mjd1001

This. In the 'half court' defense he technically made the right play...but in the offensive zone and through the neutral zone, it was for sure on Quinn things got to the point of Detroit having control in the Buffalo end. So let's give him a star for making the right positional choice in the defensive zone...but Quinn was the reason detroit had such a good zone entry and had control of the puck leading to a scoring chance in the zone to begin with.

You stress about about Quinn when his play is actively costing you goals, or at least prime chances against. He does that more than any other forward, and its by a lot. And the reaons are obvious, he is just not skating...not that its that he's slow, he is giving up on plays in the neutral zone that lead to scoring chances, or goals allowed by the guy on his side of the ice. The D-men would look a lot better if they got support from the forwards, and in many cases Its Quinn not getting back.

A lot on the season. Yes, some pretty good shooters are beating him with some good shots. But when you are facing the shooter, you are set, you have time to decide if you want to come out to challenge the guy or not, and you still get beat? That is the issue.... Some great shooters are going to beat you on occason...but there have been FAR too many times he's facing the shooter and is set for the shot and they are just blowing them by him. You need to make SOME of those saves.

UPL isn't winning any games for this team...or even making big saves to keep them in it. Good shot, but UPL was set, he was facing the shooter...NEED him to make that save.

I hardly ever accuse a player of quitting on a team, but I have to wonder a little tiny bit with Quinn. Visibly he just isn't putting effort into skating. When you watch the full replay of that goal, during the breakout exiting the zone DeBrincat was about 2 strides ahead of Quinn.....he just pulled away all the way down the ice, with Quinn not looking like he was skating hard.

After I just mentioned it.......Quinn was the trailer on that side and he certainly wasn't pushing himself to get back. For sure not a 'head down and skate' to help out. With Cozens gone, its obvious the biggest problem on this team is Quinn. He hurts the team so much being out there.

I've been watching Quinn this game whenever I see him out there, he NEVER skates hard that I can see especially in the neutral zone or defensive zone. It would be easer to see in person at a game, but he is always gliding it seems.

Maybe. When he is healthy, anyone works well with him. Just get the puck on his stick anwhere within 15-20 feet of the net. If he has a shot he'll take it, if not, he'll make a move and creat his own shot. Of course, WHEN he is fully healthy.

I don't have much of a problem being patient with Power. I don't want to move him, not at the deadline or the offseason. However, with that said, I think it would have been best to have someone else signed that would enable Power to have a few less minutes, especially in those periods when he is struggling. If it takes 2-3 more years for him to be what you want him to be, fine. But you should have thrown some money at a 26-30 year old GOOD veteran D-man to play with him AND to take some of the more difficult minutes away from him during those periods he needs a break.

The season ticket holders. If they are stilly buying tickets through this drought, they have to be some of the strongest parts of any organization. Beyond that..."collective patience"? Whether it is ownership, management....they do not seem like they are impulsive and reactionary (if that is a strength or weakness its up to you.) Finally, how about "top of the roster talent"? I think Dahlin and Thompson, at the very least are NOT behind an average team, in terms of their talent. As a 'top 2', they are very good.

I agree the 'bad at defense' with Tage is just not true, and that seems to be the only fallback position for people to have that want to take shots at him. As I just mentioned above, someone with his talent, I want taking a few more chances. Will that lead to some turnover? Sure. And yes, like EVERY player in the NHL that is a human being, they will make mistakes and turn the puck over, but I don't see him doing it much more than other players. And then there is the point brought up a few months ago....his size and what that does in the neutral zone and defensive zone. He doesn't need to throw guys into the wall or take the puck off of their stick (by the way, he does that occasionally). He disrupts passing lanes, deflecting passes or sometimes simply causing players to not make passes because of the ground he covers with his reach and stick. Same thing in the defensive zone. Its the football version of being really REALLY good at Zone defense. His strength defensively is not what you see when he directly interacts with players, but rather he prevents the other team from even attempting to do things. That might be the very reason his underlying metrics look good, the goals scored on the ice, the positive ratio of high danger chances allowed....stuff like that. You don't see him 'making' defensive players because he doesn't have to. His positioning is pretty sound..and with his size and that good positioning, stuff just doesn't happen as much on the ice because of it. I actually think he is an above average defensive player because of it.

Agreed. I only really put thought to that over the last few days. He create his own chances, he doesn't need a typical "#1 playmaking center" to set him up. Conventional wisdom among some is if you have a guy on the wing that is a sniper, you need a playmaker at center to set him up. Not as much with Thompson. Whether at wing or center, he creates many of his own chances. So don't worry about a traditional playmaking center with him, just put the best 2 players with him regardless of position who are balanced in the offensive zone and responsible defensively. Personally, I want Tage to take some chances with the puck. I want him to go in a little deeper into the zone to generate some offense. If that means he makes a few more mistakes, so be it, providing you have someone on his line who identifies when he is doing that and helps out. I don't think it matters much if that person is a Center or Wing, just that they mesh with him.

