pi2000

I expect Cernak and Smith to start the game and drop the gloves immediately at puck drop. Get it done and out of the way, spark the crowd, etc. Then roll out Warrener, Barnaby, Boulton, etc

Islanders won't win a Cup because they don't have an Eichel or Dahlin. Sabres can't even make the playoffs because all they have is Eichel and Dahlin. It's easier to fill in around elite talent than it is to acquire the elite talent. They just haven't finished the filling in part yet. They played well against the beat team in the league, even out chanced and out shot them on the road. It's not like they're getting blown out night and night out. They're a lot closer than we think.

Okposo deserves a shot alongside Eichel. He can't do much worse than Reinhart.

I, for one, thought Buffalo played well. They created offensive chances, no puck luck tho. Johansson had some good looks. Thought Okposo played well, and Ullmark has been really steady. Dahlin is playing really well lately too. That said, you can't simply play well and expect to beat the Bruins, they're one of, if not the, best team in the league. This team isn't that far off, seriously. Ullmark gets red hot, maybe Dahlin goes on a tear, or a guy like Johansson starts finding the back of the net... and they're right there in the playoff hunt. Trade Reinhart tho, that guy is terrible. He's simply reaping the benefits of playing alongside Eichel. He cant score more than 3 feet from the net. What is it he does that makes him so special?

It's too late to do anything, now we must wait until the deadline. The time to act was over the summer, moving Ristoband pieces for a #2C, starting Casey in Roch, adding a proven veteran Goaltender. Those were 3 obvious necessary moves that needed to happen before game 1... JBOT wiffed on all 3 so here we are.

That's nice. Trade him now while he's at peak value.

Terrible team defense for the past decade. Drafting bias towards offensive skill for too many years. No two-way players in the pipeline.

What exactly has Reinhart done to solidify his spot on Eichel's wing? For a guy who was touted as a cerebral player who "sees the ice well" he has only 6 primary assists at even strength in 34 games, 2 on the power play. That's underwhelming IMO, especially playing with snipers like Olofsson and Eichel. I'd rather move Reinhart off that line instead of Olofsson. Skinner has shown a knack for cleaning up around the net... Olofsson and Eichel are shooters, from everywhere... let them do their thing and Skinner can hang around the net and clean up.

He started slow.. I expect him to continually improve throughout the season, not linearly... there will be ups and downs as he's only 19, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him go on an offensive tear at some point down the stretch.

Now he can legally buy chew... great!

Hopefully Casey is getting the help he needs down in Roch... video game addiction is a real thing for young people.

============================================================== BUF even strength goal differential through 35 games = 11 BUF even strength minutes played through 35 games = 1766.0 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 Jack Eichel 10.22 35 14 3.78 34.4 BUF Marco Scandella 7.57 27 10 2.43 22.1 BUF Jimmy Vesey 5.70 32 8 2.30 20.9 BUF Johan Larsson 3.56 32 6 2.44 22.2 BUF Rasmus Ristolainen 2.99 35 7 4.01 36.4 BUF Brandon Montour 2.84 21 5 2.16 19.6 BUF Victor Olofsson 2.73 35 6 3.27 29.7 BUF Zach Bogosian 1.01 10 2 0.99 9.0 BUF Vladimir Sobotka 0.75 16 2 1.25 11.3 BUF Rasmus Asplund 0.05 17 1 0.95 8.6 BUF Conor Sheary -0.08 29 2 2.08 18.9 BUF Henri Jokiharju -0.33 35 3 3.33 30.3 BUF Kyle Okposo -0.64 25 1 1.64 14.9 BUF Zemgus Girgensons -1.24 35 1 2.24 20.4 BUF Rasmus Dahlin -1.60 27 1 2.60 23.6 BUF Sam Reinhart -4.64 35 -1 3.64 33.1 BUF Jake McCabe -5.50 33 -2 3.50 31.8 BUF Marcus Johansson -5.52 28 -3 2.52 22.9 BUF Evan Rodrigues -6.15 19 -5 1.15 10.4 BUF Casey Mittelstadt -7.12 31 -5 2.12 19.3 BUF Colin Miller -8.49 26 -6 2.49 22.6 BUF Jeff Skinner -9.02 35 -6 3.02 27.5 ============================================================== vs ============================================================== PHI even strength goal differential through 34 games = 4 PHI even strength minutes played through 34 games = 1717.85 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 PHI Philippe Myers 13.34 18 14 0.66 16.4 PHI Sean Couturier 6.81 34 8 1.19 29.8 PHI Claude Giroux 5.81 34 7 1.19 29.7 PHI Ivan Provorov 4.48 34 6 1.52 38.1 PHI Jakub Voracek 3.92 34 5 1.08 27.0 PHI Oskar Lindblom 3.04 30 4 0.96 24.1 PHI James van Riemsdyk 3.03 34 4 0.97 24.3 PHI Matt Niskanen 1.64 34 3 1.36 33.9 PHI Travis Konecny 1.00 31 2 1.00 25.1 PHI Travis Sanheim 0.62 34 2 1.38 34.6 PHI Scott Laughton -0.56 19 0 0.56 14.1 PHI Mikhail Vorobyev -1.23 11 -1 0.23 5.7 PHI Joel Farabee -1.80 27 -1 0.80 20.0 PHI Carsen Twarynski -2.36 15 -2 0.36 9.1 PHI Morgan Frost -2.38 14 -2 0.38 9.4 PHI Shayne Gostisbehere -3.11 31 -2 1.11 27.8 PHI Tyler Pitlick -3.63 28 -3 0.63 15.8 PHI Robert Hagg -3.65 20 -3 0.65 16.2 PHI Michael Raffl -4.69 28 -4 0.69 17.2 PHI Chris Stewart -5.25 13 -5 0.25 6.3 PHI Kevin Hayes -9.17 34 -8 1.17 29.2 PHI Justin Braun -13.20 34 -12 1.20 30.1 ==============================================================

Samson will be fine. Pastrnak would have been nice. Draisaitl goes first.

