Jorcus

That's about the size of it. Just tired of hearing about Skinners play so switch it up. The results could go either way.

I think two things are leading to changing out Adams sooner than later like the Olympic break or post season. One is he is no longer able to face the news media without getting absolutely clobbered on video so there is in effect no one to represent the team to the press. Two is the Tuch negotiations. I don't see how he would re-sign not knowing who is managing and coaching this team next year.

I am not saying one is better than the other. Just noticing that they are outliers on the money puck analytics expected goals for. Certainly it's better to have a 2 way player vs a one way player but so few players can score 25 goals in the NHL that no matter what else they do they are needed. The average is about 80 players a year score 25 or more and fewer than that can do it on a consistent basis. You can compensate with other players on the ice for the flaws of a high scoring player but it doesn't work the other way around. You can't compensate for lack of scoring in todays NHL. Cozens only scored more than 25 goals once so he is no Peterka or possibly Doan in that department.

It's interesting that they have the same production with different styles of play. If you were going to argue with someone about the meaning of the expected goals stat in money puck I think these would be the 2 examples you would use to argue against the value of the stat. Peterka Doan I am not trying to debunk the analytics of this but there are outliers, Doan shoots from close to the net. So far in his limited time he has been very good at scoring in tight. Still it looks as if he is underperforming although I don't think anyone around here thinks that he is. His body of work is limited but continuing along the same path one would expect a nice 25-30 goal output near or equal to Peterka's. In Peterka's case he is always out performing his expected goals. I assume it's because most of his goals are from the wings and he is a high volume shooter. I think the expectations are that the expected goal analytics will catch up to Peterka but they never have so far. He just has the talent to score goals from distance. I don't know if these trends continue but in Peterka's case there is enough data to say that he is better than his analytics in this area. In Doan's who the hell cares if he is worse but still puts in 25 goals.

I would think a 4th liner has to be out to bring this guy in but who knows. Maybe Ellis is going to IR.

What bothers me about the offside is how many times the linesmen are letting it go now there is video review. The close ones I understand but some of the reversals are too easy. They would rather the play go on then be wrong the other way. In general I don't have a problem with offside challenges. There is very little interpretation other than a player fumbling a puck over the line.

Not just the Sabres. It's an NHL problem not a specific to us. This happened last night. https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/wedgewood-pulled-by-spotter-in-shootout-after-collision-with-forsberg/ Also Duffer was commenting about the Sens going after Markstrom in NJ.

If you want some peaceful zen type activities. My 93 yo father loves the online jigsaw puzzles. My wife has a paint by number app on her kindle tablet. Both are low stress time killers.

I know our goaltending sucks but keep this in mind except for last night we would have had to hold our opposition to 2 goals or less in any game we lost in regulation. I don't think we could improve the goaltending enough to overcome most of these games where we are not scoring 4 goals. Yes I do think we need a left winger that can score goals. I was not against the Peterka trade but with Doan coming back on the right side we lost the scoring balance that is needed to have effective lines. It's hurting us. Sabres scoring in loses breakdown. zero goals 3 one goal 4 two goals 5 three goals 5 4 goals 1 (last night)

The Sabres have lost 12 games this year where they have scored 2 goals or less. This team is not designed to win games where they score only 2 goals. The lack of consistent offence is a problem. They could reduce goals against but it won't help without the offence. It's not a team average issue it's a mean issue. How many games they score 3 or more vs how many games they score less than three. The games where they go off and score 8 and 9 goals help the average but only count 2 points each.

The loss of Zucker amplifies a big issue this team has. That is the lack of scoring from the left wing. The lineup last night Greenway 1 goal Benson 0 goals Malenstyn 3 goals Zucker 9 goals 5 of which were on the power play. The loss of Peterka has really hurt us in this area of the game. We can't put together a line that scores with consistency without that threat from the left wing. Peterka filled in for Skinner who despite his flaws put a lot of goals in the net with Thompson and Tuch. Of the Amerks, Östlund is the most Natural left winger. I am not sure if he is ever going to be a 30 goal guy. Rosen is a lefty but like Peterka is listed a a right winger. Neither should be on the top line but I guess we have nothing else go with. I know goaltending is bad but we can't ignore how bad the offense is and the problem is left of center.

I think this site would have gone bonkers mad if we had selected Wallstedt with that pick. He lights out right now but the Wild has for the most part been a defensive oriented team where goaltenders do well. Wallstedt may turn out to be a fine goalie but looking at his AHL stats you have to think he could go bad and any moment. in 27 games last year he had a .879 save percentage. That is bad for an AHL goaltender. Let's wait and see if he holds up before we complain about not going after him.

Paul Hamilton stated postgame last week that Thompson likes playing with Greenway. There are positives and negatives but it is a big line and will be hard to push around. Who is coming in for Östlund.

The Checkers have always been a tough team for Rochester to beat. Let's see how it goes in the second game.

It's one thing I miss about Peterka. He is an on stick off stick shooter. Too many of our guys try to pick the spots.