John Vogl @ The Buffalo News
Bucky Gleason @ The Sabres Edge Blog
I'm not sure who is annoying more - The fans that are freaking over the situation or the Sabres for not saying what we all know: Tyler Myers is not going anywhere.
I know fans in Buffalo have been burned so many times that they always take the glass half empty. But I can't see any scenario where the Sabres give up on a defenseman with 5 pts and is a team leading +8 after 8 games.
There is just no way that it happens.
If people want to get their pessimistic freak on, just fixate on the fact that a year ago, this team was 6-2-0 after 8 games and ended up missing the playoffs.
There is plenty of time for Ryan Miller to get run over in the crease and put on the shelf for a month.
Tim Connolly can still get hurt.
The injuries on defense can get worse than they are right now with Sekera and Lydman on the shelf.
The players can tune out Ruff for a while and lose 9 out of 10.
Or, this can be different.
People need to just watch this 50 times to get their minds right.....
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Six games in
The Hockey News' Ryan Kennedy has the Tyler Myers love bug that has infected the Western NY region.
With 4 pts and a +5 after six NHL games, it's easy to see why fans are loving Tyler Myers right now.
Heck, most fans are giving Myers the credit for Henrik Tallinder looking like a solid NHL defenseman after two down seasons.
Since I'm a Sabres fan, I have to be fatalistic. So, here are my areas of concern:
- Inconsistent effort - The 2nd period versus the Islanders and the first 10 minutes against the Thrashers are the stretches of horrible effort that have plagued the Sabres the past two seasons and will need to be cleaned up if this club is to not repeat the results of the past two years and actually make the playoffs.
- The injury bug - Mair and Lydman started the season injured. Andrej Sekera, Thomas Vanek, and Matt Ellis have all missed games due to injury as well. Given that this isn't the deepest team in the league, it is worrisome that the team is already dealing with multiple injuries and one to a marquee guy in Vanek.
- Not winning when Miller is not in net - The "Patrick Lalime sucks" bandwagon is filling up after the 4-2 loss to Atlanta in Lalime's first start of the season. Personally, I think that while I believe the Sabres could use an upgrade at the back up goalie position, I'm putting the Atlanta loss more on the guys in front of Lalime than Patrick himself. Bottom line, this team needs to figure out how to win games when Miller gets the night off. If they don't, we can expect Miller to get overworked yet again as Ruff won't have much of a choice.
With 4 pts and a +5 after six NHL games, it's easy to see why fans are loving Tyler Myers right now.
Heck, most fans are giving Myers the credit for Henrik Tallinder looking like a solid NHL defenseman after two down seasons.
Since I'm a Sabres fan, I have to be fatalistic. So, here are my areas of concern:
- Inconsistent effort - The 2nd period versus the Islanders and the first 10 minutes against the Thrashers are the stretches of horrible effort that have plagued the Sabres the past two seasons and will need to be cleaned up if this club is to not repeat the results of the past two years and actually make the playoffs.
- The injury bug - Mair and Lydman started the season injured. Andrej Sekera, Thomas Vanek, and Matt Ellis have all missed games due to injury as well. Given that this isn't the deepest team in the league, it is worrisome that the team is already dealing with multiple injuries and one to a marquee guy in Vanek.
- Not winning when Miller is not in net - The "Patrick Lalime sucks" bandwagon is filling up after the 4-2 loss to Atlanta in Lalime's first start of the season. Personally, I think that while I believe the Sabres could use an upgrade at the back up goalie position, I'm putting the Atlanta loss more on the guys in front of Lalime than Patrick himself. Bottom line, this team needs to figure out how to win games when Miller gets the night off. If they don't, we can expect Miller to get overworked yet again as Ruff won't have much of a choice.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Who would you rather have: Derek Roy or Milan Lucic?
Fanhouse
I know that neither the Sabres nor the Bruins would talk a Derek Roy for Milan Lucic trade.
But, this blog post got me thinking.
