mjd1001

I guess my thinking is.. I don't think he's thinking too much. I think he was a bad all-around hockey player before this year as well as every year of his career and that hasn't changed. He scored 31 goals one year... He still wasn't a well-rounded player. He still played poorly defensively. The difference was for one single year of his career, His shooting percentage, for whatever reason, was above his career average.He's reverted to what he is. And that is a 10% shooter, not a 15% shooter. The number of shots he takes, the location of the shots he takes, how often he distributes the puck to his teammates, the defensive mistakes that he makes, it's all the same as it's ever been. When you look back at his 31 goal year, he still made terrible defensive plays. Then. He still was a non-factor on the power play. He still didn't score any game-winning goals, he wasn't a difference maker. He just has NEVER thought the game well, he's always been in that negative player for his line mates, even in his 31 goal season. We still see a game after game that he actually looks directly at the puck and he has no sense of what's going on around him. He has taken out one of his teammates now in three of the past five games that I've seen. Just because he doesn't even look where he's skating and He runs over them.

So 15 points and 18 games... Honestly not really all that different of a pace that they were doing before he went there. If anything... He told the team that nothing is going to change... And he was right... Nothing changed... In terms of the results as well as who's in the room.

Interesting that Buffalo is the 2nd best team at scoring in the first period. They have 52 first period goals, only Washington has more. They also have scored the first goal of the game more than anyone except for Columbus, 30 times. On the other hand, no team in the league has allowed more goals in the 2nd and 3rd combined than Buffalo. Sabres Goal differential: 1st period: +17, 2nd period -16 , 3rd period -19

I'm on his side. I think this starts at the top and that is with Pegula. I think everything runs though him, and reading between a lot of lines Pegula has more input into this mess than many other owners. Again, I'm not defending Adams, but to me its more on Pegula than anyone.

I have no idea why but after they missed the EN, I had a feeling the Sabres were giong to tie it up. Silly.

Kulich is playing better now than earlier in the year and the reason why is something I don't usually attribute much too...confidence. His few games in the past or earlier this year, he was out there but wasn't so quick to shoot, he was deferring to line-mates more, wasn't as aggressive. Now it looks like he 'feels' like he belongs more. He is quicker to take a good shot. Hopefully that translates to his game continuing to improve.

And in that time Winnipeg only had 1 single top 5 pick (Leine), not 2 #1's and 2 #2's like the Sabres. And yeah, they have a great goalie, but they aren't doing it just on their goaltending. They are the #1 scoring team in the league right now.

Ok, after watching the replay of that last Edmonton Goal.... I do not think it was on Power and Samuelsson at all, they were where they should be. The reason that goal was scored as Reimer having hims arm and stick pinned against the near post and not being able to get over. He gets over, that isn't a goal. Cozens pinned the Edmonton player into Reimer, maybe he should have realized he was impeding his own goalie (he didn't hit him, he held him there against Reimer). So dumb/un-aware play there by Cozens that helped contribute to a goal against......But other than that, he has played pretty well positionally from what I can tell.

I think Cozens is actually having a pretty good game. Well, good for him at least. Outside of taking out Samuelsson early in the game, hes coming back on defense but staying (mostly) in the center of the ice, and he is going to the net in the offensive zone.

I don't know how much I want to blame the Defense there. There are times you want to take the body, times you want to play the position. They were in correct position with their sticks free, and that goal probably wouldn't have been scored had Reimer had his stick free. Just kinda back luck Cozens ties up his guy against Reimer and he can't use his stick.

I know the stats that the Oilers and Draisaitl actually do pretty well in games where McDavid is out historically, but so far this game Draisaitl doesn't look all that dangerous to me.

I remember Kulich had a really rough game against Winnipeg in early December. Looked lost out there, and I think Lindy even benched him for a while during that game. Since then, he has 7 goals in his last 18 games.

So Benson takes a few cross checks after the whistle, one close to the head, and no one else comes in to help. Tuch, Cozens, and Kulich out there, and only after 5 or more seconds do they slowly glide in.

Just checked current stats now. Goals allowed 6v5 (you have the 6th man on the ice). Colorado leads with 16. Buffalo and Chicago tied for 2nd with 15. For comparison...they only allowed 10 ALL last season.

I did check a week or two ago, and I think the Sabres were actually 4th in empty net goals allowed when I looked. Chicago was #1.

Cozens just has ZERO awareness. After Samuelsson went down to try to block that shot, Cozens skates by him as Samuelsson is getting up. Skinner is looking into the corner and doesn't even see Samuelsson getting up off the ice and Cozens skates aright into his teammate almost taking him down again.

