Samson's Flow

Could that be the same Kevin Frieheit that I went to high school with? He started his own sabres based website and has been reporting from it for a while...

You can take me out. (Touched by Boyes) - I have way too many football leagues this year and with additional work responsibilities I don't think I can be as active. Good luck guys!

Blues had one of the better defenses in the league last year, good for Leo for finding a fit there.

I just spent the last hour or so reading through all 5 pages of the thread, mostly because I was very interested in what everyone had to say. I was going through this in my mind this afternoon as I looked at my calendar and realized that I have tickets for the Sabres/Lightning game this Sunday that were purchased the day the lockout ended. I had totally forgotten about it for the most part and given Ott's comments as well as the two sides of the arguement from the board I was debating - do I lead the cheers as a loner or join in the misery with the boo birds? I must admit that I waffled back and forth given that both sides made very compelling cases, but have decided that I will cheer and start chants to encourage our young AHL players that their efforts lately have been a breath of fresh air and the issue is now talent rather than coasting. These kids are the future of the team and if there is going to be any success going forward it will be led by Hodgson/Ennis/Weber/Psysk types rather than the oft mentioned 'old core'. I'll give them a shot with my enthusiasm. Around Buffalo, and specifically with this team, the booing IMO is the release of some sort of emotion, given the factors of 1) Elevated expectations post-Pegula, 2) No real change in coach/GM for years (removing the 'this new combo will make a difference' mode) and 3) Purchases made so far in advance due to demand that now the fans who bought them don't really want to be there. There's no real way to direct the anger/frustration at those who deserve it (management/decisionmakers) so instead the anger is directed at the 'Sabres' as one collective entity, which encompasses management/owner/coach/players through the on ice product. If there was a way for me to 'boo' the Owner/GM while cheering for the player's effort and coaching (which has been improved lately) I would do that. but you can't. It's either boo the 'Sabres' or cheer them, there's no differentiating subentities of the franchise as a whole. The Jays booing is very similar to our situation. As a Jays fan as well (I know... torture) there were huge expectations for this season similar to the renewed enthusiasm post-Pegula that have not yet been realized in the standings. The Jays had a similar decade + long strech of suckitude and ineptness that when you get the glimmer of success as a fan you build that up to huge expectations. Pretty much nailed what I was thinking and was a great post IMO. I'm just a few years younger than you but the idea is the same. Unfortunately people around here used to lambaste you for your frustration posts because IMO they were just at a different stage of the fan cycle than you were at at the time. We all want the same thing - a playoff Sabres team and a championship.

Goaltending was the downfall of my season all year, as I think I have one of the best groups of forwards. I was a bit too aggressive making moves to try and fix that and it backfired. As a Buffalo sports fan, there's always next year... :doh:

I'm out of it because of the 2 transaction rule. I made some early moves and then Halak went down and Luongo didn't get a start all week so I was d/q'ed from the goalie categories so Foligno and Barnes gets the first round win. Couldn't pick up a goalie all week and rooting for Luongo to get a start was a painful way to go...

:lol: ...or were you serious? Hodgson Ennis Ehrhoff Myers Weber Foligno

Wow, I don't read the board for a whopping two days and this epic miller rant pops up. I don't even know what to say. Miller is a good goalie. I wouldn't mind blowing it up. Somewhere in the middle of those two is logic and sanity.

Yep, Gerbe is a player that is great in theory and would be an awesome addition if we were playing pick-up street hockey, but in the NHL level, You are either skilled enough for the top-6 scoring lines or you are big/physical enough for the bottom-6 role player lines. He is neither. We have lots of miscast players on the team with no defined role. As I see it we have the following holes in an ideal team make up: Top 6 - Vanek, Pomminstein, Hodgson, Ennis. Need another top 6 center and a RW. Checking Line - Ott, Foligno. Need a checking line center with a high FO% Grinder - Kaleta, Scott (situationally) Miscast players - Stafford (no longer producing as a top 6 scorer), Hecht (playing in shutdown role but no longer has skating speed/physicality), Gerbe (see above), Porter (should be fill-in, currently playing shutdown center), Flynn (showing promise, haven't seen enough yet), Leino (signed as a top 6, yet to show scoring ability/injured), Ellis/McCormick (not NHL level talent)

I would assume that would be bottom feeder type franchises like Columbus, Florida, NYI as well as recently-bad or far off Canadian teams like Edmonton, Calgary, etc.

