mjd1001

Best players on the ice last night for the Sabres with regard to expected goals for vs expected goals against: -Malenstyn -Krebs -Östlund -Samuelsson -McLeod -Dahlin -Thompson All those guys were on the positive side of things (more expected goals for than against). The rest of the team was negative Who were the worst guys? -Bryam -Rosen -Greenway -Quinn -Tuch All those guys were negative, DEEP into the negative territory (below 35 when 50 is 'neutral') Quinn and Rosen also 'backed it up' by being a -2 on the night (tied for worst among forwards) and Byram was tied for the worst on the team at -3 (with his most-of-the-night partner Timmons)

Last night was one of the worst games Byram played as a Sabre. After you get rid of Quinn (last night was back to a typical mistake-ridden, lazy game by him) and Greenway (he's plain and simple a below average forward in almost every way other than penalty killing), Bryam would be the next one I'd move if any other team has interest.

This team can still make the playoffs. They aren't that far out of it. They are getting (hopefully) some injured players back. But I'm very close to this being the earliest in the season that I stop watching the game on a regular basis...why? They aren't likely to make the playoffs, but even if the do, it shouldn't be so hard. Its not fun watching a team trudge through the mud, shoot themselves in the foot (use whatever analogy you want) so often.

I think why you need to make the full scale changes you say, and why they need to be done now, has a lot to do with a situation like Tuch. Unless the owner wants him here no matter what, then you want to make your front office changes BEFORE deciding what to do with him. What if you bring in a new guy, and this guy doesn't want 10% of the cap tied up in an aging winger for the next 7 or 8 years? Yeah, its one contract, but you sign Tuch long term, and that is one more thing you are saddling the new guy/new front office with. If you want to get the best new GM/new front office here, its going to be tough. One thing you can offer them is as much freedom with the roster as possible. You DON'T want to have a freshly signed, 30 year old winger to a huge contract as a welcoming gift to that person because the owner, or the 'last guy' wanted him. Of course every single day that goes by, the Tuch decision gets closer and more difficult. Which is exactly why you need to purge this front office NOW, not wait to the end of the year when a lot of contracts are up so it saves Pegula a bit of money. And if Dahlin and Thompson want out, they want out. There are 16 teams that make the playoff every year with the 2 of them. The idea behind another new rebuild with a new front office is to become one of those 16 that make the playoffs (and eventuall more than that). Its not a requirement to do that. As much as I think both of them can be really good, overall it isn't fun watching this team play, even with them on it.

I don't care about the standings. Year after year after year, to get to the playoffs you need about 95 points. Worry about playing to that level (or better), the rest of the teams above you will sort themselves out. 85 points by April 1st. Again, it doesn't really matter to me at all where they are in the standings now, who is ahead of them, how far ahead they are...if you can get to 85 points by April 1st. After that you have 7 regular season games left. Sure, I'd love MORE than 85 points, but you will still be 'in it' and close enough that those last games in April will decide your season.

As per my post above, I just want him off the team. Is there a chance he could find his game and turn into a good goalie for someone else? Sure. There's also a chance that never happens. And right now I think the team benefits going forward having one less goaltender on it, that being UPL. If you give him away with no return at all except having an extra roster spot, I'm okay with it. I wouldn't consider that being taken to the cleaners. Not moving him, having him play games where he's below average, having three goaltenders on the roster, paying him the couple percent of cap space that you're paying him..... Everyday that continues, I consider that being taken to the cleaners.

Agree. If they can trade UPL, I don't think 'waiting it out' to get the best offer is going to make much of a difference. I think his worth on the trade market is pretty low, and that isn't going to change. The value in moving him is not in the return you get, but in any potential cap space relief, just getting rid of one goalie when you have so many between Buffao and rochester, and not having to use an extra roster spot in Buffalo for 3 goalies. If you could Move UPL and get that cap space, an extra roster spot, room for the exisiting guys to play more, and a mid round draft pick...I might say that mid round pick is the least valuable to the team now. I want those other things 'yesterday', and If that isn't possible, give them to me no later than 'today'.

