mjd1001

Fletcher being out is a good thing, but they have to change their whole organizational philosophy. If you get rid of the GM but ownership/scouting/other management doesn't do a 360 on how they want to build a team, it won't change much.

Maybe he is getting better. I posted in another thread about Cozens, that Cozens is the bigger issue. Quinn, through the entire year, I have noticed a lot. Again, maybe he is getting better, I 'casually' watch the Sabres games (probably see 50-60% of the entire game) but I do focus on the goals allowed. Either way, as he gains experience and hopefully a little size, he will be better on loose pucks because, over the entire year, he has cost the Sabres goals. The low hanging fruit is Cozens and Tage though. If they could get even to 'average' in terms of D-zone coverage, that would be a big impact for the team.

He loses a lot of puck battles on the boards. Again, I have not watched every single minute of every sabres games, but in the D-zone when I watch replays of goals allowed, a lot of times (A few goals a month it seems), I post on this board that the puck was on the boards with Quinn and a player from the other team, Quinn loses the battle and the puck goes out to the eventual goal scorer. Maybe his positioning is better than Peterka or Cozens, but Quinn does lose a lot of costly battles.

Everyone seems to want to think a D-man would have made the difference. I STILL see the D-zone coverage by the Forwards as the biggest issue this team has when allowing goals. I am not a coach, never played anything close to high level hockey, but I see D-men, even the 3rd pair guys, doing "OK" with their coverage. I do NOT see forwards holding their position in the D-zone though. When a D-man goes to the boards, I often don't see a Forward drop down into coverage. I see forwards vacting their spot to chase pucks when D-men are already there. The D-men aren't perfect, but it is often the forwards, the Forward most of us LIKE (Tage, Cozens, the young guys like Quinn and Petera) who are a bigger issue. A trade for a D-man isn't going to fix that. Experience will. Those guys getting older will. Those guys WANTING to watch video and put the mental work in will. But that will take time.

Dylan Cozens. He is worth his new contract. He looks like he can be a regular 30 goal scorer. He has a great attitude. He will forecheck and hit. He is very likeable. But we shouldn't confuse wanting to hit people and being aggressive on the forecheck with being a good 2 way player. More often than not, he is bad, and I mean BAD with D-zone coverage. If I wanted to really rub people the wrong way, I'd say his D-zone coverage and his D-zone "IQ" is the foward equivilant of what Risto is/was. Cozens can still learn and grow, but this offseason the coaches need to flood him with videos of his own play and someone like Bergeron and have him improve that part of his game. I have watched replays of goals allowed most of this season and posted about a lot of them. Often times, it is Cozens that is over-aggressive in his own zone and leaves spots open where the goals are scored from. He either has no idea who his guy is most of the time, or just can't control his urge to chase the puck. Patrice Bergeron is the gold standard for Defensive forwards. He is almost always in position. He doesn't leave his spot to chase a hit. He will often times give up a big hit for a much smaller one if it means he can stay on his feet and get back into the play. I have seen him often times use his stick instead of making a hit, again so he can get back into the play that .5 seconds faster. Cozens is the opposite of that. AGAIN, Cozens is having a good year and he is definitley a key to this team winning going forward, but he has a LOT Of work to do without the puck in the neutral zone or his own zone without the puck. Almost every other forward on this team has better positioning than he does. Its not just one game, it is most games.

