JohnC Posted April 29, 2020 Posted April 29, 2020 This is a short article by WGR's Joe Debiase regarding one of the proposals for a playoff format if the season can't be restarted. He cites Greg Wyshyski as the source of this report. In it the Sabres qualify for the playoffs while a team such as the Rangers that has earned a higher percentage of points will be left out. There is no perfectly fair way to come up with a playoff format. In addition, games would be played in one city in front of an empty arena. I am an ardent Sabre fan. However, based on their performance this year I don't believe that they deserve to be in the playoffs unless the system includes all teams. What is driving this determination to either resume the season or at least have some form of the playoffs is that the league doesn't have insurance for revenue lost to a shut down. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/sabres-a-playoff-team-in-new-nhl-playoff-proposal
4merper4mer Posted April 30, 2020 Posted April 30, 2020 12 hours ago, JohnC said: This is a short article by WGR's Joe Debiase regarding one of the proposals for a playoff format if the season can't be restarted. He cites Greg Wyshyski as the source of this report. In it the Sabres qualify for the playoffs while a team such as the Rangers that has earned a higher percentage of points will be left out. There is no perfectly fair way to come up with a playoff format. In addition, games would be played in one city in front of an empty arena. I am an ardent Sabre fan. However, based on their performance this year I don't believe that they deserve to be in the playoffs unless the system includes all teams. What is driving this determination to either resume the season or at least have some form of the playoffs is that the league doesn't have insurance for revenue lost to a shut down. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/sabres-a-playoff-team-in-new-nhl-playoff-proposal That would be bad because they aren't going to win anything anyway and this would likely exclude them from the draft lottery. The Rangers would be better off.
BillsFan4 Posted April 30, 2020 Author Posted April 30, 2020 (edited) Quote The Sabres are currently sixth in the Atlantic Division, meaning they'd play the third-seeded Toronot Maple Leafs in the first round. As much as I feel like the Sabres haven’t earned the playoffs, this would be pretty amazing! Plus it would get the team some actual playoff experience. I don’t want to be taken out of the draft lottery, but I’d also love to see the Sabres play a playoff series, especially against Toronto. Edit - just saw this: https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/radiocom/report-nhl-could-move-start-of-2020-21-season-to-december Quote If there are no regular-season games, though, Spector says one idea that's getting some traction is for the top six teams in each division to gather in one city, with 1 vs. 2 playing a best-of-3 series to determine the top seed and 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5 playing for the right to continue playing, then the regular divisional playoff format beginning from there. I’d be ok with that. Edited April 30, 2020 by BillsFan4
BillsFan4 Posted May 4, 2020 Author Posted May 4, 2020 (edited) https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/05/04/nhl-makes-case-to-teams-for-early-june-draft/ ‘NHL makes case to teams for early-June draft’ There would be no draft lottery. Quote There are three key topics that the league focused on. First, points percentage as of the March 12 pause would determine the draft order. Second, the lottery would go back to the old system for this season only, meaning no lotteries for each of the top three selections — only one for the top pick with teams able to move up four places, at most. That would end up with the Red Wings, who have already clinched dead last, picking either No. 1 or No. 2 overall. The third area, which will be tricky, is dealing with conditional draft picks. The league said it would propose solutions and the teams involved would have a week to come up with an acceptable alternative for both sides or take the NHL’s idea That sucks. I guess at least we couldn’t move back 3-4 spots. Buffalo would likely pick 7th (or 8th at worst). But I’d still rather have a draft lottery. This current draft idea would likely put all of the top 3 picks in the draft right in our division. #1 to Detroit #2 to ottawa #3 (SJ sharks pick held by Ottawa) That would Suck! I guess thee would also be no player trades because NHL rosters would remain frozen for a potential resumption of the end of season/playoffs after the draft. That would really hurt the Sabres ability to make changes to this team. Edited May 4, 2020 by BillsFan4
JohnC Posted May 4, 2020 Posted May 4, 2020 8 hours ago, BillsFan4 said: https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/05/04/nhl-makes-case-to-teams-for-early-june-draft/ ‘NHL makes case to teams for early-June draft’ There would be no draft lottery. That sucks. I guess at least we couldn’t move back 3-4 spots. Buffalo would likely pick 7th (or 8th at worst). But I’d still rather have a draft lottery. This current draft idea would likely put all of the top 3 picks in the draft right in our division. #1 to Detroit #2 to ottawa #3 (SJ sharks pick held by Ottawa) That would Suck! I guess thee would also be no player trades because NHL rosters would remain frozen for a potential resumption of the end of season/playoffs after the draft. That would really hurt the Sabres ability to make changes to this team. If this season and playoffs are going to presume however which way then the trade market won't happen for this prolonged season. On the other hand there will be opportunities to make deals the next season which would start much later than usual. There is no reason that the player we take in this draft with our first pick can't be dangled in a deal or even in a multi-player deal after this season. Botterill has taken an approach that accentuates drafting and developing. He is invested in young players such as Tage, Mittelstadt, Cozens, Kahun and Yoki. If they don't develop as he hoped he will probably not get an extension on his contract that will run out next year. He made the plan and he is wedded to the plan.
