mjd1001

And the feeling i get from some fans, its not even cheering for losses to get a high draft pick. Its just....lets be the best at SOMETHING! Maybe they can get the longest winless/losing streak!

They certainly are the worst team at the moment...MAYBE Nashville can make an argument, but Buffalo is toward the bottom.

Longest losing streak in the NHL this year is 9 by the Sharks and its over so its not getting any longer. Chance the Sabres tie it or beat it? The thing with the Sharks is, 6 of those losses were on the road, including losses at Vegas, at Winnipeg, and at Dallas. I think Buffalo's current streak is worse overall than San Jose's.

Informal poll if anyone wants to answer... Other than those spending money and going to the game....how many people really really want them to win next game? vs how many actually at this point are indifferent or worse?

I have noticed as the shootout has progressed over the years..it seems like guys want to slow down and 'deke' rather than just pick a corner and shoot. Picking a corner and shooting seems to be more effective.

Here is the problem with no Dahlin. You have 2 other potentially great D-men. Byram and Power. Bryam gets skated into the ground because there seems to be a 60% chance he has a good game and a 40% chance he doesn't. If you play Power too much, its 50%-50% you are getting "good" Power, and if you don't get "good" power, the bad version makes some really really bad plays.

So a shootout....if you lose it, its 7 losses in row...including 6 in a row at home. They better win this.

And Bryam losing the puck behind the net... That is what happens when he has almost 27 minutes of ice time and is gassed by playing the majority of the OT already.

Even 3 on 3, they can't get anything set up so far. There is a difference between having speed, and using speed. McKinnon uses his speed. The Sabres have some fast skaters, but they rarely use it in play.

Lindy really likes him some Bowen Byram. No Dahlin? Lets give Bryam almost 25.5 minutes in regulation already..with a full OT he might be close to 27 or 28. And as far as accountability for Cozens and Thompson? Maybe its because there are no options, but other than Tuch, they are right there at 2nd and 3rd in ice time for forwards so far.

If they end up blowing a 2 goal lead against Detroit and do not come away with 2 points tonight, and lose their 7th in a row...they fall to 15th out of 16th in the conference. Tomorrow morning, for my own sanity as a fan, I might make my transition to thinking this is an actual "Season" and turning mentally to....they are done. Lets look forward to roster moves for next year and just view each game as a single night event. I'm not sure I'll be 100% there, but if they lose tonight, the 'season' may be written off for me. Which will make it earlier than I have done that in years.`

Ok, I am not one that complains about the refs much at all. My normal response to people complaining about the Refs is....stop your complaining, everyone deals with it. With that said, Seider probably should be serving a major, or not out of the game for that hit. And a few other penalties were legit penalties against detroit that weren't called in the last few minutes.

I bought the old 'slug logo' jersey years ago when it was discontinued for something absurd like $9 (no name on it). I wear it every once in a while and I kinda feel like its the most appropriate jersey to represent them right now.

Trading Cozen is not a reset. Trading cozens might make the team better. You can trade him, make the current team better and go on. Why you are saying trading one guy, who has underperformed for 1.5 years, and has been a net negative to your team this year....how does that mean its a reset? To me its almost the opposite. You would be purging someone to create a spot for hopefully someone better to step into. I'm not quite sure what Cozens as a player alone would be worth, but unless he really catches fire (and then you would likely not trade him, but that hasn't happened) I question how much of a return Adams or ANY GM would get for him with that long term, $7m contract. I think it might be a lot less than many think it would be.

He's doing slightly better this year than Tarasenko has been for them I think. This season so far: Kane 22 games, 3 goals, -6 Tarasenko 26 games, 4 goals, -2 Actually about the same I guess.

If you wanted to give Lindy some credit...maybe when he gets call-ups for the first time his initial conversation with the young guy and setting of expectations is impactful?

He did a good job in Tampa, I won't say he didn't, but it was set up pretty well for him when he got there. He already had 2 #1 overall picks on the roster in Stamkos and Hedman. He had 5 first round picks in the next 4 years coming, including 2 top 10 overall. He had Veteran stars on the roster to bring the young guys along (St. Louis, Lacavalier). And most importantly, he had 2 BIG things that Detroit doesn't......Low taxes and Palm trees.