This is an older article (about 1.5 years old) but it brought up some of the issues we are talking about here: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/21/sports-fans-are-being-sidelined-as-rsns-fight-the-decay-of-pay-tv.html Some highlights: Comcast stopped carrying Altitude Sports, the regional network that owns broadcast rights for both teams, because the two sides couldn’t reach a carriage agreement. Comcast said at the time that more than 95% of its customers watched the equivalent of less than one game per week.“My friends and family used to be so passionate, but now that you can’t watch, you’re not as in tune with what’s going on,” Wieger said. “You’re not as excited. You’re not as engaged.” Comcast wants to sell its RSNs. Comcast shut down its NBC Sports Northwest RSN on Sept. 30, after losing the broadcast rights to air games from the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. AT&T considered selling theirs before agreeing to merge WarnerMedia with Discovery earlier this year. There’s also the future of fandom. If fewer people are exposed to local sports because they’re no longer available on their bundle and consumers can’t find them outside of pay-TV, younger audiences may have little interest in going to games or buying hats and jerseys. Warning signs are already present. Research shows that younger Americans are far less likely than their parents to watch live sports. “Forget the actual teams and regional sports networks, it’s not going to be good for the sport or the leagues,” said Michael Schreiber, CEO of Playfly Sports, a sports marketing and media company. “The trick is maintaining high exposure of live games across the U.S. at the same time as creating new, innovative ways to access the content.” The biggest obstacle for a streaming service is affordability. Based on contracts with pay-TV operators, Sinclair would be forced to charge much more for a direct-to-consumer product than the amount that Comcast, DirecTV and Dish pay the company. One industry insider told CNBC the typical rate for a consumer would be five times higher. Last month, Comcast dropped MSG Network from its Xfinity channel lineup, claiming that viewership was “virtually non-existent.”“We don’t believe that our customers should have to pay the millions of dollars in fees that MSG is demanding for some of the most expensive sports content in the country with extremely low viewership in our markets,” Comcast said in a statement. “Almost 95% of all customers who received MSG over the past year did not watch more than 10 of the approximately 240 games it broadcast.”

Except the post I reacted was about where the Sabres would be in the standings if they didn't have their 8 game losing streak. So the very nature of what that post was about is where they would be relative to OTHER TEAMS. And by the way, that 8 game losing streak was against 'other teams', whether they make the playoffs or not is dependant on 'other teams'. The logic of saying what if the Sabres did this or didn't do that only matters if you recognize the existence of other teams. The Sabres playing in a 'league of one team', wouldn't be very exciting for many of us...and in all honesty, would make for a very boring message board.

But then what would happen if Pittsburgh also didn't have their 7 game losing streak and a seperate 6 game streak? Ottawa had a 7 game losing streak also. Washington and the Islanders also had a 6 game losing streak, Detroit a 6 game losing streak twice. I guess my point is a loss is a loss, the order doesn't matter. And if it DOES matter the order (a streak can compound itself), then the same thing applies to other teams. If instead of a losing streak, you 'give' the Sabres half the available points, then do the same with the other teams around you with their multi-week streaks, and you end up in about the same place in the standings.

My thoughts have only changed slightly. This team gets hot and cold, a 2-3 game win streak will get them right back into it, and if you can get back into it, you are never out. As of January when we started talking about this more, I thought they could make it but I put the odds at less than 50% then. 3 months later I'm still at the same place. After the last 2 games is it less likely? Yes, but its still possible. Its why they play the games and why we watch the games.

No. Tage had a 'career' year last year, so that would have applied now. Cozens and Dahlin are young and of an age where they are still developing. Skinner has been 'consistent' under any coach other than Krueger. Tuch and Mitts, can they 'backslide'? sure, but I don't think that woudl have a huge impact on the team because I dont' think they will fall down that far. Improvement in Cozens and Dahlin, (especially Cozens D-zone play), improvement in Quinn, Power, and Peterka....should MORE than offset any 'backsliding off of a career year'. Statistically, maybe Cozens and Dahlin will backslide, maybe they won't. But they bott (along with Paterka and Quinn) should get better in other parts of their game. Dahlin has been really solid this year, but Quinn, Peterka, Powers and Cozens all have had issues in their own end or when defending that they can get better with as they get more experience. So even if they get worse statistically (which isn't a sure thing) you would think their overall game should get better.

From what I read about him, and the little I have seen so far, this may be true. He can be a regular on the team on a lower line and have a role against certain teams, but I have to still be convniced he can be a 15+ minute player every night and be effective.

Plus Dahlin didn't look exactly 100% to me last game. Hopefull he'll be back to 100% tonight, but if you have less than a 100% Dahlin, no Stillman or Sameulsson....could be a long night on the back end.

