Buffalo Sabres

Is it time for Ruff and Regier to move on?

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The comments made by some players, namely Derek Roy, at Monday’s locker clean out makes me wonder what the shelf life of Lindy Ruff may be. I have little doubt that both Ruff and Darcy Regier will remain in place as the Sabres enter the 2012-13 season. The question that many are asking is should the two remain in charge of the Sabres?

Based on their track record over the past decade and a half –particularly since the lockout – I think the duo may be overdue to be replaced with a new general manager and head coach combination. But the organizational heading seems to be to proceed with the current coach and GM while allowing them to find the right players to win games.

It is ok if Terry Pegula, Ted Black and the rest of the executive staff think this is the proper course of action. I am glad they have identified a strategy that they wish to move forward with. Whether or not this is the right strategy is a whole different question. I do not disagree with the heading the ownership has chosen to take, I just wonder if Regier and Ruff are indeed the pair to get the job done.

There are two facts staring everyone in the face regarding this debate are the Sabres failure to make the playoffs and their failure to win a playoff series. The Sabres have missed the playoffs three times since the lockout and have made the playoffs four times. However, they haven’t won a playoff series since dispatching the Rangers in 2007.

Questions about the makeup of the roster, the team’s tougheness and the coaching style would still be questioned had the Sabres snuck into the playoffs this year. In fact, I would argue that the missing the playoffs argument would be moot with a third-straight berth under their belt. Of course they’re not in the playoffs and the balance between missing and making the playoffs remains pretty even. The roster is expected to change this summer, but maybe the management needs to change as well.

Darcy Regier

This summer very well may be make or break for Darcy Regier. He shot for the moon last year but didn’t get the expected results. Regier will have significantly less cap space to work with and will likely need to make a trade or two if he wishes to land a big fish in free agency.

With Jochen Hecht and Brad Boyes off the books, Regier will need to find a bona fide checking center to replace Hecht’s defensive responsibility and the traits lost when Paul Gaustad was traded to Nashville. Regier does have four picks in the top 65 selections and could certainly use them to leverage a trade including one of his roster players.

Regier needs to identify the shortcomings his team had this year and shore them up immediately. He made a great move in acquiring Cody Hodgson and Alex Sulzer. Sulzer paid immediate dividends and is probably due for a new contract, but Hodgson is the big prize. He is a young, dynamic center who will need to play a big role next year. Regier still needs to find his team a true number one center, but that will be a tall task. Along with adding a little more size an toughness, Regier will need to have another successful offseason, despite operating with fewer resources. Continue reading →

Great expectations led to a greater letdown

Chris Ostrander5 Comments

*This is the first part of my season recap and review for the Sabres. In the coming days and weeks I will have further reviews of the team and season, player-by-player grades and offer some thoughts on Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier. I will provide a full schedule of posts coming soon.*

This scenario happened far too often throughout the year.

The bottom line with regard to this season is that the Sabres didn’t meet their goal. Ignore the goodwill created by their late push or even the 10-5 start they enjoyed in the fall. Of course, that means you need to ignore the mid-season slump as well. Lump it all together and accept the failure to make the playoffs. Sure, you can review and discuss the different portions of this schizophrenic season, but just understand that everything adds up to the end result.

Obviously there were plenty of factors that conspired to keep the Sabres from the postseason. Injuries played a part, along with the arguments of a mentally fragile team, coaching issues and under-performing players. There wasn’t one single factor that stood out to me as the primary reason the Sabres struggled so mightily. However, some stand out more than others.

There is no ignoring the Milan Lucic incident as the tipping point for this year. Lucic isn’t the reason the Sabres missed the playoffs, but his actions certainly started the snowball down the mountain. First off, the injury that Ryan Miller suffered set him back nearly three months. His play was strong early in the year, regressed some in late October and didn’t fully recover until late January. Not having Miller for all of November and December had a terrible effect on the roster. Continue reading →

Buffalo Hockey Night Live

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I jumped on Buffalo Hockey Night Live with Sydney from Sabreland and Brittany from Sabres in Seven for a little Sabres talk this evening. If you didn’t catch it earlier, have a listen:

The embed code doesn’t seem to be working. This link will take you directly to the podcast.

