mjd1001

Some very, VERY early observations from the first week of the season: -Good thing I don't gamble. If I had to pick 3 teams I thought would take a step back this year, I would have picked Vegas, Boston, and Pittsburgh. They are a combined 7w-1L. Two teams I thought would fly out of the gate were Buffalo and Edmonton. So far a combined 0w-4L. -Elias Petterson has to be recognized soon as an NHL superstar. Probably my favorite player in the league to watch right now, he doesn't get the attention being on the west coast and in Canada the way he should. -Philly may not be awful this year. They won't be good, but their D-unit actually plays 'above average'. (without Risto in it) -Is Austin Matthews really the 60 goal scorer he was from 2 years ago and last year he nursed an injury? Or is he more of the 40 goal scorer he was last year? So far it looks like he is the 60 goal scorer and last year he was a bit injured and that held him back. -Toronto still lacks depth, but they are going to punish their top line to make up for it. Marner is averaging almost 24 minutes per game, as a forward. Matthew Knies is NOT going to be their savior this year (like you would think by listening to/reading some leaf fans) -Ottawa looks for real. The Rangers don't look presidents tropy worthy, but they are solid everywhere with few weaknesses. -Seth Jones used to be very good, then for some reason about 2 years ago he started to play awful, at both ends of the ice but in particular the D-Zone. He was on a bad Blackhawks team but you have to play some pretty bad hockey to be a -75 over 2 seasons. Well, I've watched 2 games of him this year and, again its early, but he looks really good to me (other than one awful giveaway I saw). Could be a big bounce back/comeback season for him.

Or as others have said a shot clock. From the moment you touch the puck at center ice, you get 5 or 6 seconds to shoot the puck. If you don't, its like the shot clock expiring in the NBA, you forfeit the attempt. A version of a 'reverse off sides'. I like it, or at least a variation of it.

Hopefully that changes. Last time I checked it said the rain should be ending right around kickoff, but as you said, windy during the game.

Yep, I thin it is a different game. Hitting isn't as important. Fighting doesn't happen hardly at all and you don't have to have a certain percentage of your roster devoted to it. 20 years ago hardly any teams employed any kind of trap. Lots of other subtle changes. I think it is a much different game. Look no further than coaches....Guys like Sutter, Keenan, Torts, and Mike Babcock either can't get jobs anymore of when they do they don't last long...yet guys like Granato and others that embrace analytics are more in fashion now. A guy like Patrice Bergeron in today's decade gets credit for knowing when to turn away from a hit, not finishing a check because it got him back in the play quicker. In the 1990's he'd be doing sprints in practice for not finishing a check. Guys are being taught and play the game in a different way than in the past.

You mentioned Reinhart...it goes without saying a lot of the 'scouting report' is the same between them. Lacks elite speed. Shot average to above average at best. kinda small. The differences? Reinhart has a bit more size and maybe a slightly better shot, but seemed (at least in the fans eye) to lack the grit/motor that Benson has.

I don't think it would matter much. The coaching staff and management probably wouldn't want older guys coming in talking about 'hockey' to this team...guys who played when the game was basically a different game. Plus, this management team/coaching staff/development staff has (and has had) former NHL guys on it who have 'kept up' with the game. As far as the 'culture' of the team/area/city, going to a Bills game and meeting guys like Josh Allen on the sideline probably means more to these guys than talking to Alumni that played when most of these guys weren't even alive.

What was his extension for? Something like $13.5m per year? THAT is the issue with him. He is average at best pass catching, "Good" at run blocking....that is not worth $13.5m per year on a team that is up against the cap.

I didn't hear that. Would I want a Superbowl in London personally? Not really, but I watch the game only on television so it wouldn't bother me that much. I'd rather have the superbowl there once or even once very few years...rather than having so many regular season games over there.

I just don't see that. I see someone who isn't a good two way player. I see someone who isn't that effective at winning board battles and is not tenacious on the forecheck. BUT, I rarely anymore see him make obvious errors where he causes goals against. I rarely see him not hustling in the offensive zone to prevent linemates chances (at least in the offensive zone). He's not a good two way player, I openly admit that. But a boat anchor that sucks down any line he plays on? Again, I'm not saying he is good, but you just don't see him make obvious mistakes that cost the team goals over and over and over, and he does put in some effort on the 'right' side of the blue line. My 'time killing' hobby regarding the Sabres is to watch almost all the goals allowed over the past year or two and see who made the mistake(s) that caused them. I don't often notice him being worse than anyone everyone else. Again, VO is not good... but he is not the turnover machine/zero effort player that some on this board make him out to be.

As good or as bad as you think VO is...when you sign Cozens to the extension you did, you can't have him disappear because one of his wingers isn't optimal. He's not a superstar getting paid $14m, but for $7m+ (and we want to think that is a bargain), you need to expect Cozens to be able to carry lesser teammates, not be brought down by them.

Can someone explain to me in detail, but simply, what xGf% is supposed to mean, AND how it is calcuated?

If you are going to promote the NFL in London, 1 or 2 games per season is enough. They are going overboard.

Yay! this is fun.

I had just looked at the game stats on NHL.com when you said that....no, not everyone...just 18% to 82% when I just checked.

Of all the options, which one doesn't belong? I'm not sure how Knies made the list. Listen to Toronto media and the fanbase and I guess you would think he's the next great NHL all-star power forward, but in the few games I saw him play I don't see it. Look at the measurables too...Late 2nd round pick, total of 11 games played, 1 goal and 4 assists so far (with some of that ice time being with Torontos top lines/players last year), and pretty much limited to 12.5-13 minutes of ice time per game. I mean, maybe he will turn out to be good, but the hype train about him out of Toronto is a bit out of control.

