mjd1001

I'm halfway there with you. Cozens when you take into account his whole game hasn't shown to me to be a worthy center for a top 2 line (yet). Maybe he will get there? but I don't see it yet. I still think his style of play is better suited for wing. Thompson on the other hand I hope/think will get back to 50 goals or more this coming season (barring injury). I believe he was playing through a nagging injury and his shooting percentage will go back up to 15% which will get him near the 50 goal mark.

As far as the captain goes, I think Dahlin. The A's? Tuch, Cozens, and I think you need to add Thompson to that list. I could see it being any 2 of those 3. Reading a few quotes over the last year or so by the players and Adams, I think Thompson might have more respect in the room than many think, and I could see it being him over Cozens (or based on his long term signing, a slight chance Thompson could be the ACTUAL captain, but based on other things posted above, I still think Dahlin)

I just want to know what is going to replace it. Someone is going to make a new sight with the same info and a similar layout, right? RIGHT??

I don't think the issue was Girgs being retained last year. I think the issue was him AND Jost AND Okposo being retained. Girgs is a very good 4th liner. You don't need him gone to upgrade the 4th line, you need him here with the other 2 spots being upgraded.

I love hockey and of course the Sabres all the time, can't think of how connected to the team I will be when they are good. Maybe I'm just at the point/age in my life though...when I look at those numbers...think of driving/parking/concessions...wow. I really can't imagine going to many games (more than 3-5) per season at those prices. NOT because I don't like the team, its just that I think I get 80%+ watching it on TV (sometimes more)....so the 'cost' of those games to me vs. what else I can do with the money...I no longer can (personally) justify it at all.

As far as the young guys go, I'm at the point, like many others have said, that I want this team to have 1 or 2 of them break into the lineup each year going forward. A young D-man breaking into the lineup gets 15 minutes per game, a young forward likely gets 12-14 minutes per game. I WANT that yearly infusion of young talent, but this team has gotten to the point where they can't rely on it. 95% of the heavy lifting (and ice time) needs to be done by guys with NHL experience.

If Salary information isn't available when it is so much part of factor in building your team, that is a big minus to me. I used to be a "just watch the game" and "just buy the merchandise" person...up until the time I was about 14 years old. Most sports for me now...what brings me back is large part the discussion..the talk with other fans about the structure of teams....the thinking not only of what each trade/signing will mean on the ice right now, but how it will impact the team going forward. Take that away, and I'm still a fan I guess, I'll still watch the games, but I'll be much less of a fan. Oh, and if the NHL eventually launches a part of their website that has this information but at a cost (only available with a paid subscription), that is a big "No" for me.

I tend to say "why" when people don't want him here. You have to realize he is a 4th liner. Once you get that, then he is a very very good 4th liner. He is a capable, if not exceptional penalty killer (average to above average). He's one of the best/fastest skating guys on the team. There are times when as a 4th liner, he is pivotal in terms of hemming the other team in their zone. I have watched replays of most goals this team has allowed and he rarely is the guy who is out of position or makes a glaring mistake when a goal is scored against the team. And finally scoring. Compared to most 4th liners around the league, he scores just as much or more, and his scoring per 60 minutes even strength (the best way to evaluate guys who don't get top minutes) is way ahead of average 4th liners (he is 6th on the entire team this year among everyone, and over the past 5 years he is 7th on the team). He's not a superstar, but he skates hard, plays hard, doesn't make glaring mistakes, and scores more than most 4th liners, he's not losing a step yet either... I'm not sure why the rush to get rid of him? If you were counting on him to fill in even on the 3rd line I can see an argument for improvement...but as a single member of the 4th line, I WANT him back. As far as him wearing a C or an A....No need for it. The younger guys need to step into that role. I an confident Girgs can be a 'veteran presense' as much as a 4th liner can be without needing to have a letter at all. With all that said, if he does move on, I won't put much thought to him not being here the minute the season starts.

