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pi2000

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Posts posted by pi2000

  1. Unfortunately some of our OHL prospects have been cooling off lately.

     

    Baptiste with 2 goals and 1 assist in the 7 games he's played with Erie. I watched last nights game against the Gens and he looked ok but was unable to get on the score sheet. I imagine he will start ripping it up once McDavid gets back as he's projected to be on a line with him.

     

    Bailey has 1 goal and is a -10 over his last seven games.

     

    Small sample sizes and I'm sure they will bounce back as they are good players with Bailey having an excellent year before this rough patch.

     

    They're just kids. Inconsistency is to be expected.

  2. Other GM'S are smarter than you and I. They don't need to call a presser to get that point out. Other GM'S know how the game is played.

     

    This was simply their version of "prepare to suffer". Except theirs was "prepare to suffer LONGER". Consider the Oilers all in on McEichle.

     

    I still think the Sabres are worse than the Oilers. The Oilers are not playing that bad, I would argue the Sabres are playing worse. EDM's Corsi (50.6%) ranks 18th, Buffalo is deal last (37.1%)..... 7 percentage points worse than the next worst team (CAL). 5 on 5, the OIlers are standing toe to toe with their opponents. Their problem right now is goaltending.... Scrivens with his 0.888 sv% is killing them. His career sv% is 0.911 (0.916 last season). Once he gets back on track, the Oilers will start winning games and I expect them to quickly drop down the CHL standings when that happens.

     

    Buffalo, on the other hand, has been winning due to a hot goaltender... as in white hot. Once Enroth comes back down to earth, the Sabres will start aggressively climbing the CHL standings. During any other NHL season I would expect them to have the Shart wrapped up by mid-Feb, but this is not a typical NHL season. The CHL crown will come down to the wire...... BUF plays both CAR and CBJ during the last week of the season. EDM has a 6 game homestand to finish out the month of March against the likes of CBJ, PHI, and COL... with 3 of their last 4 on home ice to close out the season.

  3. Naw. They're just that terribly managed.

     

    That team is in need of the biggest blowup you can imagine. Fire the coach, the GM, the owner can fire himself and the team should just restart.

     

    The Oilers are actually not playing that bad, 7 one goal loses on their current 11 game winless streak. However, they could use a goaltender and stud D-man, but they are playing hard on a consistent basis... defintely not tanking on purpose. Watched their game last night, they had a couple glorious chances to put the game away in regulation... Nugent-Hopkins hits a post, and Eberle gets robbed. On the Jet's tying goal, I would argue that Scrivens was out of position. So yeah, they need a goalie and a D-man, and they'll be much better.

  4. I'll say it again, hockey is a streaky sport. Teams ride a hot goalie for a few wins and then they cool off... I'm not the least bit concerned. Buffalo is still far and away the worst team in the league and by the end of the season the standings will reflect that. EDM and COL win 2 in a row, and Buffalo loses 2 in a row, suddenly they're back on track. Unbelievable that so many are suddenly jumping off the tank wagon.

  5. The tank is stil moving forward folks. Hockey is a streaky sport. A fee wins in a row can just as easily be followed by a 10 game winless streak... Especially if you're consistently getting outshot and have by far the leagues worst corsi percentage.

     

    Worst case scenario is they are somewhere in the bottom 5 come the trade deadline then sink like a rock after Stewart, Stafford, Enroth and Gorges are launched.

  6. What's going on here?

     

    *Is this just a blip where they met a few teams that were tired and they had let downs against a weak team? Soon the Sabres will slip back to their non scoring ways and the tank will continue

     

    Or

     

    * Has this team turned a corner with talent rising to the top--Stachen, Mitchell and Flynn--leadership being established, the young kids stepping forward and Weber, Balls and Ms. Zero seeing less ice time?

     

    Still the worst team in the league. They continue to get out shot by a wide margin on a nightly basis. Hot goaltending and a few fortunate bounces won them a couple games here. It won't continue.

  7. What's the story with Phil Varone? He's leading the Amerks in scoring with 18 points in 16 games. There's all the buzz about Armia & Grigorenko down in Rochester but I never hear Phil's name thrown around. Does he have any chance to make the Sabres or is he in Luke Adam status?

