As noted by Steve Lepore over at Puck the Media, Ryan Miller will be a guest analyst on NBC’s coverage of Game One of the Stanley Cup finals tomorrow night. Miller will be alongside Pierre McGuire and Mike Milbury. As Sabres fans know, Ryan is a deep thinker and a student of the game, so we should be in for a treat (especially compared to Mike “hit ’em with your shoe” Milbury). And hey, smart move by NBC, leveraging one of their Olympic stars. Might’ve been a tiny bit more effective if the Sabres had, you know, been on NBC after the Olympics. Stick tap to DaveDavisHockey on twitter for leading me to this story.
Category: NHL
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Sabres Even Strength Scoring and Defense
I will be breaking down the Sabres’ scoring and defense from the 2009-2010 season, starting with their even strength performance. All stats come from NHL.com. On the year, Buffalo had 159 Goals For (GF) 5 on 5, 7 GF 4 on 4, for a total of 166. On the flip side, they ceded 145 Goals Against (GA) 5 on 5, 8 GA 4 on 4, for a total of 153. They had no scoring for or against 3 on 3, which is pretty rare anyway. The Sabres were 7th at 5 on 5 scoring, and 11th as far as 5 on 5 goals given up.
These are solid numbers, especially in the context of the Eastern Conference, where only two teams were better in overall scoring. Buffalo had a balanced scoring attack overall, with 12 players in double digits. Thomas Vanek led the way with 28, 18 of which were at even strength. Jochen Hecht actually tied with Vanek as far as goals at even strength, though, with 18. Both missed some time, it go to show how much Hecht and Vanek were missed in the Boston series.
Barring a trade or other move, Clarke MacArthur is the only one of those 12 who is gone (traded to Atlanta), so there shouldn’t be a huge dropoff next year. What Buffalo needs, though, is a consistent centerman for Vanek to get his production back up to the 40 goal plateau. Lindy shuffled things a lot last season, trying to get Vanek going. We’ll see what happens July 1.
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Can Myers Be Our Pronger Or Lidstrom?
Steve Simmons has a column over at the Toronto Sun regarding Chris Pronger and what he brings to a team when he joins, and the wreckage left in his wake when he leaves. GM Ken Holland of the Red Wings has this to say:
“He does things that other players can’t do, haven’t done, don’t know how to do. And he just does them easily,” said Ken Holland, general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, who admitted to being “pretty damn happy” when the Ducks traded Pronger to the Eastern Conference.
Kukla’s has a a bit more of Ken’s comments, which is where Lidstrom is reference:
If you wonder why we’ve worried about Lidstrom leaving, it’s because look what happens when Pronger leaves teams. They don’t recover. It’s pretty apparent what he does for teams and he’s even more appreciated when he’s not there because you come to appreciate all he does. Look at Edmonton. They had one great year. That wasn’t an accident. Look what’s happened to them since.
Indeed. Anyway, that brought me back to thinking of Tyler Myers. His meteoric rise to the top of the defensive depth charts is not completely unexpected for those that saw his final year of Juniors. That leaves us wondering just where his ceiling is. Here are the relevant stats for the two mentioned guys and Myers in their rookie seasons:
- Tyler Myers (Buffalo Sabres, 19yrs old) – 82GP, 11G 37A, +13, 32 PIM
- Chris Pronger (Hartford Whalers, 19yrs old) – 81GP, 5G 25A, -3, 113 PIM
- Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroid Red Wings, 21yrs old) – 80GP, 11G 49A, +36, 22 PIM
You can see that Myers (as of now) fits in right between the two. Pronger has a physical game right now that Myers can’t match, though his offseason goals to gain wait and strength would go a long way at putting him in that territory. As for the much smaller Lidstrom, the offensive numbers are in line, with the +/- as the main outlier, thanks to the better goal-scoring of the Red Wings that year, compared to Buffalo this year (+64 goal differential).
This second year is going to be huge for Myers. Possibly a different defense partner, higher expectations, and adjustments from the rest of the NHL. His offseason work will determine whether or not he becomes Chris Pronger/Zdeno Chara, or Andrej Sekera.
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Tallinder, Sabres Talking
This news comes to us from Nick Mendola, now over at WECK:
Henrik Tallinder’s agent has spoken with the Buffalo Sabres about the Swedish defenseman’s upcoming unrestricted free agency, and they plan to speak again in the coming weeks before the start of free agency
As we discussed previously, many (including me) believed Buffalo would at least attempt to bring one of the Tallinder/Lydman set back. It remains to be seen if anything comes of this, or if Toni gets a call from Darcy too. I’m betting he will; I think Darcy remembers what happened the last time he had two guys at the same position hitting free agency.
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Stanley Cup Finals – Blackhawks and Flyers
Well, the NHL has a matchup favorable to them, even if it doesn’t include Ovechkin or Crosby. Two huge TV markets, lots of Canadian-born players for HNIC viewers, no Sun Belt towns (or Detroit) who won’t sell out their building right away and embarrass them. Like I mentioned at the old place, both teams have some Buffalo connections, giving you someone to root for or against, however you like. I think the Blackhawks have the advantage here, Nieme is solid, good scoring, and they have guys that can goad the Flyers into taking penalties.
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The Untouchables
Looking at the Sabres roster as it stands right now, before free agent signings, I’m trying to figure out who is ‘Untouchable’. Who will not be traded no matter the offer (even if it’s 10 first-round picks)? The list is short:
- Ryan Miller – A great goalie, and the one true international star we have, thanks to the Olympics.
