Sabres are 7th in CF% in the NHL(all situations). Goaltending(outside Anderson) and PK are killing them.

[Derrico]

This thread is the shocker of all shockers.  As supportive as I’ve been with GMKA I just don’t understand his philosophy on basically ignoring goaltending.  You mean to tell me a career backup and 58 year old goalie arnt working out??  Who saw that coming??

[John Tucker]

6 hours ago, nfreeman said:

I think Comrie's bad outings generally coincided with the injuries to the Sabres' D group.  That, combined with lack of scoring from anyone other than TT, created a very difficult situation for him and the team.

We'll see how it goes when he returns.

Agreed on Comrie.  For about two weeks in a row (before Samuelsson returned) our defense was giving up countless 10 bell opportunities each and every game.  Last night Tampa didn't have a ton of shots but they still had numerous high quality chances from in close.  The d-corps has to get better in front of the net before final judgement can be passed on Comrie or UPL.

Edited November 30, 2022 by John Tucker

[That Aud Smell]

2 hours ago, John Tucker said:

Agreed on Comrie.  For about two weeks in a row (before Samuelsson returned) our defense was giving up countless 10 bell opportunities each and every game. 

The OP cited to GSAA. That stat doesn’t account for shot quality. What about GSAE (expected)? Posts like the one above seem to raise a fair point.

[LGR4GM]

10 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

The OP cited to GSAA. That stat doesn’t account for shot quality. What about GSAE (expected)? Posts like the one above seem to raise a fair point.

Comrie is at -3.5 gsae, ranks him 60th out of 74 qualifying goalies. 

 

[That Aud Smell]

26 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Comrie is at -3.5 gsae, ranks him 60th out of 74 qualifying goalies. 

Matches what I recall of the eye test in watching him. Yes, the team in front of him was depleted at times. But he rarely looked the part of a 1A or 1B.

[Pimlach]

17 hours ago, matter2003 said:

Comrie isn't "help".  He has been among the worst goalies in the NHL in terms of allowing goals above average.

What?   Didn’t Adam’s read the fancy stats before he signed him?  
 

Detriot went out and got Husso.   Put him on our team and we are in the playoff race. 

[Pimlach]

13 hours ago, Derrico said:

This thread is the shocker of all shockers.  As supportive as I’ve been with GMKA I just don’t understand his philosophy on basically ignoring goaltending.  You mean to tell me a career backup and 58 year old goalie arnt working out??  Who saw that coming??

He is spending to cap floor and has not lucked into a good goalie at bargain prices.
 

He is being “efficient and economic” per direction from his bosses. 

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, Pimlach said:

What?   Didn’t Adam’s read the fancy stats before he signed him?  
 

Detriot went out and got Husso.   Put him on our team and we are in the playoff race. 

Comrie had better fancy stats than Husso last year. 

[matter2003]

23 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Is there a correlation between PK rankings and face offs? Seems to me dropping 20 seconds off that penalty by winning a draw in your own end matters a LOT. 

We are not talking about singular instances in various situations. We are talking from an overall standpoint.  Similarly to having no correlation to winning games, they have no correlation to possession numbers so it isn't out of the question that winning a face-off on the penalty kill would result in a puck to the corner that you would lose a battle on and the team on the PP would gain possession anyway.

[matter2003]

19 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

The OP cited to GSAA. That stat doesn’t account for shot quality. What about GSAE (expected)? Posts like the one above seem to raise a fair point.

Comrie and UPL have both been bad.  UPL ranked 55 out of 74 goalies, Comrie 58th.  Anderson has been good at 25th. Comrie is basically good for an extra goal allowed greater than expected every 3 games(-.334 per 60 mins).

Edited November 30, 2022 by matter2003

[matter2003]

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by matter2003

[matter2003]

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by matter2003

[Pimlach]

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Comrie had better fancy stats than Husso last year. 

 

Looking at basic stats they about even with Husso playing twice as many games and winning more.  I give the clear edge to Husso, especially for taking on the #1 role with Binington hurt and then struggling for a while. 

                  G   GAA    W   L   OL   Sv Pct

Comrie     19   2.58    10   5   1     0.920

Husso      40   2.56    25   7  6     0.919

 

Husso signed a 3 year deal at $4.75M/yr after being traded to Detroit.  The Blues took a 3rd rounder for him rather than see him leave as an UFA.  He would not blocking anyone in Buffalo if we had that same opportunity, that is perfect timing to see if Levi is ready.  

It actually hurts to be recapping this.  

Edited November 30, 2022 by Pimlach

[LGR4GM]

24 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

 

Looking at basic stats they about even with Husso playing twice as many games and winning more.  I give the clear edge to Husso, especially for taking on the #1 role with Binington hurt and then struggling for a while. 

                  G   GAA    W   L   OL   Sv Pct

Comrie     19   2.58    10   5   1     0.920

Husso      40   2.56    25   7  6     0.919

 

Husso signed a 3 year deal at $4.75M/yr after being traded to Detroit.  The Blues took a 3rd rounder for him rather than see him leave as an UFA.  He would not blocking anyone in Buffalo if we had that same opportunity, that is perfect timing to see if Levi is ready.  

It actually hurts to be recapping this.  

And he signed in Detroit. What's Buffalo supposed to do? Force him to sign here? It hurts that every player who changes teams anywhere is erroneously believed to be available to all the other teams. 

[thewookie1]

39 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

 

Looking at basic stats they about even with Husso playing twice as many games and winning more.  I give the clear edge to Husso, especially for taking on the #1 role with Binington hurt and then struggling for a while. 

