mjd1001

Last year New Jersey was mid pack in goals scored (despite being ruined by injuries to their top players). The year before that when they were healthy with Ruff, they were 4th in the league in goals. Over the last 2 years they have outscored the Sabres. I think when you say "Jersey clone", you aren't referring to the Devils now, but maybe the team they haven't been for years and years and years. Now if you would have said the Islanders, that would make more sense, but Jersey? Not really.

The 'new' NY state thruway rest stops. It seems the Millions and millions of dollars spent on rebuilding the rest areas on the thuway, well, they made them WORSE. Some of them only have a handful of stalls in the restrooms. The new rest stops have LESS than the old ones (5 or more people in the restroom, you are waiting in line.) And, I'm personally not driving an EV, but at a couple we stopped at they installed EV chargers, but I think I counted 4 chargers at one and 6 at another. If you are going to spend the money to install them, how about installing enough of them so that if EV's are a lot more popular in a few years, there won't be a line waiting to use them. But yeah, the restroom thing really gets to me. How do you have LESS than before? At a place that that majority of people driving who stop there do so to use the restroom?

So... The site was working yesterday when I checked it but today it looks like it's officially done as on this morning. Again... If anybody knows of a replacement or anybody knows of a similar site being put together, please post it so we all can visit when it's up if we ever get one.

If only the Sabres had this guy instead of Philadelphia

You can look at how he deployed guys in NJ 2 years ago (his last full season there with a 112 point team). And yes, some here will argue the success they had was less Ruff and more his assistants. I personally disagree with that but even if it is true, its likely Ruff had more input into ice time when behind the bench: His top pair D had about 21 minutes per game. Dougie Hamilton, his best D-man, was averaging in the mid 21 min range. 2nd pair guys around 19 minutes. 3rd pair guys (Ryan Graves and Brendan Smith) still typically 15-18 minutes per game. He spread his D-minutes out. As a reminder, Dahlin last year got almost 25 and a half minutes per game, Power was over 22 per game. Forwards? Jack Hughes was clearly at the top of the list. 43 goals, 99 points (would have had over 100 had he not missed a few games), yet he averaged under 20 minutes per game. Hischier also just above 19 minutes. Timo Meier? just over 17 minutes. He seemed to have spread it out better than what we have been used to here for a while now.

I'm not sure if it is going to work, but the plan for this team long term might be to have a 'decent' forward group, but to have the best D-group in the league, at least top 2 pairings that can be out there close to 75% of the time and in virtually all critical situations. I think it was the 2014 Olympics, Canada played 6 games I think and allowed a total of 3 or 4 goals over that entire time. Yes, they had good goaltending and yes, they had great forwards, but they won because the d-pairings were suffocating. They played the game the right way, hardly made mistakes, and most importantly, once they got the puck on their stick in their own zone they skated or passed it out easily. My guess is the team's vision for when the Sabres will be really good is to have them play that way, total control of the game from the blue line. I'm not saying it will WORK, but that seems to be the play.

Florida, Boston, Toronto, Carolina, Rangers. I think most think those 5 teams are a lock for 5 of the 8 spots. Tampa finished 14 points ahead of the Sabres. Did the Sabres do enough to pass them, PROBALY not. So there is 6. 2 spots left. Detroit finished 7 points ahead last year, they added. Washington, Pittsburgh, Philly, the Islanders also finished ahead of the Sabres. Can the Sabres finish ahead of all of them except for one? Then you look behind them. I personally think New Jersey is up there with the top 5. They were ravaged by injuries last year, and they might have the best maturing core. Ottawa is improving. Montreal also, but I think Montreal has farther to go. It could be this year, it might take 96-98 points to make the playoffs.

You disagree that he SHOULD be gone? or that he MIGHT be gone? I didn't intend my post to say he SHOULD be gone, I'm at the very least for an open position in camp....my post was intended to say regardless of whether, myself, you, the fanbase wants him here, he might be the odd man out.

I understand your view, and I go back and forth, but I'd rather give UPL a longer deal. If you overpay Cozens or Power and they turn out to be 'average', its a MUCH bigger financial penalty than if you UPL turns out to be 'average' and not your starter. My thinking is you aren't going to pay UPL a 7 year deal for 7-9 million. If you give him 3 years for 4.5....that is hurting you a lot less. Its a gamble, but I'd think..risking 4.5 million for the potential reward/failure is a much less risk than spending long term on the other deals. Goalie is the ONE area I would take a risk, especially if its likely to be half the length of a deal and maybe 60% the money of those other guys. UPL reaching his potential helps you just as much, if not more, than those other guys for likely less of a cost.

