Curt

Can you show that a higher number of blocked shots has a correlation with winning more games, or with allowing fewer goals? I’m not convinced that it does.

I am frightened by the idea that the Sabres are on the Devon Levi timeline. I don’t see that as a wise path. They need a viable goalie for the next 2-3 years. Levi should probably get a big chunk of one season in the AHL and then if he succeeds there, ease him into being an NHL goalie, starting with true backup duty and increasing his usage as dictated by performance. If Comrie doesn’t come around this season and just kind of stinks it up, the Sabres are going to need to go sign another goalie for 2-3 years who is better than Comrie. If the great play of the top 6 forwards and top 3 D continues, then yes, I agree that they should make moves this offseason with the expectation of being a playoff team next season.

I always find it interesting players that other people think are fast skaters. Straight line speed, I don’t think of Quinn, Skinner, or even Thompson as fast. Tuch, Peterka, Cozens, Girgensons, Hinostroza would be my picks.

The reason that I find it so hard to believe that Power is just 19 is because he is actually 20.

So far, I’d say that Adams has handled to goalie situation similar to how he has handled every other position. He seems reluctant (unwilling?) to use long term assets to fill current holes in the roster. At some point, that will need to change. He will need to use long term assets (picks/prospects/cap space) to acquire immediate solutions for roster holes. Whether it’s goaltender, #4 defenseman, 3C, or other, there will be something that needs fixing. I expect that at some point there will be a shift.

You may be right. Hard to say with certainty. There could be an implied point about the goaltending, but it wasn’t explicitly stated.

I don’t really think the tweet makes any assertion about the goaltending. The point seems to be that they give up a lot of chances against and a prediction for that to improve in time.

It’s an interesting thought. Reminds me of a concept used among high level soccer coaches/teams. They call it tactical periodization. The idea is that you can’t teach a complicated tactical system all at once. It’s just too much, so managers break it up into pieces and implement the full system over a longer period of time, 6 months-1 year. I’m not sure it translates exactly to the Sabres situation, but that’s what it brought to my mind.

Since Adams took over, he has brought in a group of highly regarded front office personnel. Jason Karmanos, Sam Ventura, and Domenic Galamini Jr. are the guys I had in mind. They are experienced guys at the top of their fields of expertise who came from successful organizations and chose to join the Sabres organization.

I disagree with this. I don’t think there is any evidence to support it. In the past 1-2 years Buffalo has hired experienced, highly regarded people to work in the front office.

Pack-rat mentality? Like hoarder? Or like we hold on to stuff?

Just a note on Moulson. By 2016-17, everyone could see that he was no good anymore. He was coming off two full seasons of 8 and 13 goals, and he looked washed. He wasn’t expected to be major contributor that season. Hopes were high for sure though. I felt hopeful that would be a playoff team.

My assertion was that they didn’t have a legitimately full top-6. You listing Ennis on the top line basically confirms my beliefs.

Oh come on, he likes it. i actually doubt that Sabres will add 3rd/4th liners at the deadline. Maybe the offseason.

This is a good point, just as a theoretical concept. How could someone prove to you that no one wrote something? Show you all the examples of posts that it wasn’t written in? Lol

Kane was supposed to be, he kind of was, but I think he played selfish/losing hockey most of the time he was here. I still have nightmares of him skating into the zone with the puck and firing a 50 foot shot into the goalie. Feels like I watched that 1,000 times. Okposo unfortunately was not what he was supposed to be. Probably still top-6 label worthy for a couple years, but barely. I don’t think there was even ever a 6th guy who could legitimately be called a top-6 forward, even on paper. Ancient Gionta? Ancient Pominville? Evan Rodrigues? Benoit Pouliot?

Oh, I didn’t realize that you were talking just about the past few games. Yeah, that line has been on fire the past couple weeks. Id be happy if it happens, but I doubt Cozens ends the season with 75+ points. Still, with how good he has been so far, it’s pretty likely that he ends up with 55+, which in itself would be a massive breakout for him.

It’s 1/3 of a season. Still smallish sample, but maybe more than a streak. He certainly doesn’t look like he is just getting lucky out there. Is this the same conversation that we had regarding Thompson halfway through last season?

Did they really have two legit scoring lines? Or just two good C’s? Can you name the full lines? They certainly included a couple substandard players. Those teams could never score and even the top two lines were always minus +/- lines.

Cozens currently sitting at 24 points in 25 games. This kid is going to get a huge contract this offseason. Like equal to Tage maybe.

That looked like a great, perfectly clean hit by Dahlin. It’s a shame that you can’t even thrown a good hit without everyone on the other team feeling like they need to fight you.

Obviously having/finding a good goalie is always better than not. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise and I’m not advocating for the Sabres to not bother looking for goaltending help. What I’m saying is that the Sabres should wait before deciding to spend significant assets (large $, long term contracts, high level draft picks or prospects) on acquiring a “good” goaltender. Why? Because what is a good goaltender today, is actually not that likely to still be a good goaltender 3-4 years from now. I don’t want them spreading significant assets on players who won’t be helping the team when the core group is at or near their peak. All it takes is a quick look around the league to see the large number of goalie contracts that do not work out. Not because the goalies got old, but because they became ineffective due to external factors. Goalie performance much more than any other position is heavily influenced by external factors, and that’s why I’m very hesitant to invest heavily in a goalie who “earned it” somewhere else under different circumstances. I definitely wish that they had been able to complete that Murray deal, or that Comrie had been better so far, but I’m ok with their current approach of “bargain hunting” for goalies.

I actually disagree with this as a principle, and it’s not what successful teams have done. More than any other position, goaltending has a short shelf life. For example, if the Sabres had invested major assets in acquiring a high level goaltender last season, that’s far from a guarantee that they would still have a high level goaltender when they are theoretically ready to contend in 2025. I actually think that goaltender should be one the last places to invest major assets in during a rebuild.

No. That’s just every other topic.

Please tone down the dismissivness. I politely asked you what about him is bad. If you are unable or unwilling to describe to me why you think he is bad, fine, but I very don’t make up my mind based on charts that someone tweets out. I don’t even have Twitter and only ever see such charts if they are posted here.