carpandean

A little breathing room in our conference. Maybe I should track Edmonton and Calgary, too. What's really amazing is that anyone is even close given the Sabres 7 ROW. If it weren't for Miller's 5 SO wins, nobody would be close.

I remember Nolan saying that he was splitting up the first line (with Coho and Moulson) because he wanted to try spreading out the offensive talent, since it was too easy for teams to focus in on that line. I don't remember him specifically being on a "third line" (how would you know?), but since he missed two games, came back and then left two games later, injuries could have been a factor. Believe it or not, their offense (GPG) is down 16% with Hodgson out (disclaimer: I have not tested it for significance) and I do believe that they would have been better with him, even if it were on a different line than Moulson.

One could (9-22-2 with vs. 3-4-2 without; p-value for difference of wins proportions: 0.72), but even if it had been significant, it would be impossible to separate it from any "new coach effect" since he's missed 9 of the last 11 games (and none before that.)

Read all of the threads (on Canucks' or league-wide message boards) about Kassian before the New Years, going back for the last year and half, and they say the same thing about him ... only without the points (and, no, he didn't bring much of a physical game either.) He's put together a few good games. Personally, I thought it was "a hockey trade" in which both teams got something they wanted. I also felt that both sides were trading and acquiring potential, rather than proven talent. Regardless, they're not going to re-hire Darcy just so that they can fire him over it, so it's nothing more than a novelty question now.

Because of one good game? Past two seasons: Kassian 78GP 15G 7A 22P Hodgson 81GP 23G 30A 53P They made the trade to get more of an offensive talent. They got that (especially when you consider the relative level offensive talent around each player.) Neither one has reached their high-end potential; both are still developing.

I miss Adam Mair. One of my favorite players. He was old school, a little bit crazy and more skilled than a typical fourth-liner (not that that's saying much.)

No problem. For the record, Paille's best years, production-wise, were here, too. He's just being used in a different role there (a very good 4th-line, energy guy instead of an OK second-line winger.) MacArthur has progressed, but he was also young when he left. Mostly, he just got more consistant, which often happens with maturity. However, I do understand the feeling. Mostly, we just get down on our own players, so when they go elsewhere and produce, even if it's not at a higher rate, it feels like they're suddenly better. It also doesn't help that players don't seem to come here and get better.

Roy's most productive years were in Buffalo. In fact, with the exception of his last year (2011-12), his GPG and PPG were better every season in Buffalo from 2006-07 on than they have been in either Dallas or St. Louis. He was injured here at the end and definitely wasn't meshing well with Lindy. He's been rejuvinated since being traded, but still isn't his old self (0.711 PPG this year vs. 0.84-1.43 PPG over the aforementioned stretch in Buffalo.) Likewise, Gerbe's most productive season (2010-11) was in Buffalo. He's on pace to get close to that again, but not to beat it (in GPG or PPG.) Pominville was and remains good. A very complete player, who was everything except a good captain. He's on a good line and showing what he can do. He did that here, too. His GPG are the highest since his 2006-07 year in Buffalo, which was obviously helped by the team and the league, so that's definitely improved. However, his PPG is lower this year than any year in Buffalo after 2005-06. Tropp is too small of sample to say much, but injury concerns (concussions) probably played a part in why he was waived. Sekera is the only one on your list (depending on how you value Pominville's goals vs. his total points) who has clearly improved.

I don't read every post of every thread here and I can think of several similar "angry face at Nichushkin's success" posts in the past few days, much less before that. Don't know if they were all yours or not, but it was getting annoying.

OK, we get it. Somebody that some guy no longer with the organization passed on drafting is looking good. I wanted them to take the deal with Carolina to move up and take Monahan, who has 10G, 6A in 29GP (vs. Nichushkin's 6G 12A in 34GP.) Neither happened; let's move on.

Yeah, I'll have to adjust my playoff chart for the new system. The Flyers have the 8th-best record, but they get in as one of the three Metropolitan bids. Leafs are the lowest wild card team (even looking at 35 GP.) So, through 35GP, we are actually 16 points out (Leafs had 37.)

Hey, we're only 15 points out of the playoffs!

