mjd1001

I don't want Kane. I don't like Kane. I think he is a one dimensional player. I think he is in Decline. Any icetime he gets here I would rather see given to the young guys. I'm fearful any money given to him could be better spent on resigning some of the young guys in the next couple years. There is no world that I want him at all anywhere near this team....BUT....overall I do like what Kevyn Adams has done and I have no problem admitting he has much more info on Kane and his injury status and how he would fit in on this team. If Buffalo signs him I will not be happy, but I will think/hope it will work out in some way other than a P.R. move.

I agree with you. With Cozens my biggest complaint is he doesn't know when to pull back on being aggressive. He is always chasing the puck, and when you are a center and you vacate your zone in coverage, you are leaving a big gaping hole in the center of the ice for the other team in prime scoring position. Plus as you said, he is good on the wall and likes to go there. To me he would be a good winger, and right now his defensive zone coverage is pretty bad at center, It could be a win-win moving him to wing.

I fell out of love with the Bills a few years ago, right about the time they got Josh Allen. No one single reason, I have gone over the reasons before but for now, yes I watch the NFL, and yes the Bills are my favorite team....but no longer are they #1 over the sabres and pretty much all other sports combined. If I watch a game, great, if I miss a game, oh well, and that switch just turned that way for me 2-3 years ago. With that said, it makes a season like this so much easier to take. Again, I want them to win, but when they lose, I'm 'somewhat' upset after the game for a few minutes...then I forget about it till the next week. Maybe they will miss the playoffs....or maybe they will get hot and turn it around and be a SB favorite by the time the playoffs start. Not thinking about it and listening to people talk about it and post about it everyday though makes.....well...being a 'casual' fan so much more fun.

How is Columbus lower than the Sabres. Bigger city, I have been to the Arena and I'm not sure how old it is but it is a really nice arena. The district around the arena is great. They probably have had better attendence than the Sabres in recent years. And the last data I saw their ticket prices are low, but still a little higher thant he Sabres.

Not quite at the 20 game mark where a lot of people start to make judgements about teams more definitively, but a month in so some things are noticable: -Is San Jose the worst team in the modern NHL era? Possibly the worst team in major NA professional sports in the last 50 years? They are 'on pace' for 20 points for the year, and that is AFTER getting their first win last night. -Boston, NYR, and Vegas are near the top of the league. Are they the most talented teams in the league? maybe not, but one thing they all do have is a large number of their important players (ice time leader, especially on the back end) at the age where they are in the prime of their careers (a lot of experience, but yet not 'over the hill' old) When you are 'ready to win', maybe a lot of us under-rate the value of brining in quality (not stars but not journeymen) forward in their late 20's or D-men in their late 20's to early 30's. -Ottawa started out hot but now has lost 4 of their last 5. Is the front office turmoil impacting the team on the ice? They should be better than what they are showing recently. -Washington is the opposite of Ottawa, started out looking 'done' but now has won 4 of their last 5. With 3 of those games including 1 goal wins over Columbus and Minnesota, and a 2 goal win over San Jose, I'm not sure I'm believing in the yet. And Ovi with 2 goals in 10 games isn't going to cut it in terms of record chasing. -Edmonton...Stanley cup or Bust this year right? Some betting sites had them as a top-4 favorite to win the cup before the year started. Well, 2w and 9L with the worst goal differential next to San Jose...something gotta change there right? McDavid missed 2 games, but that doesn't excuse the way that team is playing. -Austin Matthews with 13 goals in 12 games so far, 70 possible or likely this year? He has 40 goals last year playing with a couple of nagging injuries. Last time he was healthy 2 seasons ago he had 60 goals in 73 games. That year he scored 0.822 goals per game. If he plays the rest of this year scoring at the same goals per game he did in 21-22, he would end up with 71. -Teuvo Teravainen. 8 goals and just 1 assist. If you are good enough to be on the ice for 8 goals for, don't you have more than 1 assist just by accident even? -The Kings look for real. Just 7 wins so far puts the tied for 6th-10th in the league, but they just seem solid top to bottom. Kinda playing like a Western Conference version of the 'Bruins lite'. Not exactly the same style of play as boston, but just solid all around/few weaknesses, roll guys out there with no real susperstars anymore but the job gets done. Do we have a slight uptick in fighting this year? I can't find the exact numbers, but last year there were only 4 players with over 5 major penalties (of any kind) the whole year, and 14 guys averaged more than 1 penalty minute per game. This year there are 4 guys with 3 fights through one month, and in terms of total PM's 41 guys are averaging over 1 penalty minute per game. 2 match penalties this year through one month...last year there were a total of 3 for the entire year. So maybe fighting, maybe just a lot more 'chippy' play.

