I turned it off once it went 3-1. Glad I did
- stashu

I hate being grumpy

I agree with your point. However on such a young, rebuilt team, if you're expecting to WIN now with this assembled team, they need above average goaltending.

I'm actually surprised how well Johnson and Ullmark have played so far. I don't expect much at all from Johnson and Ullmark I expected to be an AHL goaltender for now. This may actually help him progress at a faster rate playing more consistantly at an NHL level.
- mattsox

I think it's more the case where they need above average goal scoring

and with this group, they should be scoring more goals

If you don't score, you don't win

This team doesn't score, and probably has the lowest shooting % in the NHL
- homiedclown

Close.

Buffalo is 27th at 7.61%.

Only the Penguins (!!), Flyers, and Ducks are below them.

The overall league average the past few years has been just under 9%, and 15th overall this year (San Jose) is right at that number.

First this year, so far, is Dallas at 10.66% followed by the Coyotes at 10.47%.

Yes, expect the Coyotes to fall in the standings as there is no way that lasts the entire season.

is that on murray or Bylsma?
- Michael Pachla

it's murray's toys


I think the oven gets hot on him this off season

I hate being grumpy
- Michael Pachla

I embrace it

side note, not sure if this is public knowledge yet

I was told that pegula told whaley and ryan that the bills need to make the playoffs next season for their jobs to be safe


oh and the bills schedule is brutal next year
- homiedclown

I hope not...still unclear as to whether that actually happened...the buffalo news started that but since there've been conflicting reports...

that said, you're right...next year's schedule is brutal...my opinion--whaley gets a one year extension and the tandem get the next two seasons to get the ball rolling

I embrace it
- homiedclown

where's ray when ya need him

Murray's choice to be his "#1 goaltender" which may end up hopefully being his demise here in Buffalo.
I think I stand on pretty solid ground from what I have saw of Lehner before he injured himself, that he will not be thought of as a "#1 goaltender" by seasons end.
- Pluviophile

Revising my post:

You shouldn't want Lehner to suck so that you can be right about what you know about him. You shouldn't want Lehner to suck and hope that it leads to your GM's "demise". You should hope that Lehner comes out and is a spectacular goalie and GMTM looks like a genius.

I really want to know what you would have done differently than Murray since you think he's done wrong enough that he should be out. Starting from when he was hired, what's your grand plan that gets us a stanley cup?

Or, let me phrase it better. If what you hope for happens and GMTM is canned, what do you want the next GM to do? What moves do you want to make? Because at this point I think we're already down a path and if you want to stop it I hope that you have another one in mind.

RIP Riley

I'm not disappointed at all that we're near the basement. We're not ready to be competing. We still don't have a top line defenseman to play with Risto. We need a top 6 scoring winger, maybe two. Being at the bottom gets us at least one of those in the draft. Edmonton, Florida, and a few other bottom feeders have amassed too many high-end pieces over the past five years, if we try to compete with them now, we'll be losing to them for the next 10 years and this rebuild will be a failure. We have the best of both worlds right now, the Sabres aren't horrible to watch and they're still at the bottom granting a us a high pick at our own draft. The last thing we need is a race to 9th place in our conference.

To be fair, I don't think he had a very good pre-season either
- stashu

Or season last year before the concussion.

side note, not sure if this is public knowledge yet

I was told that pegula told whaley and ryan that the bills need to make the playoffs next season for their jobs to be safe


oh and the bills schedule is brutal next year
- homiedclown

I'll believe it when I see it they just signed Whaley to an extension

http://www.sportingcharts...shooting-percentage/2015/

Buffalo is 27th in both shots and %
- Zschalberg

Nice link, I'll have to add it to my favorites folder!

I was just looking on nhl.com to try to find the team's Save %/ranking and they didn't have it (found the shooting % one there, but didn't post cuz you beat me to it).

FWIW, the Sabres are 21st overall with a .908 Save %

Edit:

And funny enough, this ad popped up at the top while I was looking.

thanks

with ror, kane, eichel, skunk, ennis, girgens, gionta and moulson that should not happen

and mcginn is overachieving
- homiedclown

Disagree on McGinn. He is producing at his normal rate while his shooting percentage is only a tiny bit high.

Counting on Gionta and Moulson for scoring is a problem.

If Zemgus and Ennis were producing at the rate they did last season, it would be far easier to handle what Moulson and Gionta are not doing.

Close.

Buffalo is 27th at 7.61%.

Only the Penguins (!!), Flyers, and Ducks are below them.

The overall league average the past few years has been just under 9%, and 15th overall this year (San Jose) is right at that number.

First this year, so far, is Dallas at 10.66% followed by the Coyotes at 10.47%.

Yes, expect the Coyotes to fall in the standings as there is no way that lasts the entire season.
- kingcong39

Arizona is also 29th in shots for, so yes, they will regress. Any team over 10% might.

I'll believe it when I see it they just signed Whaley to an extension
- gerbe75pts

yeah pegula is a penny pincher


if you think he bought these teams to consistently miss the nfl playoffs and hover around last place in the nhl, your kidding yourself

I'll believe it when I see it they just signed Whaley to an extension
- gerbe75pts

Did he actually sign? Last I heard there was no ink and they had "Verbally agreed to terms"

it's murray's toys

I think the oven gets hot on him this off season
- homiedclown

Totally disagree, his seat only gets hot if the team has a similar record next year at the halfway mark.

Prior to that happening, no way.

I'll believe it when I see it they just signed Whaley to an extension
- gerbe75pts

You have to do that for a GM, if you tell him its his last year it changes EVERYTHING. The way he drafts, loading up front contracts. You cannot tell a GM in the NFL he is going to be fired or you are setting your team up for failure. The extension is a smoke screen.

RIP Riley





- homiedclown

Did he die...or get taken again?

Did he die...or get taken again?
- stashu

he died

RIP Riley





- homiedclown

This will always be my favorite Riley:

yeah pegula is a penny pincher


if you think he bought these teams to consistently miss the nfl playoffs and hover around last place in the nhl, your kidding yourself
- homiedclown

Well, I will say this, he had one of the lowest salaried teams in the NHL the last 2 seasons, had terrible performances, and yet had a waiting list for season tickets and sold a lot of games. Not saying that's his business model, but he has polished a turd and sold it as gold since he got here, has he not? We're paying for the future but we've been doing that for years now.

He hadn't played since February. Goaltending is the position that requires regular playing time more than any other. .
- HonkFortheGoose

I'm not going to tell you that you're wrong.
However, I will just say that your statement differs from one goalie to the next.
I played the position a ton and it didn't matter to me when or how I was playing.
The only thing I would say that hinders a goalies performance is how large or small the ice/playing surface is and that simply has to do with angles.
Even saying that, if you still want to argue your point, Lehner by that last game against Columbus should have found some kind of rhythm.
Instead he posted a .800 save %