Shutdown Pair

Tag: Drew Doughty

  • Gameday 2010-2011 – Kings at Sabres

    We’ve got another Western conference foe in the building tonight, as LA is in town.  They are coming off two straight losses, putting their road record to 4-4.  Ryan Miller is likely to get both games, and Rivet is said to be making it back in the lineup (but not sure for who).  Kaleta may be ready to return as well.

    I like the team the Kings have put together.  Doughty and Johnson are a solid foundation on D, Jonathan Quick is in the top 3 in GAA and SP, and they are getting balanced scoring out of their top 2 lines.  They are really right where the Sabres SHOULD be this year, and perhaps will be moving forward.

    I wonder if perhaps the Kings’ backup goalie, Bernier gets in tonight for yet another backup goalie for the Sabres to face.  He had the Monday loss to San Jose, but the Kings play tomorrow in Boston so it is possible.

  • Untouchable Players – A Followup

    Hawerchuk over at Behind the Net took a look at untouchable players, something I’ve thought about previously in regards to the Sabres.  He posits that there are no truly untouchable players in a salary cap league, but there are a few that might as well be based on the cost it would take to get them.  I like the way he puts it here for Drew Doughty:

    if the Atlanta Thrashers or the Edmonton Oilers offered you all of their draft picks for the next three seasons, Doughty still might be more valuable.  In fact, short of another team taking all of your bad contracts off your hands and giving you all of their draft picks, there may not be a set of assets in the entire NHL valuable enough to move a 20-year-old superstar.

    As far as that goes, I suppose that really only leaves Tyler Myers as ‘untouchable’.  Miller is theoretically attainable, because he’s only slightly outperforming his contract (considering he’s one of the highest paid goalies).  Although, as I pointed out, there’s no way he’s moved.  His intagible effect on the team, the confidence they have, the fact that he’s the face of the franchise, he’s a Sabre for as long as they can manage.