Individual goal projections plus, the art of simply watching a game

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Before we get into the individual stats, a quick note.

Last night I was at my son's football game and as I watched these high school kids play, I was reminded of how great it was just to watch a game simply for the competition itself.

There were no names on the back, no fantasy football stats, no television time outs. Just 11 players per side battling it out.

Taking that approach allowed me to simply let the game unfold as it may, with particular players from each side emerging at various moments.

A few years ago when the Buffalo Sabres were mired in mediocrity and I found myself critiquing everything about them, I decided upon that approach as well--simply watch the game.

I tried to enjoy it as much as possible, which, oddly enough, happened about half the time for a 9th place Eastern Conference finish.

In doing so, I found that the games were much more enjoyable and much less stressful.

Don't get me wrong, I have my fantasy football draft on Monday and I'll be locked in to the NFL season, and the Bills as well. And when hockey rolls around, I'll be digging into stats and focusing upon certain players and/or things.

But, to be able to watch a game simply for the competitive nature of the game itself is becoming somewhat of an art form. It's something us "old-folks" did when we were kids, often times, especially with the Sabres, listening to the games on the radio.

It was a perfect night last night. Summer controlled the evening, but as dusk settled in, Fall was in the air.

I almost shot a text out to a friend about how awesome it was. But tucked my phone away.

I didn't want to spoil the moment.


In my last piece, we looked at a goal projection for the Sabres as a team using (Relatively) simple math.

I'd been asked to provide the individual projections so, here we go:

Matt Moulson--28
Tyler Ennis--21
Cody Hodgson--22
Brian Gionta--22
Drew Stafford--19
Chris Stewart--22
Zemgus Girgensons--9
Marcus Foligno--10
Brian Flynn--8
Torrey Mitchell--6
Cody McCormick--4
*Johan Larsson--0

Tyler Myers--11
Josh Gorges--2
Andrej Meszaros--9
Andre Benoit--7
Mike Weber--2
Mark Pysyk--2

*Larsson has played in 28 NHL games and has zero goals.


For more on the process, see my previous piece.

As much as I hate to see summer go, Fall is just a great time of year to be a sports fan.

Cheers.