mjd1001

I am hopeful that Power takes a big step forward this year. Yeah, I know D-men SOMETIME take 3-5 years to get to be the best version of themselves, but from the very little I have seen in the 2 preseason games, he looks a lot calmer with the puck (to me one of his bigger issues last year). Even with a moderate step forward, he still won't be worth his contract this year, but it would go a long way to the team being better AND him being on the path to being worth his contract in the near(er) future. Cozens I am very hard on because I don't think he's been a very good hockey player for this team. He's a train wreck positionally in the defensive end, so unless he is scoring you 30+ he's not worth his deal either. I'll take him giving the team 20-25 goals AND being at least average in is own end...if he does that, again this team will be much better for it.

Because you're looking at last year's stats only. I, among a few other posters on this board, think last year was the anomaly year due to an injury he sustained early in the year. He's been a center for three seasons. Two of those three seasons. He didn't have an injury... I am willing to use those seasons as the baseline. The reason I believe this is look at last year, as the season went on and he he got farther away from the injury, He got better and better. I believe his shooting percentage was 15% 2 years ago. 15.9% the year after that. It went down dramatically when he got hurt, but by the last two months of last year he was over 16%. In terms of offensive production... I can't help but to think putting those things together. He's a 15 to 16% shooter... And he's going to get you 300 shots or more over 82 games which is close to what he's done since turning into a center. And as far as being a complete player, I always subscribe to the fact that his size makes him a good defender. Not because he hits people, but he takes up so much ice that sometimes we don't see it, but passes aren't made and plays aren't made by the other team simply because he takes away those lanes. We do hardly see him out of position on goals scored against the savers, and Lindy Ruff just made a comment this morning or last night saying how he's one of the best positioned players on the ice without the puck. Put all those things together... And that's the reason why myself, and a few others on this board, think he might be the best player on this team. If not, certainly in the top three.

I like all those line combos and D-pairings, at least to start. I think the '5th line' listed should be the odd line out. Each of those guy can be subbed in/moved into other spots, but this seems like the best starting point. Its only preseason, but Power and Byram look like they are playing very well with each other so far.

The Swayman thing is interesting. I follow the Bruins more than any team other than the Sabres and Leafs (used to live near Boston for a few years, have friends there, my company is still located there, etc.) and no one knows for sure what is going on. Some say the Bruins gave him an offer and pulled it after Swayman and his agent demanded a lot more. Others say the offer the Bruins gave him was 'comically low' for him (about $6m per year).Some say this is just posturing and Swayman will sign a day or two before the regular season starts for the best offer he has.

It is so hard to really get a grasp on how good/bad a team is just 3 weeks into the season. A lot of times week 1 can be a wildcard/tossup. In the NFL, I don't really even start to do my own personal 'power rankings) until everyone plays at least 4 games. With that said, it looks like Miami and Arizona are middle-of-the-road teams (someplace between the 12-20th best teams, and Jax right now is in the bottom 10. It'll be really nice if/when Buffalo plays a consensus top 10 team and handles them.

He'd be in the conversation for me. Based on last nights preseason game, no, he didn't impress me much. But based on the player I think he is, and how I think he is going to perform this coming season, yes. When I look at the best players at any position, the issue is its not linear. The Best 1-3 guys at any position usually are easy to see how much better they are then guys 4-7. Guys 4-7 are a little bit better than the next group. But by the time you get to guys 10-20...the 10th best guy is really, really close to the 10 guys after them. meaning, put Tage in a group of Centers, I would have a hard time being convinced he isn't as good as the 10th best guy in the league...or as 'bad' as the 25th best.

You keep on only putting that chart out. Again, shot, chances, even goals allowed allow for some element of 'chance'. Look at how he actually plays, the video, the pictures don't lie he is a major problem. Even if you want to go by the chart you keep on putting out there, what is that time frame? Is that last year? his career? And D-men and Forwards play a different role on penalty killing, so compare him to other forwards. According to your chart, he is '2nd worst' among forwards, but again, actually watching him play, you can see he is a LOT worse than Greenway. Finally, when you look at another chart, actual goals allowed per 60, either over last year or his career, he is always near the bottom of forwards. You don't need a chart of stats to see just how bad he is, it is so obvious at times its hard to believe he plays that way. Short handed goals per 60 allowed supports this. The only thing that doesn't put him at the bottom of the barrel for Penalty killing is the one single chart you keep throwing out there, but even then, it doesn't show he is 'good', its just one chart that shows there is someone worse than him in that metric (but when you watch the games, that person actually plays his position much better.)

I don't consider the entire last season a small sample size. Plus as I said, a lot of the goals allowed last year were a DIRECT result of Cozens chasing. Its not like you look at a goal allowed and say "2 guys could have done something different". Its been more like "Wow, what the heck is Cozens doing". Again, it wasn't one or two times last year. I posted PK threads (some with pictures) probably 5-10 times or more last season with Cozens doing things that obvious. And the numbers you posted are different than mine. First, the eye test shows (with video to back it up) what I am saying. 2nd, actually goals allowed per 60, Cozens is not the 2nd best among forwards. Depending on how far back you go, he's the 2nd worst or the worst (if you want to talk about Sample size, his numbers for PP goals against allowed per 60 is almost 10. More than Tuch, and 30-50% more than Greenway and Tage.

sloppy point play so far on the pp Power and Byram look like the 2 best Sabres on the ice so far.

Didn't miss much so far...possibly the worst 20 minutes of hockey to watch that had 2 goals scored in it. Sloppy, nothing creative, no great saves, not much hitting when you take out the Columbus-on-Benson hits.