     

    I like him, but he's an undersized center who at 24 is nearing his ceiling.... not much upside. If he was 6'2, 200lbs, he'd be on the big club.

  8. Dubsinky should be back soon, so hopefully that will help get Columbus going. We're creating separation, which is good - because once teams start dealing for the tank, it'll get much more interesting.

     

    ...and Buffalo won't be dealing for the tank? Stafford, Stewart, Mezaros are all as good as gone (moving Mezaros would actually be an upgrade tho). It's also likely one of Myers, Ennis, Neuvirth or Enroth get moved as well.... maybe even Moulson again if the price is right. By then Buffalo will be so far ahead of everybody it may actually deter other teams from tanking.

  9. Just a couple of random thought about the McEichels:

     

    I'm sure Eichel would look more dominant playing teenagers.

     

    I'm also sure McDavid wouldn't look quite as good playing against young men in their twenties.

     

    This is why everybody is looking forward seeing them in the World Juniors. It will be an even playing field. Hopefully McDavid is a full go by then.

  10. He's better than Mezaros, Benoit and Weber. The fact that he was a +3 against Minny was a fluke tho. He was out there when Minny had some grade A scoring chances but Enroth came up big... he could have easily been even or a minus that game. Ristolainen has the worst +/- on the team. They're both learning on the job, you can see them progressing game to game. It's a slow process but a necessary one. Zadorov certainly has the physical tools to play in the league, now it's just about consistency and eliminating mistakes... which takes time. Now is a good time do that tho.

  11. I really want at least one team added to the East, so the Red Wings can go back to the west where they belong. If the time zone thing is really that tough, I'm sure detroit could petition the State to go CST.

     

    They screwed up the re-alignment. They should have created a "Great Lakes" division when they had the chance.... Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, and Pittsburgh. That would be great.

  12. This team is spectacularly bad. So bad, you almost get the impression that we are witnessing something spectacular in human history.

     

    Let's look at some NHL records for ineptitude, shall we?

     

    Fewest Points by a team in one season: 21, by the 1974–75 Washington Capitals expansion team (80gp, 8-67-5). However, since the NHL started awarding points for overtime losses beginning in 1999-2000, by far the worst a team has ever finished is the expansion Atlanta Thrashers in the first season with three-point games, when they managed only 39 points. That team was outscored 313-170 on the season. Buffalo is on pace to match the Thrashers with 39 points, being outscored by a combined 290-101 which is a worse goal differential (-189) than the Thrashers (-143).

     

    Fewest Goals scored by a team in one season: 133, by the 1953–54 Chicago Blackhawks (70 games) ...our beloved Sabres on pace to shatter this record with a paltry 101 goals.

     

    Most Goals allowed by a team in one season: 446, by the 1974–75 Washington Capitals ....on pace to give up 290, nowhere near historically bad, but still terrible.

     

    Worst +/- by any player in any one season: Bill Mikkelson, -82 (1974–75) ...Ristolainen is a -13 through 17 games, on pace to finish -62.

     

    Worst Power Play Percentage in a Season: 9.35%, by the 1997–98 Tampa Bay Lightning ...Sabres PP% currently humming along at 5.7% (3 goals on 53 attempts). Amazingly the Wild are worse at 4.6% (2 goals on 44 attempts).

     

    Most Shutout Losses in a Season: 16 of 82 games played (19.5%), by the 2006–07 Columbus Blue Jackets ...Buffalo has been shutout 5 times in 17 games, on pace to be shutout an astounding 24 times.

     

    So, yeah, bottom line is that this team is historically bad offensively. If the goaltending starts to falter, then they could spiral downward even further reaching unimaginable depths.

  13. Well, the fact that he's going to see a specialist this morning means they probably didn't find anything obviously broken on the x-rays but want to be sure all of the smaller bones in the hand are in-tact. If it was obviously broken, he'd be walking around in cast already... and that would be all over the internet by now. So, my guess is he'll probably be out at most a couple of weeks, no more.

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