I agree there. When they were healthy, the Sabres PK of Tage and him up front, Samuelsson in the back end worked well. Put the tall guys out there with a lot of reach. They can pretty much stand in their spot and not 'chase' the puck that much because they covered so much ground with their reach and stick. I actually like that method of PK. When you have too much movement on the PK, when you chase the puck (my personal issue with Cozens), you leave areas open and that is when teams take advantage of you. Now the question is...does Ruff want the same kind of PK? Big guys, don't move around too much to let the other team get you out of position? Or does he want a pressure based PK (where someone like Cozens might excel and guys like Tage and Greenway might not be as good?)

He was better there, but still not 'fast'. But even if the Sabres 'system' was slow, he still ranks toward the bottom on the team of players that played in the same system. Its not just skating speed as I said above. He clearly isn't as fast as most of guys they are bringing in for the 3rd and 4th line. But for those bottom 6 spots, it is becoming a numbers game, and someone may have to go. Greenway was brought in as someone who played for Granato in the past, he doesn't have that history with Ruff. I'm not saying he is gone for sure, I'm just saying it won't surprise me if he is gone..or at least spending more time in the press box.

According to NHL edge, he is one of the very slowest players in the league for top speed and speed bursts over 20. If you look at the previous year, he was closer to average, but he is no where near the guys they are putting together right now.

I know many disagree with me, but I think Greenway may be the odd man out. They obviously want guys who are fast, VERY fast on those bottom 2 lines (all are except for Zucker and Zucker is "OK"). Greenway doesn't fit. Also, I know its not the main reason Skinner is gone, but he was one of the slower forwards on the team (Skinner) and he's gone. There is just a chance Adams/Ruff for some reason want to put together one of the fastest skating teams in the league, at least the bottom 2 lines, and Greenway doesn't fit.. Plus he was brought in as one of 'Granato's guys'. Again, he has a role and he has some good qualities, and I know a lot of people here like him....just to me it wouldn't be surprising if he isn't on the 3rd line, or even a regular on the 4th once the regular season starts. I think he is going to have to have one of the best training camps ever to convince Ruff to be a regular in the lineup.

Not really. One group was clamoring for a trade and they made their voices heard in the past. Another group was quiet then, they were happy because there was no over pay. Now the group that wanted the trade is quiet (they got what they want) but the group that doesn't like overpaying is sounding off. Schizophrenice not really....just different people speaking up when they do/don't get what 'their side' wants.

I sure am. Again, we know he had an arm/wrist injury last year, that was admitted to, and again, the drop in production mirrors what Matthews did a couple years ago. Its not 'coping'. Its taking data that is given, applying a similar data set to it and drawing a logical conclusion. That may be correct, it may be incorrect, but to me it seems most of the 'coping' being done on this board is by the perma-negatives that just want to make fun of anything they don't agree with.

That might be true, but I look at his shooting percentage. Since he moved to center, for 2 years it was close to 15%. Last year it dropped quite a bit....and there is a reason for it...a possible/likely injury. I did a huge write up a few months ago how Austin Matthews had a similar injury for a season, and that was the season his production dropped. The percentage his production dropped, his shooting percentage drop, almost EXACTLY mirrored what Tage went through for one year with a similar injury. Tage didn't get less shots last year, it was just the first time in 2 seasons (not one season of sample size like with Cozens), that there was a difference. So, I could be wrong of course but that is why I think Tage is back to his form of the previous 2 years, not what you got last year.

I'm still on my thinking if Tage is healthy, you are getting around 50 goals from him this year.

It will be interesting to see. Skinner is good at scoring 2 ways...off the rush, and garbage goals right in front of the net. That seems to be most of his scoring. PP, not really. Cycling the puck around in a controlled way in the Offensive zone, he's not all that dangerous there. So, you would think with fast guys like in Edmonton, he will thrive off the rush. But, can he keep up? Skinner is a decent skater, but he as hardly any speed. Skinner doesn't even have average top end speed, he is SLOW. McDavid strength is he plays at full speed almost all the time with the puck. Will Skinner be able to keep up, or in order to do so will he have to 'cheat' even more away from the D-zone?