1st period, the Forwards look dis-interested. Not much hitting, no playmaking. Byram and Power both look more comfortable handling the puck than they did last year though. Its only on a couple of shots, but Levi giving up some rebounds.

And Benson hammered again. Teams are targeting him intentionally, or he needs to avoid contact better. He has been hammered by C-bus players 3 times so far just in the 1st period, going down to the ice on 2 of them. He's like 5'9 and 155-160 right? Its great he wants to play the physical game, but he is taking a beating. Get hit too often and knocked to the ice by the 6'1-6'2, , 210+ lb guys and its going to eventually be a problem.

Benson hit pretty hard 2 times in about 30 seconds and went down to the ice. Its great he doesn't shy away from contact, but with his size he needs to learn how to avoid some of those hits when they are directed at him.

For 2 goals being scored and the first period isn't even over, this is a pretty boring and uneventful game so far, on both sides.

I'm trying to see if the Power play is a lot different than last year, but I'm only 1/2 watching because I have other things going on with my computer besides the game, I can't really tell yet.

Maybe its just going to come at right at puck drop for the play-by-play? If its a techinical issue....c'mon, its 2024, not 2014. The team should be able to get a live stream done the correct way. And there it goes, I have sound now finally.

I think Benson might be good there. He plays the game without many mistakes. He seems to be very coachable. He'll play physical when needed, but he's not a huge guy to bang on the boards all the time. I think he'd learn where he needs to be and would be there. I'm not saying he would be great there, but as you said I'd like to see him with a chance at center.

I've got the game feed from Sabres.com, they just showed the intro video but I had no sound. I have sound on other sites, I checked and the sound on the page wasn't muted and was turned up. Anyone else with the same issue so far?

I'm not sure what kind of impression he wants to make. As per my other analogy, that is like a CB in football being told the a certain play is a zone Defense, and he decides to just ignore that, the rest of the team continues to play zone and he just chases the ball around the field leaving his zone wide open? I mean, that is exactly what he did. Unless he really wants Lindy to think negatively of him I cannot imagine what kind of impression he is trying to make (if you haven't yet, watch the replay of the goal and focus on Cozens, it really is that bad) My whole point is it isn't an over-reaction when he did this pretty much all last year. Maybe he got a bit better at the end of last season, but the clips of him way out of position I posted, that happened many times with him last year. Preseason game one could be an over-reaction. But when a player has a problem with a certain aspect of their game that is a major problem, and the very first chance they have they show it again in a big way, its worth taking note of.

I thought Thompson did pretty good on the PK. When he was paired with Greenway out there, I thought they were excellent as the 2 forwards. But, as you said, he's your #1 scorer, don't put him out there where he can/will be taking shots into himself.

I agree 100%, and I know a few of you are sick of me saying it. Cozens wants to go to the corners, he wants to bang along the walls, he wants to chase the puck. Cozens does not want to to be in the defensive zone and 'hang out in the slot' to make sure someone from the other team doesn't 'step into' that area. To equate it to football, Cozens is not good at, nor does he want to play zone defense. He wants to get in the WR's face and play a very physical bump and run coverage. I need that player at wing. I do not need, nor want, that player at center.

Yes, it is, but in the first period of the first preseason game under the new coach, I would hope we wouldn't have somebody do something egregious as that, especially when the other three players seem to be holding their position. The main reason I brought this up is that last year, I posted many threads similar to this with the exact same thing. The sabres gave up a power play goal or they gave up a goal where the opposition was cycling the puck in their own end and everyone did what they were supposed to do except Cozens He was all over the ice... And Cozens left his spot wide open and a goal was scored from there. If it happens once or twice, okay mistakes are made. But it happens so often. 10 to 15 times per season. And it's always him. And it never changes. I guess for the team's sake, just don't play him in those situations and you'll be fine. But the thing that's troubling for me, is why is he not changing his game? It's something that someone in Peewee hockey should learn... Stay in your position. When you get out of position, opportunities are given up and goals are scored against us. Just stay in your position like all of your teammates are doing every shift. It's not a little error, it's not being out of position by 1 to 2 ft... It's basically everyone being where they're supposed to be and Cozens going 100% rogue like he's playing NHL 25 with his friends on PS5 or Xbox.

Peterka just looks too good putting the puck in the net to say he won't have the best season. He isn't a liability on defense, he almost scored 30 last year, and in his first appearance this year he scored 3. Its just hard to say either of the other 2 guys will be better than that.

Hopefully. Last year Cozens got the 2nd most minutes penalty killing under Granato, and he was on the first pk unit at the start of the game yesterday under Ruff. Maybe once the full lineup is playing, those guys will be on the ice instead. Last year, the top 6 guys in terms of Short handed time on ice per game played among forwards were Greenway, Tuch, Cozens, Quinn, Zemgus and Tage. Of those 6, Cozens was on the ice for the most goals allowed per 60 minutes (9.06). The 2nd worst was Greenway at 6.48. The 'eye test' watching him way out of position leads one to think he is the worst on the team at penalty killing. The stats back up that he is the worst on the team at penalty killing (by quite a bit). As you said, I hope those other guys are on the PK, but seeing Cozens out there right away in preseason game one, and seeing just how bad he did is something that was noticeable and I didn't like.

I have a hard time evaluating Benson. He has played better than I thought he would and obviously his coaches like him a lot. I DO see he is rarely out of position which is good, but I do not see speed or a big shot (or even accurate one), so I have a tendency to still think he is a 'high floor' but 'lower ceiling' guy. Hopefully I'll be proved wrong. The simple fact he made the team last year at 18 and was praised by both Granato and Ruff is a good sign.