Please be Stafford... or Leopold... or anyone really. :devil:

This is exactly the point that I was trying to get to. It is my impression that a successful team is one where every individual player knows their role as it relates to the success of the whole. That means that the first line players know that they need to score goals and points to have enough goals each game to win. They should be given the majority of opportunities (see: offensive zone starts, shifts against opponents coming off icings, etc.) to accomplish this task. There should also be players whose specific role is preventing the other team's top line from scoring a zillion goals. Essentially a line that you can send out there that will make life hell for the Stamkos line in TB and prevent them from scoring quicker than your first line. As currently constructed, I do not see the players on the Sabres roster to create even close to a shut-down third line. I think that Ott is possibly one player that can make up that line, but we still need a good skating, defensive minded, high % faceoff center and another defensive winger. Watching the sabres right now, they send out their lines in a relatively predictable order that the other team can match up positively against. This is shown in the data above in that the majority of players offensive/defensive zone starts (x-axis) are tightly grouped at 45-55%. I think it is a philosophical shift that needs to take place where we start building a team strategy and concept instead of a random grouping of players...

All these stats and arguements about the Corsi number and its use are not what should be pointed out. The two things I see (and have been harping on offensive/defensive zone starts all season) are: 1. It appears that the majority of Sabres players overall are showing a trend of more defensive zone starts than offensive zone starts. This points to the team being bad. Obviously the Corsi (which measures shots against v. shots for) is going to be red with primarily defensive zone starts. You can't shoot when you are in your own zone... 2. The players that should be getting primary offensive zone starts (the Vanek-Hodgson-Pommer line and Ennis line to a lesser extent) are not because we have no true defensive third line that can play against the opponents top line and take the d-zone starts. That role is currently given to players like Porter, Ott and Hecht based on the d-zone % stats above. If you look at those players it is clear they are not the defensive players of a cup contender. That IMO is the Sabres biggest weakness is not having the defensive forwards and centers that can match up with the Crosby/Stamkos/Giroux type 1st lines.

Devils have been in a major slump losing the last 6, bet their fans are saying "The 14th place Sabres team is just what this team needs to break out of the losing streak"... it should be noted that the Devils losing streak coincides with Broduer's injury and Hedberg has started and lost all 6 games. The only point in this losing streak in the shootout loss to the Sabres last Saturday 3/2. I'm guessing they will be extra motivated to break the streak given the animosity towards the end of the game on Saturday and the Devils overall struggles lately.

I've been watching House of Cards as well and I have to say I have been very impressed. Kevin Spacey is certainly awesome in it and the episodes seem to flow better without the random cliffhangers that are added to network shows to keep you coming back for more every weeknight at 8. I still have two episodes to go so don't ruin it! Also, it looks like I may have gotten that job that will keep me local year round that I was talking about last week. Should include a decent pay raise but the best part is being able to be home every night by 5-6pm. Can't wait for a steady 9-5 after years of traveling to ###### farm locales and being delayed on flights until all hours of the night.