I'm not saying paying guys early works all the time, but I think if you want to be 'great' and not just 'good', you have to take the chance to do that. Again, you won't always hit on them, but when you do lock up guys early, you get McKinnon on a team friendly deal that helped you win the cup, Makar making $9m (most think that is a bargain), Drasaitl making $8.5 through most of his prime, Hughes in New Jersey who is probably already a top 10 player making $8m long term for the next part of a decade as he gets better...etc. If you wait to pay your guys until they 'prove it', you have Toronto. You don't have any 'busts', but you end up paying the top 4 of your 23 guys over 50% of your cap. Sure, they 'proved it' to you first, but you end up paying more...that is the recipe for having a very good team but also the recipe for not having a great team.

I'm a fan of this weather. For me, perfect weather is partly sunny/mostly cloudy (30-70% cloud cover) with morning temps in the 50's and afternoon highs near 70. Light jacket weather for most of the day. I lived in Florida for 4 years (and in south Carolina for a few months) and I hated it. My wife and I could both lose our jobs here, have our property taxes double, and I still would find a way to NOT have to move to a southern/hotter state ever again.

I am seeing something about Florida that I started to play attention to a few years ago on various teams (and have brought this up a few times in the past on this board) that gives me a lot of hope for the Sabres. They have what quite a few (most, NOT all, but MOST) of the top teams have had in the past decade or so that is under-rated by many. A very talented D-corp that is almost ALL in their 'peak' age. (late 20's, very early 30's). Many of the top teams in the past few years had this in common. Guys on the back end (MOST of them) who have at least 6-7 years of experience, but haven't hit that 'over the hill/too old to keep up with the game' wall yet. There seems to be something about defensemen more than forwards, you really need that 500-800 games of experience for many to truly become great in your own end. Its like repetition after rep, hundreds and hundreds of times finally makes your decisions back there automatic. Florida truly looks like that when you watch all 3 of their pairings back there. Buffalo, on paper, may have the most talented D-men that we have seen in a while across the entire league, but they are still lacking in age/experience. If they don't blow the back end up and keep that talent together, it might be the glue for a great team once these guys (as a group) get 2-3 more years of experience.

I think he is fine for the job. Is he amazing? does he have any calls that are great/legendary? No, not at all, but I don't have any problem with his day to day calls of the game.

Barrasso was only here for 5 years, but he was really good and had a bit impact. Goalie stats were a bit....worse...in that era so its hard to go by them, but don't even consider his time and cups in Pittsburgh. Just in Buffalo: 5th overall pick in the first round. 18 year old makes the team, wins the Calder AND the Vezina his rookie year. In his 5 years here, he finished in the top 10 in voting for the Hart 3 times, 1 Vezina win, 2 Vezina runner ups in total....Led the league in Goals against average his 2nd year. He was very important to this team.

I agree with most of what you said. When Krebs arrived here I was down on him more than most on this board, but now I think many have swung WAY too far the other direction, basically saying he is borderline useless and a bust. He MAY be, but its still too early in my opinion to judge that. He may turn into a pretty good player but it could happen this year, or it could happen in 2-3 years from now. But, as you said, I want to give him a chance here, but don't want to COUNT on him. If you bring someone else in for that role, that other person plays there. IF Krebs takes a huge leap forward, then sure you can slot Krebs into that slot, but I don't want that to be THE plan.

I agree, Tampa is good for now. Most of their key players are still in that 'peak age' before they hit a bit of a slide. Hedman? The number of minutes have to be adding up for him over his career, but this team is in or near their prime in most areas, and they do have some 'decent' youth mixed in. Now, they will not have either a first round pick or a 2nd rounder until 2026. That will potentially hurt them 4-5 years down the road. Their prospect pool is empty of any talent that you could even consider anything but a potential fringe player. They have like NOTHING (Howard, a former 31st overall pick has a chance, but he seems more a small-ish tweener right now). Other than Howard, they have had a total of ONE top 50 pick in the past 6 drafts and that one they traded away. But with the picks they traded away, they still have managed to keep the roster from being not 'too old'. Pittsburgh is rapidly aging out (Crosby will be 37 at the start of next season, Malkin 38, Letang 37, Karlsson 33, Rust 32, Smith 33). Tampa's key guys (Kucherov 30, Point 28, Hagel 25, Cirelli 26, Hedman 33, Sergachev 25), well, Tampa is in a lot better shape for the next year or two at least.