I'm keeping Power. I think he gets criticized on this board way too much. Yeah, he makes mistakes, but there are other times where he gets blamed for a goal allowed and you watch the replay and find out he was the only player on the screen that actually did NOT make a mistake, yet the reflex action of most of the board is to criticize Power. My opinion on Byram has not changed one bit this year based on what I have seen. He's a very talented (raw skill) guy that just doesn't have those skill translate to the ice. He's an average overall D-man, who looks good with Dahlin (as do most players) but when he is put into the #1 D-man role when Dahlin is not around he fails pretty badly. I'm taking Power.

I'll correct myself on one thing about Greenway. I don't know if the numbers back this up but I believe from what I see with my own eyes he is a very effective penalty killer. It's just beyond that I don't see anything special or even above average about his play. He's better than someone like Quinn or Cozens who actually hurt the team when they was on the ice the last couple of years I don't see Greenway doing that. It's just that even strength, I'd rather have one of the other guys in front of him.

Who is 1C versus who is 2C and this team doesn't really matter to me. I'm sure they'll both play in the power play, and it's not like you are going to put two All-Star wingers with one of them and not with the other. The lines are always changing anyway. If you want to call one of them 1C and one of them 2C then fine... But to me when they're both in the lineup, theuir lines will pretty much be interchangeable. I'd expect if or when Norris is fully up to speed, there might be some days where Tage at center and his line would get more ice time, and other days where Norris would. Maybe you simply say Norris is 2c because you want to bring him back slowly, and maybe even for the rest of the year, You don't want him getting the most ice time simply to reduce wear and tear on the body/injury chance. I understand your point but for me Greenway would be the first guy out. I really don't see him doing much positive other than eating up ice time. He's just a very expensive "filler" at wing to me.

No stat is perfect, but if I had to pick my favorite stat to evaluate goalies, its not gaa, its not save percentage, but I'd lean toward goals saved above average. So far this year in Goals saved above average: Lyon: +0.91 Ellis: +1.24 UPL: -2.15 (all of last season he was a -2.53) Small sample size. Not a 'perfect' stat. But at this point, if there were any 'takers' for UPL, I'd move him.

The "hate", at least from me, was just because of how bad last year was. I say this with all honesty ...I think he may have been the very worst forward in the league last year that got regular minutes. When you have a year like that, you have a LOT to prove going forward. This year I think he's been better than last year, but he's still not 'good'. As a matter of fact, he has had some good games but those are the exception. This year I'd say he's had 3-4 actual good games, another 2-3 where you really didn't notice him at all, and the rest have been bad just like last year (little offense generation, bad mistakes in the defensive zone/neutra zone, etc.) Again, for me hes not at the 'you got to get him out of the lineup, he's killing you!' place that he was last year...so thats good, but I still need to see more.

We all go round and round on this topic. Some people have one opinion, some have a different opinion. My fear is that Pegula, no matter how many people he talks to, isn't going to pick the 'best' person for the job. Instead he is going to pick someone who he feels comfortable with. Someone who will make him feel 'heard' on personal decisions, someone who won't make him upset when he talks to him.

I still dont' understand why Ryan Johnson isn't used. He doesn't have much time, but to my eyes, he certainly has performed better than a typical 3rd pair D-man in the time he has here His analytics, again VERY limited time this season, support that. When he has been on the ice, the team has only allowed 1 goal every 26 minutes. (its one goal every 15 minutes for Dahlin and Power, every 14.7 minutes for Byram). He is the only D-man on the team with a positive number in expected goals for vs allowed. I know, he has very limited time, but I never really thought he was bad out there.

Nope. I'm saying the goal was to get to 95 points. They needed about 16 points in an 'average' month to get there. Because of how they played so far, now they need about 17 points per month to get to 95 (with a month based on 14 games per month.)