Listen to internet radio with Buffalo Hockey Night Live on Blog Talk Radio

Double Minors: One more for the road

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It is entirely possible that all three of these players are wearing new uniforms next year.

The 2011-12 NHL season is in the books for the Buffalo Sabres. Ultimately, it was a disappointing year considering the mid-season struggles and the failure to reach the playoffs. I’ll attempt to merely focus on yesterday’s loss in Boston.

Brad Boyes enjoyed what should be a nice swan song with the Sabres, picking up a pair of goals. I fully expect that he will be seeking a new city to play in for the 2012-13 season. Boyes’ first two goals staked the Sabres to a 2-1 lead before Jason Pominville’s 30th goal gave Buffalo a 3-1 lead. However, as was the case for portions of the season, Buffalo’s two-goal lead was not enough for a victory.

Jhonas Enroth was hardly to blame, turning aside 37 shots (including six in overtime). Tyler Seguin scored a pair and Brad Marchand tied the game on an interesting piece of defense from the Sabres. Enroth didn’t get enough playing time this season and it shows in his record. Winless since November, Enroth wasn’t the player so many fans fell in love with last spring. I’m wondering if the love affair would continue if he was indeed the full-time starter?

Regardless, yesterday’s failure was just another chapter in a season full of them. It was a meaningless game, so the outcome matters little in my opinion. The season finale was basically bonus hockey for me and that is how I treated it. Now comes a few months of playoff hockey and then what should be an interesting offseason for the Sabres organization.

  • Good on Boyes to pick up that pair of goals. He has caught a bad wrap during his time here and has justified much of his criticism. Boyes was largely misused for most of his tenure but didn’t find much success with the power play time he was given most of the time.
  • Brayden McNabb was rewarded with some serious ice time in Boston. He should be contending for a spot with the top-six next fall. Hopefully he continues to get big minutes for the remainder of the year in Rochester.
  • McNabb has shown some great attributes. His physical game and two-way skills make him quite valuable. T.J. Brennan has been less impressive in my opinion, I think he will be an admirable cog to fill a spot until a player like Mark Pysyk is ready for the NHL.
  • Great to see Jason Pominville hit 30 goals. He had a great year and deserved that milestone. Too bad Thomas Vanek couldn’t continue his early season success that had him pacing towards 40 goals. 2012 has been rough on Vanek, he needs to find more consistency in the coming seasons. Vanek is too valuable to continue this up and down play.
  • Tyler Ennis and Andrej Sekera must have been listening to the Benny Hill Theme on the tying goal. Ennis made a poor choice trying to clear the zone and Sekera offered little help for his goaltender.
  • Sekera chose a really poor time for his game to go to hell. He had a really rough few weeks and they happened to come when they needed him to be the shutdown defender that he and Robyn Regehr became as the calendar year turned.
  • I’ll have a full load of coverage as the offseason gets rolling, keep your eyes peeled for a rough schedule regarding what will be coming along for the offseason. Thanks for reading this year.

Game Summary/Event Summary

 

The Morning Skate: Can’t hold anything back now

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In what became a very schizophrenic season, the Sabres enter their final game with little to play for. The Bruins enter today’s game with a first-round series against Ottawa waiting around the corner. Boston rested a number of players this past week, but I’d expect Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron and Tim Thomas all to play this afternoon as a tune-up for the playoffs.

This will be a strange game as the Bruins will be just trying to avoid injuries and the Sabres will likely be just going through the motions. Jhonas Enroth will be the starter for the Sabres while Thomas will go for Boston. If Claude Julien is really playing it safe, Anton Khudobin or Marty Turco will start, but I would guess he wants his stud to get one more game under his belt. The only reason Turco would play, it could be his last game of his career.

Given that today will be a glorified exhibition game, I’ll just list a few bullet points to check out during the game.

