mjd1001

Sabres outscoring the Rangers 13-4 this year through 2 1/3 games.

And the dreaded goaltender change...usually bad news for this team.

Watched part of the pens-Caps game earlier, they put up the graphic about how the Sabres and Caps were tied for the most goals in the first period of any teams in the NHL..... Well, Sabres are pulling away. They are the presidents trophy of the first period this season.

I enjoyed watching some of the games, and I'm glad they had the tournament, but personally I'm happy NHL hockey is back. I really wish an international tournament like this could be done before the season, not during it, but that is not how they want to do it I guess.

And can go to the corners and chase loose pucks. And can finish a check deep into the corner and not have to worry about being the center as the first one back to denend the rush. And not have to worry about distributing the puck whe he has it in the slot, because he simply has zero ability to do that. He has the ability to do that obviously. I think he would enjoy wing better too.

Watched them with the wife last night. Really happy with them, my opinion much better than season 2.

I don't think its getting old for 2 simple reasons: 1.) he is here and continues to play at center 2.) He is very bad in that role. He's a bad player. The team is losing because of his play. For all the excuses about the position he is in, the team and management around him, for the most part the other 20+ players are not hurting the team as much as he is. The complaining will continue, and will be justified to many of us in that he contiues to hurt the team. Until his play gets DRAMATICALLY better, or he is no longer here, the complaining will contiue...and it is justified, after all this is a message board where we talk the most about the very best,and very worst parts about the team. I would say the complaining about management is getting just as the complaining about Cozens. But if we don't talk about the things about this team that are bad, we may as well just shut down the forum for the rest of the season.

If that option was on the table, I'd do it. Although I'd like to see what else was available. I am fearful that the league-wide value of Cozens may be a lot less than many of us think/hope.

I am surprised by Power being so low. Not because he's having a great year, just we keep hearing on the broadcast of how well he is doing offensively even strength. McLeod I'm not surprised at. I really think, overall, he is close to one of the top 5 players on this team. Hes contributing as well offensively as you can reasonably expect from a 3rd liner....but most of the time he is very responsible away from the puck. Cozens and Quinn though, every set of numbers i look at say those 2 guys are sinking this team. Take Cozens and Quinn off this team, replace them with 'average' players and they are probably in a playoff position. As I posted yesterday showing Quinn's numbers are considerably better when he is not playing with Cozens. Half of his ice time is with Cozens.....half is without Cozens, and while he doesn't have a ton of goals, his metrics are close to 'even' without Cozens, compared to Quinn having some of the absolute worst analytics in the entire league this year with Cozens.

As much as I complain about Cozens non stop, I'd be good, as a matter of fact happy, to keep him on this team if he was permanently moved to wing. If he gets traded and the team he gets traded to puts him on wing, i'll be pretty upset the Sabres haven't done that here. I agree with you on Power. I'm not 100% sure he's going to be 'top tier', but If you forced me to bet whether he would be good enough to be considered a top 10 D-man in the league or not...I would bet yes. I think its going to take a couple years though. I wonder if the key for Quinn is just getting him away from Cozens being his center. If you look at the advanced stats this year, Quinn has played even strength with and without Cozens for about the same number of minutes. Quinn's Corsi% is 7 percent/points higher without Cozens, his Fenwick is about 7.5 percent higher without Cozens, Shots for vs against is over 7 points higher without Cozens, Expected goals are almost 12 points higher without Cozens,Actual goals for vs against are 5 points higher without Cozens. High danger chance percentage is almost 25! points/percent higher without Cozens.And higher danger actual goals are 12.5 points higher when he isn't with Cozens. And when he is without Cozens the Sabres allow a goal about once every 20.73 minutes he is on the ice even strength...but when he is with Cozens they allow a goal once every 15.5 minutes. That is a HUGE difference. Stastically, Its like the difference between a goalie with a GAA of 2.89 vs one at 3.87. Anyone on this team that you want to help, get them off of a line with Cozens.

I agree with your main point. It would be nice to have a 6'4" 230 lb guy that no one wants to fight on this roster...with him being a good player also. But you can still 'play big' without having the measurables. Brad Marchand, Sam Carrick, Vincent Trocheck and Max Domi all can play a 'big' game as agitators and they are all 6'0" or under. Same type of players in Sam Bennet and Miles Wood and they are both under 200 lbs and shorter than a guy like Dylan Cozens. Even Peyton Krebs, all 6 feet tall (being optimistic there) and 180 lbs of him is 3rd among Sabres forwards in hits this year. When he was drafted, he was listed at 5'11" and 170-175 lbs in his draft profile as a 17-18 year old.

lol...people here like to do that, its happened to me. You'll have your argument, have it twisted into its most extreme level.....you'll have it shot down but only when your point is taken at the most extreme.....not the 'meat' of the point you are trying to me. It happens. If you are going to stay around here get used to it.

