Shutdown Pair

Category: Sports

  • Sabres at the Draft

    Rather than try and and do a mock draft or analyze the prospects available at the spots where Buffalo picks (though the Tinordi kid would look nice next to Myers!), let’s have some fun.  I’m going to list some over/unders, reply to this post with what you think makes sense for them.

    1. +/- .5 – How many Tylers the Sabres draft.
    2. +/- 1.5 – How many European players the Sabres draft.
    3. +/- 1.5 – How many trades happen in the first round (during the broadcast).
    4. +/- 3.5 – Number of players Buffalo drafts taller than 6’2″.
    5. +/- 2.5 – Number of times Brian Burke is shown on TV considering he doesn’t have a pick.

    If you have any other suggestions for things to keep track of, let me know.

  • Congratulations to Ryan Miller and Tyler Myers!

    The title says it all, congratulations to Ryan Miller for winning his first Vezina trophy, along with the NHL Foundation award for his charity work.  Both well-deserved honors, and I’m very happy for him.  I’m also happy that some of the out-of-town media got to hear him give a speech, as he got a lot of praise for being thoughtful and articulate.  It’s cool that we get to hear him all the time.

    Tyler Myers took home some hardware of his own, taking the Calder trophy in a landslide.  He had 94 first place votes, and the next closest was Jimmy Howard with 24.  I’ve been banging the Tyler Myers for Calder drum since he made the team, so it’s pretty satisfying to see him up there towering over everyone with the trophy.  Sweet.

    One thing that’s always interesting is to check the voting numbers for the various awards, which you can see here.  Of note:

    • Miller was 4th for the Hart, with 13 1st place votes.
    • Tyler Myers got 6 5th place votes for the Norris trophy.
    • Jochen Hecht had a 3rd place vote and 4 5th place votes for the Selke.  Grier, Connolly and Gaustad also got votes.
    • Lindy Ruff had 2 2nd place and 7 3rd place votes for the Jack Adams.

    All in all, an impressive showing for our boys, and you can’t help but feel the future is bright for this team.  Here’s hoping for more Calder candidates, and oh yeah, a Stanley Cup in there somewhere would work.

  • NHL Awards Ceremony Pregame

    The NHL gives away it’s major awards tonight in Las Vegas, and I thought I’d toss up some notes in case you are the sort that ignores the off-season until training camp.

    The first name you need to listen for is Ryan Miller.  He is a Vezina finalist, against Brodeur and Bryzgalov.  He has a great look at winning this, especially with the crest of popularity he has from the Olympics here in the US.  Miller is also a top contender for the Messier Leadership award, where he’s up against Sidney Crosby and Shane Doan.

    Miller is also up for the NHL Foundation Award, which, well:

    is awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) player “who applies the core values of (ice) hockey—commitment, perseverance and teamwork—to enrich the lives of people in his community”.

    That’s definitely our man, what with his creation of the Steadfast Foundation and work with other charities.  Mike Green and Dustin Brown are also candidates.

    Perhaps the most interesting award for Sabres fans this year is the Calder trophy, with Tyler Myers up against Matt Duchene of the Avs and Jimmy Howard of the Red Wings.  There are good arguments for all of them, and I’m not honestly sure I could be unbiased about this one.  I think Tyler Myers did more for his team this year, as he basically allowed Buffalo to play the game differently, he came up huge offensively, was huge (heh) in his own zone as well, and soaked up a ton of minutes.  Jimmy Howard could steal this, though, with the ‘goalie is a harder position’ argument.

  • Buffalo Sabres 2010-2011 Schedule: WTF

    As mentioned, the Buffalo Sabres (along with the rest of the league) have announced their schedule, and it’s a doozy (click here for the full sched).  After the road opener in Ottawa, the next 4 games are home against some solid opponents.  The season goes loopy after that, though.  There are TWENTY-TWO back to back games, most of which involve travel (only 4 are both home games, I read from Chris at the Roost, IIRC).  A home game against Boston in the middle of the usual west coast swing.  A seven game roadie at the beginning of March (playoff positioning on the line).  Crazy.

    Buffalo should be on National TV a good bit, as they are frequently playing US teams on the typical Versus Monday and Tuesday timeslots.  For NBC, I bet the Saturday March 5 Sabres/Flyers game ends up there, with a few other possibilities.  I have to look it over more later, to see if there’s a good road trip game for me and the boy, and look at what games I may try to attend.

  • Schedule Day

    The NHL schedules come out at noon today, which is great, since they normally make us wait a few more weeks to plan potential road trips.  The home openers were announced yesterday, so we know that Buffalo opens on the road at Ottawa Friday, October 8, and comes home for the Rangers on October 9.  Not sure if getting back on the horse against the Sens is good or not but there it is.

    Every year I keep looking for a good road trip to take my son on, hopefully there’s a good game somewhere cheap during a convenient time.  A Carolina trip, maybe meeting up with my Dad and brothers, may work.