So, near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. The negative goal differential. The rebuild obviously not working. No wins in December. That disappointing 1 goal loss to Colorado last week. Only points in the last 2 weeks being OT loss points. The Red Wings sure are bad.

He was/is a minus 6 since returning in just about 2 weeks of play. So despite a couple of goals, he's been on the ice for a lot of goals against. That just doesn't apply to tage though over the losing streak, it applies to most of the team.

I will say that some people disagree with what I am going to say...but many of us disagree with the above bolded. Nobody accuses Terry of meddling with the Bills because the Bills are a lot more complicated orgnization. Football is a more complicated game. There are many more players, coaches, layers of coaches and management. It takes a scouting department many TIMES the size in the NFL as it does in the NHL to scout and evaluate every draft pick. Terry has said in interviews over the years that he is amazed by how complicated the game is in the NFL, how much the coaches know, how much detail goes into a one week game plan (he did an interview on WGR about a decade ago saying that). However in hockey, he thinks he knows more. He clearly, on sabres posted videos, gives his inputs on draft prospects. It is clear that HE was the one who pushed for Erhoff and Leino to be signed, not anyone in the hockey department. Its easy to say Adams should set boundries in the NHL because Beane does it to Pegula in the NFL, but that is not the reality of how Pegula operates. We have years of seeing it....quotes from Terry himself...articles from beat guys that have been posted and referenced in other threads on the topic (The trial of Terry Pegula thread on here from a few years ago brings a lot of the 'proof')...He just pushes for more input himself on the hockey side of things than he does on the football side of things.

The 'rebuild' this time went off the rails when they decided over the last few years to not spend money on some veterans to play with the younger guys. I don't mean token 'vets' like E. Johnson who are at the end of their career and not effective anymore and you can get on a low-to-no risk, low dollar one year deal. I'm talking GOOD veterans. Overpay if you must, you had the cap room. Bring in some guys on 1-3 year deals who can still contribute and Play on a line with Cozens and Quinn, can skate and be effective as a partner for Dahlin and/or Power. But NOPE. Pegula didn't want to pay the money and kept the team WAY under the cap until the wins came first and the seats were filled first. (you know that "pegula family lifestyle" needed every dollar). That decision may have been the thing that prevented the wins from coming and the seats being filled in the first place. Sometime when you are a very young team...you have to find a guy who is good enough that another team will pay $10m over 2 years and give him $18m over 3 years. 2 offseasons ago the rumor was the Sabres were starting to get calls from agents thinking the Sabres were up and coming. They could have loaded up on guys there, 2 and 3 years deals at an inflated price, but still under the cap....brought along the current team better and had those 'vets' contracts up in time to resign your key guys. You just might have made the playoffs one of the last 2 years AND developed the younger guys a bit better at the same time. But nope! They didn't do it and now that time has passed. -Now think of this as far as the younger guys wanting to be here or not. Look at Mitts. By all accounts he liked his teammates. He liked Buffalo. He wanted to stay here. He was playing well at a position of NEED on this team. But the Sabres traded him apparently because they didn't want to pay him. Now, if you are another player on the team what do you see? You see a teammate who was one of the more important players, young, I think leading the team in points. A guy who was happy here. He ended up signing for $5.75million in Colorado. A Buffalo Sabre sees a player traded because they team didn't want to pay him and apparently another team only paid him $5.75? For current guys on the Sabres roster, that has to be utterly demoralizing. Whether it was Adams decision. Or Pegula's decision. Or Adams working under Pegula's monetary guidelines. It can't give you much hope of what your future can and will be here if you stay long term.