4merper4mer Posted May 5, 2020 Posted May 5, 2020 3 hours ago, JohnC said: If this season and playoffs are going to presume however which way then the trade market won't happen for this prolonged season. On the other hand there will be opportunities to make deals the next season which would start much later than usual. There is no reason that the player we take in this draft with our first pick can't be dangled in a deal or even in a multi-player deal after this season. Botterill has taken an approach that accentuates drafting and developing. He is invested in young players such as Tage, Mittelstadt, Cozens, Kahun and Yoki. If they don't develop as he hoped he will probably not get an extension on his contract that will run out next year. He made the plan and he is wedded to the plan. I've seen Botts draft. When does the developing begin? Ideally before Mittlestadt is eligible for Medicare.
JohnC Posted May 5, 2020 Posted May 5, 2020 The attached link is a WGR interview with Wayne Simmonds on the Instigator Show. This is a 25 minute segment. It's obvious that he is a high character and physical player. Will the Sabres re-sign him? I'm not sure. The Sabres certainly could use a younger version of Simmonds on the team. From what I saw in the few games that he played with Buffalo I thought he was a diminished player from what he was. In the interview he points out that he was still recovering and working his way back after a series of surgeries from the offseason. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/05-05-sabres-forward-wayne-simmonds 1
JohnC Posted May 6, 2020 Posted May 6, 2020 The below link is a column by Jordan LaBarber writing for Sabres.com. He profiles Ryan Johnson, one of the first round picks, who is playing for the Univ. of Minnesota. The basic point of the article is that he is coming along as a prospect. My guess is that he is maybe two to three years away from being a NHL player. The Sabre system is not the richest prospect system in the NHL by far. But it has enough young talent in the system to absorb losing a high first round draft pick this year if the pick is dealt in a deal to bring in a young ready to play second-line forward. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-prospect-profile-ryan-johnson-minnesota/c-316825840 1
BillsFan4 Posted May 6, 2020 Author Posted May 6, 2020 15 hours ago, JohnC said: The below link is a column by Jordan LaBarber writing for Sabres.com. He profiles Ryan Johnson, one of the first round picks, who is playing for the Univ. of Minnesota. The basic point of the article is that he is coming along as a prospect. My guess is that he is maybe two to three years away from being a NHL player. The Sabre system is not the richest prospect system in the NHL by far. But it has enough young talent in the system to absorb losing a high first round draft pick this year if the pick is dealt in a deal to bring in a young ready to play second-line forward. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-prospect-profile-ryan-johnson-minnesota/c-316825840 I wasn’t crazy about the Johnson pick at the time. I wanted one of the skilled forwards that was available. I thought this was a “safe” pick. But ive been impressed with him so far. He might be our best defensive prospect (outside of the NHL) right now.