I don't see what is bizarre about it. As I mentioned previously, he was never good defensively, and his offense has been well, well below what you would expect for his pedigree and certainly his contract. This is one of the cases where if he does turn into a better player, it 'the change of scenery'. I don't see anything bizarre about that. He has been used with different, even the more 'veteran' linemates. In the last 3 years, he has played 400 minutes with Tuch, 250+ with Mitts, over 200 minutes with Thompson, 150 minutes with Skinner, Over 150 minutes with Zucker just this year. He played under what many thing was a run-and-gun system with Granato, and then a more defensive minded system with Granato. Then a new coach/system with Ruff. He's had seasons where he was given more offensive zone starts. He's had his chance non-stop on the PP. And as far as who else has developed here? Tage and Tuch both have 'blossomed' into better players here than they were when they got here. Mitts Improved. Peterka, and yes Dahlin and the other players mentioned above. There are a handful of players, hopefully more on the way, that are becoming better players as they get older with this team, something Cozens really hasn't done. He had been given every chance to improve his game. He didn't. Others on this team has. If he does well in Ottawa, fine, there isn't much more they could do here except coddle him. I don't want him to do poorly, to 'fail' just so the Sabres can 'win' the trade. I hope he does well against everyone but the Sabres. Why? He did try, and he seemed like he really wanted to be here. How can you fault someone like that, other than it was time for him to move. I don't think the Sabres organization is blameless in how he ended up here. Far from it. I'm just saying him staying here on the current path wasn't going to help the team, or him.

Nope, not going the other way. Again, since the day after the trade only replying when someone else brings it up. Besides, message boards are for discussion, back and forth...its not about just makign our point and demanding everyone accept it. If someone disagrees with me, then can take my point about hockey and tell me their point of view. A large part of a functioning message board like this is going back and forth about opinions on hockey and players....not pointing out over and over that people 'don't get it' or telling them they are going to far with their argument.

If Cozens keeps producing, it still does not change the facts. Tell the people I was responding to to 'relax'. They are the ones clutching about him scoring a couple points. I said my peace about the deal in the 24 hours after it was done. At this point I am not saying anything new about his performance except in response to others bringing it up.

Doesn't matter if its a 'blip'. He showed no sign he was going to do it here. He wasn't a fit here. 5 years of bad defensive play. 2 coaches. apparently 2 different systems under Granato. A career under 10% shooter. No matter who you put him with, every single linemate did worse with him than without him. He can score 45 goals for Ottawa and its not a bad trade. If he did that, its because he needed a change. He wasn't playing well here for years.

Interesting stat on the year...for the year the team is at its worst (performance-wise) when McDavid is on the ice without Draisaitl. Draisaitl and McDavid together: +9 goal differential on the season (1 goal scored every 14 minutes, 1 allowed every 21 minutes) Draisaitl without McDavid: +6 goal differential (1 goal scored every 23 minutes, 1 allowed every 28.8 minutes) Neither Draisaitl or McDavid: -2 goal differential (1 goal scored every 28.4 minutes, one goal allowed every 28.5 minutes) McDavid without Draisaitl: -12 goal differential (1 goal scored every 25.4 minutes, one goal allowed every 17.2 minutes) Those are even strength PP effectiveness is hard to look at statistically, they are both out there almost all the time. PK has neither of them out there pretty much ever. If you take stats back 3 seasons and look at the past 3 seasons combined, the numbers are more 'even' across Draisatl and McDavid. One thing is for sure, there is not an outperformance of McDavid over Draisaitl statistically. They contribute statistically equally to the success of Edmonton, with Draisaitl getting the statistical edge this season.

No mention of Tage either way?

Another 'rumor' from a former-player-turned analyst, take it for what you will, sounds more like conjecture than an actual source but here it is: “I truly do believe that Mitch Marner wants to be a Maple Leaf for the rest of his life, but he also wants to be the highest-paid Maple Leaf,” Colaiacovo said on "First Up" on Monday. “That’s what I’m led to believe, just because of how this whole contract is playing out right now.” The analyst thinks that Marner’s approach to contract negotiations, constantly delaying them and refusing to talk about it in-season, signals his desire to become the highest-paid Maple Leafs player. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/why-mitch-marner-is-delaying-maple-leafs-contract-talks-finally-revealed/ar-AA1AGCPL?ocid=BingNewsSerp

At times I don't even know if he is playing wing or center. To me he is equally effective at both. His play and mistakes/lack of mistakes in the neutral zone and defensive zone seem the same to me...and his goal production when healthy is about the same. I think the issue is what is around him, play Tage either center or wing, depending on who you want on his line and where those guys are best suited to play. I think you are getting the same production and play out of Tage regardless.