MOIST WIND

TRpm doesn't tell you who the most talented players are. TRpm does tell you who is most often on the ice when the team is either giving up goals or scoring goals at even strength.

============================================================== BUF even strength goal differential through 34 games = 13 BUF even strength minutes played through 34 games = 1711.7 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 Jack Eichel 9.54 34 14 4.46 34.3 BUF Marco Scandella 8.14 26 11 2.86 22.0 BUF Jimmy Vesey 6.28 31 9 2.72 20.9 BUF Rasmus Ristolainen 4.27 34 9 4.73 36.4 BUF Johan Larsson 4.13 31 7 2.87 22.1 BUF Brandon Montour 2.52 20 5 2.48 19.1 BUF Victor Olofsson 2.16 34 6 3.84 29.5 BUF Rasmus Asplund 0.92 16 2 1.08 8.3 BUF Zach Bogosian 0.79 10 2 1.21 9.3 BUF Conor Sheary 0.54 28 3 2.46 18.9 BUF Vladimir Sobotka 0.48 16 2 1.52 11.7 BUF Henri Jokiharju 0.08 34 4 3.92 30.1 BUF Zemgus Girgensons -0.67 34 2 2.67 20.5 BUF Kyle Okposo -0.91 24 1 1.91 14.7 BUF Rasmus Dahlin -1.01 26 2 3.01 23.2 BUF Marcus Johansson -2.96 27 0 2.96 22.7 BUF Jake McCabe -5.14 32 -1 4.14 31.9 BUF Sam Reinhart -5.28 34 -1 4.28 33.0 BUF Evan Rodrigues -6.32 18 -5 1.32 10.2 BUF Casey Mittelstadt -7.58 31 -5 2.58 19.9 BUF Jeff Skinner -7.59 34 -4 3.59 27.6 BUF Colin Miller -9.04 26 -6 3.04 23.4 ============================================================== vs ============================================================== TOR even strength goal differential through 34 games = 7 TOR even strength minutes played through 34 games = 1733.27 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 TOR Justin Holl 7.20 32 9 1.80 25.7 TOR Travis Dermott 5.83 21 7 1.17 16.8 TOR Ilya Mikheyev 5.14 34 7 1.86 26.6 TOR Cody Ceci 4.47 34 7 2.53 36.1 TOR Jake Muzzin 3.53 33 6 2.47 35.3 TOR Auston Matthews 2.71 34 5 2.29 32.8 TOR Pierre Engvall 2.57 12 3 0.43 6.1 TOR Zach Hyman 2.06 15 3 0.94 13.5 TOR Nick Shore 1.29 21 2 0.71 10.2 TOR Dmytro Timashov 1.24 22 2 0.76 10.8 TOR Andreas Johnsson 0.27 30 2 1.73 24.7 TOR Alexander Kerfoot -1.48 29 0 1.48 21.2 TOR John Tavares -1.79 27 0 1.79 25.6 TOR Trevor Moore -1.91 21 -1 0.91 12.9 TOR Frederik Gauthier -2.09 30 -1 1.09 15.6 TOR Mitchell Marner -2.35 23 -1 1.35 19.3 TOR Morgan Rielly -2.68 34 0 2.68 38.3 TOR William Nylander -4.09 34 -2 2.09 29.9 TOR Nic Petan -4.67 16 -4 0.67 9.5 TOR Kasperi Kapanen -5.80 34 -4 1.80 25.7 TOR Jason Spezza -5.87 23 -5 0.87 12.5 TOR Tyson Barrie -13.57 34 -11 2.57 36.7 ============================================================== * - I made a slight adjustment to the main algorithm... using % of team minutes played at even strength to calculate expected +/- instead of % of all minutes played. This helps guys like Eichel who had a higher expected +/- because of all the time they play on special teams. Off topic, but Buffalo currently is tied for 6th in the league in even strength goal differential.... which I find is a positive sign... if they can get their PP back on track, while continuing to outpace their opponents at ES, they should be in good shape. 1.Colorado Avalanche 29 2.Boston Bruins 24 3.Washington Capitals 17 4.Pittsburgh Penguins 17 5.New York Islanders 16 6.Winnipeg Jets 13 7.Buffalo Sabres 13 8.Nashville Predators 10 9.Arizona Coyotes 9 10.Toronto Maple Leafs 7 11.Dallas Stars 7 12.Carolina Hurricanes 7 13.St Louis Blues 6 14.Montreal Canadiens 6 15.Tampa Bay Lightning 1 16.New York Rangers 1 17.Philadelphia Flyers 0 18.Anaheim Ducks -2 19.Minnesota Wild -5 20.Florida Panthers -5 21.Los Angeles Kings -6 22.Calgary Flames -7 23.Vegas Golden Knights -8 24.Vancouver Canucks -8 25.Ottawa Senators -8 26.Chicago Blackhawks -8 27.Columbus Blue Jackets -11 28.Edmonton Oilers -15 29.New Jersey Devils -24 30.San Jose Sharks -30 31.Detroit Red Wings -46

Matthews loves money. Eichel loves hockey.

If Larsson and Johansson are Larry and Moe, then who's Curly?

I wonder this too. It's as if RK is serving as both president of hockey ops and Head Coach. If so, I'll allow it.

Should've started the season there.... and then called him up about now for a look. Hopefully he finds his way, plays +20min/gm and starts lighting it up at some point.