                  G   GAA    W   L   OL   Sv Pct

Comrie     19   2.58    10   5   1     0.920

Husso      40   2.56    25   7  6     0.919

 

Husso signed a 3 year deal at $4.75M/yr after being traded to Detroit.  The Blues took a 3rd rounder for him rather than see him leave as an UFA.  He would not blocking anyone in Buffalo if we had that same opportunity, that is perfect timing to see if Levi is ready.  

It actually hurts to be recapping this.  

Well even had we offered our 3rd, Detroit was a spot higher. 

52 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

 

I see Sheahan was already leaving the graph before leaving the team

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

And he signed in Detroit. What's Buffalo supposed to do? Force him to sign here? It hurts that every player who changes teams anywhere is erroneously believed to be available to all the other teams. 

Just asked/wondered if Adams looked into it.  

[LGR4GM]

5 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Just asked/wondered if Adams looked into it.  

I can't answer that but I would hope so. If not he's not doing his job

[FrenchConnection44]

On 11/29/2022 at 11:29 AM, matter2003 said:

Basically all the metrics show this is actually a pretty damn good team.  7th in the NHL in Corsi is really good.  Last year they were 20th and the year before 29th.  

Anderson has played very well for them having a .917 save percentage and 2.76 GAA.  Also has a +319 Goals Saved Above Average, ranking 20th in the NHL.  

Comrie(66th) has been bad at -6.11 goals saved above average and UPL at -4.93 in only 3 games has been mind blowingly bad to the point he ranks 62 out of 74 goalies... in only 3 GAMES!! Also mind blowing is UPL has a 50% save percentage on penalty kills...how is that even possible?   Comrie is also bad at .791.  

The Sabres have the 2nd highest Corsi on the PK in the NHL!  They have given up 21 goals on the PK, but their xGA is only 15...that -6 differential is 4th worst in the NHL behind Anaheim, Vancouver and Edmonton.  So realistically the Goaltending on the PK is much worse than their PK itself.

The only answer at this point for the Sabres is to play Anderson more until he stops playing well.  Yeah he is older but so what?  Anderson currently has the highest save percentage of any 41 year old goalie since 1929. Better than Hasek, Brodeur, Belfour and Joseph in their age 41 seasons.  Play him.

So frustrating to see this team flailing about due to goaltending again, but even more frustrating that we actually HAVE a goaltender playing well and we aren't riding him.  Screw his age, ride him until he stops performing well.

Good points. While I do believe goaltending is a factor and also agree with a few others about Anderson not really being able to grind out 50-60 games like a 25 year old, I also think we need a couple more strong defensemen. Defensive defensemen. 
 

Our offense is pretty good. But when you actually look at the games and the goals - we are leaving way too many open shots in the slot. Especially relative to some good defensive teams.

I would also add that some stronger defensive forwards. Whether that can be developed from within or not is not likely (a bit). But we were doing some quality back checking early on in some of our wind and that had been inconsistent.  As well as positioning. One could see that against the Rays.

 

 

 

 

[FrenchConnection44]

On 11/29/2022 at 1:02 PM, Ruff Around The Edges said:

Call me absolutely nuts but what if Buffalo reached out to Florida and say well take Bobrovsky where Florida eats 1/2 and the Sabres 3 way the deal and have a team eat even more of the contract and make Sergei the #1 for a few years while Levi develops? Or is that contract just too long to even consider even at 50%?

If they were willing to trade him why would we need to work so much for other teams to eat his salary?
 

His cap hit is $10 M. We are $17 million under right now, $32 million under next year though we will need to add some players. I don’t think the cap is 

[FrenchConnection44]

I also would love to see Power look to Victor Hedman as an example. He needs to add muscle and strength (about 15 pounds worth the next 3 yrs). And needs to grow as a skater. But the raw ability is there. He could be a dominant defenseman. Offensively and defensively. 

[Thorny]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

And he signed in Detroit. What's Buffalo supposed to do? Force him to sign here? It hurts that every player who changes teams anywhere is erroneously believed to be available to all the other teams. 

I think the idea is that, while there are certainly obstacles in signing any *one* player, your hope that, over a time period of several years, a GM would be able to snag even one from the entire pool, be it trade or FA, to substantially address the position. 

Just for clarification, you aren’t making the argument that there’s nothing better we could have reasonably done, this whole time, to address the position, right? 

[matter2003]

2 hours ago, FrenchConnection44 said:

I also would love to see Power look to Victor Hedman as an example. He needs to add muscle and strength (about 15 pounds worth the next 3 yrs). And needs to grow as a skater. But the raw ability is there. He could be a dominant defenseman. Offensively and defensively. 

Still just a rookie, look at how long it took for Dahlin to grow into who he is now...I think Power is much farther ahead in his development tho.

[LGR4GM]

7 hours ago, matter2003 said:

Still just a rookie, look at how long it took for Dahlin to grow into who he is now...I think Power is much farther ahead in his development tho.

Power doesn't have Krueger in his head either. 

9 hours ago, Thorny said:

I think the idea is that, while there are certainly obstacles in signing any *one* player, your hope that, over a time period of several years, a GM would be able to snag even one from the entire pool, be it trade or FA, to substantially address the position. 

Just for clarification, you aren’t making the argument that there’s nothing better we could have reasonably done, this whole time, to address the position, right? 

He did. Comrie, just because it hasn't worked doesn't mean he hasn't tried, that's my gripe. Adams hasn't ignored the position, he just hasn't fixed it. 

[LGR4GM]

Idk if there's anything better we could have done. I know Murray wouldn't come here. 

[matter2003]

Moneypuck analytics rank the Sabres as 10th in their power rankings.  Look at Seattle at #3!

Guess the Sabres losing to them wasn't as bad as it looked early in the year...they have gone on an 8-1-1 tear and have 31 points, only 4 behind Vegas.

Edited December 1, 2022 by matter2003