- Tyler Myers – Barring something insane happening next year with his production, he’s the one guy I’d sign to one of thos ridiculous 8+ year deals.
- Thomas Vanek – Our one true goal scorer, on a big contract. Don’t know about you, but I’m keeping the 40+ goal guy (with a good center ice guy)
- Paul Gaustad – Future captain, faceoff ninja, fan favorite.
There are a few others that are in that category by default (rookies on their ELC, just-signed Mike Grier) but that’s really it. Seems like there should be more than that. I can think of 4+ forwards alone on many teams. I wonder if other teams view their rosters the way I do, though. I know the Pensblog boys have been having fun with all the ‘Trade Malkin!’ articles that popped up after their playoff ouster. I can think of a bunch of guys I’d keep if I were Pittsburgh, just not sure they’d agree.
If you have any others that fit in there for Buffalo, let me know.
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Hartnell
Curious to see if Scott Hartnell gets any ‘supplementary discipline’ from the NHL for his attempted beatdown of Roman Hamrlik at the end of last nights loss to the Habs. He got 5+2 (but for roughing, not instigating) and it seems an obvious case of message sending in a game that was out of hand. There was a lot of jabbing and prodding and bumping from both sides…say what you want, though, it DOES make the next game must-see TV.
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Sabres RFAs
Thankfully, the Buffalo Sabres won’t have a lot of RFA drama this offseason. As far as RFAs that made any sort of roster appearance with the big show this year, well, there ain’t that many:
- Tim Kennedy
- Patrick Kaleta
You know those guys are coming back. Neither one is worth enough for another team to make an offer sheet for, but they hold down important roles on the Sabres. The next tier of RFAs are the ones leading the way for the Portland Pirates:
- Mark Mancari
- Marc-Andre Gragnani
- Mike Weber
- Phillip Gogulla
Mike Weber (who got some PT with the Sabres a couple of years ago) is a guy that some are looking to step up to the show potentially, if Tallinder and Lydman both end up leaving. No guarantees though, considering that Sekera and Butler had basically been sharing the 6th d-man spot down the stretch.
The third tier of RFAs are guys I know very little about, to be honest. You can get more info on them at Sabres Prospects, but if there are any RFA types that don’t get tendered an offer by the Sabres, it’s these guys
- Matt Generous
- Jean-Phillipe Lamoreaux
- Michael Kostka
- Derek Whitmore
Not a bad year for Restricted Free Agency for Buffalo. Only one guy is arbitration eligible, and he’s in the third tier (Generous). Shouldn’t be too much stress there.
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When Do You Pay Attention To The NHL Again?
Okay, I know some of you are still watching the playoffs, and for others, it’s over when Buffalo is done. I’m curious, how involved are you in the offseason machinations that surround the team? Do you track who gets drafted at the draft? Pay attention to rookie development camps? Hit an open practice or two during training camp? Or do you circle opening day on your calendar and catch up then?
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UFA! UFA! UFA!
Since the Buffalo Sabres have been eliminated for a while now, I think it’s safe to take a look at the pending UFAs and see who we want to bring back. The Sabres got out ahead of us, by announcing the signing of Mike Grier to a 1 yr, $1.4 million deal the other day. He said right off he wanted to be back, so this was the easiest decision GMDR and company have made. Grier is an important part of the PK as well as being the sort of hard worker you want the younger guys learning from and leaning on.
The rest of the UFAs, with last season’s cap hit after:
- Raffi Torres – $2,250,000
- Adam Mair – $758,333
- Matt Ellis – $500,000
- Toni Lydman – $2,875,000
- Henrik Tallinder – $2,562,500
- Patrick Lalime – $1,000,000
Not including the AHL roster filler guys like Joe DiPenta (although Cody McCormick did make an impression). Looking at the forwards, I’d be fairly certain Raffi Torres is not sticking around. He just never found ‘it’ here, and he has his sights set on other locales anyway. Mair and Ellis are a bit different, though. It’s easy to say ‘let them both go!’ and bring in Gerbe or Ennis or someone like that, but it’s not that simple. Mair has stuck around longer than you’d imagine, simply due to the fact that he’s one of the few ‘tough’ Sabres. But there are guys coming up (Zack Kassian, for one) who can provide that with more upside. Matt Ellis seems more likely to be back, especially if he is willing/able to go on a two-way deal. Lindy seems to be a big fan, and he has been a consistent effort guy, which you can’t always say for the top six as currently formed.
For the defense (your honor), Tallinder and Lydman are both heading towards free agency. Keeping both seems unlikely, but I’m not sure which one I would choose. Lydman may be better all around, but I also have a hard time letting go of the guy Tyler Myers developed so much chemistry with. Keeping neither is also an option, though the questions around Rivet’s shoulder might make at least one coming back more likely.
As for backup goalie, Patrick Lalime may be the best option out there as far as a guy willing to take that role, unless Marty Biron decides it’s worth coming back. To be honest, the numbers weren’t much different last year between the two, but Marty is still a fan favorite and has an obvious love of the area. Management is probably comfortable with either guy, so the wants and needs of other teams may be the biggest factor here.
A trade involving the upper half of the roster is still possible, and I know some of you are hoping it’s likely, to give the forward lines a bit of a shakeup. I don’t think that does much to change what the Sabres do with these guys, though. Will be looking at RFAs another time.