mjd1001

Ok, one lucky bounce, one tip in, and this game gets a lot more interesting, can they get SOMETHING?

Yeah, really not liking Cozens game today. Its just like anytime he is in any situation on the ice where he has 3 possible decisions/options to choose form he almost always picks the worst.

Well, we don't really get to see how much Lindy wants to use that 4th line that much with them being down most of the game. Most of the way through the game, that line has about 6 minutes of ice time total, and some of that for them was on the penalty kill.

Yep Dahlin wanting to do too much, more than he is capable of. But, with the way the team is playing, is that really making things worse?

I didn't post this earlier but I thought going into the first 2 games, Jersey is good, very good. They are missing some players already, but there was a chance the Sabres could come home 0-2, and I would be 'kinda' ok with it, IF we at least saw something hopeful, something entertaining. Of course winning is the ultimate thing for you team, but I like goals. I have walked away from some games the Sabres lost not feeling all that bad if they were entertaining and scored and had a lot of chances. Even if they end this game with 1 or 2 goals....its not entertaining.

I'm on "Dahlin gets frustrated and tries to do too much" watch. He plays his worst hockey often when he is frustrated with the entire team and tries to do more than he is capable of.

This is a different discussion, but the way the team is playing, we might as well talk about it. I really think that he think he KNOWS hockey 80% as well as anyone he hires. So maybe he would admit they spend more time on it than him, but he WANTS to be involved in every decision, pretty deeply involved. We know that happened in the past, some hope it isn't happening now but I don't know. I think Adams can be a decent GM. But I think he was hired because he makes Terry feel good. He talks to Terry and makes him feel like he is being heard. The talks highly of Terry. He's not going to 'talk back' to Terry, he's not going to tell Terry when he is really being more of a distraction to the team. Again, this probably did happen in the past..does it happen now? I'm not sure, but it 'feels' like it still does.

The problem IS Pegula. It has to be. In terms of on ice/on field success, I don't think there is an owner in the history of modern American sports whos team has had less success than under Pegula. Does he meddle? Does he pick bad managers? Does he pick people based on them making him 'feel good' about himself rather than doing the job correctly? I don't know, but it has to be something.

Its game one. I'm not too worried. Not happy, but its early. For all those who want/think Lindy will make a difference, this is the FIRST time he is seeing this team play against another teams #1's. All preseason they didn't get that. If he is going to make adjustments/call out guys, this is the first real chance he has to see that in person (other than in practice). Cozens. I'm might be one of the, if not THE biggest critic of him. He has 'first line' raw talent, but his head just doesn't seem to process NHL hockey. I'm hopeful he's going to take a big step forward this year, but so far, it is early, but its not looking good.

I don't know, he doesn't bother me that much. When watching/listening to the games, he is WAY down the list of things I think bother me.

PP didn't handle pressure all that well. Other than in practice, this is the first time these guys are facing 'top' nhl competitors.

Welp... Bernard and Milano still out with injuries....Bernard maybe getting close to returning? Vonn Miller suspended This week they just ruled out: -Shakir -Ed Oliver -Taylor Rapp -Austin Johnson Dion Dawkins and Taron Johnson look to play but may not be 100% The injury thing starting again...really takes the fun out of a season.

1) Sabres point total? 96 2) Will the Sabres makes the playoffs? Yes 3) Sabres leading goal scorer? Tage 4) Sabres leader in total points? Tage 5) Sabres MVP? Dahlin 6) Sabres ROY? Kulich 7) Best off-season acquisition Malenstyn 8.) Worst off-season acquisition? Does 'bringing back' Krebs on a 2 year deal count as an aquisition? 9) Biggest surprise? (positive or negative) Negative: Cozens is more the player from last year than the year before in terms of production. Positive: Byram becomes viewed as a top 50 D-man in the league (not bad when there are 180-200 Starting D-men across the league) Neutral: Benson continues to play well overall, but his production (goals assists) may not jump as much as many think they will. Semi-sophmore slump. 10) Breakout player? Byram 11) Will any Sabres players or coaches finish as finalists (win?) for any major awards such as the Norris or Selke? Lindy 12) Unsung Hero? Clifton or Jokiharju 13) Who will be the first Sabre traded away this season? Krebs 14) Will KA make any in-season acquisitions before the deadline? Technically yes, but when you say before the deadline, it might be very close to it. 15) Will the Sabres be buyers or sellers at the deadline? Neither, just looking for 'best available deal' 16) Other Bold prediction? {Such as KA gets fired mid-season ;)} Tage gets 50+ goals. The top line (if they stay together) approaches 120 goals between them. 17) Any other thoughts? Success of this team will be determined a lot more by the play of the D-men than the forwards. A LOT. If they make the playoffs it will be because of the improved play of the back 6.

I meant to say "Team", not league. I will correct it/edit it, but at the moment for some reason I cannot edit that post?

Of that list, I think Washington has to be the obvious choice for who drops out, although I can see some votes for the Islanders. ALTHOUGH they have been gradually making the team a bit younger, but still, a negative 37 goal differential last year? I have no idea how far back you have to go to find the last team before them worse than that, but its got to be years and years and years. As far as who moves up? New Jersey. IF they can ever get this team mostly healthy, I think they challenge for the top of the conference.

Let them sit in the press box, but before the game walk around the Arena, meet some fans, sign some autographs, take pictures, and do the same between periods. Great PR that way.