As a kid, I snuck a small radio into my room at night so I could listen to Baseball games that started at 10 or 10:30 pm when my parents didn't want me to. In my teens and 20's, I watched baseball almost every night. In my early 30's, I may have been so busy that I couldn't watch every game with full attention, but it was on the TV, at least as background noise, 140-150 nights per year. I'm in my later 40's now, and just in the last 5-7 years, I have totally, 100% stopped. I like sports and watch sports, but all of a sudden have have zero interest in it. If I even see a game on TV, I might (once or twice a month) try to watch it and I can't even last 2-3 minutes and I think it is so awful and boring. I have some theories, but I don't know why 100%. I was a huge baseball fan, I collected baseball cards, sticker books, played strat-o-matic baseball with anyone who would play as a kid, did all the video games....now...nothing.

100% agree. There seems to be more hype around it than the winter games. I personally enjoy many of the sports in the winter games, but I can't even really think of one event in the Summer games I watch. As a kid I used to like track and field events..but now...ehh.

I agree with that for sure. On one hand it make it less of a 'farmers market'. On the other hand, it is more to look at and try....to me there are only so many people you can by a pint of tomatoes from.

Hockey IQ. I think its a term we use when a guy may not have elite, or very good 'raw' skills that are visible, but he is vey successful. A guy may not be that fast like Pavel Bure or Petr Bondra. Not be that big/tall like Eric Lindros. Doesn't have the hardest shot like Brett Hull or Al MacInnis. Doesn't stick handle so well that he has that 'puck-on-a-stick' thing when he carries it like Mario Lemieux. When you see a guy like that but he nets 30+ goals every year, is one of the better +/- guys on your team, is put out there by his coach in all situations, and his production helps you win...well, we just assign a 'high hockey iq' to them to explain their success despite the lack of visible elite skill.

Not sure if anyone wants to add anything, but this started last night with a conversation with my wife. Talking about the Sabres. Best players of all time on the team and Hasek was brought up. She was not traditionally a hockey fan and grew up in NY city so she doesn't know much about him. So, I was showing her some old videos and highlights and it let me thinking to things that we might think are overrated in general, or in sports. Quick spoiler, I do NOT think Hasek was overrated, just the opposite. Overrated things in sports: -Canada's opinion of itself in particular with hockey. After our discussion I read some posts online (some new, some from a decade ago), watched some videos, read some articles..etc. When asked who is the greatest goalie of all time, or at least 'modern' history, the consensus around the world seems to be Hasek, with the EXCEPTION of writers/people out of Canada. Anecdotally through my hour+ stint last night I'd say that 70% of articles/opinions I read from anywhere but Canada said Hasek #1. Out of Canada though (articles, posts, etc), 80+ percent had him 3rd behind Roy and Brodeur. Mind you, I wasn't looking for who was the 'most accomplished' goalie, simply the best. Canada seems to really not be able to separate their opinion of themselves and everything hockey that comes out of there from the opinions of everyone else. Canada, you love hockey and you have lots of great players, but you overrate yourselves a tad bit sometime. -Lewis Hamilton. For those who follow F1 racing. I think he is a great driver, he is certainly the most SUCCESSFUL driver, but fans of his (especially out of Great Britain, where he is from) will seemingly throw down with you if you even hint at the slightest that any other driver is even in the same zip code as him in terms of ability. Prost? Senna, Schumacher? Verstappen? Vettel? Alonso? To most Hamilton (British) fans, COMBINE the ability of those guys and it still doesn't equa Hamilton. They don't seem to be able to separate 'most wins' (due to best car on the grid, as is true with many of the greats) from best driver. Lewis Hamilton fans, he is a great driver, but in your eyes overrated for sure. -Miami. This isn't sports related, but I just got back from Florida again and I just don't get Miami. I've visited the city many times. I lived in Florida. I worked a bit in south Florida. We still own a house in Florida we rent out to a family member (despite me wanting to sell it) so I'm certainly very used to the area. I just don't see the appeal. New England has some nicer beaches. As much as I don't like Vegas, the nightlifte in Vegas (and the volume of it) blows south beach away to me. The city is kinda dirty. Museums are WAY down the list of quality compared to other cities. At one point last week, I had a guy walk up to me downtown and start rapping in front of, then he put a paper cup in my face filled with coins and shook it...and the EXACT same thing happened 10 minutes later a few blocks away. Oh, and we heard what seemed like Gunshots at 2pm in the afternoon not too far from downtown. We also travel to Charlotte, Columbus, and Boston a lot and we don't get any of that (not even close to it) in any of those places. So Miami, you are VERY overrated.

so with VO and Zemgus gone....the player with the longest tenure in the organization is....Brett Murray?

For me its Deadline day. Technically at draft day and free agent day, their 'record' is the same as everyone else's. By deadline day, they are usually WAY out of a spot.