I think reality might be a bit close to this, minus Pesce. The top 4 here that are going to get the majority of the minutes will be Dahlin, Power, Bryam and Samuelsson. Clifton will be on the third pair with 'whoever'. And, I'm OK with that. In the 2nd half of the season when the forwards 'started' to play better in their own end, the D looked a LOT better. Plus they are still young, they should still be getting better. I'm not all that upset with status quo on the D, as long as some changes are made to lines 2/3 up front.

He may have been playing a slightly different style, but (statistically) his drop in production came down to simple shooting percentage especially from right in front of the net/high danger area. 2 years ago he converted at a very high rate, this year was closer to his average. -Cozens 31 goal season, he shot overall 14.7%, every other season: 9.0% (this year), 8.1% and 6.5%. -His shots on goal this year compared to last are very close, 211 to 200 (seeing he played 2 less games this year, almost identical in terms of shots per game) Its not that he wasn't getting to the high danger spots, or playing a much slower game, he simply wasn't converting. In the high danger areas (The area within 29 feet of the center of the goal and bound on both sides by an imaginary line drawn from the faceoff dot to 2 feet outside the goalpost): -2 years ago Cozens had 68 shots, scored 13 times, and had a 19.1% shooting percentage. -This year he had 54 shots, only scored 5 goals, a 9.3% shooting percentage. Most all of his 'missing production' wasn't due to less shots, wasn't due much to shooting from different areas, wasn't due to not skating as hard, wasn't due to less offensive zone time. He (pretty much) had the same shots, from the same area, had the same top skating speed, similar 'top skating speed bursts'...all within a very small percentage. The spider charts say all of those were 'about' the same. The single thing that was different about his game that you can see 'statistically' was WHEN he had those 'high danger chances, he converted at less than half the rate, and had 8 less goals from that area. Now, I can't tell you if those shots in the 'high danger area' were any more contested than they were last year or not. The stats available don't show that. But in terms of how many shots he gets off (about 200 per year), where he shoots from, a few years of stats show Cozens is who he is....the one thing that will determine his production will be his shooting percentage. Is he going to be close to the 14.7% guy we saw 2 years ago? or is he closer to the shooting 8.3% guy he has been the rest of his career (even factoring in this past season in that number)? Maybe its a confidence thing. He was great in the IIHF 2 years ago and carried that into the regular season with a great regular season. Last year he didn't play and didn't have a great season here. This year, maybe he comes out of it super confident and it carries over to this year.

Cozens does well in this tournament. I don't think he played last year, but in 2022 I know he tied for the lead in goal scoring in the tournament.

I thought the difference for Boston was Pastrnak. Guy is elite. Over the last 7 seasons, 5th in the league in goals, 6th in points, he shoots close to 15%, and over that time scores at almost a 50 goal per 82 pace with last year over 60 goals. He was a relative non-factor in the playoffs this year. Before this year he was over a point per game player in the playoffs, and had 35 goals in 77 career playoff games (over a 37 goal pace). This year, 4 goals and 8 points in 13 games (25 goal, 50 point pace). Not AWFUL, but for sure a lot less than they needed. Also, I don't know if anyone else noticed, but when you watched him he seemed a non-factor, even against the leafs. I never got a sense he was dangerous, on the verge of anything big. I, too, wonder if he was injured. The non-productive playoffs came on the heels of a regular season where he had no goals in his last 5 games, and only 3 in his last 12 games in the regular season.

William Nylander Signs 8 year, $92m extension Jan 8. -Before Extension: 37gp, 21g, 33a (47 goal, 73 assist, 120 point pace/82) -After signing: 49gp, 22g, 25a (37 goal, 41assist, 78 point pace/82) Pettersson Signs 8 year, $92.8m extension. -Before Extension: 62gp, 29g, 42a (29 goal, 56 assist, 85 point pace/82) -After signing: 33gp, 6g, 14a (15 goal, 35 assist, 50 point pace/82) There could be other factors, but it does kinda look at least a little like 'getting their money' had an impact on their play.

