Can someone write a separate personal blog about Z train? As much as I love the guy, I just don't think he continues to warrant taking over every blog.

If one of you write a specific blog about him you can continue to snipe at one another without demolishing Hank's blog.
- lacaprup

per bar down



"The 2012 NHL Entry Draft will be remembered by most hockey fans as the Yakupov draft, but there were some good players picked in the draft. Unfortunately for the Sabres, they missed out on a bunch of them with the 14th overall pick. Buffalo selected Zemgus Girgensons with their pick, while Tom Wilson, Tomas Hertl, Andrei Vasievskiy and Scott Laughton were taken with four of the next five picks. Girgensons has been out all season with a hamstring injury and he’s failed to score more than 19 points in a season since 2014-15. If he had played this season he would have hit the 500-games played mark, but as of now he sits at 489 games played with zero playoff appearances."

😀

I'll swing by on the way back .......
- Boss34

If the Sabres retired 28, would it be for Bob Sauve, Donald Audette, Paul Gaustad, or Jason Botterill? Girgs would be some kind of usher?

If the Sabres retired 28, would it be for Bob Sauve, Donald Audette, Paul Gaustad, or Jason Botterill? Girgs would be some kind of usher?
- Lunaion

I saw a Donald Audette jersey at Miller night.

I saw a Donald Audette jersey at Miller night.
- lacaprup

9th round pick, more goals than Girgs has points

I for one would like to talk about how Jack is s******* the bed in Las Vegas. Perhaps he's still injured. It's part of his MO to be injured. Either way, it's great to see Cassidy crapping on him.

I for one would like to talk about how Jack is s******* the bed in Las Vegas. Perhaps he's still injured. It's part of his MO to be injured. Either way, it's great to see Cassidy crapping on him.
- lacaprup

The guy can't take criticism.

His career will nearly die and he'll end up going to Boston and reviving it.

The guy can't take criticism.

His career will nearly die and he'll end up going to Boston and reviving it.
- DirtyDan

Ullmark is getting the vezina

Ullmark is getting the vezina
- homiedclown

Love thinking back to everyone here ragging on him. With a career .915 when he was here. Now those same posters can only dream for a goalie with a .915.

Don't know what ya got till its gon' boys.... Well I know, but ya'll never seem to.

The guy can't take criticism.

His career will nearly die and he'll end up going to Boston and reviving it.
- DirtyDan

He'll find a way to get injured there too. Once guys get comfy on the DL they find it all the time. Jack's probably got a reserved room next to Stephen Strasburg

Love thinking back to everyone here ragging on him. With a career .915 when he was here. Now those same posters can only dream for a goalie with a .915.

Don't know what ya got till its gon' boys.... Well I know, but ya'll never seem to.
- DirtyDan

Ryan Miller's save percentage was .914

Defensive ability is underrated
- Boss34

Mcdavid last time I checked was only a +2.

I actually think a little more defense would help his game and his team win

Ryan Miller's save percentage was .914
- homiedclown

https://www.statmuse.com/...entage-by-year-since-2006


Which is above league average for every year since 2006...

per bar down



"The 2012 NHL Entry Draft will be remembered by most hockey fans as the Yakupov draft, but there were some good players picked in the draft. Unfortunately for the Sabres, they missed out on a bunch of them with the 14th overall pick. Buffalo selected Zemgus Girgensons with their pick, while Tom Wilson, Tomas Hertl, Andrei Vasievskiy and Scott Laughton were taken with four of the next five picks. Girgensons has been out all season with a hamstring injury and he’s failed to score more than 19 points in a season since 2014-15. If he had played this season he would have hit the 500-games played mark, but as of now he sits at 489 games played with zero playoff appearances."
- homiedclown

We missed even worse when we picked the Mexican before lion boy

Ryan Miller's save percentage was .914
- homiedclown

Ullmark was a .915 and the board used to give him sh!t every game. Even though he was a stud.

I had a custom telecaster made last fall off of DHGate from a warehouse/manufacturer from China, neck-through, hollow body (two f-holes), P-90 pickups, set up like a flat top Gibson Les Paul…

All white with black binding, black hardware and a rosewood fretboard, with a custom logo on the headstock.