  • Backing Up Miller

    The backup goalie spot for the Buffalo Sabres is an interesting question for next season.  Barring injury, you can probably pencil Miller in for 65-70 starts again in the regular season, leaving 10-15 for whoever the backup is.  There are a few trains of thought out there as to who that should be.

    1. See if Jhonas Enroth is ready.  He’s progressed well at the AHL level (2.37 GAA, .919 SP last season), and could be a solid, inexpensive option for next year.  A bit more of a wild-card than an established vet, but more upside.
    2. Trade Enroth for a top-6 forward (center?) or D-man (if neither Hank nor Toni re-sign I imagine) and sign a vet backup.  I call this the Marty Biron, as that’s who most folks want back as the backup.  Probably costs a bit more than Enroth, but wouldn’t be a huge cap hit.
    3. Keep Enroth in the AHL and sign a vet backup.  Could still be Marty, Enroth would play more, but with Miller here long-term, it may be better to try and get something for Jhonas, especially with the number of teams that have goalie questions.

    Stick-tap to TheFinnishLine on Twitter for the idea of trading Enroth, as I hadn’t thought of it.  The more I think about it, the more I like the idea.  Miller is our guy, and Enroth could net us (with a pick or a prospect or two) a new center to drop next to Vanek, or a top-4 defender to fill in for Hank or Toni if neither comes back.  I’d lean toward the forward myself, and give some of the Portland guys a try on the back line, but either way it wouldn’t bother me.  If they can’t make a trade, I think I’d want him here as the backup, and not with the Pirates.  I don’t think he’s going to get too much better there, and having a mentor like Ryan Miller could be good for him.

  • Swag – Tim Howard

    I’m not the most capable illustrator, but Tim Howard reminded me of Ryan Miller, and I was inspired to have another go at t-shirt design.  This is what I have for you:


    Tim Howard, Team USA Goalie

    Spreadshirt Market Place Design

    Tim Howard, Team USA Goalie

    The ball is white, so a non-white shirt is obviously preferred.  You can put it on any color beyond that and have it work, though.  Any comments or changes you think would work for it, comment here.  Thanks!

  • Sabres and Respect

    As usually happens, as soon as the cup was awarded, you started seeing odds for who was going to win next season getting thrown around.  So I took a look to see where Buffalo ranks, and they (as of this morning) sat at 18/1.  Not in the top tier, with teams like Chicago, Pittsburgh, or San Jose (ha), but solidly in the second tier.  Where they should be, most likely, based on the talent we think will return.

    What I want to know is, will the Sabres be considered a true threat next season?  Buffalo was a division leader, had a respectable if not spectacular scoring differential, and has Ryan Miller.  But you KNOW that the top ‘Cup Contenders’ everyone will mention in the East are Pittsburgh and Washington, with yet more obsessive coverage of Crosby and Ovechkin.  Olympian Miller might get Buffalo some more pub and national notice, but I think our guys will have to seriously outperform WAS/PIT for a long stretch to get put in their category.  And, you know, get back on NBC.

    Whatever else happens this offseason, I am expecting this team to be the division winner again.  Let’s see if anyone outside of Western New York has any opinions, or if the extent of it will be “oh hey, yeah, the Sabres, they’ll be OK, I guess…”.

  • Congratulations to the Blackhawks!

    Congratulations are in order to you 2009-2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks!  The OT winner was a Buffalo connection, with former Sabre Brian Campbell assisting on Buffalo native Patrick Kane’s goal, which slipped underneath Leighton somehow.  It was a great series, pretty darn good playoffs all around, save for the Sabres’ first round exit.  Now the retooling can begin in earnest.  Next season can’t begin soon enough.

  • Kassian, Tallinder, Lydman and You

    John Vogl over at the Buffalo News has a wide ranging interview up with Darcy Regier, that’s a great readif you haven’t gotten there already.  The biggest update is on Zack Kassian, where Darcy is temporarily putting contract negotiations on hold.  I don’t think this is that huge, as it sounds like Zack was getting the business from some drunk assholes, and gave it back to them.  He shouldn’t have done it, not at all, but it happens.  He needs to learn from it, and hopefully this delay in signing will remind him that he needs to be more responsible, as shenanigans like that could affect his livelihood.

    Darcy also mentioned that he’s had talks with the agents for Henrik Tallinder and Toni Lydman, and expects them to continue next week.  Doesn’t necessarily mean either one comes back, but he’s putting the work in.

    For other work Regier is putting in, he also apparently has talked to ‘all’ the other GMs, including Brian Burke, but wouldn’t comment about getting Kaberle.  I imagine some (maybe most) of those conversations have been of the “hey, do you want anybody we have?  No?  Okay, see you at the draft” variety.  Could be wrong, though.

    And finally, I just want to thank everyone that’s been reading and commenting.  It’s well beyond what I was expecting, you guys are the best.