  • Jochen Hecht isn’t expected to play, but this will be the final game you get to see Brad Boyes in a Sabres uniform. Boyes is a pretty unfortunate case. He lit it up his first few weeks on the job before tailing off last season. He has been nearly invisible this year and has been somewhat under-utilized, in my opinion. Either way, his acquisition was wise but didn’t pan out. That will be $4M towards another player come July 1.
  • Hecht may not be back in Buffalo either, unfortunately he won’t have a chance to play today. Matt Ellis could also be in the boat heading away from Buffalo as well.
  • Derek Roy and Drew Stafford were hot trade topics in January. Stafford has turned things around but could still be out the door, the same goes for Roy. They both have had solid runs to end the year, maybe that helps their trade value.
  • Thomas Vanek has historically been a final game superstar. Hopefully he can tally once or twice just to boost his numbers.
  • The goal of the day should be to get Jason Pominville to 30 goals. He is on the cusp and deserves to hit that milestone.
  • I’d venture a guess that the minutes will be spread evenly this afternoon. Cody McCormick, Matt Ellis and others will get a healthy does of ice time.
  • Jhonas Enroth could really use a win. He hasn’t necessarily fared well against the Bruins in his career, but it would be good to send him off with a victory, especially considering the way he has played since November.
  • So many people are calling for Lindy Ruff’s head. I doubt very much that this will be his final game in Buffalo. I will analyze exactly where he may be headed, but Ted Black’s previous statements make me think the players will be gone before Ruff or Darcy Regier. Those clamoring for his removal, don’t hold your breath.
  • Counted among those to get healthy ice time, T.J. Brennan and Brayden McNabb. Both will be heading back to Rochester to offer reinforcements. They will be counted on for big contributions, giving them a full go this afternoon would be good for the players and the Amerks.
  • One last piece of advice. Just enjoy this game for what it is, hockey. So many bandwagon fans are saying how much the team sucks and how they knew this would happen. Just shut up and enjoy the game. There were too many flaws on the roster for this to be a legitimate contender. Should they be a playoff team? Probably. But they aren’t, so root for them to win and start mulling over their offseason moves.

Double Minors: And that’s all she wrote

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It was all too similar to so many Sabres letdowns in the past. 20 minutes from a victory and a bend but don’t break mentality leads to a breakdown and a loss. Unfortunately, last night’s breakdown ended up being the final domino to fall on the Buffalo Sabres’ season.

Ville Leino opened the scoring and Ryan Miller was great in net, but it wasn’t enough. Buffalo tried to shell up in the third, allowed 16 shots and a pair of goals on their way to a 2-1 loss. The loss, coupled with Washington’s regulation victory sealed Buffalo’s playoff fate, and that was all she wrote.

Not to be a complete downer on the loss, but it played out just as you might expect it to. Buffalo was rather tentative for most of the game, but managed to capitalize on one of their better chances on the Leino goal. However, the Sabres came out for the third just hoping to hang on to the one-goal lead and escape with two points. I understand their losses on the backend, but that third period effort was in-ex-cus-able (go to 30 seconds).

The Sabres had already been outshot 19-16 entering the third period only to be outshot 16-10 in what would turn out to be their most important period of the year. Whether this falls on poor coaching decisions, mental weakness or just the wrong mix of players, the third period was basically a microcosm of the entire year.

With the loss, Saturday’s matinee in Boston becomes next to meaningless. The Bruins will likely continue resting a number of their regulars and the Sabres will likely send some (or most) of their AHL call ups back to Rochester while re-inserting some of their ailing veterans. Also it will mean that Jhonas Enroth will get the honor of the next Sabres backup to play the final game of the season, finally giving Ryan Miller a night off.

As the offseason begins for the Sabres, there will be plenty of necessary questions that will need to be addressed. How the Sabres management chooses to address them is anyone’s guess.