Seems like you are having a similar experience with MSG Plus as I did with Spectrum trying to find out how to upgrade to get MSG.

I don't know if it is a 'superstition' or not, but sometimes when I watch the Bills play, especially if there is a delay on the channel I am watching (like last week's game from London, there seemed to be a 10-15 second delay).... If the game isn't going well, I'll have on my laptop or computer the game doing the live tracking (like the game app on cbssportsline, for example). They tend to update the play before you see it on tv. When the game is close or there is a critical play, I refresh my browser every 5 seconds because I like to read the result of the play a few seconds before I actually see it.

I didn't have and don't have much of a problem with Granato, except sometime on his usage. As I mentioned in another post, Dahlin having almost 26 minute of ice time is just too much for a game that you aren't in. Especially when you consider he was nicked up and worn down a bit at the end of last year, AND the rest of your D-men were at full strength and no one was injured.

The Rangers are a good team. Power is still young and is going to have ups and downs. Thompson is a scorer, he might not show up for a few games and then put in a hat trick. After sleeping on the loss, the one thing I might take from that game is Okposo. I really REALLY think he might have had the worst game I have ever seen him have. Is it just one bad game? Hopefully. Over the last few years since he missed time with his injury, I have not said much negative about him. I found myself defending him often on here. His numbers were very good as a fill in on the 2nd PP unit. His production per 60 was pretty good for a 3rd liner. He rarely made mistakes. But last night he didn't do much well and he made key mistakes on a few Ranger goals. I have been pretty critical of Krebs over the last year and didn't want him on that line with KO and Girgs, but honestly he was fine last night. He played well. Girgensons also had the type of game you want from him. Krebs and Girgs can be on that 4th line all the time from how they looked last night, but I thought Okposo brought things crashing down for them. Again, its one game. EVERYONE is entitled to a few bad games. But after last nights performance, I'll be watching if this might be the 'one too many years' year for him. On a slightly different note, you shouldn't have Dahlin at almost 26 minutes of ice time, last year he tailed off by the end of the year it seems as a result of some nagging injuries and just wearing down. If you are protecting a one goal lead, or down by 1 or maybe 2 and trying to come back use him up....but no reason when you were outgunned the whole game and down by 3 late to be putting him through the grinder when, if you want to make the playoffs, you will need him somewhat fresh and healthy.

Not the whole board, but I have followed gameday threads for the Leafs, Patriots, Bills and Sabres of course, and Bruins. And all of them have the same emotional/irrational at times reaction in them, much more than the other threads on the sites.

This is a message board. This thread is about the game being played. When they are getting drastically outplayed, outshot, and outscored, THAT is going to be the reaction because that is what we can react to. A bit more sanity (a bit) can be found in the other threads...but if you are looking for people to not react emotionally in a gameday thread, you are looking in the wrong place. This isn't a Sabres forum issue either, it happens to every team, every fanbase in their gameday thread.

Okposo is really having a bad night. First goal against he could have been back and covered the wing but he either was gassed or just slow to get back. 2nd goal it was him being WAY too aggressive that caused the bad shift in the PP D that led to a goal. 3rd goal, he wasn't the one that lost the loose puck on the boards (was that Power?), but he had a chance to control it a second or two later and he fumbled it a bit...goal scored 2 seconds later.

Some 'kinda' breakdowns on both goals allowed. First goal, Jokiharju played the center of the ice when his D-partner was already there, leaving Lafrieniere uncovered. Now, was that Jokiharju's mistake? or with no trailer on that side should Okposo skated a bit harder to cover that side? Either way, looks like 'kinda' a breakdown/bad decision by Jokiharju or Okposo not getting back quick enough. 2nd goal: They just lost positioning on the PK. Johnson was a bit sloppy with the puck about 10 seconds before the goal. Krebs should have covered/pressured Kreider to prevent that goal, but why didn't he? Okposo looks like he got WAY too aggressive and went out to far to try to play the pass/puck when there really wasn't a chance to do so....Okposo took himself so far out of position that Krebs had to shade toward the center of the ice to cover as much area as he could until Okposo got back into position. Johnson then moves 'up' to cover Krebs spot. By the time Okposo gets back into the zone facing the right way, now you have Okposo, Krebs and Johnson all standing still with no one to pressure the shooter. First goal looked to be possibly on Jokiharju, with him getting a pass if he thought Okposo would be back and he didn't make it. The PP goal allowed started with Johnson not getting a loose puck out, was compounded by an over-agressive play by Okposo that didn't need to happen at that point. Not a good looking 20 minutes for Okposo.

Its good of course. When you make THAT much money though, you can build/buy a house to live in during the season, and still have another house/place to call 'home' during the offseason.

Agee. To be a good, playoff team, you need to have good players, with a bulk of them in their prime. To be a GREAT team, one that is top 10 year after year and a cup contender, you really want to have at least a few of your top players on team friendly deals. Colorodo is a good example. Toronto is the example of a good team, a VERY good eam that hasn't gotten all the way yet, in large part because they have problems filling out the bottom of their roster because they don't really have team friendly deals at the top of their roster. They don't have any Busts which mean they will be very good, but greateness they haven't acheived because they aren't getting deals. Sure, those guys are now entering their prime sothere is a chance they get a cup, but they should have done more than they have to this point. So the Sabres....Dahlin is not a bargain but its likely not to be a 'bust' deal. But Tage is a bargain (so far) and Cozens and Power are projecting to be team friendly deals. That is why this might be looking good for the Sabres. Its not really about how much you are paying them when they sign the deals...look at the mid way point of the deal...how much percentage of the cap these guys will be getting in years 3, 4, or 5 of the deals comared to how good they are at that point.