Samson's Flow

Yeah I agree with Liger, this is the type of argument I was looking for. My only rebuttal to your point is that Hodgson's career averages are much higher than .177 ppg, and given the small sample size of his time on ice this year, his ppg average could move closer to his career average given more ice time. His points per game in 2013/14 was .61 (point every 29:41 TOI).

but don't you add an extra $10M in peanut butter to spread? Or is this where my bonuses vs. salary thoughts come in?

It would be pretty hard to justify playing Hackett in the first game after his last disasterous showing. They're both bad, but it seems pretty obvious based on recent play that Lindback should be the "starter".

Can you tell I tried to help explain and then halfway through my original post I got confused and just punted the question? :lol:

I'm an unapoligetic Hodgson fanboy. I still think he's a good player. I thought I have done a pretty good job of offering stats and cohesive arguements to back up this position, rather than just shout "OMG Hodgson he's amazeballs. You all be haterzzz" Just like Grigorenko has had plenty of chances to show his talent at the NHL level this season. It's a pretty obvious trend with Nolan's player usage and his bias against percieved "skilled" players.

And to bring it back full circle, how is Grigorenko supposed to show anything this year when he gets the same ice time/opportunity that Hodgson gets? With the understanding that Hodgson was an established NHL scorer prior to this season, and is struggling to put up points given the usage/lack of ice time, how do we expect Grigorenko to show anything given Nolan's player usage?

Liger, it seems we are using stats to back up our arguement, but it won't win us anything because our opponents have the much more definitive "eye test" support. :bag:

I've been looking for PP TOI and I can't seem to find it. If I did find it, I would point out (based on your stats above) that Hodgson has 81 mins of PP time this year, compared to 475 mins in 13/14. That's a pretty small sample size this year that could normalize a bit if he got the 400+ mins he got last year. That and instead of him, we've been giving PP time to Flynn. That's my issue.

Yeah you nailed it. :wallbash: Flynn and Mitchell have a whopping 13 and 17 points compared to Hodgson's 11 this season. That is pretty insignificant considering Flynn and Mitchell were generally playing with "2nd line" talent and had nearly 3 mins a game more ice time. Thats like 4-5 shifts a game.

Very interesting stuff there TrueBlue. It appears that Bradford is the actual captain checkdown all along...

I don't know how many more stats I can give you stating the contrary. Hodgson's time on ice/game in the 2013/14 season was 18:08, basically even with Vanek and Moulson. With that additional 5 mins of ice time per game, he was our most productive offensive player, leading the team in points, second in goals and third in shots generated. That's playing the year in a top 6 role rather than with the likes of McCormick and Deslauriers.

Dude, Hodgson lead the team in points last year in an equally bad team. Led the team in points. This year he has gotten the 23rd most time on ice/game on the Sabres at 12:59 min/game. That is below such awesome players as Flynn (17th 15:53), Mitchell (18th 15:20), Mezaros (12th 17:38) and Benoit (9th 18:28). That's even below AHL guys like Varone and Armia and right next to Cody McC. How you expect him to have even remotely close to the production with limited ice time is beyond me. Despite all that he is still 6th on the team in shots (i.e. basis of Corsi/offense). http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchKey=20152BUFSASALL&sort=avgTOIPerGame&viewName=summary

I think the arguement comes down to the appearance that Nolan has a strong bias for a certain number of players on this year's squad, and said bias shows in some odd player usage decisions. If you are in the 'Ted Nolan player's club' you get all the ice time and opportunity you want (See: Zemgus, Flynn, Mitchell, Bogo). If you didn't get included in the exclusive club, you sure as schit better bust your ass on every shift and play mistake free hockey or you aren't seeing the ice. (See: Hodgson, Grigo, Zadorov).

That's been the best perk about marrying into a Polish family. Hand made pierogi every year for Christmas. You haven't lived until you've had a hand made pierogi from a little polish grandmother.

In the NFL the salary hit is based off the average of the bonuses plus the salary, so the cap hit can shift around a bit year to year. I would guess that the $10.5 number is low on bonuses/guaranteed and high on salary, which would knock down the cap hit this year. I think :unsure:

This seems in direct contradiction to Doug Whaley's "You'll see" comment from the Hughes press conference. It sounded like he had some big plans lined up for free agency. Like more than just Clay and a Guard (which is still pretty good IMO)

what happened to the Jets? son of a beetch.

Well to be fair there have been an unprecidented number of trades to start of this NFL year. It's not like we are discussing the merits of Lee Smith...

The Bills have something like $50M in cap space next year (before any moves today). Next year shouldn't be a problem.

I think this is what Doug Whaley has been intimating for a while. Without that top QB salary eating ~$25M in cap, you can afford to build a stronger team around a weaker QB. We shall see if it works. I think having the top QB is still a better formula for success. Unfortunately, not every team even gets a chance at a top QB Hypothetically in a Brees scenario, we still have the Mario Williams contract to restructure which could save like $8M in cap room this year. That and cutting a few veteran OL (Chris Williams and Craig Urbik) is another ~$6M or so. There's some flexibility there.

um. what? In other news, it sounds like the Saints are also going to be making Pro Bowl G Jahri Evans available. Twitter says that the Bills are interested in both Boling and Evans. Gil Brandt ‏@Gil_Brandt 19m19 minutes ago Don't be surprised if Jahri Evans ends up in Buffalo. Despite Incognito signing, need still there. @NatJordanNFL: The Bills are "heavy players" for Boling, per the guru with sources on http://t.co/tQsRX4D5yV

If you have a roster built like that, you become very attractive to the free agent QB class that will be available in the winter of 2016. IIRC that include Roethlisberger, Eli and a few others. One of those guys + this roster = super bowl contender.

I wouldn't be too worried about bringing the kid. It is usually pretty busy, but the last few times I was there the place was crawling with youth hockey teams and the parents/coaches. They will usually put you in the east side which is more restaurant than the big screen/bar area. I would also guess that lately it hasn't been as busy since the team has been less than stellar.

Nice dudacek. That's exactly what I was trying to articulate. Ted Nolan only knows how to win and build a successful team in one mold. That mold relies on a great goaltender and a team full of Girgensens type players. We don't have that and will not have that at any point in the future given the high-end talent that GMTM is aiming to acquire. Thus, I think that Nolan's time is coming to an end at the end of the year. Oh and Grigorenko still has plenty of time to grow into a NHL player. He has shown the willingness to improve in Rochester and falls victim of being a bit overconfident in his talent level/ability.

I see Felton as taking the roster spot of Gragg/Gray more than the 4 RB's we have. I really think that Doug Whaley doesn't want to give up Bryce Brown and sees big potential there, and will do everything in his power to keep the 4 RB's. Edit: Now that Pegula has put the hammer down on keeping Fred Jax. Whaley probably had FJax as the casualty to make room for a fullback.