There is a denial, and there is a strong denial. That is on the stronger side of denials. I know 'journalism' is a loose term these days, but if you want to be a credible journalist, you should do a little more verification of your sources. Getting the soundbite out there though for him is more important than verfication.

I don't really put much faith into what Bissonette says either. He seems more like a guy who likes to scream and yell on the set when he is on TV, he's the attention getter, the token Leafs fan on the broadcast. I didn't listen to the clip yet, but how would HE be the one with this info at all, or at least first, before any of the legit journalists with a lot more connections around the league or even the local guys that travel with the team and talk to the players and Adams on a weekly or daily basis? As others have said about Dahlin if this is true...he doesn't have much leverage in the matter. Is he going to leave and go back to Sweden and leave all that money on the table? Also, if this were true and he were really really frustrated, the person to express that to would be Pegula, not Adams. Tell that to Pegula. If you think Adams is bad, tell him you are frustrated with Adams. Tell Pegula to open up the checkbook and get him some help. As I brought up in another thread,

And he does it on this team without a good playmaker....as brough up before his talent isn't just shooting, but he has the ability to 'create his own shot' better than many players in the league. That is why he is as successful as he is. A playmaker who sees the ice well would help him even more on the PP, where it is more about controlling a 'half court' set. His goal numbers and PP numbers would likely be better if the Sabres had someone line that on the wing or center to help. Not just 4th in goals...Even strength goals per 60...he is best in the league and way out in front. He is the league's dominant goal scorer (he's at 1.95 goals per 60 minutes, 2nd place is 1.57....its not even close) If you get a playmaker...a guy who handles the puck well and can make good passes, you would likely get more PP goals out of Thompson and he would be challenging for the overall league lead in goals. 2 words (or names). Mitch Marner. He might be the best star winger in the league at controlling the puck and distributing from the wing. Marner on the PP and/or Thompsons wing....and next year with a healthy Tage he probably approaches 60 goals. I think with Marner, Tage EASILY gets 1 more PP goal per month and close to 1 more even strength goal per month.

Cozens, from what I saw, actually didn't play that well. As someone else posted, when he was on the ice the opposition had more shots and more chances than his line generated from Ottawa. The other game when he threw a lot of 'hits', some of them were little more than casually bumping a guy that he was given credit for a hit. 2 of them I actually saw were 'same old Cozens', he followed through on a hit well after the puck was gone and took himself out of the play as the puck went back up the ice (maybe that is still the reason why Ottawa was outshot and outchanced so badly when he was on the ice). Like the Eichel and Reinhart deals (and Mitts to a certain extent), I'll check in on how Cozens is doing...because as fans that is what we do....see how the traded player is performing. 2 games is....well....a super small sample size, but in that small sample size.....what I have seen and the stats I have read...he's not really any different there through 2 games overall. You mentioned Ulmark. That is years ago already...but the Sabres would be MUCH better this year having Ulmark back on the roster than Cozens.

Agree on alot of what you said. I do not like fighting in the game anymore. I can live without it as I have said many times. But, it is still part of the game so you need someone, I think, who is better than what you have. I have come around on Krebs a lot. If he isn't playing next year I won't shed too many tears, but for what he is, he is better this year than last year. Quinn, ugh. Something has to change. I posted yesterday he has stopped going to the front of the net almost totally. Other wingers like Tuch and Peterka have something like 45-50 for Tuch and 20-30 shots from the front of the net on the year, Quinn has 5. Some people have said Quinn is hurt. Maybe. But right now no other forward has actually hurt the team as much as Quinn other than Cozens, so Quinn moves to #1. As far as a playmaking center...yeah, it won't hurt. I think part of that is negated by the fact that Tage is your most dangerous forward, and he makes his own plays...he really doesn't need a playmaker to set him up as much as many other scorers, he creates his own high danger chances. As for line 2 or 3..yeah, could probabably use one there. Can it be Kulich? Maybe, but it is WAY too early to tell and you could really use a back-up plan in case it isn't. As I just mentioned above, maybe Quinn is playing hurt and that is why his play is so bad, and with an offseason he improves. But with just how bad he has been, I'd offer him the shortest, cheapest deal you can and tell him to 'prove it'. If he says no, then you aren't missing much if he sits. I mean I don't know if the team wants to push things that far and look more 'player un-friendly' than they do, but you really can't commit to him UNTIL he proves it because he has been so bad.