  • Ryan Miller took a bold step by responding to the (now fulfilled) guarantee made by Brooks Laich. His game responded as well. Miller turned aside 33 shots and was a big reason the Sabres weren’t simply run out of the building. For those who say Miller doesn’t show up when his team needs him, take this game into consideration.
  • Robyn Regehr, despite his plus/minus, has been a sound performer for the Sabres this season. However, he looked mighty bad as Matt Read steamed past him to score the game winner. Surely many fans will assume he was awful all year because of this one play and his stat line.
  • Regehr’s partner, Andrej Sekera chose a bad time to regress in his play. That pair had been phenomenal for long stretches recently, Sekera’s handful of ugly nights came during a run of games that ultimately cost Buffalo the season. Sekera was improved this year, but his detractors certainly won’t forget this run of hockey.
  • Jody Shelly. Yes, Jody Shelly had three shots on goal and two scoring chances. Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy and Jason Pominville combined for four shots. Vanek’s only appearance on the stat sheet was a missed attempt and one hit. Remember when he was the first half’s MVP?
  • T.J. Brennan played some solid hockey earlier in the year. In fact, his play was a prime example of how expendable Grocery Stick Gragnani was. But Brennan was quite average for this most recent recall. I wonder where he fits in the long-term plans with players like Matt MacKenzie, Mark Pysyk and even Brayden McNabb in the pipeline?
  • Not counting the addition of Regehr, I think the Sabres missed the boat on adding a true veteran presence – think Marc Recchi with the Bruins last year. I will remain adamant that the Sabres mental toughness is sorely lacking and a true veteran leader up front would probably do wonders for the locker room.
  • I’m not very interested in looking at the silver lining of the tremendous run the team just went on. Yes, there were some bright spots. Namely, Miller’s resurgence, Folgino and Ennis coming together and the revelation that Christian Ehrhoff was truly money well spent. But I’m not going to hang my hat on the “well, it was a great run” bandwagon.
  • For what it’s worth, Ville Leino’s production when playing on a line with talented forwards wasn’t too horrible. The fact that he was bounced around for much of the year could say a lot about why his numbers were poor. He has talent worth keeping around, he just needs the proper situation to succeed.
  • There has to be some correlation with how the Sabres are coached and the ridiculous things that continue to happen. Third periods like last night, the continued use of that useless neutral zone drop pass, yet another too many men penalty, the general lack of that killer instinct to each game. Is it the coaching? Is it the players? I’m not entirely sure, but if this team is truly going to be a winner, that needs to change.

Game Summary/Event Summary

The Morning Skate: Another biggest game of the year

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Yet again Sabres fans will be touting tonight’s game as the biggest of the season. In a way, they’re correct. However, they’re also putting too much weight on the singular aspect of tonight’s game against the Flyers.

Yes, if the Sabres do not win this evening they can all but kiss their playoff hopes goodbye. However, if they win, they will be playing in another biggest game of the year on Saturday. See how silly this is?

What made me realize this is the accusation that many Sabres players seem to receive regarding their status as big game players. Don’t confuse this with mental toughness. I’m just talking about those who are criticized for not showing up when their team needs it the most. Whether you’re talking about Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Ryan Miller or anyone else you wish to pick on. Saying these guys don’t show up when it counts is a load of crap. Every game is relative to the ones that come before and after it. There isn’t necessarily one biggest game, so to speak.

Look at it this way. Had Ryan Miller not gone on his torrid streak, the Sabres would be talking draft picks right now. The same goes for last week against the Caps. That was the biggest game of the season, to that point. Miller performed and the Sabres rolled. Derek Roy was the hero on Tuesday but was chastised much of the year for not stepping up when his team needed him most. I’m not saying that criticism of Roy isn’t warranted at points, the same goes for Miller and other players. Had the Sabres shown up last weekend, these final two games wouldn’t matter as much. So which game matters the most?

What you need to realize is that bitching about a player’s big game-ness is a futile task. Hockey is a team sport and is played in a marathon setting, not a sprint. The collectiveness of the whole effort is what matters most, not necessarily one player’s actions in one game.

Now, allow me to contradict myself. Tonight’s game is massive, there is no getting around that. The Sabres remain in do-or-die mode as they try to sneak into the playoffs.  They face a tough task playing a Flyers team that has owned them for the whole season and are still battling for home ice in the first round. The only thing to Buffalo’s advantage is that the Penguins have distanced themselves from the fifth-place Flyers by a bit and Ilya Bryzgalov is just returning from injury.

