pi2000

oh man, got me!

$16mil/yr for a guy who has never caught more than 65 balls in a season, and has 28 and 38 catches each of the last two seasons... and last season being part of a high-flying offense. Ridiculous.

They should put CJ on waivers and let Ullmark play out the season. They need to know what they have going into the offseason.

joke

IIRC, Reinhart's game started to improve shortly before Jack was injured. After the injury his ice time went up and he started to produce at a nice clip. Can he maintain the same scoring pace if he loses some ice time now that Jack is back? Probably not.

I feel the same way. Although I'm slowly coming around to the idea of trading up further to grab a QB. Due to previous regime's f'ing up 1st rnd QB selections (Losman, Manuel), we're all concerned about repeating the same mistakes... and rightfully so. I, for one, am not enamored with any of the QBs in this draft class, but Beane and company may see something we don't and we just have to trust their judgment.

Hope they ease him back in... give him a few shitfs in the 1st and slowly ramp up his minutes over the course of the next 4-5 games. Will be interesting to see how the team responds... Reinhart especially.

Bailey has been playing well, he deserves the call up. So almost half the current team started the season in Rochester?

I'm guessing they're trying to move up, but my hope is they stand pat with their plethora of picks, draft Rudolph and sign Keenum.

yay

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/hockey/news/sabres-casey-mittelstadt-could-sign-for-ahl-playoff-run/

Sure, he's a -14 on the year, but has a TRpm of +9 so he's actually playing pretty well. Scandella is a +1 with a TRpm of +21... he's been outstanding. Remember, on a bad team a TRpm of 0 or close to 0 is bad, it means you're contributing your fair share to the poor performance. A positive TRpm on a bad team means that in general you're helping, not hurting... and a negative TRpm on a bad team means you're an anchor severely weighing the team down. Larsson: -7 Okposo: -14 Beaulieu: -7 Pominville: 0 O'Reilly: +10 Reinhart: +7 Kane: +3 Girgensons: +4 Eichel: +1 McDavid: +26 Matthews: +17

I thought Reinhart and O'Reilly showed up against Calgary too, nobody else did. I wouldn't say they played all that well tonight. They were outshoot out chanced and out played just about everywhere on the ice.

I tend to agree with this... but the level of suck this season is far beyond anything anybody expected. The debate is wether or not Housley deserves a chance next season. If they have another poor October/November, their season is finished. Can they afford another wasted season just to give Housley another chance? Based on what they've seen thus far, is that a smart move? Or should they bring in a more proven head coach who can at least get a consistent effort out these guys? That said, I believe they'll let Housley start the season, but I'm not sure that's the right move.

After that game last night, the entire team deserves to sit this one out... he better play.

1) 5-on-5 they're generating 40 shot attempts/gm this season vs 42.5 last season... winner: BYLSMA 2) 5-on-5 they're allowing 45.4 shot attempts/game this season vs 47.5 last season... winner: HOUSLEY 3) Eichel ppg is on par with his ppg under Bylsma (0.96 vs 0.93), Reinhart is slightly worse under Housley (0.54 vs 0.59). Although I would say Eichel's game has matured, Reinhart looks great the last 20 games.. although I would argue that's a result of them just growing up as players. winner: PUSH 4) Not sure how you quantify this... they avg 7 giveaways/gm under Housley vs 7.6/gm under Bylsma.... winner: HOUSLEY (barely) 5) Again, not sure how you quantify this other than 5-on-5 SAT%... Housley: 46.9% Bylsma: 47.2%.... winner: BYLSMA 6) In Bylsma's first year they went 5-8 in Feb. Housley went 6-8 this past Feb. I would argue the Feb 2018 team has much more talent than the Feb 2016 team... but... winner: PUSH

What has Phil done this season to be given that chance? eg, what have they gotten better at? which players have taken that step?

I muscled through the entire game. What I don't get is how the entire team just no-show's, every single one, collectively... it's odd. Typically a few guys might take a night off, but for the ENTIRE team to look that disinterested is unusual. No push back from anybody at any point in the game. I hate to say it, but this is what you get when a team turns off the coach.

I have some friends that play in the K, and yes, it's as bad as you're suggesting. They don't even get paid what their contract states, sometimes they get full paychecks, other times not, without any explanation. Also have some friends that play in the SHL, and they absolutely love it... it's not the best place to play if you have NHL aspirations, but it's better than a career in the AHL (better pay vs cost of living, beautiful country, rockstar lifestyle, rockets, etc).

Apologies for the personal attack, Aud. You're one of the more original posters here, I enjoy reading your takes. I was out of line. Considering Bylsma coached this team (arguably with a worse set of d-men, and less depth scoring) to an 80 point season just one year ago... you can't just dismiss the comparison. I'm not saying Bylsma is the answer, just that Housley is doing less with more. Man how things might be different if they canned Bylsma and hired Gallant when he became available last season. IIRC, Gallant was let go in the middle of a Sabres slump in late Nov... but they had the build in excuse the Eichel was out injured. So maybe if Eichel doesn't get hurt, they can Bylsma and hire Gallant at that time..... Would Vegas be where they are today? Would Buffalo?

btw, my Matthews prediction is right on schedule.... https://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/25138-this-season-im-most-excited-for/page-2?do=findComment&comment=970044 ...2 years in, he's clearly not even the best player in his draft class. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2016e.html But lets stay on topic here boys! This is a GDT. I'll make a prediction... these are the games where BUF wins big. The laid an egg at home last night, going on the road they'll play like playoff contenders. Maybe Housley can stay on as the road coach? Bring in Bylsma to coach home games... they won 40 home games under Bylsma's watch the two seasons he was here.

I, for one, am super excited for this game because Housley is amazing. Botterill just needs to replace the entire roster with 23 McDavids and our Lord and saviour Phil Housley will have this team on the precipice of the playoffs next season. I just love how he has these guys competing night in and night out. Makes it fun to watch when you know they're emptying the tank each every shift because they have so much respect for their head coach and don't want him to lose his job. They really give that extra effort, nobody wants to let up or face a benching. He really has everyone buying in, pulling in the same direction... what a great leader of men he is.

haha, or not

Flagg thinks Corsi and other meaningless possession stats over the course a season mean something more than Wins and Losses. It took this team like 50% of the season to prove that Bylsma had this team playing better than Housley. But Bob Wood's PP and Lehner were better than this year, so that means Housley is a better coach. You continue to ignore anything except garbage like the offficial NHL Standings? I don't even know why I engage with you anymore ...oh and yeah, 10min of Corsi wasn't enough... looking much better now lol http://corsica.hockey/games/?id=2017021029