My wife complains about people that she has to deal with at her job (not co-workers) using the expression "in a minute" to mean "in a long time." For example, "I haven't seen you in a minute."

So, what's your favorite number never worn by a Sabres player? Surprised to see 88 has never been worn. Saving it for Kane? Others: 66, 69 (he-he), 96

It was mostly tongue-in-cheek. By not punishing these hits hard enough, the players are providing the incentive (through the catastrophic hits) to not turn your back on the play. That is what they are, quite unintentionally, letting the players police themselves on.

For a lot of money, which you can't do anymore. If you had the pick to get the next Crosby (exaggerating a little), what would a team have to offer you to trade him away? Remember that after the top 1-3 in most drafts, you're talking about players who will probably be pretty good. So, no matter how many "first round picks" you're talking about, they aren't worth much if they are out of those top 1-3.

This year's? Is Reinhart really worth all that? Draisaitl is ahead of him is scoring in the WHL and is bigger. Dal Colle is lighting up the OHL. Now, in 2015, it would be worth that and more to get McDavid, but this year (assuming we don't win the lottery, which is certainly possible), I just don't know.

Don't worry, a few more hits like this, a few more guys with long-term concussion issues, a few more guys carted off on stretchers, etc., and they'll remember those dark days of peer pressure. :thumbsup: As long as the NHL is soft on suspensions, players not respecting the position that they are putting themselves in will continue to get destroyed. Personally, that seems to me like a little more incentive than a teammate giving you crap for turning your back to the play. Really, the league is just letting the players police themselves. With this play, it is simple. He charged, which is illegal. He boarded, which is illegal. The hit was particularly devastating (high energy hit 3 feet from the boards), so you suspend him. The league wants hard hits into the boards and hard open-ice hits (as long as neither has principle contact to the head), but the one thing that they don't want is hard hits in that dangerous zone 2-3 feet away from the boards that launches guys head-first into those boards. Perhaps, Schenn was foolish on the play, but I'm pretty sure he's not thinking about how he tricked Wilson into taking a penalty that helped his team.

Panthers seem to be pulling away, but those pesky Islanders keep losing, too. With our early ineptitude be sufficient to hold them off?

Briere had a 32G season (78GP) in 2001-02 as a 24-year old after scoring 11G in 30GP (split time in the AHL) the year before. He didn't exactly come out of nowhere when he came to the Sabres. He only had 17G in 68GP before being traded from Phoenix, which was apparently enough for them to lose faith in him.

The other thing to remember is a lag effect in coaching. The first few games, Nolan had no practice time with the team and limited knowledge of the players to use in making in-game decisions. So, while Rolston may have been coach for 20 games and Nolan for 11, one could argue that Rolston's impact was on 22-23 games to Nolan's 8-9. It's also hard to project a trend with so few games, especially when they were against teams with varying ratings. Their possession ability could be going up as Nolan works with them, but it's nearly impossible to tell. I'd wait until they are 60 games into the season, then compare the first 20 (under Rolston) with the last 20 (under Nolan), throwing out the middle transition period. Not perfect either (Rolston could have shown improvement with fewer and/or improving rookies, too), but more reasonable to me.

And there it is. Now, if the Islanders would just go away ...

Well, they could a fringe team trying to make sure they get in, so in theory you could get a very low chance (0.5 - 1.5% for the best four teams that miss the playoffs) lottery pick.

For the first time since at least the 2004-05 lockout, the Sabres may break the -20 points line, forcing me to change the range on my vertical axis. They cleared +20 points in 2006-07, but never -20.

It's not exactly the same. We were watching a broadcast designed for the NYC market, which was then mirrored here for a select few games. Their market drove their content. In the case above, the market is the same whether or not Rogers is the owner. To the extent that the market demand drives the content, there will still be incentive to cover other teams. In other words, Rogers' stockholders will still want them to make as much money as possible. It's unlikely that neutral reporting (vs. biased) about the Leafs would have a significant impact on the franchise's valuation, while biased reporting could have a substantial impact on viewership outside of Toronto (they'd still watch the games, because there's no alternative, but the other content would not be viewed.) So, yes, there might be some bias, but not exactly like what we saw on MSG.