I'll watch the conference finals, and there have been some good games this year, but the playoffs haven't been as exciting as I thought. When they started I was thinking...I'm going to LOVE this, there were so many good matchups. And there were/are, just I haven't gotten into the playoffs as deeply as I though. And as far as Vancouver goes, Pettersson was a letdown. I really thought going into this year he was going to take another step and clearly become a top-10 player in the year, but he faded big time down the stretch and, as others have said, didn't help much in the playoffs. Something happened to him in mid February..an injury? Hit 'the wall'. I'm not sure but... Pettersson: -through Feb 15: 28 goals, 44 assists in 55 games (42g, 66a, 108 point pace/82) -Since Feb 16 (including playoffs): 7 goals, 16 assists in 40 games (14g, 33a, 47 point pace/82) That is a major, MAJOR drop in production.

I know people can't stand Marchand and Boston....but to think as fan how great it must have been to watch a team with Bergeron and Marchand on it, through their prime, for the greater part of a decade (lets not forget Chara through some of that time) Only 1 cup for them, but aren't those the type of players that almost EVERY fanbase says they want but never really get?

Carolilna is just a somewhat better version or Toronto...if you are a fan of that organization you have to be frustrated and wonder what else you can do -3rd most wins in the league since Brindamour took over -3 seasons in a row with 110+ points (would have been 4 if you project out the previous shortened season). Their last 4 years were better statistically (in some cases much better) than even the 2005-06-07 Sabres teams. Sure, a lot more fun and Sabres fans would trade their success for ours recently, but you have to wonder...the Hurricanes are still young but what else can they do to get to the cup? The 3rd most successful team in the league (2nd in the conference to Boston, Had Boston's regular seasons stats not been so inflated by last season, Carolina would be above them).

Landscaping people/companies. We live in a community where a landscaping crew comes in and cuts the lawns and trims. When they trim they often scalp so low they kill the grass, and when they cut the lawn they drive so fast that when they make a turn, they dig the grass right out of the lawn and leave marks or entire bare spots. The good news is our community isn't that strict, a few of us have 'opted out' of the service, and we cut my own lawns now. (we have close to 1/2 an acre, so not enough for a riding mower but by hand it takes close to an hour..but I have time, I don't mind it). The Landscaping company is also fine with it, they said simply submit a list of homes for them not to touch and they will abide by it. My complaint is this: -I submitted officially to the community to have me taken off the list of lawns to be cut and it was confirmed. -When they started cutting the lawns a few weeks ago the guy who owns/runs the company showed up and I reminded him. -When the workers that trim came by, they saw me and asked if I was getting the lawn cut, and I told them, no, our house is on the list to be skipped. -I cut the lawn 2 days ago so it is OBVIOUS our lawn is shorter than both of our neighbors already. Yet 20 minutes after confirming to that guy on site AGAIN that we are to be skipped...., the guy on the mower is not only driving through the backyard cutting it, but there is another guy trimming and making a mess of everything he touches. It should not be this hard to get a company and its employees to actually do the most basic, simple things in their job.

To me its done by hopefully the top guys staying healthier and a better Power Play. -A healthy Tage (and him on a slightly better PP) gets you close to 50 (maybe more if everything goes right, 20 more) -Tuch COULD give you anywhere from 5-10 more than this past year. -Cozens hopefully can get back to 25 (5-10 more) -Peterka has a chance or progressing and giving you a handful more (another 2-5 more) -You get 10 more (give or take) more from a healthy Quinn. -5 more from Benson -The D-corp gives you 5-10 more than this past year. Of course if all that did happen it needs to offset (in my opinion) -5, maybe 10 less from Skinner. (I think he is about to hit that 'over 30 year old' wall, hope I'm wrong) -No Mitts (assuming his replacement is less productive) -Dahlin might give you more points, but less goals.