I think they will be 'balanced' enough. -Tuch is probably the best forchecker on the team. -Tage might be better than we think or some number say because he usually isn't out of position, and with his size and reach, he covers a lot of territory. I said in other threads, its kinda like a DB playing zone coverage in the NFL. He doesn't need to look like he's doing much, just hold our position and take up space. -Peterka? I noticed some plays last year where he did have giveaways or made bad decisions in the D-zone. But, can he be better than Skinner was on this line? Hopefully yes.

Depends on what part of Florida I guess. I used to live in Florida, still own a house there, and my wife's family lives there so we visit once or twice a year...one time usually in December or January for 7-10 days. We were there in Mid-January this year and Early January last year, and both times it was in the low-to-mid 80's a few of the days (and a bit sticky on top of that). So much so that my wife, who I'll admit doesn't like 'hotter weather' wouldn't even take an evening walk with me around the neighborhood because it was too hot. Treasure coast area Jupiter/Stuart/PSL.

That is the one thing I cannot wrap my head around. Well, not the only thing but the biggest thing. All else being equal, if healthy I think Tage gets close to 50 this year, but there are 2 things there. #1, IF healthy. #2, how will Ruff's coaching style/changes in the system impact each player. If he was healthy and Granato was back, yeah, 50 for me would be what I would expect from Tage. However, with Ruff, what if he wants/asks Tage to distribute more? What if he wants the forwards to not always go in as deep which will help the defense but take away a few quality attempts? That is the stuff we will soon see.

Not to make light of what he did, but he gets 4 games rest. When he comes back he's 'fresh' again and only has 10 more games of wear on him before possible playoffs (or 10 more games to potential get hurt, not 17) His contract this year is HEAVY on bonuses based on his sack totals for the season. Those 4 games are possibly going to cost him a lot of money.

There is reason for optimism. It may not guarantee the playoffs, but anyone looking toward the good side of things can find legit reasons: -2 years ago missed the playoffs by one win -last year were a positive goal differential. In recent years 95%+ of teams in the east with a positive goal differential made the playoffs. -Took them a while to settle on UPL, but once they did, the team was close to a top 10 team in the league, and not just over 10-15 games, we are talking 40-50+ games. From January 1 to the end of the season (44 games, more than half the season) they were 24-18-2, with a plus 24 goal differential. Thats very close to the time the settled on UPL as their starter (he started 39% of the games before Jan 1, after Jan 1 the started 81% of the games) -Tage played hurt for a lot of the year. The part of the year closer to his injury his production was way down. As he got farther from it, he started producing a lot more, basically at the level of the 2 years before. Since being made a center, tage had 2 full seasons that were great, one half season bad and another half season close to great. The only 'bad' stretch was when he was hurt. -Coaching? If you think Ruff is better than Granato (many do), if nothing else changed, that should be a net positive. Again, none of this means you are making the playoffs, but if someone is being positive, this year its not grasping at straws, those are just a few of the legitimate reasons to be positive.

I was curious to look at the roster and see what differences will be made this year vs last year opening the season. Compared to game #1 last year vs what we expect this year: -New to the forward group game 1: Quinn (was hurt last year), Zucker, Mcleod, Malenstyn, Lafferty, Aube-Kubel Out from forwards: Krebs (likely), Okposo, Zemgus, Mitts, Skinner, VO -New to defense: Byram (in for E. Johnson) -New to goal: UPL (he didn't dress for the opener last year he was the #3 guy at the time) Coaching: Ruff and Appert are the 2 main guys of course, both changes from last year. So, going into game #1, 50% different lineup in forwards, 17% difference on D. New starting Goalie. Of the 19 players that should play on any given game, 11 will be the same and 8 will be different from last years team (42% turnover from last year's game 1), and a new coaching staff too.

Well, and his talent level/production also, I think that is the biggest thing. Josh Allen I think you can say is one of the top 10 most influential players in all of football right now in term of contributing to wins...A case can be made he is the 2nd best. Eichel was never close to that. In a league where point production is paramount for forwards, in a prospect where he was supposed to be 'elite' in that way, he is 39th in the league in points since he joined the NHL, 25th in points per game played, 45 in goals...and finally got his cup when he was added to a team that averaged 103 points per 82 games and had deep playoff runs over the previous 4-5 years BEFORE he was added to it. Yeah, Eichel is long gone from Buffalo, but the problem with Eichel as the 'savior', Eichel as the "Josh Allen" of the team is....we as fans had EXPECATIONS he would be that, but it turned out he was just a very very good player, not generational, not elite, etc. It was unfair to expect him to carry this team to the playoffs and a deep run.

For the difference being 7.8 vs 8.5, this is rather contentious. Of course to take the Bruins side of things, if they started at 6.5..maybe realistically hoping for 7.0....and if Swayman hasn't budged one bit from what he was asking....IF that is true I can understand the Bruins/Neely being a bit upset. Lot of Ifs though..

I get the feeling the Easter Conference will be a bit tougher than the west to make the playoffs, especially because once the Devils are healthy I think they are going to be really, really good. (there goes one playoff spot by a team that didn't get it). With that said, we can convince ourselves that the team might be better simply with a coaching change. But it is hard to think this team being worse than it has been. So, in my mind, I have a team that could/should be better with a new coach, probably won't be worse with a new coach..that is a net 'slight' positive. Put that in a very tough conference, and its really a coin toss to me making the playoffs. I voted yes simply because, well, why not?