Just had a breakthrough in the new job search, had an awesome informal meeting with a guy from M&T today. Sounds like I might be working much closer to home pretty soon :thumbsup:

Is it standard for architechture magazines to only have a couple hundred word article? It seems like the whole six page spread was basically a picture book meant to oogle at. Maybe i'm just weird but I actually wanted to read about the process/finished product :(

So nice of Tim Connoly's Ghost to put two solid LW on the trading block the day after the trading deadline... I am in desperate need of a LW as I have D. Sedin and... ?? (p.s. - just razzing you a little TC, no malice intended)

and the masses rejoice! :w00t:

Great idea in NHL13', but it is another of the type of centers we have. For Briere to be effective (like he was back in his Sabres days) he needs to be on an offensive minded line that gets a lot of offensive zone starts and can take advantage of the opponent in the offensive zone. he had Drury to take all the defensive zone faceoffs and shutdown the other team's top lines. Right now the team has three offensive centers (Hodgson, Ennis, Grigo) and no real defensive center (Hecht?) and Ott playing wing but taking faceoffs. Adding another offensive center like Briere does nothing to fix the problem of giving up a high amount of goals against. This of course is based on my ideal team building of two offensive lines, an shut down line and a limited minute energy/checking line

Realized this post probably should have gone in the O'Reilly thread: To continue my annoying discussion of defensive zone starts, the reason I personally wanted Ruff gone was that he did not want to have defined roles for his four lines. He would roll four lines and play them relatively equally regardless of defensive zone/offensive zone and matchups. To be more specific, the Hodgson line had the highest percentage of defensive zone starts, which puts them at a disadvantage of scoring goals (which should be the primary goal of the #1 scoring line). Essentially, by playing that line in that manner, Lindy Ruff was doing the other coaches job of neutralizing our only scoring line. Acquiring O'Reilly to pair with Ott and Foligno (for example) to make a defensive shut down line would allow us a better chance of stopping the other team's top line while also putting the Hodgson and Ennis lines in a better position to have offensive zone starts and do their job of scoring goals and taking advantage of not being hemmed in the d zone by the other team's top line. That gives confidence to our young centers and the foundation for specific roles - a key to playing as a team is knowing your role and doing that effectively IMO

To continue my annoying discussion of defensive zone starts, the reason I personally wanted Ruff gone was that he did not want to have defined roles for his four lines. He would roll four lines and play them relatively equally regardless of defensive zone/offensive zone and matchups. To be more specific, the Hodgson line had the highest percentage of defensive zone starts, which puts them at a disadvantage of scoring goals (which should be the primary goal of the #1 scoring line). Essentially, by playing that line in that manner, Lindy Ruff was doing the other coaches job of neutralizing our only scoring line. Acquiring O'Reilly to pair with Ott and Foligno (for example) to make a defensive shut down line would allow us a better chance of stopping the other team's top line while also putting the Hodgson and Ennis lines in a better position to have offensive zone starts and do their job of scoring goals and taking advantage of not being hemmed in the d zone by the other team's top line. That gives confidence to our young centers and the foundation for specific roles - a key to playing as a team is knowing your role and doing that effectively IMO

As much as I am enjoying ribbing TrueBlue, based on my post upthread regarding defensive zone starts, what this team needs most in order to improve IMO is a center who can handle the other team's top line and can be successful starting the majority of the time in the defensive zone. That's a lot easier than saying we need to get X player... That being said, O'Reilly is exactly the kind of centerman that can handle a high % of defensive zone starts and match up agianst the other teams top line players.

Thanks again Peppy, updated my work computed with the new wallpaper!

I think the highest priority right now would be to get a defensive minded centerman to handle a high percentage of defensive zone starts and faceoffs to allow our young centermen (Hodgson, Ennis, Grigo) to be able to focus more on generating offense and scoring without the pressure of being hemmed in their own zone the whole shift. Specifically, Hodgson has been thrust into not only the #1 scoring center role but also a large percentage of defensive zone starts against the other teams top lines. That is too much to put on a 23 center. Even with his 15 points on the year in 19 games, he is still -6 and on the ice for the most goals against of the forwards because he has to play against the top lines. Give dedicated roles to the young players and let them focus on improvement in one aspect. The easiest way to do that is to have a dedicated defensive oriented checking line to handle the other team's top line and a high %age of defensive zone starts. That is only possible with the addition of a defensive centerman.