I just tuned into it....down 3-0 now in the second...but being outshot 21 to 4 with a little bit left in the 2nd? How does a team as good as Tampa get outshot that badly?

I've been like that with most sports. And its not like I want to, I don't have alterior motives. As I kid I watched the NBA quite a bit, and enjoyed it. I dont' have anything against the league against how they run things, against the players 'lifestyle' or anything like that. But on occastion (once a month) I put a game on TV to try to watch it and I am just SO BORED! There is zero to make me interested in what I am watching and I'm not sure why. With Baseball its even worse if that is possible. Yankees or Red Sox games, pretty much anything on YES, if I was home, the game would be on TV. I probably had my TV on a regular season game over 100 times a year, and I spent a good amount of time intently watching it. Now? I pretty much watch zero games. Just like the NBA, on occasion I'll put the game and and I usually last less than half an inning before I change it. But the NFL and the Bills. There is no way I'm not going to watch the games, right? From the time I was 8-9 years old I wouldn't miss a single Bills game, and I never will. Well....in the past 5 years, I have been watching the games less. This past season, I probably watched less than 50% of all Bills games, and even less of the rest of the NFL. I always loved football, I make the effort to put the games on, but a little bit into the games, I just don't care much anymore. I don't know why, I want to care, but I don't as much as before. Hockey/Sabres have actaully leap-frogged the Bills from my #2 favorite sport to my #1 favorite. But even with that, I probably have gone from watching 100% of the Sabres games I was available for to 60-70%. The rest of the NHL, if NOTHING else is on I'll put a game on to watch a bit, kinda as 'background noise'. Its not really a case of getting older and not having time. It's not a case of finding better things to watch. I have the time to watch games. I WANT to WANT to watch them. Just my overall interest has faded, and still is. Can't quite figure out exactly why.

I agree 100%. Girgensonss plays the 4th line role really well, and as bad as the Sabres penalty killing is, when you watch the goals they allow on the PK, it rarely is his fault. I mentioned this in a previous post, but it agrees the Sabres are 'exposing' some of the younger guys to PK to either see how they do with it, or to give them experiene with it. They make mistakes. Zemgus rarely does when he is out there. I'm not a huge beleiver that stats tell the entire story with PK, because one person who is not you can cause a goal when you did nothing wrong, but if you even try to find stats to back this up, Zemgus has the best goals allowed per 60 on the PK of any forward on this team this year. Hes hard to play against, he is good at penalty killing, and while you can't count on him for offense, his production with relation to his ice time is at least equal to a typical 4th liner around the league. Okposo I like, but it does appear that he is slowing down quite a bit this year. I don't want to force him out, but I think by next year, a younger guy could take his place and give you a bit more production than Klye at this point.

Detroit to me doesn't have enough in the pipeline or enough assets to become a 'great team'. -Larkin is a very good player. But he has 23 goals this year and the most he ever had in a year was 32 goals and 79 points. Good player, VERY good all around player, but no where near a true star that can carry the load offensively. And his extension is paying him $8.7million. -Lucas Raymond is the 'start of the future' here. He has shown flashes where he looks great, but they are flashes. This year? 15 goals and 18 assists. -No other forward on the team under 25 now has over 30 points on the season. Not exactly stocked with young guys on the way up. -Seider is their hope on the blue line. 6th overall pick and he looks good. Good, not great. But again, besides him there is no one else under 25 on the blue line that is a regular top 6 guy. -Husso is 'good enough' net, but again not great. -Their top 2 remaining prospects are Edvinsson on the back end, who report say he is struggling in grand rapids having a very hard time adjusting to the 'north american' game, and Kasper, their first round pick last year that some people thought was picked higher than he should have been and might be a season or two away from even making the NHL roster. I'm not saying Detroit is bad. They have some young talent, just not enough there and on the way to justify a beleif that they are a year or two away from being a serious contender. I don't see it.

