FOW% are playoff teams. And your conclusion is that there's no correlation between FOW% and winning? OK 4 of the 5 top teams for blocked shots/60min are playoff teams. Less than half of the bottom 5 ranked teams for blocked shots/60min are playoff teams. How is that not meaningful? Buffalo is DFL in both categories. I get that doesn't mean they should launch Rienhart into the sun because he doesn't contribute positively to either category (or hits or takeaways), but don't you think if Buffalo had at least 1 or 2 guys who could win +50% of their draws they would have a better chance to win? Or a couple guys who excel at blocking shots? Maybe a few more blocked shots saves a goal every 5-10 games or so.... you don't think that's helpful?

Clifford is a good energy guy, he'll help the Leafs as will Campbell who should replace Hutchinson (3.66 GAA, 0.886 sv%) as Anderson's backup. Smart calculated move. Trevor Moore from Thousand Oaks, CA heads home to SoCal where he played youth hockey for the LA Selects (now Jr. Kings). Excellent hands, played +25 games with the Leafs each of the past two seasons.

Sorry, tried to dumb it down for you best I could. If you don't get it, you don't get it.

The top 10 teams overall by points are WSH, BOS, STL, PIT, TBL, CBJ, NYI, DAL, PHI, VAN. How many of those teams rank in the top 5 in FOW% ? 3 out 5 = 60% How many of those teams rank in the bottom 5 in FOW%? 0 out of 5 = 0% 60% of teams who are best at winning faceoffs are playoff teams, none of the teams who are worst at winning faceoffs are playoff teams. Where do the Sabres rank? DFL How many of those teams rank in the top 5 for blocks/60min? 4 out 5 = 80% How many of those teams rank in the bottom 5 for blocks/60mni? 2 out of 5 = 40% That tells me that if you want to be top team, you better be willing and able to block shots. Where do the Sabres rank? DFL

You misunderstand. I looked at two sets of teams, top 5 and bottom 5 in each of those categories. I answered the following... How many of those top 5 and bottom 5 teams are playoff teams? How many of the top 5 and bottom 5 teams also rank in the top 10 overall points standings? The evidence shows that winning teams do better in those categories, than losing teams... except for takeways/60min where there was no correlation.

Looking at playoff teams: 3 of the top 5 teams in FOW% are playoff teams. 1 of the bottom 5 teams are playoff teams. 4 of the top 5 teams in blocked shots/60min are playoff teams. 2 of the bottom 5 teams are playoff teams. 3 of the top 5 teams in hits/60min are playoff teams. 1 of the bottom 5 teams are playoff teams. 3 of the top 5 teams in takeaways/60min are playoff teams. 2 of the bottom 5 are playoff teams. So that's 65% vs 30%... significant. Now looking at top 10 overall teams in points: WSH, BOS, STL, PIT, TBL, CBJ, NYI, DAL, PHI, VAN 3 of the top 10 teams in points are in the top 5 FOW%. 0 are in the bottom 5. 4 of the top 10 teams in points are in the top 5 blocked shots/60min. 2 are in the bottom 5. 2 of the top 10 teams in points are in the top 5 hits/60min. 0 in the bottom 5. 1 of the top 10 teams in points are in the top 5 in takeaways/60min. 1 in the bottom 5. So that 50% vs 15%... again, significant. Takeaways being the least significant, really no correlation there, but the others do show there is a correlation between doing those things well and winning.

What we discussing here? The legitmacy of these statistics? Nice deflection haha. Now back to Sam.... what does he do thats better than league average besides putting up middling top RW points next to a top 3 center in the world? We know he doesn't like to hit, block shots, take faceoffs, take pucks away... I'll be waiting.

Of course they were good players. Let me be clear... Sam is a good player, I don't want him traded, nor do I want them to over pay a player who is a liability at all aspects of the game besides putting up middling top RW stats besides a top 3 center in the world. My goal wasn't to pick on Sam, but it became alarming that he's not just below average, but near the absolute bottom of the league in some categories that winning teams excel at.