Defensively, the Sabres played pretty well last night when looking back at some replays of the game, not really costly mistakes: -First Car Goal: PP goal, Greenway and Johnson got tied up behind the net. MAYBE you would like Greenway to not go back so deep, but those things happen right after the puck is sent into the zone. Basically, Greenway doesn't go so deep, him and Johnson don't collide and he ends up getting closer to the shooter and the goal isn't likely scored. More bad luck than bad positioning. -Second Car Goal: No major mistakes here either. Just very good puck movement by Carolina Everyone on the Sabres D that vacates a zone does so to help cover a neighboring zone/player. -OT game winner: Would have liked Power to been back covering his guy a bit quicker but those guys looked like they had nothing left.

I agree with you for the most part. In the Sabres losses, overall it has been equal parts goaltending, Defense, and not scoring at a rate this team should. I mean, it would be great if they could be better, but the goalie in net on any given night isn't always single-handedly sinking this team....at least as much as it seemed last year.

Another topic we all have pretty diverse opinions on. Something changed with me about 3-4 years ago...over the course of a few months, I just kinda became "OK" with no fighting. Sure, if there is a fight in a game I'm going to watch it, but if there were zero fights in the NHL, I don't think I'd miss it at all. If only NHL player safety had enough guts (and the union allowed them) to make harsh penalties for the stuff that should not go on in the game, there wouldn't really be reason for it.

Found this just up on Twitter. Great news they found a way to clone Tuch and now we can have 2 of him out there at the same time. And....2 minutes later they just corrected it.

Toronto has the exact same record now as they did after 11 games last year. The difference is last year they started slow because Matthews wasn't scoring. This year the problems seem a bit more 'structural' as their backend just is really bad. Morgan Rielly is good (but not great). Klingberg is a disaster with almost anything he does from the redline back. Brodie is a decent guy who is good enough to play about 18 minutes but he is up to 21 minutes because they have no other options. Giordano was old 2 years ago and continues to play like it....and they aren't getting anything positive out of Jake McCabe They really miss Holl and Sandin. They took the money they could have paid them and gave Bertuzzi $5.5m (3 points in 11 games) and Max Domi $3m (0 goals, 4 assists in 11 games.) They can still turn it around and get hot, but I think this is a worse team than last years team, despite Matthews, Marner, and Nylander all entering the prime of their careers.

12 games in now...team is back to .500. Plus 1 on a goal differential. Losing record at home, winning record on the road. Some things have changed since last year, a lot hasn't. Thompson is back on track. Skinner has been what you expect/need from him all season so far. Mittlestadt is the good version from the end of last season and is taking it another step forward. Greenway only has 2 goals (on pace for only about 12 or so) but he seems a much better player than he was when here last year. Peterka seems to have taken that step forward also. Thats the good that many of us see. The bad? Dahlin. Mostly good games, putting up points, a bad game here and there. He's playing like a top 20 D-man in the league but many of us thought he would take another step this year and play like a top 5 D-man. Haven't quite seen that yet. Power, some good games, some bad games. Samuelsson just can't seem to stay healthy. Up front Cozens isn't playing awful, but he hasn't taken another step forward. Many games he hasn't been noticable on the ice. Okposo really really looks done. Your 4th line will not win you a cup by itself, but it can be the difference in some one goal games and he really is making what could be a decent 4th line into a bad one. His forechecking isn't good anymore and he is a step behind most loose pucks on the boards. Krebs has taken a step back again. So far I don't think this team needs drastic changes to get into solid playoff contention. Cozens, Dahlin, and Tuch need to take a 'half step' to find last years pace, Samuelsson needs to get back and healthy, and they have to find a way to get Okposo some time off the ice and someone younger/quicker into that spot. Krebs, we can have some patience with him, but if he doesn't show something in the next month he will be next after Okposo.

A couple thoughts and ideas that some here may know the answer to that I do not, mostly for next year. -Von Miller supposedly COULD have been activated earlier in the year but he wasn't. We are not more than half way though the season and he still doesn't look like he is making an impact. Maybe that will come, or maybe the age/mileage PLUS recovering from a big time injury make him not worth the $17m anymore. Can the Bills move on from him next year without a major cap hit penalty? -Dawson Knox, same as above, can he be moved on from? Hes not a bad player I don't think but not worth what he is getting paid, especially with Kincaid emerging. If he was making half what he was he would be a good TE2, but his money can probably be better spent elsewhere. -Tre White. Looking for more savings...if he misses next year, can he be put on some kind of cap-relief IR to save the cap space money? This team has holes to fill and place to upgrade. If the above players aren't worth what they are getting paid, can anything be done about them/their cap in the offseason to free up more money to spend elsewhere?