Exactly. Its not just me, but I would say I probably have posted 10 or more game vizualization replays or actual replays and images where he either quits on plays...or is too tired that he can't get back..(which is still his fault for being on the ice too long). Last year Krebs was the king of either being too slow to get back....or just quitting/not putting the effort into backchecking. Krebs has gotten better this way...not Cozens....I have seen WAY to many times where Cozens is just gassed or does quit. Mind you, he won't quit in the offensive zone...he'll charge into the corner to chase a puck in the offensize zone without a problem. But he does not do that on the backcheck as often as many think.... As Jorcus said he isn't always the only one. Even Benson does it occasionally. Krebs still has his moments..Thompson, Tuch...all of them do. But I think Cozens does it a bit more than his reputation leads on. I'm not down on Benson, but I think some of his play lately is being excused by his 'reputation' as a hard worker who usually does the right thing. He's another one to keep an eye on, hopefully his play recently isn't a case of him picking up bad habits he didn't have before. Personally, I would like any of the season ticket holders on this forum, or anybody who goes in person to games frequently, to chime in. I know I have seen Cozens quit on plays but the only time I get to see replays of that is when there is a goal allowed.....Id be interested in some good feedback of anyone who might follow him in person at a game, shift to shift, play to play, in ways we can't see on Television.

In his most recent 32 Thoughts: The Podcast episode, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that he believes Buffalo Sabres forward Dylan Cozens has generated trade interest around the NHL. "If I'm Adams and the Sabres, I'm worried if we trade him, does he become the next guy?" (to have success elsewhere) full article here: https://sports.yahoo.com/report-sabres-star-generated-trade-180614584.html

3rd line WINGER at best. Back to one of the few things I'm decent at on this board, bashing Cozen's play. But seriously, when you look at his play, for the past year and a half, is he really even a GOOD 3rd liner? I think he gets slotted on the 2nd line because he has the 'raw' talent (skating speed, agility, size) and pedigree (top 10 pick). The kind of 'talent' a coach looks at and may think "I'll be the one to get him out of it" But in reality...for his career (Even INCLUDING his career year), he is a 19 goal per 82 game guy. A minus player and a deeper minus guy than the average of the other forward on your team. Under 50% at faceoffs. Ineffective on the PP (currently leads Sabres forwards in PP time this year, split time last year on the first and 2nd PP unit, and has a total of 3 PP goals total between this year and all of last year). He is a 10% shooter (8.5% over the last 2 years and 8.3% every other year if you exclude his 'career year'.) He hits less than he gets credit for by many...3.37 hits per 60 for his career, which is average-to-slightly-below-average among forwards on the team. He's the antithesis of clutch....Never had more than 1 game winning goal in an entire season across his whole career, and it seems like he is much, much more likely to take a dumb penalty late in a close game than make a play to win it. We know the numbers. All of that above paragraph would lead me to think he is possibly a 3rd line winger. Not 1st line, not 2nd line, not even a 3rd line center. But to be GOOD as a 3rd line winger with those numbers, you have to be at least decent without the puck. I think there are very few people left who believe he is actually good defensively. Some of us, including myself, think he is BAD. Like worst-player-on-the-team-bad positionally. To me, he has to change, he has to improve immediately. His offensive production justifies nothing higher than a 3rd line winger at the moment, and when you includes his defensive lapses and tendency to wander and 'do his own thing' out there (I like to think of his play without the puck as the forward version of Ristolainen), I think he's a slight negative even as a 3rd liner. Oh, and those offensive production numbers? IF they played him 3rd line minutes and less on the PP, with less ice time his production would likely be even a bit lower than it is. Cozens may have more of that 'raw talent', but in terms of actually being a hockey player, the Sabres are a better team day in and day out with another guy the level Zucker, or Mcleod, instead of Cozens on the ice. He has a good game on occasion. I'm not rooting against him. I want him to be a 20-25 goal per year guy and be a factor on the PP and to think 'defense first' in close games. When its a tie game with 5 minutes left, I want him to make the move on the D-man and put the puck over the goalies shoulder for the game winner. But he just doesn't do it. Like, 4 out of 5 games he does none of that. He's has to start soon, 'young and inexerienced' as a reason is running out for him. That is become less of a 'reason' and more of an 'excuse' at this point.

This is what I think Terry doesn't 'get': Hes the owner, he has to sign off on new contracts. He wants to know what is going on with his team. That is understandable. But an owner being present "TOO MUCH" can be an issue. When you are always around. In draft meetings, watching practice with the GM frequently, stuff like that.....like it or not it can make some people in the hockey department a bit on edge. Sure you should say they shouldn't be like that, but think of many of our own jobs. We know the Boss/owner is in charge, but if he was walking around the office, or sitting in the corner of the cafe watching whenever you had a casual sales meeting, its just not the best work environment.