$300.00

It just came Monday. I have bought Fender guitars that cost 3 times as much as this and I have to say, I am shocked at the quality and feel of this thing, even in comparison.

The finish isn’t perfect, I will probably upgrade the hardware at some point and I had to sand down the fret pins a little and oil the fretboard but honest to god this is better than my Squire Telecaster Deluxe and that was a $450.00 guitar made in Indonesia.

This beats any Chinese-made Fender I have ever played, too. It’s so playable. What a great purchase.

I was at the game last night. We are much better than St Louis. Nice to see some of the young guys live. Cozens is impressive live. Dahlin is leaps and bounds better than any other defensemen out there. He is 2, 3 steps ahead

The guy can't take criticism.

His career will nearly die and he'll end up going to Boston and reviving it.
- DirtyDan

This is spot on, reminds me of a kid who never was told no, never told he had to work hard. SO now all of a sudden everyone isnt kissing his butt he doesnt know what to do. IN the face of adversity every time he will fold

He is an incredible talent but everything from the neck up his dog doo

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Dylan Cozens’ breakout season for Sabres fueled by zone entries

Dec 29, 2022; Buffalo, New York, USA; Buffalo Sabres center Dylan Cozens (24) looks to take a shot on goal during the second period against the Detroit Red Wings at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
By Matthew Fairburn
Jan 25, 2023
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BUFFALO, N.Y. — A sight that has become more common for the Buffalo Sabres and increasingly scary for opponents is that of 21-year-old Dylan Cozens carrying the puck into the offensive zone with a head of steam.

It happened again on Saturday afternoon during Buffalo’s 6-3 win over Anaheim. Cozens collected a neutral zone pass at the blue line. Within a few strides, he had separated from the backcheck and found himself skating toward Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg. He picked his head up to look over at Tyson Jost skating down the other wing. That was just enough to freeze Silfverberg, and Cozens deked him to the ice before lifting a shot right underneath the crossbar.


Cozens, the No. 7 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, is in the middle of a breakout season. He’s already set career highs with 17 goals, 26 assists and 43 points. And he is only 48 games into his third NHL season.

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He’s establishing himself as a piece of the Sabres’ growing leadership core due to his competitiveness. Now the 6-foot-3 forward is showing all of the talent that made him a top-10 pick in the NHL Draft. His shooting percentage is at a career-high, but the foundation of his offensive outburst is his ability to be a play-driver through zone entries.

As of Jan. 1, Cozens was leading the Sabres in zone entries by a large margin. Of those, 66 percent of them were carry-ins, according to Corey Sznajder’s tracking at AllThreeZones.com.


Courtesy: Corey Sznajder / AllThreeZones.com
That Cozens is doing this at 21 years old with a pair of 21-year-old linemates makes it even more impressive. Cozens said having options like Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka and making the defense respect those options helps open everything up for him. As he’s gotten more experience, he notices that he’s increasingly able to stay calm with the puck on his stick.

“Sometimes in those first couple of years I would get the puck and wanted to get to my high speed as quick as I can,” Cozens said. “Now I’ve learned to wait for guys to catch up to me so we can attack as a group and then just try to show the d-man I’m going slow and then go fast at it.”

Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson routinely matches up against opponents’ top lines in games, and he said the most difficult zone entries to defend are those on which the puck carrier is able to buy extra time by protecting the puck or changing speeds to keep the defenseman off balance. He’s had to deal with Cozens in practice on a regular basis and sees all of the qualities of the top zone entry players.

“His speed is the first thing,” Samuelsson said. “He can challenge anybody. When he uses his speed but then slows down, it forces the d-men to back up and then you have to launch forward and it gets the d out of rhythm when he’s changing his speed. He’s a hell of a playmaker. I think it’s underrated how well he can protect pucks with his body. If he’s on the outside and not in the middle and gets the puck, he can protect it. Going against it in practice every day it’s pretty annoying.”

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Physical skills are one thing, and Cozens has plenty. His speed, particularly his ability to get to top gear quickly, stands out. He has the passing and shooting skills to keep defensemen guessing, too. But Don Granato’s first thought when thinking about players who are dangerous when entering the zone is intelligence. A player needs to be able to read where the pressure is coming from both with the defensemen and backcheckers. He also needs to be able to read what options he has joining him on the rush.