The Sabres have been a defensive train wreck these last three games and they desperately need to remedy this if they hope to skate with Philly. The Flyers have a potent attack that will dice the Sabres if they don’t play a responsible game.

Buffalo has been scoring goals lately, getting to Bryzgalov early will be important. He was yanked against the Rangers and will still have some rust to shake off tonight. If he is unsettled, the Sabres will have a glorious chance at getting two points.

Highlighted Matchup

Sabres’ defense vs. Flyers’ big guns. Philly boasts a number of potent scorers; Buffalo’s blueline has been depleted and has given up some glorious chances the past three nights. The Sabres need to be physical and engage the Flyers early to prevent scoring chances. Too often the Sabres have played soft on entries and offensive cycles which has allowed time and space for their opponents. Unless that is remedied it will be a long night for Ryan Miller.

Projected Goaltenders

BUF: Ryan Miller

PHI: Ilya Bryzgalov

Last Meeting

Sabres 2 – Flyers 7, Wells Fargo Center, 2/16/2012

Double Minors: Saving the drama for the finish

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To quote a loyal 2ITB reader regarding yesterday’s game, “simply stunning”.

After 20 minutes of listless hockey, it would have appeared the Sabres were cooked. Not only for the game but their season as well. However, the slow crawl back began on a second period power play and ended with Derek Roy’s game winner on the man advantage.

It certainly wasn’t an ideal victory, with the early deficit and stale first period effort after a strong opening 10 minutes. But they don’t ask how, they ask how many. Buffalo’s victory keeps them at pace with the Capitals and the Panthers, who only managed a point against Winnipeg last night.

The Sabres seem to be missing the presence of Tyler Myers and Christian Ehrhoff for no other reason than because their big minutes have been distributed among players like Alex Sulzer, Andrej Sekera, Mike Weber and Brayden McNabb. Even Jordan Leopold has seen an uptick in his time. None of these players have reacted particularly well to their increase in ice time and it has certainly shown in the defensive zone. Although, the Sabres did buckle down in the final 40 minutes, allowing 12 shots in the second and third period versus 13 in the first.

The past three games haven’t been too kind to the Sabres in a defensive sense. Ryan Miller wasn’t particularly sharp, but made a number of impressive saves along the way this evening. I would have to say the Sabres won the game in spite of Miller’s play. However, there were a number of huge saves that he did make which took goals away from the Leafs.

Thursday and Saturday will be a pair of tough tests for this team, especially if they continue yielding the type of easy chances they gave up to Jake Gardiner’s, Clarke MacArthur’s and Tyler Bozak’s second goal. Of course, there is still some hope left that the Sabres will be able to pull off the improbable.

  • Despite their recent success, the Sabres still appear to be a one-line team. The current hot line is obviously the Regulator line of Foligno, Ennis and Stafford. The other two lines are having some success but could seriously use a bump in success to keep the Sabres rolling.
  • Along that line, the Sabres got three goals from defensemen which is a huge bonus for any team. However, it would be really nice if the other lines can produce for these final two games.
  • Alex Sulzer had an up and down game, but his three points make things easier to stomach. Even after a rough outing, he is still heads and shoulders better than Marc-Andre Gragnani.
  • Andrej Sekera’s game has slipped as of late. After a great run of play that came during Buffalo’s surge, he has seemed to regressed some these past few games. Given the need the Sabres have for steady play on the blueline, Sekera will need to turn things around.
  • Marcus Foligno made Mike Komisarek look like a complete fool on that tying goal. You wonder why Komisarek has fallen off so drastically, it is because he makes idiotic plays as he did last night.
  • With a pair of fights, the Sabres are up to 39 on the season. That is a significant increase from last year. For all the questions that were raised about toughness, it would seem as if the Sabres have improved in that department.
  • That being said, Brayden McNabb may have bit off more than he could chew with Jay Rosehill, but he and Marcus Foligno showed fans more of what they’ve been hoping to see from their rugged prospects.
     