There are a few articles about how Jerry Jones is running the Cowboys now. Still spending money, but he's spending less on coaches (compared to the rest of the league) and they have signed less higher priced free agents in the last few years than they have in the past. Sure, they are still spending, but as another billionaire with the most valuable franchise in North American sports, why is it that, like Pegula, as he gets older the pocketbook is seeming to not get more open, but in many ways tighter? (CBSsports had an article up earlier in the day I can't find the link to it now but it explained a lot of the monetary corners Jones is cutting now that he hadn't done in the past)) It seems like with some owners, not all but some, as the get older, and richer, they are more protective of their money.

Agree, in part because those guys might not be much of an upgrade. But more importantly if that happened it would show Pegula wants the status quo....and by status quo I mean the part where nothing too radical happens that he doesn't like, that everything runs through him, etc. If you are going to make front office changes, you need something major.

I'd be very surprised by that. There has been talk about Crosby wanting to retire a penguin, some media guys saying he wants to be there till the end, etc. You don't always believe that....but I have seen a couple interviews with him on the topic and he comes across like he really, REALLY does not want to leave Pittsburgh, even to a better team.

So maybe it was know around the league that Rantanen was avaiable and no one wanted to make any other moves until they knew if they were in, or not in, on him. Now that he is moved, maybe other teams looking to add may look to the Sabres for 'lesser' players than Rantanen and we'll get some movement?

worse in almost every single way... https://www.naturalstattrick.com/linestats.php?fromseason=20232024&thruseason=20242025&stype=2&sit=ev&score=all&rate=n&team=BUF&vteam=ALL&view=wowy&loc=B&gpfilt=none&fd=2023-10-10&td=2025-04-17&tgp=2000&strict=incl&p1=8481524&p2=8480839&p3=0&p4=0&p5=0 Although one thing to keep in mind...who are the other players on the ice with him when he is out there with Dahlin vs with someone else. When Byram and Dahlin are together, they are likely playing with the Sabres top line (Thompson, Tuch) more. When Bryam is out there with Power or someone else, they are likely with Cozens, or the 3rd line. Never, EVER underestimate the negative impact Dylan Cozens can have on a player, he can even tank a D-mans stats. For Example: Byram with Thompson: 403 minutes, 30 goals for , 12 goals allowed (5 on 5) Bryam with Cozens: 355 minutes 14 goals for, 22 goals allowed. The forwards a D-man has out there with him and the support they give him can be just as important, maybe more so, than his D-partner. In this case, Bryams GF AND GA are much better when on the ice with Tage than when Cozens is out there at center. I like goals for and goals allowed vs expected goals for and allowed because it takes account shooting percentage, not just shot locations, but if you dig deep into the advanced stats, they kinda mirror the same thing (slight differences) as actual goals. Yet another reason Cozens needs to be ejected off of this team immediatly if they refuse to move him to wing.

I don't think yo uare getting Rantanen. Even if he doesn't sign with Colorado, I think a lot of other teams will be willing to pay up for him that will be more appealing for me. The rest of what you said, it still is mind boggling to me why Cozens is still here. He's a bad hockey player overall. 2 years ago he was an overall bad hockey player who had a career scoring year of 31 goals, and now he is reverting to the norm of being a bad hockey player overall again. As far as Bryam and Power....I go back and forth. What is Bryam's willingness to sign here and for how much? Whether to trade one of them to me depends on that.

Mostly because the team is bad of course. Western conference late start doesn't help. But for me, and I'm sensing some others, its because they haven't made any changes. Its like they don't care. There is nothing new to watch, nothing new to talk about. Sure you can 'stick to the plan' of developing from within, but when that isn't working, and you have going on what, year 4 or year 5 of this particular version of the plan and you really aren't making any significant roster changes for the fans to at least....well, be interested in? It just doesn't work for a fanbase.

The problem is he went to first line center, and his former linemate (Quinn) scored 3 times in his first 2 games without Cozens....and the line Cozens joined the first game (Thompson and Tuch) had their worst game of the season with him (I think they had no points and their single worst 'minus' game of the year for them). Not exactly good for showing him off.

With every day that goes by, I fear the opposite. The team has shown very little that makes me think they don't think/want him as a big part of the future. He's 4th among forwards in ice time. Hes a fixture on either the 2nd or the first team PowerPlay. When tage got hurt and couldn't take faceoffs/play center, Cozens was promoted to first line center. I will be shocked (and delighted) if he isn't here next year.