JohnC Posted May 6, 2020 Posted May 6, 2020 2 hours ago, BillsFan4 said: I wasn’t crazy about the Johnson pick at the time. I wanted one of the skilled forwards that was available. I thought this was a “safe” pick. But ive been impressed with him so far. He might be our best defensive prospect (outside of the NHL) right now. There are a few other good defenseman prospects in the system. Mattias Samuelsson, Pilut and Borgen come to mind. Yoki arguably is one of our most consistent blue liners. And Pilut is ready to play now. Included in the advanced young player group already playing in the NHL are Dominik Kakun and Yoki. In the few games I saw Kahun last year I was really impressed with his skills. I'm not sure he is a second-line caliber of player, but if not he is certainly a contributing third line NHL player. The challenge for the GM is to use some of his assets in a trade or two to better balance out the roster at the forward position. 1
JohnC Posted May 10, 2020 Posted May 10, 2020 Attached is a column by Lance Lysowski from the Buffalo News. It is a fan mailbag column in which he answers questions from the fans that mirror the issues that we discuss here. In the column he states the obvious that this roster needs to be better balanced with additions for the second line. He also notes that because of the shutdown from the coronavirus and the probable later resumption of the playoffs (that might or might not include the Sabres) player transactions are on hold which make it even more challenging for the Sabres to rework the roster. It's an open question whether Cozens, Tage and to a lesser degree Mittelstadt are ready to contribute. Yet it seems that a lot is riding on their ability to contribute. It's my opinion that this year's high first round will need to be packaged in a deal to get back an impacting second line forward that this team desperately needs. https://buffalonews.com/2020/05/09/buffalo-sabres-jason-botterill-ralph-krueger-carter-hutton-nhl-opinion-2020/
BillsFan4 Posted May 11, 2020 Author Posted May 11, 2020 https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/ahl-cancels-the-remainder-of-the-2019-20-season American Hockey League cancels the remainder of the 2019-20 season ‘The remainder of the AHL regular season and the Calder Cup Playoffs have been canceled due to the coronavirus’
JohnC Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 47 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said: https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/ahl-cancels-the-remainder-of-the-2019-20-season American Hockey League cancels the remainder of the 2019-20 season ‘The remainder of the AHL regular season and the Calder Cup Playoffs have been canceled due to the coronavirus’ It's well known that the NHL desperately wants at the minimum have some form of the playoffs. There's a need to salvage some of the revenue loss from this catastrophic health event. Yet, when there is a discussion about how to do it the mountain of details that need to be addressed seem to be insurmountable. Right now the players are located all over the world. International travel in of itself is complicated for people entering the country. Will they have to be quarantined when they arrive before being allowed to go to their respective locations? What happens if a team is finally gathered and a player or staff member has the virus? Do all the players and staff then get quarantined? What happens if the players start playing and then a player or a coach has the virus? Do the games proceed? As the months pass by what is the level of fitness for each player and how long does it take to get in shape so that there isn't a greater risk of injury for the players? Most people are fixated on resuming play for this season. My bigger concern is not this year but next season. Even if there is a late start that doesn't necessarily mean that the virus is less prevalent resulting in the same difficult issues that are being addressed for this season. As I see it the call for cancellation of the AHL is likely to also happen for the NHL. The below link is an 11 min segment with EJ Hradek from the NHL Network on WGR. He brings up a lot of questions without having many answers to them. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/05-11-ej-hradek-from-nhl-network 1
BillsPride12 Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 2 hours ago, JohnC said: It's well known that the NHL desperately wants at the minimum have some form of the playoffs. There's a need to salvage some of the revenue loss from this catastrophic health event. Yet, when there is a discussion about how to do it the mountain of details that need to be addressed seem to be insurmountable. Right now the players are located all over the world. International travel in of itself is complicated for people entering the country. Will they have to be quarantined when they arrive before being allowed to go to their respective locations? What happens if a team is finally gathered and a player or staff member has the virus? Do all the players and staff then get quarantined? What happens if the players start playing and then a player or a coach has the virus? Do the games proceed? As the months pass by what is the level of fitness for each player and how long does it take to get in shape so that there isn't a greater risk of injury for the players? Most people are fixated on resuming play for this season. My bigger concern is not this year but next season. Even if there is a late start that doesn't necessarily mean that the virus is less prevalent resulting in the same difficult issues that are being addressed for this season. As I see it the call for cancellation of the AHL is likely to also happen for the NHL. The below link is an 11 min segment with EJ Hradek from the NHL Network on WGR. He brings up a lot of questions without having many answers to them. