pi2000

Power, Byram and Quinn a combined -11. That's actually impressive.

Zucker, Reimer maybe. Lafferty possibly. Malenstyn.... bottom of the lineup guys who could help a playoff team.

Pitt with a -49 goal differential and Buffalo at -7, yet they have more points. At even strength, PIT is -53, DET -19 and BUF is +4. Make it make sense!

next season it'll probably be HC Appert, AC Leone

Savoie had an assist last night for Edmonton. Fire Adams.

If you're going to use someone as scapegoat, Byram isn't the guy. Take your pick from Cozens, Quinn and Power, but fact is they're a much better team with Byram on the ice. ============================================================== BUF even strength goal differential through 54 games = -5 BUF even strength minutes played through 54 games = 2743.27 exp+/- is a function of %min played at ES and team ES goal diff TRpm(team relative +/-) is the diff btwn actual+/- and exp+/- %min is % of ES minutes played ============================================================== Team Player TRpm GP +/- exp+/- %min BUF Alex Tuch 16.49 54 15 -1.49 29.7 BUF Ryan McLeod 11.26 51 10 -1.26 25.3 BUF Bowen Byram 10.97 54 9 -1.97 39.4 BUF Rasmus Dahlin 6.72 46 5 -1.72 34.3 BUF Tage Thompson 5.37 48 4 -1.37 27.4 BUF Henri Jokiharju 4.11 39 3 -1.11 22.1 BUF Jason Zucker 3.26 52 2 -1.26 25.2 BUF Connor Clifton 2.08 48 1 -1.08 21.6 BUF Jiri Kulich 1.94 40 1 -0.94 18.8 BUF Jordan Greenway -0.53 20 -1 -0.47 9.4 BUF Zach Benson -0.93 48 -2 -1.07 21.3 BUF Mattias Samuelsson -1.00 35 -2 -1.00 20.0 BUF Jacob Bryson -1.21 33 -2 -0.79 15.7 BUF Tyson Kozak -1.80 11 -2 -0.20 4.0 BUF JJ Peterka -3.58 52 -5 -1.42 28.4 BUF Dennis Gilbert -3.66 20 -4 -0.34 6.7 BUF Peyton Krebs -3.79 53 -5 -1.21 24.2 BUF Sam Lafferty -5.35 39 -6 -0.65 13.0 BUF Beck Malenstyn -7.19 50 -8 -0.81 16.2 BUF Owen Power -8.17 54 -10 -1.83 36.6 BUF Jack Quinn -15.92 47 -17 -1.08 21.6 BUF Dylan Cozens -16.60 54 -18 -1.40 28.0 ==============================================================

Byram isn't the problem, lol.

too slow, doesn't have the quickness/top end speed to keep up with the McDavids/Mackinnons...

I'm glad he's not playing. He needs to the rest and he's had some injuries, so the time-off will help.

He's getting closer, but he still only has 48gp in the AHL. IMO a goaltender needs at minimum 100gp at the AHL level before they should sniff the NHL. By comparison, Askarov has 108gp in the "A" and he's just now breaking in to the Sharks lineup. Ryan Miller played a full season in the AHL at age 23 and another full season at age 24... having 170gp in the AHL before permanently breaking into the NHL in 2005 as a 25 year old.

Statistically speaking how it impacts wins and losses, blocking a shot probably doesn't have a big impact. However, in key situations... PK, end of period, close games... it is important to prevent pucks from getting to the net. That said, it's less about the statistical impact and more about the player proving to his team that he's willing to sacrifice himself by "eating one" for the benefit of the team. It's culturally significant.

Dumb tournament without some of the best in the world... Kucherov, Vasilevskiy, Sergachev, Malkin, Ovechkin, etc.. And no Caps in the tournament even though they're the top team in the league? OK NHL. If it's not best-on-best it's meaningless.

Zegmus!

I'd remain patient, he's still young for a defenseman and has shown he's a solid defender when healthy. Jake McCabe also had trouble staying healthy early in his career and yet he developed into a very reliable player over the past 4-5 seasons.