This is not the only one, but one of my all time favorite Cozens zone exits...

Its pretty well knowing (I think) that Tage plays through a lot of injuries. At least I think he does. I wonder if his 'floating' and 'inconsistent effort' is less of a factor of him just being lazy, and more of a factor of: 1.) he's playing with injuries and/or 2.) He knows is energy 'burst' are best used pushing himself in the offensive end and often times he's a big gassed on the defensive end? Sure, any player who floats a bit would have that as an excuse to use, but it matters more when he is your best/most talented offensive player by miles. As far as the numbers go this season, obviously the Sabres are at their best scoring goals when he is on the ice. But defensively? The Sabres allow slightly less goals at even strength when Tage is out there this season than they do when he's on the bench. They are a LOT better offensively, and even slightly better defensively when he is on the ice.

From what I have seen, Statistically Cozens being 'on the ice' in terms of advanced analytics doesn't really help or hurt the team. He's a non-factor as far as does he help or hurt the other 4 guys on the ice. The issue is he is wasting that spot in terms of his pure production. Of all the forwards over the last few years across the entire league that have as much PP time as Cozens (there are a bit over 100 players with significant minutes on the PP over the last 3 years), he is dead last in terms of goals, and in the bottom 2 or 3 in terms of PP points. So yeah, his usage on the PP is baffling. He's on every single powerplay and he gets 1 PP goal every 28 games. Take Greenway or even call up Brett Murray, have those guys stand in front of the net as a screen and they would probably get more PP goals just by deflections going in off of them. -Edit- With his last PP goal, he is no longer last. Out of 102 forwards with over 750 minute of PP ice time over his career, Cozens is not 101st out of 102 in terms of PP goals. Ryan Strome has 1 less, but I think that doesn't even count as Strome has a LOT more assists than Cozens and less chance for goals because he is used on the point a lot, basically playing on the PP as the 2nd d-man. Want to count PP total points? Again, he is 101st out of 102 guys there. On a side note about Wing vs Center for Cozens....Natural Stat Trick has Cozens playing 28minutes and 2 seconds at wing this year 5 on 5 (with Krebs at center for all of that time). In that time on the ice even strength, the team allowed one goal...so 1 goal allowed every 28.0 minutes. At center Cozens has 676 minutes and 29 seconds even strength at Center this year. 1 goal allowed every 18.3 minutes. That is a big difference...although a very small sample size. I'd give him a few games/weeks at wing with Krebs and see if those numbers continue. Get him off the PP, put him at wing with Krebs and see how it goes. For reference, the team as a whole allows about 1 even strength goal every 21.9 minutes.

Some of us have been saying that for.....2 years now? Take a look at some of the Sabres "Worst" D-men over the last 2 seasons: Connor Clifton: in 442 minutes on ice where Dylan Cozen is numbers are CONSIRABLY worse than his numbers in the 1200+ minute with ANYONE else other than Cozens out there. Clifton Corsi% with Cozens: 43.71 (Awful), without Cozens 49.67(about average.) Fenwick% with Cozens 43.47 (awful), without Cozens 49.42 (about average). Shotsfor% with Cozens 44.27 (awful), without Cozens 49.12 (close to average). The most important analytic, actual goals for vs allowed % with Cozens 46.34..... without Cozens 55.05 (a really good number). Even strength, Clifton is a minus player when sharing the ice with Cozens. In over 1200 minutes where Cozens is not on the ice, he is a +11 even strength over the last 2 years.. This year a goal is scored against the Sabres every 16 minutes when Clifton is on the ice with Cozens. When Clifton is on the ice with ANYONE else this year, a goal is scored once every 26 minutes. How about the last 2 seasons combined? a goal allowed every 20 minutes with Cozens, without Cozens its every 26.5 minutes. Clifton, Bryson, Samuelsson, Dahlin, they all show considerably better numbers similar to the above. If you take out last year and look just at the smaller sample size of this year, the numbers are similar. The only 2 guys that I found that are slightly different are Power and Jokijarju. Their advanced numbers are more 'even' with and without Cozens and Quinn, but still not better. Look.....we don't need analytics to know that there are a group of forwards, led by Cozens and Quinn, that don't know how to play in their own end and hang the D-men out to dry every single game, almost every single shift if given the opportunity. The mistakes are visible to the naked eye and they happen alot with those 2 compared to even the rest of the forwards. What the advanced numbers DO show us is that, in some pretty large sample sizes, the numbers show that the team is a lot better....a POSITIVE team, probably a playoff team when 3-4 forwards are removed from the equation. As you mentioned....take Cozens and Quinn off of this team, and even our 2nd and 3rd pair D-men are pretty darn near good enough to be a playoff level 2nd or 3rd pair. A good veteran 2nd pair D-man would help this team a lot. What would help it more? Cozens and Quinn removed from this team and replaced with guys....even 'lesser talented' guys who play just AVERAGE without the puck. My opinion is that with just those 2 changes this would be a playoff team, and most of the analytics show that is probably true and supported by a lot of the numbers.