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/05-11-ej-hradek-from-nhl-network I've said from the beginning they should chalk this season up as a loss. Same for the NBA. I understand they need to generate revenue. But there is no practical way to resume play right now with the fear of Covid spreading. I anticipate we will hear an official ruling soon announcing that's the case which I have been predicting since the beginning. I think a lot of fans, media, players, probably even the league were in denial about how this was going to end for this season. 2
BillsFan4 Posted May 11, 2020 Author Posted May 11, 2020 I agree with both of you. I just don’t see how they can resume the season. All it takes is one player or coach or team employee getting sick to derail everything again. At this point just focus on next season (and even that is not a guarantee, at least starting on time anyway). It would be a logistical nightmare to try and complete this season. 3
JohnC Posted May 12, 2020 Posted May 12, 2020 2 hours ago, BillsFan4 said: I agree with both of you. I just don’t see how they can resume the season. All it takes is one player or coach or team employee getting sick to derail everything again. At this point just focus on next season (and even that is not a guarantee, at least starting on time anyway). It would be a logistical nightmare to try and complete this season. Let's extend the same circumstances in this hockey situation and apply it to all the other major sports, pro or college? How do you allow fans in an arena or stadium if the virus isn't near extinction? You can have a half dozen people infected with the virus who don't exhibit any symptoms in an arena. In short order there could be an exploding wild fire spread that results in a difficult to contain hot spot. Look what happened in New Orleans and Louisiana with the large mingling of people for the Mardi Gras? How many of the infected people for that gathering returned home all over the country and the world? I believe there will be seasons for all the sports next season. But that is not to say that there will be many fans at the events generating in-house revenue. For the next year or so there is a good chance that many of the events will be TV productions without any at event attendees. The more one thinks about this situation the more complicated and challenging it seems. To state the obvious the world has changed for the near term future.
bbb Posted May 12, 2020 Posted May 12, 2020 3 hours ago, BillsFan4 said: It would be a logistical nightmare to try and complete this season. Nope. You just do it the old fashioned way. Whoever was within 4 points of the 8 spot on Halloween gets in the playoffs. Game on!
JohnC Posted May 12, 2020 Posted May 12, 2020 9 hours ago, bbb said: Nope. You just do it the old fashioned way. Whoever was within 4 points of the 8 spot on Halloween gets in the playoffs. Game on! The difficult issue isn't who qualifies for the playoffs. That's a simple issue. Come up with any system you want. Whatever system is arrived at is not going to satisfy everyone. Tough! The problem is how do you stage games when a highly contagious virus is circulating everywhere. When one starts to consider the mechanics of putting games on, even in selected bubble locations, the numerous hurdles become too hard to overcome. The logistics and health considerations are intertwined. It appears to me that the wall is too high to climb. If you can't shield the workforce in the White House then how are you going to do it in a larger and more open environment? 2
JohnC Posted May 12, 2020 Posted May 12, 2020 5 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said: Really looking forward to this one! One takeaway that I have when I tune in to these classic games compared to the Sabre games in its recent history is how engaged and lively the fans were in those meaningful games. The energized fans were raucously involved throughout the game. It just seems as if this string of mediocre seasons has sucked the spirit out of the fans who have become (understandably) very cynical and skeptical. This organization has gotten itself in a bind when it has acted out of desperation resulting in set backs. However, that doesn't mean that it shouldn't show more urgency. The GM needs to be more aggressive in the offseason in making some deals to better balance out this roster.
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