Shutdown Pair

Tag: Prediction Watch

  • Buffalo Sabres Roster Set For Opening Night

    Buffalo Sabres Roster Set For Opening Night

    The Sabres open their schedule tomorrow night, hosting Montreal, and announced their roster just before the deadline yesterday.  Notable keeps are Derek Grant, Hudson Fasching and Casey Nelson, who have all had good camps.  Though some of that may be the fact that both O’Reilly and Okposo are still hurting and questionable for tomorrow.

    The other huge news of the day was Rasmus Ristolainen finally signing a new 6 year deal, with a $5.4 million cap hit.  A very solid deal for a player who still has room to grow.  I’d like to see him take a step defensively this year, while still managing 10+ goals/45+ points.

    I’ve seen a bunch of talk about the Sabres being picked to finish last or nearly so in a few publications.  I’m with the rest of you that it seems unlikely, but I can’t fault them too much.  Most of our “FUCK YEAH PLAYOFFS” feelings come from the idea of all the young kids getting better and progressing at a steady rate.  I’d like that to be true, but it just doesn’t happen.  No one was more positive about Tyler Myers than me, starting out with 2 solid years, thinking he was going to keep progressing into superstar status.  It hasn’t happened – he’s more Bouwmeester than Chara.  I’m hyped, but I’m okay with people outside of Buffalo not buying in yet.  Still, I kind of want to re-do Prediction Watch for this season so I can revisit it after the season.

    (10/13 Update) Well THAT escalated quickly.  I wrote this yesterday before Eichel’s high ankle sprain came to light.  I don’t think it greatly affects the season, barring some weirdly lingering issue, but you have to laugh at the luck here.  “Hey, at least we’ve got some great young players to watch!”  “LOL NO sorry you don’t.”

  • Prediction Watch – A Recap

    If you recall, at the beginning of the year I gathered up as many of the Eastern Conference playoff predictions I could so we could compare the pundits’ prognostications to what really happened.  Now, one day before the playoffs, let’s take a look back and see who was close to right, and who was way off.

    As you can see, Corey Masisak and the SBNation Preseason Rankings were close, having Buffalo 6th and 7th respectively.  TSN and USA Today’s preseason power rankings also had Buffalo in the 9-11 range in all the NHL, solidly in the playoffs.  You can read the rest – some others weren’t very specific, just predicting a return to the playoffs or another division title.

    The most fun, though, are the ones who were really, really wrong.  Especially Tim Panaccio, the Flyer’s beat writer for CSN Philly.  I’ll put the whole thing here again to jog your memory:

    5. BUFFALO
    Lindy Ruff has been around longer than any other active coach in the league and will set a few records this season for both longevity (games coached) and victories. But as long as current ownership continues to wade in the middle of every season’s salary cap, the Sabres will never realize the dream of a Cup Final. Why goalie Ryan Miller hitched his wagon to this franchise long-term is beyond us. Buffalo is much weaker on defense, having lost both Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder. And the days of Michael Peca’s on-ice leadership are l-o-n-g gone.

    This gets even better if Buffalo takes out the Flyers in the first round.  (that’s 5th in the Northeast, picked below Toronto and Ottawa)  Of course, he couldn’t predict that a new owner would come in, or that Vanek would take that leadership mantle, or that the offseason acquisition of Jordan Leopold would work so well, but hey, who am I, right?  It’s kind of funny, looking back, at how many of these guys picked the Devils to be top 5 in the NHL.

    The Puck Daddy predictions were quite humorous, I was ready to talk up Erin Nicks for picking the Sabres to be 5th, but she also had the Devils first in their division, so that’s a wash.  Justin Bourne had Buffalo 7th but also had NJ and Ottawa in the playoffs.  Oops.

    So there you have it.  A great look at the preseason predictions that every columnist conveniently forgets about, unless they manage to hit on something right (which isn’t that often).

  • New Feature: Prediction Watch

    Just a heads-up that there is a new feature linked at the top of this page:  Prediction Watch.  We all read the preseason predictions levied by the various sportswriters and blog networks out there, but we hardly ever remember who was right or wrong.  So, I’m going to compile a list of predictions of where the Sabres will finish here, and we can see who had the right idea at the end of the season.  I need your help, though.  I don’t get every magazine or spot every article, so if you see one I don’t have, let me know!  Comment on this article, send me an email (thetick at shutdownpair dot com) or send me a tweet.