Don't have a clue? First of all, I said, half with a question mark and then added maybe. 2nd, I may not know the numbers, but Canada seems to be shifting MUCH farther to the right than it has been in the past. How about reading my post before you come at me with "dont' think you have a clue" to see that I OBVIOUSLY put something in there saying I didn't know the exact numbers...but again, the country has moved to the right. You can disagree with me, but how about with a little class and decorum? You people on this board...first reaction for many of you is "don't have a clue" or "dont' know what you are talking about". Grow up with that stuff already.

I think there is a subtle difference between "Trump" and "the threats" I don't think the booing has much to do with Trump simply being president. A good portion of Canada (half? maybe, I don't know) might vote for him if they had him as an option. It is more ANYONE or ANY country that talks your country down, attacks your leadership (even if YOU don't like your leadership, its ok for you to pick on them but not an oursider to pick on them) or certainly anyone talking/threatening/suggesting that you give up your status as an independant nation....there is going to be outrage against that. Whether its Trump, or if Biden said it, or Macron, Olaf Sholz or Putin.....ally or not....Anyone that says those things is going to elicit a booing response.

I don't really think of Thompson as a player that has a ton of giveways from my observations watching the game. I know when the team is losing, the ones he has get POINTED OUT a lot more than when other players do, I'm guessing they think he is a high paid star so his play will be more scrutinized, but I don't see it. A quick look at the stats: Thompson is 14th on the team in total giveaways, and the 2nd best (lowest) when you take ice time into consideration. (the only player who has less giveaways per 60 than Thompson is Greenway, and Thompson handles the puck a lot more). So yeah, when he does have a giveaway people are going to notice it and point it out, but he is one the best players on the team statistically at not giving the puck away, and my personal 'eye test' confirms that.

I watched the game on and off last night. Saw most of it I guess. Without analyzing Dahlin's play all that much, he looked like he 'belonged' there but didn't stand out. I didn't see a supertar on the ice, but I did see a player who looked like he should at least share the ice with the other great players.

This one snuck up on me....Galentines Day? WTH? I heard of it before, I guess its been around for a few years, but all of a sudden this year I'm getting hit over the head with hit. Valentines day is tomorrow. Nothing major with us but my wife and I go out to dinner, but because of work she can't tommorrow, so we are going Saturday. I KNOW in the past I could make reservations the day before (Everyone goes out on Valentines day, not the day after?). Not this year! We got a reservation, but our first restaraunt didn't have anything available due to a 'galentines day' event they were having. Then there is a close family member who is in her late 20's. Not only are here and her fiancee not going out for Valentines day,she is basically kicking him out for the weekend (he is reluctantly ok with it) so she can have some 'girlfirends' over to stay overnight for the weekend, watch movies like the 'legally blond' series and drink wine and drinks the whole weekend. I have seen baloons at stores for 'galentines day', and just thir morning, on a major news website, there was an article written by a woman saying "don't celebrate valentines day, celebrate galentines day instead'. Really?

That is the key. I know there are workarounds, but a few years ago I looked into some streaming things and I know you were allowed to stream them on your phone or tablet but not to your TV. If you tried to 'cast' them, they did their best to block it. There was a workaround for it but then they closed that loophole. Then people got it to work again but the quality was awful. Basically you COULD get it on your TV if you really wanted, but they made it really, really hard. There was also something (Formula one maybe?) where they had an idea about 5 years ago that didn't happen...but it was something like this: A low monthly fee for access to the app with all the stats, tracking, everything they offer, and you could watch ANY event at midnight the following date (a slight delay from live). Then they had an option that you could pay a small additional fee ($2 or $3) per event you want to watch live. They probably scrapped the idea figuring they could 'force' people to spend more to buy more up front.

What would the cap of these teams be? From Capwages.com:

Agree 100%. I think he is good enough and should be on the roster, but it was his production near the time of the team being selected. Also, best thing for a player like him is to get the time off. He's had like 5 or 6 injuries in the past 2 seasons.

Ideally, one of their first round prospects would play the type of game Greenway does....so if/when greenway gets injured, you have the young guy gradually have a chance to get integrated into the team when needed. Alas, the Sabres don't have any top prospects in Roch that are in the 6'5" tall, somewhat physical type game.