I agree with that. I personally don't care and don't need a designated fighter, but take a look at some of the Leafs forums now...it seems a large number of fans think the solution to the leaf's problems is a lot more toughness, and to many/most of them that means more fighting, more cheap shots, making the other team fear guys like Reaves.

I'm good with waiting a bit on him. Let him really dominate the AHL for more than a couple weeks this year. If a first or 2nd liner for the Sabres goes down then sure, plug him in.

Not doing as well as he did, and he is getting older. Too much money. 23 goals in his last 91 games. He had that one 100+ point season with Calgary when he turned 28 years old, but for the rest of his career he averages in the mid 20's for goals per 82 and as mentioned by others, hes over 30 and that is when guys typically start losing production. I have ZERO interest in taking on that guy when you have to pay him almost $10m per season for 6 more years when he already looks like his production is falling. He's not worth close to $10m now already, every year that contract will get worse. My personal opinion of him always has been he is more exciting to watch than an actual good 'all around' player. Any money you spend on him I think you can give to Mitts and/or Quinn/Peterka in the future to secure them long term, and they are going to be better hockey players for this team over the next 5-6 years. Trade for him at nearly $10m, and those guys become a lot harder to sign.

On a side note, why is CBC still standard Def on Spectrum? For those in norther Niagara county (Lewiston, youngstown, Wilson, Ransomville, Olcott...etc.....you can use one of those cheap HD antennas on your TV and get the high-def feed of HNIC out of toronto. With no compression it looks SO much better than any High Def that spectrum offers.

The home-away record is bafflilng. Last year they played at a 106 point team on the road, a 76 point team at home. This year this game puts them below .500 at home again (its early, but a 70 point pace at home). FYI, league average home/away record not counting the Sabres is about a 96 point pace at home, 83 point pace at home...this season. So yes, teams DO play much better at home than away...but the Sabres continue to not be able to do so.

On a note not totally related to this game....the reason you need to have patience with some young players. Travis Konecny. He was a late first rounder, not an elite pick. He's been a good player from the time he got in the league, but not a star. Through is first 6 seasons in the league, he was a 15-16 minute guy. 110 goals in 428 games (about a 20-21 goal guy). Good player, good offensively, but not even close to great or a star. Now last year he starts the season at age 25, and since then he has scored 40 goals in his lasat 71 games ( over 46 goals per 82 games). He was always a decent guy, but starting when he turned 25, he as basically more than doubled his scoring rate for the past season and so far this year.

Yeah, worst game of the year by far. Shots on goal don't show the picture of how bad this game was. Bad D-play, a ton of breakdowns, not much control of the puck in the offensive zone. No one stood out in a positive way. Just a bad, bad game. Hope this means nothing in terms of how good the team is, put it away, forget about it, pretend it didn't exist. Worst game of the year.

How about this one to think about.... Boston is 77-17-6 in their last 100 games. San Jose is 3-17-3 in their last 23 games. Boston has as many regulation losses in their last 100 games spanning parts of 3 different seasons as San Jose has in their last 23, the number of games you normally pay in 2.5 months.

As per my original post, I mostly agree. I said he is 'shot'. I'd like to see someone like Biro, or Rousek, take his role on the ice (whoever would be best on that 4th line.) With that said I don't think he is totally sinking this team. Look at what Toronto fans are talking about Ryan Reaves, now he appears to be "SHOT/Done" He looks like a bad/slow college player trying to keep up in the NHL where it is obvious he can't really do anything other than harm his 4 teammates out there. I don't think Okposo is at that level, I just think now a faster, hungry young guy might be a better option for the Sabres.

Not much at this point. I do not want to root for Okposo to do poorly, but if we go another month or two and his play is the same, or worse, I have to imagine at some point they may consider a change, even if it is just giving him a few more 'veteran rest days off'.

I'd like to see the captain take a seat for a few games and see someone like Rousek replace him in that 4th line role.

2 games in the next 2 days. You want more people at the games, winning the next 2 might be a big step to getting there. Will it ensure sellouts? Nope, but it would put this team: 1.) on a 4 game winning streak. 2.) probably within a point or two of 2nd in the division 3.) equal to or ahead of the hate Maple Leafs in the standings. 4.) probably a top 10 team in the league standings 5.) probably top 10, or better, in goal differential. So this fanbase is going to need a lot more than that to get to a sellout streak. But if the Sabres just win 2 games in 2 nights, the way the fanbase views this team might be better than it has....well, in years.

At least the Sabres ECHL affiliate is doing well filling the Arena...