Buffalo Sabres

[Big Ev]

Come to Ottawa, Lindy! WOOOO!

[dyzfunctioned]

Sorry Bomm!

[STONE.]

Bummer Bomm. Miller looked like he was going to carry them for the first 19 minutes. Just too much firepower on the Flyers.

[Bomm Bastic]

Thanks all for the support. I really appreciate it. Many reasons for their demise, but in the end Philly's just the better team - plain and simple. Game-7 was very painful to watch. It was like watching a slaughter.

After I have a few days to soak it all in, I'm going to write up a complete analysis on the season (post-, and regular) and moving forward.

Sucks that it flies by so fast....

[ridinryan44]

Listening to "The Point" on XM this morning, they were discussing Miller's season. They weren't impressed, based on inconsistency and comparing it to his season before. What are your thoughts?

[Bomm Bastic]

Listening to "The Point" on XM this morning, they were discussing Miller's season. They weren't impressed, based on inconsistency and comparing it to his season before. What are your thoughts?

Yeah, RR44, that's been the popular mantra ("not as good as last year"), but that's somewhat disingenuous. It's very easy to lump his Olympic performance into his NHL season, and allow the romanticization of the cummulative year to take affect.

Also, one has to be careful when communicating displeasure with player performance.

Was Miller as good as last year? Maybe not, but let's assume so for the moment for the sake of argument. The next question would be...

Was Miller's "sub-par" performance (when compared to last year the cause (primary or otherwise) for the Sabres playoff collapse?

Let me make this abundantly clear.....NO! F*** NO!

But let's take a step back for a moment and compare the two seasons:

2009-10: 69GP; W/L 41/18; SO5; SV% .929; GAA 2.22
2010-11: 66GP; W/L 34/22; SO5; SV% .916; GAA 2.59

Elevated to be sure (GAA), and not quite as dominant (SV%) but certainly not so far off as to have cause for concern. The one glaring difference???

Wins.

You can thank a team (Myers especially) that started out of the gate VERY poorly. Very, Very, poorly.

The Sabres lost the playoffs because of their complete inability (for whatever the reason) to solve Philly's forecheck.

That's the primary reason. There are many secondary issues they need to resolve (see controlling game tempo), but more on that later (my wife is yanking me away to go out)

[Bomm Bastic]

Just some quick injury updates from today's press conference...

Pominville - Had surgery on a severed tendon - Timetable is 4-6 months
Connolly - Had a sternum seperation - 4-6 weeks with "some other stuff in that area"
Kaleta - Broke his hand blocking a shot, surgery Monday
Grier - Wrist surgery (Grier contemplating retirement)
Sekera - Oblique Strain, he'll be fine
Vanek - Working through a finger injury
Hecht - Concussion kept him out
Miller - Concussion (when Enroth was filling in)

Congrats to Ruff on his new multi-year extension!

[Bomm Bastic]

On my way home and heard some commentary on local radio re Sabres that I agree with. Thought I would quickly post them before I fall victim to my addled brain.

What was I talking about...??? Oh yeah, naked chicks.

Hmmmmm....

• Derek Roy belongs on the second line. Great complimentary #2 type guy.
• Consequently, Regeir will make a play for a true big-bodied #1 center.
• Sabres need to target another vet d-man. NOT a guy on the downward slope of his career. Just one that has some experience to provide the backend.
• I like Bieksa here. Then they could trade Sekera and his piss-poor transition game.
• Keep Morrisonn or Montador in the AHL in case of an emergency.
• Say goodbye to Hecht. No one will trade for him so just dump him. Good. Bye.
• The ONLY player not tradeable? Myers. If I could move Miller for Emery and Getzlaf I'd do it w/out blinking (well...I'd blink)
• So that brings me to Stafford (a/k/a poor-man's Phil Kessel). Stays on the perimeter, snipes and if he's not scoring goals he's no good. Certainly won't go to the dirty areas where he needs to be. What kind of a contract to you offer for a player like that. He'll demand far more than he's worth...trust me.
• Kassian and Adams will spend another full year down under. The Sabres usually take their time with their prospects, with the exception of Stafford and Butler - we know how that's turned out. I don't see them making that mistake with these two. Not to mention, Adams' current playoff performance is less than stellar.

That's all for now...

[Bomm Bastic]

just an fyi that I added a few comments re Kassian and Adams to my quick Notes from earlier today.

for those prepping draft lists...

[Big Ev]

Rumor from Travis Yost on HockeyBuzz (decently connected, not like Eklund) says the Sabres are interested in Nick Foligno.

[Bomm Bastic]

Rumor from Travis Yost on HockeyBuzz (decently connected, not like Eklund) says the Sabres are interested in Nick Foligno.

Wow, Pegula is one savvy s.o.b. A Buffalo native and son of a fromer Sabre....if he's anything like his father was, I'll take him over Kaleta or Hecht.

[Big Ev]

You also already have Marcus Foligno, although I'm not sure if he will ever amount to much in the NHL.

Nick is decent, I think he can be a consistent 20ish goal scorer. But I would give him up if the Sabres would give up a solid pick in a deal.

[JagrBomb]

marcus and nick...it seems unless you're twins, being brothers on the same team never work.

[Bomm Bastic]

Honestly I know more about Nick than I do Marcus.

[GMGates]

Nick going to Buffalo would only be a means to sell more tickets as they bring in a "hometown" guy, but more on their fathers behalf. While Nick and Marcus were born in Buffalo, they grew up in Sudbury - moved here at ages 15 and 11 respectively.

That said, Foligno has a Top 6 opportunity every game in Ottawa - heck, first line for that matter - so the Sens will heavily depend on his secondary support. Can he do it? I see him putting in 20G and 45ish points, all depending on how much he plays with Spezza / Alfy. But a career year for him none-the-less.

In Buffalo he'd be placed in a third line role and I don't think, Buffalo really needs to add a player like Nick. They have pieces similar to Foligno and decent prospects in the pipelines. Nick is on contract with Ottawa for the season so unless Buffalo gives a pick + young player, it's not happening.