mjd1001

I'll put the top 3 in order... Greenway Quinn UPL Those 3, to me, are the ones that not only don't help you win that much, their everyday play/mistakes cause you to lose.

That Penalty kill that was so great this year? I think they are at about 68% on this road trip on the PK.

I was done with him when they signed him to that crazy extension last year. Quinn I gave the benefit of the doubt to again early this year... Both need to be gone. The young guys from Rochester might not be able to put up 20 goals for you, but they won't hurt the team as much as those 2 do.

I just looked into the numbers. Lets start with expected goals allowed, as that is the best single number for including shots, and weighing the quality of scoring chances into those shots. Last year (all situations, including PP and PK), they had 262.7 expected goals allowed This year, what they are allowing projected to 82 games is 272.8. Not a HUGE difference, but they are actually on pace to allow more xGa. If you look at even strength, last year they allowed 2001 scoring chances (this year pace of 1806), High danger chances last year of 811 (this year 777) and even strength xga last year of 207.3 (this year pace 209). So, in some ways the defense is better this year statistically, in some ways slightly worse, but overall I think it is SLIGHTLY better but yet its pretty close to last year. So is goaltending the difference? Last year the goaltending as a whole was almost dead even with goals saved above average as a TEAM. That was thanks to Reimer though (Reimer was a +6.7, UPL was a -2.5 and Levi was a -4.2) This year, well, guess what, they are the same (almost dead even) as a team, with Lyon being a +2.14, Ellis a +0.19, and UPL a -2.33. No matter how I look at the numbers, I see a slightly below average team defense playing in front of mostly average goaltenders with the exception of UPL, he was bad last year and he's bad this year.

I think Power gets blamed on this board too much. BUT, I think his play has regressed a bit in the last 2 weeks. Earlier in the year, I thought he got blamed for too much that wasn't his fault as I saw some improvments in his own end, but even I'm getting worried about his play this year. As for the overall team defense, I do think they are a bit better overall compared to last year, supported by the analytics. Now, that is compared to LAST year that they are better, thats not a high bar to clear. They can be better than last year and still not be very good.

Whether they wanted this story out there (a leak) or not, they have to do something soon if they plan on doing it at all, right? I don't think the questions on this will go away...and if they drag this out it will do nothing more than make a segment of your fanbase go from hopeful all the way to resentful again.

This is what I get for posting on my phone and talking to it and allowing it to use voice recognition. I meant to say that his position is NOT higher up in the the hockey organization... But it came out that it is higher up in the organization. My post was to say I'm okay with him not getting fired as long as he's on the business side of things and not having input into hockey anymore. On a side note, I really don't know how people live off of their phones. Not only does voice recognition not work, but I'm posting this on my phone now and every time I have to make a correction I could swear I'm touching one letter on the virtual keyboard but yet it's registering as the letter next to it. I so much prefer a full size monitor and a regular keyboard to using a phone or a tablet.

If used over the long medium to long term, I think you can get a good idea of a players offensive ability/production by combining (averaging) expected goals with average goals. Their defensive abilty by combining (averaging) expected goals allow with actual on ice goals against.......and their overall play by combing all of those things. I think that works well for the top 3 lines. 4th lines? not so much as situationionally they are often used much differently than the top 3 lines.

I am bringing this up again because the topic seems to be getting worse by the week. Ads. Not that there are too many of them. Sure, that is an issue but I'm talking about the content of advertisements. I do not understand the reason for ads that don't tell you about the product, but try to associate their product with an 'image'. I'd be OK with ads, but tell me about your product. Tell me features about your product (a car ad with a bunch of good looking young people smiling as they drive your car but not telling me any features of your car does nothing for me.) Its like the ads that try to get so 'artsy' that you have zero idea what they are for, and then they flash up the name of their product with 2 seconds left in the ad. Guess what genius? I spent the entire first 28 seconds of the ad trying to figure out what it was for....so by the time you revealed your product to me I wasn't really paying attention to the first 28 seconds becuase my mind was on 'what the heck is this for'? Maybe you were showing me your product, maybe you were giving me some features. Maybe you were TRYING to create that image. But if I don't know what it is, you just wasted most of your ad time because I'm likely to forget your entire ad without knowing what it is for. I worked a bit in marketing years ago. I'm not an expert....but I think companies over-complicate things most of the time.

