pi2000

gone next season will be M. Weber, Franson and Gorges (imo he's too slow for what this team is trying to become)... some pending UFAs which could be upgrades in the speed department: Nikita Nikitin Yannick Weber Dustin Byfuglien Brian Campbell Kieth Yandle Tyson Barrie and Sami Vatanen are cream of the crop RFAs on teams with cap concerns (they'll need to sign McKinnon and Lindholm)... deals could be made. I'm a big fan of Barrie, he's still learning the NHL, but his speed is just fantastic.

confirmed

Deslauriers and Larsson on the top two lines? yikes. Both playing ahead of Moulson and Gionta? I'll allow it.

Last year they had 4 (sekera, mcbain, regehr and mcnabb), and they have Enroth now as well. Living here in socal, I'd argue they're no longer one of the best teams in the league, I'd put them in the middle of the pack, they didn't even make the playoffs last season and often go long stretches struggling to score goals.

sooooo.... tank part II? no lehner or kane... send Eichel, Reinhart, Pysyk, McCabe down to Roch. Call up Ellis, O'Reilly, Akeson, Donovan, Sanguinetti. finish 30th, lose the lottery, pick 4th.

The thing about Chicago is that their 3rd/4th lines were just so much better than any other 3rd/4th line. Guys like Shaw, Teravainen, Versteeg, and Bickell played huge roles in their Cup runs. Their entire D were above average skaters with speed (Keith, Seabrook, Oduya, Hjalmarsson, Leddy). Always first on the puck on dump ins with the ability to carry the puck up ice with ease. IMO that's the biggest issue Buffalo has at the moment. speed on defense.... they don't have it... at all. Weber, Franson and Gorges have beer league level foot speed, those 3 are absolutely killing this team in their own end. Ristolainen isn't particulariy fast although he's improving, McCabe isn't particularily fast, neither is Pysyk. That said, I like where Murray is headed, he trades for Bogosian and drafts Guhle, both have plenty of speed. I wouldn't be surprised to see guys like Pysyk and/or McCabe moved as part of a larger deal.

The current version of the Bills remind me of the late 80's Bills teams. Emerging talent, but undisciplined. Lots of penalties and turnovers, basically just beating themselves. They're a young team, if they can stick it out another season or two, they'll be OK. I hope they stay the course. Sabres are about where I thought they'd be. They're better than last year and certainly more fun to watch with Eichel and O'Reilly. However, don't forget how bad they were last season... one of the worst teams in NHL history. It's going to take more than one offseason before "playoffs" even enter the conversation. The most important thing for them right now is growth and development. Just imagine how gloomy things would be around here if they didn't finish last in the standings and ended up with the 3rd overall pick?

IMO, NHL Gamecenter is mess, which is why they made the move to outsource the product to MLBAM.... http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=776246 ...MLB At Bat is the gold standard for internet sports subscription services. Looking forward them fixing up the NHL app, it's long overdue.

NJ is 22nd in 5v5 CF%, BUF 6th... http://www.puckalytics.com/teamstats.html 29th in PDO is what's killing the Sabres (namely poor shooting % for).... NJ is 25th not much better, They're 26th and 27th in goals for %. PDO is telling. As the season wears on, each teams PDO should move toward 100... which for Buffalo translates to more wins and more losses for teams near the top like Montreal, Arizona, and NYR.

..add Gorges to that list. Loses every single puck race. Any time Weber/Franson or Gorges is on the ice, the other team dumps the puck into his corner and beat them to it every. single. time.

Mike Weber

http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20152016&type=LEA http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL/Eastern/Atlantic/Buffalo.html http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL/Eastern/Atlantic/Buffalo_ChanceWillMakePlayoffs.html After watching 5 games, my guess is they finish somewhere around 80-85 points (a 30 point improvement!), which puts in them in the bottom 7-9 range.

genius

Strange as it may be, studies show that texting while talking on the phone and eating a breakfast sandwich actually increases the drivers awareness of his surroundings.

Was pleasantly surprised with Reinhart's performance. His hockey sense and vision were never a question, he used those tools well. Still getting knocked off his skates too much and losing battles, but it looks like he can still be an effective player at the NHL level if they keep him in the top 6. That said, I still think he should go to Roch if he loses his top 6 spot. Moulson on the otherhand has looked terrible. He's languishing on the 3rd line, contributing not much of anything except a room for Eichel to sleep in, He's slow and loses puck races, looks really bad against fast teams like TB and OTT. Doesn't seem like a good fit long term.

They're generating way more scoring chances than they did last season, and giving up fewer. They've had some tough matchups earlier on here against some of the elite teams in the conference, TB twice and OTT. They have some better matchups here in the next few weeks, TOR, NJD, PHI (twice), I expect goals.

Speed on defense Speed on the 3rd/4th line Goaltending Experience The Weber/Franson pairing has to be the slowest D pairing in professional hockey. Gorges is also very slow. Those 3 need to be replaced with better skaters, Bogosian will help. Just watch how many dump in races these guys lose, it's like they're skating in wet cement. 3rd/4th line is also too slow. Moulson, Foligno, Deslauriers are just too slow, they're late on the puck, lose races and fall behind on the back-check. If you're going to play a dump and chase brand of hockey, you need to win races to pucks, these guys just can't do it.

The following players are holding them back: Gionta Gorges Weber Moulson

The more I think about this it starts to makes sense. DB wants a guy with O'Reilly/Ennis who will be first in on the forecheck and create a net front presence. Girgensons seems like a logical choice, but watching the last few games he was playing too much of a finesse game, staying on the perimeter instead of just getting in hard and dirty on the puck. Reinhart has done that quite consistently even though he's losing most battles he's showing a willingness to go to the dirty areas and cause havoc. That's what DB's looking for on the first line. Who knows how long Reinhart will last there, but I think Zemgus gets another shot at it here soon.

He's a faster more skilled version of Paul Gaustad, and that's what DB wants out of him. He was a bit out of his element on the first line, tried to play too much of a finesse game instead of just getting in hard on the forecheck and creating havoc to open up space for Ennis/O'Reilley to operate. I imagine the conversation was about his role and how DB wants to him play no matter where he slots him. That said, Reinhart has consistently been first guy in on the forecheck and creating a net front presence. That's what DB wants on the first line with O'Reilly and Ennis. I would image Zemgus will get another shot at it soon as IMO Reinhart just isn't there physically yet to fill that role long term.

Well now he gets his chance. Apparently DB sees something in his game the rest of us don't. DB is sending a message to the rest of the team that if you go to the front of the net you'll get more playing time? I don't get it, but now we get to see how this plays out. How long does he last on the top line? 1 shift? 1 game? Who knows? Will be interesting to watch, and I hope he does well enough to stay there.

Not a valid comparison. In his rookie season (the year he was drafted), Seguin was playing on the third line (with Blake Wheeler) for the eventual Stanley Cup winning team, not 4th line for a team coming off one of the worst season's in NHL history. In Seguin's second season he put up 29 goals and 38 assists... Reinhart won't sniff anywhere near those numbers in this his second year.

I look at guys like Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar for the Red WIngs. Not top 3 picks, but skill guys who put up big numbers immediately in the AHL. Could they have played 4th line in Detroit earlier in their careers? Yes, but Detroit was smart and kept them in the AHL while they built up their strength to the NHL level while playing with similarly skilled players. They jumped into the NHL and made an immediate impact in their first full seasons. Playing against AHL talent didn't diminish their skills, rather it allowed them to maintain their skill level while building themselves up physically for the NHL game. IMO, Reinhart would benefit from another season in the AHL if he's only going to get 4th line minutes in the NHL.