Scoring points matters of course. Let me put it this way, in your opinion, is Sam a well rounded hockey player? I've provided statistical evidence that shows he is not. Let's see some evidence that he is before backing up the Pegula money truck in his driveway.

I'm not cherry picking stats. Look at Tampa and St.Louis or other top teams... multiple players in the top 50 in each of those categories. Those are key metrics for icing a winning team.

Those guys aren't high on the list. The only top 50 is Frolik at takeaways. So besides goals and assists what tangible evidence do you have that proves he's a good hockey player? Or are points all that matters?

I get it that he's a winger, but he was drafted as a center and he just isn't good at it... faceoffs being one reason. What should he be good at as a winger? I was hoping he would be atleast average at some of those things, but he's near the bottom of the league. Or do we just throw money at guys based on point production and ignore every other measurable statistic? Statistics that winning teams do well at?

Those stats are all per 60min of ice time. TRpm is only meaningful when comparing teammates to eachother.

I'm not buying it. The top 2 teams in hits/60min are NYI and PIT, both playoff teams. In fact, 6 of the top 10 teams are currently in playoff positions.

The Sabres are bad at a lot of things, we know that. But what are those things exactly? Let's take a look at how they compare to their peers when looking at the intangibles; face-offs, blocked shots, hits and takeaways. Note: Season rankings below are for players who have played 25 or more NHL games. Also, I'm going to highlight where Sam Reinhart ranks for each category. He'll want big bucks this offseason so let's take a look at where he ranks league wide in those categories. Face-off win % (min 40 faceoffs taken) Top 3 Sabres (out of 221 players with 25+ games at 40+ faceoffs): 78th Okposo 115th Larsson 140th Eichel ... 212th Reinhart Blocked shots/60min Top 3 Sabres (out of 597 players): 77th McCabe 189th Jokiharju 220th Ristolainen ... 558th Reinhart Hits/60min Top 3 Sabres (out of 597 players): 88th Ristolainen 110th Girgensons 144th Miller ... 486th Reinhart Takeaways/60min Top 3 Sabres (out of 597 players): 20th Frolik 141st Eichel 143rd Vesey ... 438th Reinhart I'm not even gonna bother explaining why these are key metrics for playing winning hockey... everybody here should know that already. Most of these intangibles simply require effort, courage and determination. You look at top teams like St. Louis and Tampa, they both have multiple players in the top 50 in each of these categories. You can't win without doing these things well, it's a shame they haven't figured this out yet. And this why some of us are hesitant to throw a large long term deal at Sam Reinhart, he scores well, but other than that he's largely a liability in every other facet of the game. Is that the kind of guy this team needs to get them to the playoffs? A skilled guy who can put up points, but doesn't do anything else at even a remotely average level?

I don't know. Either the team is going to rally around his comments, or tune him out. I'm not sure he's the type of player that teammates look up to for leadership. If you're going to talk the talk, you need to walk the walk and I'm not sure he walks the walk often enough to demand that type of respect from fellow teammates.

They're playing without purpose, like a rudderless ship adrift at sea. Of course the objective is to win, they obviously know that... but winning is just the result of doing an entire laundry list of things the right way. They're either too focused on the result or they really just don't care enough to put forth a concentrated effort shift to shift. Just focus on the next shift, beating the guy lined up against you no matter the situation and the results will take care of themselves. It's not rocket science, it's hockey 101, c'mon boys figure it out already.

??

This type of trash talking happens all the time. I'm perfectly fine with Montour's reaction. They look like a bunch of guys who would rather be playing somewhere else.

This. I've said it every offseason for the past 3-4 years, this team won't take the next step until they part ways with players who have been poisoned by the tank. They need fresh starts as much as the Sabres need to move on from them to change the mentality of the team.