Maybe its a case of them coasting. Think about it, this team has been in the playoffs so often for so many years, does the regular season matter much for them, especially when there are 20 games left and they are pretty secure in their position? They are pretty much locked into their postion. More than any other team they know the rest of the season matters very little compared to the playoffs. I'm not saying they are mailing the last quarter of the season in totally, but I woudn't be surprised if that is partly true.

They fought last year i think when stillman was on Vancouver. Not much of a fight, mostly a wrestling match. stillman did much better then.

Connor Bedard is going to be interesting for me to watch. Is he a better prospect than McDavid? It appears not, but for the reasons why is exactly why I want to watch him. With McDavid, it was all about the skill that stood out, mostly the speed. Bedard? He's not that big. He's listed at 5'10" but looking at him that may be true or it may be generous by an inch. Hes not a bad skater, but he's not going to blow by people like McDavid does (not even close). He seems to put the puck where he needs to because it goes in the net, but he doesn't have that signature shot, the Ovechkin/Stamkos power one timer. When you watch him skate, watch him shoot, watch his size, he seems like a very good prospect....but the results are just so much better than that. Watching him integrate into the NHL will be fun for sure.

I'm going to agree goaltending is part of it, but I think there is something else that is a bigger issue that has a couple parts. This team does not always play their best penalty killers. If they did you would just get a steady flow of Girgensons and Okposo and maybe Jost up front. If one of them are in the box then you work someone else out there but not that often. The Sabres currently use Thompson, Krebs, Mitts, Cozens and even Quinn are getting PK time. Right now, none of them are really good at PK. Yes, even Cozens isn't that good on the PK. I don't actually mind Thompson out there because of his size/reach, but compared to the Vets, he gets out of position alot (not as much as Cozens, but he's still learning I guess) So what is my point and why do I bring this up? The coaching staff is not trying to sabotage the PK, but they are still worried about development, getting guys out there in all situations so they are at least exposed to it. If you watch the replays, a lot of the PK goals allowed are when the positioning breaks down, or the guys out there dont' really know what their teammates are doing and fail to cover the right way. I'm hoping next year the number of players getting ice time will narrow a bit. Cozens can be/is a good two way player, but as of now he isn't that good on PK, he is too aggressive and chases the puck too much and gets out of position. Mitts, Krebs, and Thompson aren't much better. Power and Dahlin have a skill set that will make them good on PK, but I would rather they rest on PK and just get the other guys experience and hammer home to them to stay in their position. Again, I don't think it is coaching, I think it is the rotation and 'development of players' philosophy, and I'm hoping/thinking it gets better next year.

As of this very moment, in terms of Points percentage (which is what matters until the season is done), the Sabres are in a playoff spot. If they win today, they will be in that same playoff spot. If they lose and Ottawa and the Islanders both win, they will only be a fraction percentage out of that last spot. Trade deadline is over, some liked what they did, many think it wasn't enough. What is true is...the next week or two have a lot of tough games but if this team is good enough, they will do well and come out of it on the right side of things.

A 7th hardly ever turns into anything when you use it in the draft. But it can be valuable in the offseason or trade deadline when you want a player that CAN contribute and the other team wants 'just something extra'.

B+. I could go to an A though. I'm someplace in between there. Why? I think you are going to get a lot more options in the offseason when the teams who were bidding for guys now might have to be dumping guys in the offseason. A different selection of players might be available, but I think a much larger selection will be there. I want my assets available for moves at that time. Plus, its going to be a lot easier to integrate a new guy into the team when you have the offseason and training camp to do so, rather than throwing him in now. Finally, Yes, I would LOVE for this team to get a 2nd pair quality D-man now, but I didnt expect it, and other than that I am more than happy with the current young team getting experience together to fail or succeed the rest of the season.

Take out this year with the bad numbers and annualize the previous 3 seasons over 82 games and you get: 82games, 10 goals, 28 assists, 76 Pms, 14:47 minutes per game Obviously with his lack of production this year, if you averaged that in the production numbers would be a bit lower.

Not sure if it has been posted yet, but for anyone interested, the videos of all the fights he has been in: https://www.hockeyfights.com/players/22528 He sure is big and is willing to go at it, but he doesn't seem to do that well all the time.