If that is the case, just do it and be done with it so everyone associated can move on.

I don't mind Adam's having another role in the organization. Hopefully it's just not higher up in the hockey department. Give him some kind of a hybrid role where he talks to the hockey people and works on the business side of things. Just they really got to flush out this entire front office.

I know I'm repeating myself from a couple of days ago, but.... Why is the team continuing to carry three goalies? Lindy ruff himself says it's challenging for him and for the goalies. Former goaltenders like Marty Baron have said it's a bad situation for the three goaltenders on the team. I can't think of who it was, but in the past couple of years I remember hearing goaltenders who were part of the three goaltender tandem saying it was hard to play that way. Common Sense tells you that when you never know if you're playing, backing up, or going to be sitting in the press conference a week in advance, it's got to be really hard. So why aren't they doing something about this? My favored solution has always been find someone who will take UPL, even if it's for a very small return... But why are they letting this go on when the coach is practically begging for it to stop?

As far as stats go, there are wins, but that is more of a team stat. GAA, save percentage, and others, but Goals saved above average is the most encompassing. (Expected goals which includes the shots weighted by the location/quality of the scoring chance, +/- the actual goals allowed). Basically its not 100% perfect, but it takes into account the defense in front of the goalie making mistakes as those mistakes lead to shots that are of higher quality. So far this year, goals saved above average: Lyon +2.14 Ellis +0.19 UPL -2.33 The numbers show the performane this year favors Lyon first, Ellis 2nd, and UPL third. Now, Ellis had ONE game that was a lot worse than all of his others. Take out each goalies single worst game, and it raises Ellis the most. In terms of how reliable of a stat is it? Well, the one thing is it is a 'total' stat (meaning the more games you play, the greater the opportunity you have for a higher number), but in the past 2.5 seasons, the best in the league in this number are: Hellebuyck, Vasilevsky, Stolarz, Logan Thompson, Shesterkin, Sorokin, Gustavsson, Oettinger, and Kuemper. The worst Goalie over that time period? Georgiev. My 2nd favorite number is what is the goalies High Danger save percentage (basically, how good are you at making tough saves, like when your team in front of you had their heads in the clouds and leaves you out to dry). -The best in the league the past 3 years (minimum 50 games played over the last few years combined): Spencer Knight, Hellebuyck, and Sororkin. How do the Sabres rank this year? Lyon .800 Ellis .780, UPL .746

I started watching it yesterday, I only got a few minutes into it. The other guys asked Rob Ray about some players (Dahlin, Power, I think Benson, and others) and Rob had nothing but good things to say about them. When any individual person was brought up, whether the players or coach, I got the impression Ray basically said everyone was great (individually)

It's tough because what do you consider... Talent? Raw talent like pure skating speed, size, quickness of release? Those are physical abilities that some equate with talent. If we consider that talent then Dylan Cozens is a top 50 player in the league. Does talent include thinking the game? Hockey IQ? That is a little bit harder to measure. For those who remember the NHL in the '80s, a guy like Dave Andreychuk or Tim Kerr could score 50 goals in a year. They had talent in terms of good hands, but basically they stood in front of the net, took a beating, and were there with good enough hands to knock in a lot of loose pucks. They were big but they really didn't hit, they were slow skaters, not the best stick handlers or passers either. But were they any less 'talented' than someone else Who would score 5 or 10 goals less but skated up the ice as one of the fastest skaters in a league and occasionally put the puck through a defender's legs (Joey Mullen for example?)? In terms of raw skill, they checked a lot less boxes, but in terms of how they played the game, did that matter? Is how well your line mates compliment your play A talent? Is how willing you are to put effort forward at the end of your shift when you're tired a talent? Legitimate question.. The best single example for me that I can't answer this would be Jack Quinn. Just how talented is he? I think he's a pretty bad hockey player, but is it because he's not talented? Is it because his talent was overestimated? Or is he very talented but something else totally is missing?