Granato views this as a significant area of learning for players when they are entering the NHL. Most players who enter the league have long been more talented than their peers. That makes it a lot easier to dominate as a puck carrier.

“When you get to the NHL, there’s not a discrepancy in skill,” Granato said. “It’s down to like two or three percent. You have to substitute that with game knowledge or situational awareness and lots of other details beyond that. That’s the challenge as players enter the league.”

Cozens has begun to master that. Owen Power said the toughest thing about defending Cozens is that his ability to change speeds makes it difficult to gauge how fast he’s going at any particular moment. Power has noticed that zone entries are one of the most challenging aspects about transitioning from the college game to the NHL. In college, a lot of teams are content to play dump and chase. In the NHL, the best teams have players who are trying to create on the rush.

“I think the biggest thing for me is guys who don’t skate in straight lines,” Power said. “When you skate straight all the time, it’s pretty easy to angle you off. If you weave in and out it’s a lot tougher. You look at a lot of the best guys, they do that and they change speeds a lot.”

The numbers also show Cozens is just scratching the surface in terms of creating scoring chances off of those zone entries.


Courtesy: Corey Sznajder / AllThreeZones.com
It’s no secret that the Sabres are a young, fast team that wants to create scoring chances off the rush. In that sense, Cozens said zone entries start with how quickly the team is able to transition from defense to offense. The quicker they can flip the play, the less time the opponent has to read what they’re going to do. That’s what has helped them work their way into a tie for the league lead in goals per game. And it’s what is making Cozens a soon-to-be highly-paid star.

“Confidence is a big thing, the ability to trust your speed and playmaking ability to make plays,” Cozens said. “The more confident I get, the more I’ll create off the rush and get those high-danger chances.”

(Photo: Timothy T. Ludwig / USA TODAY Sports)

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Matthew Fairburn is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Buffalo Sabres. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he previously covered the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills for The Athletic. Prior to The Athletic, he also covered the Bills for Syracuse.com. Follow Matthew on Twitter @MatthewFairburn
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Ullmark was a .915 and the board used to give him sh!t every game. Even though he was a stud.
- DirtyDan

Ullmark is on the best team in the nhl.

Swayman also has similar stats

Ullmark is on the best team in the nhl.

Swayman also has similar stats
- Sabretooth9

.938>.916
1.82>2.25

Which stats were those?

Domi doesn’t do anything for this roster. It’s a lateral move.
- Sabretooth9

Again just so I am clear

You are the guy who cannot shut up about how great Girgensons is and ask what player would we rather have?

Domi a thousand times.

Love thinking back to everyone here ragging on him. With a career .915 when he was here. Now those same posters can only dream for a goalie with a .915.

Don't know what ya got till its gon' boys.... Well I know, but ya'll never seem to.
- DirtyDan

Should've signed him, no argument, but it isn't as bad as it seems. Boston is a juggernaut defensively, even Swayman will likely end with a +.925 SV%. Boston still allows the lowest amount of shots and high danger chances in the league.

Again, not saying he's awful and he deserves consideration for the Vezina based on results, but he isn't some top5 goalie in this league.

Should've signed him, no argument, but it isn't as bad as it seems. Boston is a juggernaut defensively, even Swayman will likely end with a +.925 SV%. Boston still allows the lowest amount of shots and high danger chances in the league.

Again, not saying he's awful and he deserves consideration for the Vezina based on results, but he isn't some top5 goalie in this league.
- QuinnFan

Can you name me 5 better goalies?

Ya'll keep saying he's on the best team but he wasn't when he posted a .915 while here. On the worst franchise in the last 11 years

They do become like one of your kids!
- Buff36

That's for sure. I'll be rooting for both ef bear and girgensons.

Are we on for a minimal wager?

9th round pick, more goals than Girgs has points
- Lunaion

If Girgs were an UDFA, everyone would love him. Works hard and contributes with a very limited skill set. The kind of guy everyone roots for.

Lunaion