LGR4GM

I worried we will continue to see McDermott use his 3rd down approach of sitting back and hoping to get pressure with 4 while decent QBs pick us apart. The Bills were atrocious on 3rd down last year. We would get teams in 3rd and 7+ and then just drop into coverage leaving big gaps for running QBs or easy completions over the middle. Jackson will smoke the Bills if they give him time and room on 3rd down. Henry is also a problem, although at least Beane FINALLY started to add to the line, it still isn't good enough. Should be an interesting first game but the 3rd down issues are the thing to watch for me this season.

There's our threshold then, 40.5o/u I think I put Benson at 45pts this season but forget where I put that projection.

Zach Benson is in 24th on this list alongside names like Tim Stutzle (29pts), David Pastrnak (27pts), Cole Sillinger (31pts), and I would like to toss out Aleksander Barkov (24pts). We also have Alex Galchenyuk (27pts and Jesper Kotkoniemi (34pts) as maybe some less than great guys around there too. The list of players who played in the NHL at 19 for 40+ games is 100 players long.

Zemgus Girgensons was 21yrs old in his 2nd season and he played an entire AHL season at 18yrs old. In his 30pt season he averaged 19:05toi a game for 1163:51 total TOI for the year. His CF% was 37.8 but he was getting 58.5% dzone starts. His xGF% is 39.6% or -16.2 depending on how you want to look at the split. He had 0.8g/60 and 0.8a/60 but 0.5a/60 were secondary. Zemgus has never reached 30pts again and has never even reached 20 again. In fact Benson's first 2 season would ranked tied for 1st with zemgus and standalone in 2nd in terms of points. Zach Benson just completed his 2nd season at age 19 (he's about 1.5yrs younger than Zemgus was in his 2nd season). He has no AHL season previously. In his 28pt season he averaged 14:31toi a game for 1030:44 total TOI for the year. His CF% was 56.6% and he got 44.4% dzone starts. His xGF% was 52.65%or +3.7 depending on how you want to look at the splits. He had 36.8xGF compared to Zemgus' 30.8 in more ice time. Benson had 0.5g/60 and 1.0a/60 with 0.8a/60 as primary. To recap, a younger Zach Benson put up better assist numbers, better CF%, and better xGF% including a better xGF than Zemgus while being 1.5 years younger in only his 2nd, not 3rd pro season like Zemgus but this is the comparison you think makes your argument? What number of points would Zach Benson need to put up this year in order for you to "know" that playing the last 2 years in the NHL didn't stifle his offensive game? 50pts? 60pts? I am genuinely asking what would Benson have to produce this year?

Oh yea... sure right. Can't wait until the midterms when they "help" at polling places in a "supporting role"

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7yperjxneo "Despite declaring the Washington DC mission a success, Trump said that he is considering declaring a national emergency once the deployment's 30-day deadline expires. "If I think we're in great shape here, that's one thing. But if I don't, I'm just going to say it's a national emergency," he said. "If I have a national emergency, I can keep the troops here as long as I want."

Unless Lindy Ruff gets fired, Tage isn't going back to center.

Idk what damage a player creating at his rates at 19yrs old has. Once Buffalo transitions more to the cycle game they should be playing, probably this season, we'll see a jump. He didn't do that last year because Lindy Ruff didn't give him enough time with good players or enough toi in general. Zach Benson will be fine.

Zach Benson was the 4th youngest NHL player last season. Despite that, he produced at good rates and was borderline elite defensively.

Over

Benson for example, is going to do better playing with top 6 guys than Cozens, Krebs, or Lafferty. If he plays with Thompson and Norris it is going to click for him fairly quickly.

I was at the infamous Colorado game they were up by 4 in and then lost. We were in the car and exiting the deck when Colorado won... you could tell what was coming. I spent most of the last few years getting 200 level tickets, anytime I went to the 300 level it was awful. Cramped, no food options, dark and dingy. The 100 concourse was fine other than the terrible signs and paint but Keybank looks like a guy who would rather focus on his NFL team owns it.

Marco Rossi signs for 3yrs, 15million. He had 24g and 60pts last season.

No it hasn't.

Not really. I also didn't say that "argument against saying inexperienced player get better". I said I don't think all the players you used example actually work and I said that players like Byram, Power are not going to see a big point jump because they won't have the opportunity for it. I think Zach Benson will be much better. I think Kesselring and Quinn maybe. Again, your argument doesn't convince me and it isn't "because Buffalo" but because we've seen lots of players in that 200 range, not get better or get better marginally and then crash back down. I think this team has such a flawed coaching group that there's not going to be a big enough improvement in the players you list to drag them into the playoffs. They look like an 85pt team to me.

I find this argument bad. What did cozens do after that jump? What did Mittelstadt do? Dahlin has that jump because Barf Krueger was ousted as coach. Peterka, Thompson, and McLeod are the only 3 that fit what you are saying. Byram already had a jump and it is highly unlikely he gets higher up because he will never get the PP time to make the jump. McLeod will have to prove he can stay in that point range as we should see goal scoring regression from him. Peterka is also an interesting one as he will be on a new team without the benefit of Tage Thompson as his linemate. Im sure a few of the guys you listed will make a jump. Jack Quinn staying healthy and not playing scared has all the talent needed to make a jump. Benson has all the underlying metrics to make a jump. Power isn't about points but defending and I think 40pts from him with better defense is good. Kesselring and Mule I don't expect big point jumps from. Samuelsson I would give a very short leash to in fact. It isn't "because Buffalo" it is because there's not 5 guys for this but really only 2. I would feel way better if all the coaches were fired.

I'll wait to see why they raided his home, but at first glance, this looks like an attempt to intimidate a harsh critic of Trump's. Let's see if there is anything there.

The amount was tossed, not the conviction. They are going to come back and ask for a lesser amount. Trump is still guilty of 34 counts of felony fraud.

Greenway isn't a top 6 player.

It is crazy when you realize Zach Benson has played 146 games, almost 100 more than Nazar. Risky contract for sure, especially when you look at Nazar's underlying numbers. He was very meh.

Game experience is the most important part. Sure maybe an older player can pick things up faster and adjust quicker but without NHL game experience, this isn't going to work. We are less experienced this year compared to last. That alone doesn't matter, but we are just inexperienced overall.

I bring this up because Nazar had 12g and 26pts in 53games this past season, his first, at 21yrs old.

Here is a more in depth talk about unlimited objectives

I thought they did play Helenius at center last year

Thank you. The ceiling came down and that looks like a water pipe burst.