The writer wondered if the Bruins overpaid by signing Milan Lucic to a 3 year $12 million contract extension.
The Sabres were able to lock center Derek Roy up for a longer term when they inked him to a 6 year $24 million deal in the summer of 2007. But, the cap hit is exactly the same, so it makes for a fun discussion.
And when it comes to comparing players, are there any two different forwards to compare than Roy & Lucic?
Roy is the offensive minded undersized center and Lucic is the prototypical power forward that will hit, fight, and chip in offensively.
So, are those two different skill sets equal when it comes to value to a hockey club in a salary cap world?
Personally, this is a very tough question. It's almost one of the old head versus heart tug of wars where my head wants to say that the offense that Derek Roy brings to the table is more valuable and my heart says that Milan Lucic is everything I want to watch and root for in a hockey player.
At the end of the day, I think that both guys are good values at $4 million per, but that Derek Roy is more likely to be the player that is underpaid at that price point.
I know that neither the Sabres nor the Bruins would talk a Derek Roy for Milan Lucic trade.
But, this blog post got me thinking.
The writer wondered if the Bruins overpaid by signing Milan Lucic to a 3 year $12 million contract extension.
The Sabres were able to lock center Derek Roy up for a longer term when they inked him to a 6 year $24 million deal in the summer of 2007. But, the cap hit is exactly the same, so it makes for a fun discussion.
And when it comes to comparing players, are there any two different forwards to compare than Roy & Lucic?
Roy is the offensive minded undersized center and Lucic is the prototypical power forward that will hit, fight, and chip in offensively.
So, are those two different skill sets equal when it comes to value to a hockey club in a salary cap world?
Personally, this is a very tough question. It's almost one of the old head versus heart tug of wars where my head wants to say that the offense that Derek Roy brings to the table is more valuable and my heart says that Milan Lucic is everything I want to watch and root for in a hockey player.
At the end of the day, I think that both guys are good values at $4 million per, but that Derek Roy is more likely to be the player that is underpaid at that price point.
Monday, October 5, 2009
One down, 81 to go
So, the Sabres had no puck luck whatsoever against the Habs on Saturday night.
At least they had a huge advantage in shots, chances, and Tyler Myers looked really good.
The team toughness quotient also appeared to be much improved over last season.
The next big question is what will Darcy Regier do when Adam Mair is healthy and comes off of IR.
Bucky Gleason had a blog post about this topic over at The Buffalo News website.
While my dream would be making some moves that kick Clarke MacArthur or Dan Paille out of town, ship a defenseman (preferably Henrik Tallinder or Nathan Paetsch) out, and gets an upgrade at LW on the second line where MacArthur looked less than stellar.
I'd even move Nathan Gerbe if it meant getting someone like Alexander Frolov from the LA Kings.
But, being the Sabres, my guess is that they will take the easy route and send Time Kennedy to Portland.
Although, I wouldn't be too surprised if Matt Ellis were sent down, either.
Paille would be a very interesting player to waive. But, I can't see Regier putting a former 1st round pick on waivers. Just doesn't seem like Darcy's style.
At least they had a huge advantage in shots, chances, and Tyler Myers looked really good.
The team toughness quotient also appeared to be much improved over last season.
The next big question is what will Darcy Regier do when Adam Mair is healthy and comes off of IR.
Bucky Gleason had a blog post about this topic over at The Buffalo News website.
While my dream would be making some moves that kick Clarke MacArthur or Dan Paille out of town, ship a defenseman (preferably Henrik Tallinder or Nathan Paetsch) out, and gets an upgrade at LW on the second line where MacArthur looked less than stellar.
I'd even move Nathan Gerbe if it meant getting someone like Alexander Frolov from the LA Kings.
But, being the Sabres, my guess is that they will take the easy route and send Time Kennedy to Portland.
Although, I wouldn't be too surprised if Matt Ellis were sent down, either.
Paille would be a very interesting player to waive. But, I can't see Regier putting a former 1st round pick on waivers. Just doesn't seem like Darcy's style.
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