Game Summary/Event Summary

More depth added as Sabres ink Knapp and Catenacci

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Two more Sabres prospects were signed to entry-level contracts today, further stocking the rich cupboards they already boast. Dan Catenacci and Connor Knapp were signed to three and two-year enrty-level deals, respectively. According to the Sabres, they will each report to Rochester under amateur tryout offers.

They join Brian Flynn, Kevin Sundher and Phil Varone as newly inked prospects this season. Sundher was signed earlier in the year while Flynn signed a one-year ELC last week and is also with the Amerks on an ATO. By having these players join Rochester on an amateur basis, they save a year of their contract from burning up, an especially important detail regarding Knapp and Flynn.

Knapp probably won’t do much more than practice with the team and possibly sit as a backup to David Leggio for the remainder of the season. Catenacci will see some playing time down the line – along with Flynn – for an Amerks squad who could use some additional depth down the middle.

Catenacci, however, will only provide temporary relief for the Amerks. His age only permits him to play in the NHL or junior for next season. With the assumed lineup the Sabres will be looking at in 2012-13, Catenacci’s ELC won’t start working for him until his first professional season in the fall of 2013. That being said, getting Catenacci under contract is a step in the right direction for the Sabres. Joining Flynn, Sundher and Varone; Catenacci is another skilled center capable of producing at a point-per-game clip. His size is somewhat prohibitive and I wonder where he fits in the big picture, especially with Tyler Ennis establishing himself as a formidable talent as a center. With Ennis already on the roster and Sundher in the pipeline, there won’t be much room for too many undersized forwards – especially at center.

Looking at this year’s roster, the trio of mini-mites (Ennis, Gerbe and Roy) may be a little bit of two’s company and three’s a crowd in terms of assembling a complete roster. If that is indeed the case, I wonder where Catenacci ultimately will fit in the grand scheme. Of course, if Lindy Ruff is still coaching he will probably just end up playing wing. Truthfully, that may not necessarily be the worst case scenario for his skillset, either. Continue reading →

The Morning Skate: Just win, baby

Chris Ostrander1 Comment

With my one-week layoff complete, the Sabres are in no better shape than they were in when I departed. However, the road to their current state was an interesting one.

A huge 5-1 spanking of the Capitals put Buffalo in full control of their destiny prior to dropping their weekend set against Pittsburgh and Toronto. Now they not only need to win their games this week, they need a little help along the way.

I suppose what was most disappointing about the losses over the weekend is two-fold. Obviously knowing the Sabres came out and dominated a game they had to have only to see them give less than their best on the weekend is the most disheartening part. However, I have to wonder why Lindy Ruff wouldn’t give Ryan Miller one night off (against Pittsburgh)? Not only would it give Miller some much needed rest, which I would assume is desperately needed; but it would give Jhonas Enroth one more game. Beating the Penguins was going to be a near impossible task, why waste a start from the player that has carried the team to this point?

Of course, that is in the past. The injuries to Tyler Myers and Christian Ehrhoff are in the present and could have a major effect on tonight’s game, just as they did on Saturday. Myers and Ehrhoff are two major parts of the Sabres’ attack. They’re dynamic puck movers who have good hockey IQ in the offensive zone. Sure, they’ve each had their struggles defensively, but they’re still two of Buffalo’s top four defenders. Their absence needs to be lessened as much as possible.

Not to overstate the obvious, but tonight is do or die. A win will keep their heads above water and keep them in the hunt. Buffalo still has a dicey finish at the end of the week, but those two games won’t matter unless they get two points tonight.

Highlighted Matchup

Goaltenders. Ryan Miller finally came down off the his hot streak that helped him lead the Sabres into playoff contention. Of course, fans are only looking at the last two games when evaluating him; exactly what I’ve come to expect from a town with such hockey IQ. Miller needs to play a strong game, hopefully the two days off helped him a bit. I’ll maintain that he should have rested Friday, however. As for the Leafs. I would have to assume that Ben Scrivens will be back in net. The Sabres put three by him on Saturday, they just need to play a little better D and continue to pepper the youngster.

Projected Goaltenders

BUF: Ryan Miller

TOR: Ben Scrivens

Last Meeting

Sabres 3 – Maple Leafs 4, 3/31/2012, Air Canada Centre