Shutdown Pair

Tag: Drew Stafford

  • A Pound of Flesh

    In the aftermath of last night’s horrible scene, I wonder:  where do you stand on on-ice vengeance?  There are several levels it can get to, where do you stop looking for blood?

    1. Immediately after the play.  In this case Connolly was on the ice and went after Hjalmarsson.  Not too satisfying to most fans, as a skilled player giving the offender what amounts to a hug with some face slaps isn’t what they want.  Stafford, at least, did a solid job on Neil after the Drury hit.  Goose, too, after that Ovechkin hit on Briere a few years ago.
    2. The rest of the game.  If you have any sort of tough guy on the roster, this one’s going to happen – a fight with someone on the offending team.  Not all that satisfying last night, as Hjalmarsson was kicked out and couldn’t take his lumps, which leads to…
    3. The next game.  Buffalo travels to Chicago on Saturday, which (barring a Stanley Cup Finals matchup) is the last time they’ll see each other this year.  There are two games in between, so if the disciplinary decision comes down today, and it’s 0-2 games of suspension, Hjalmarsson could get targeted then.  These fights are usually a letdown, though, if the offender is not normally a fighter.  Somebody swinging wildly at him, while he covers up and ‘fires back’ a few times to make it look good.

    That’s your choices, really.  The only thing that can complicate them is a rivalry, which is tough to build up with a team from the other conference.  How far do you want your vengeance to go?

  • Sabres End Preseason on a High Note

    While the Flyers dressed what amounts to the roster for their AHL team last night, a 9-3 win HAD to be fun for those present.  You can’t read a lot into it, other than, the guys who were supposed to score scored.  Such as Myers, Ennis, Gerbe, Stafford (1+3, nice job Angry Eyebrows), Roy, Pominville, and so on.  Kaleta knocked out Darroll Powe apparently.  Carcillo did…something to get ejected, no idea what.  Bring on the regular season!

  • Sabres Fall To Leafs 5-4

    Didn’t end up getting to see this, but I didn’t want it to pass without comment.  The big three for the Sabres (Miller, Vanek, Myers) sat this one out, among others, while the Maple Leafs iced what amounts to their regular season lineup.  Nathan Gerbe scored twice, including one on a penalty shot, while Stafford and newcomer Jordan Leopold had the other tallies.  The power play went 2 for 5.

    One thing I like seeing, Buffalo poured on the shots again, putting 39 on Jonas Gustavsson.  That comes after pelting Gustavsson and Rynnas with 44 shots in the previous tussle two nights before.  Hopefully this continues into the regular season, as one thing that bugged me the past couple of years is the Sabres’ tendency to make one too many passes.  Part of the improvement comes from Ennis and Gerbe, who have 13 shots between them in the two games (with Ennis not playing last night for personal reasons).

    Tonight, we get the Kraft Hockeyville game, facing the Senators in Dundas, Ontario.  It’s a neat event, and this might just be viewable for us, unline the rest of these games.

  • Preseason Leafs Smackdown Thoughts

    I went to the Sabres’ 3-1 win over the Leafs on Saturday, and have a few thoughts on what I saw (my phone was out of commission so no pictures, sorry):

    1. Kassian is a beast.  Too bad there won’t likely be a roster spot for him.
    2. Vanek glove-punching a guy was great.
    3. Ennis is going to be good, could be a good addition to the top 6.
    4. Stafford didn’t look out of place on the top 6 either, though, he had some physical plays.
    5. Gerbe knocked down Luca Caputi.  He gives up 9 inches to him (save your ‘That’s what SHE said’ jokes, please).
    6. Guy who whistled like a bird all game:  no one likes you.
    7. To the Leafs fan who whined that we had to use our ‘regular lineup’ to beat their rookies:  HA-HA!  I actually gave Toronto more of a chance with some of those guys in, since they weren’t corrupted by the pre-Burke/Wilson Leafs organization.

    If I can manage to find the game on TV tonight, I’ll be watching from home.  Probably.  Here’s the lineup for this game, courtesy of the Buffalo News.  Maybe that Leafs whiner will be happy, since they will have a more ‘regular’ lineup for tonight.

  • Question: How do you pick your favorite player?

    Always kind of curious about this, as I’ve come into liking my favorite players in a few different ways.  I’ve come up with a few ways that people seem to decide on a guy, see if any of these types fit you:

    1. The best player on your favorite team:  You probably like Ryan Miller or Thomas Vanek.  It’s a great feeling to be watching someone who is going for a major trophy, or is starring in commercials, though some people will label you as a bandwagonner.
    2. Heart and soul guys:  You probably like Paul Gaustad or Mike Grier.  You know that goal scorers come and go, but the real glue of a team are the guys who bang bodies, go to the net, kill penalties, wear letters.  They might have gray in their beards.  These fans will talk about a player for years after they are gone, even if they only spent a year or two in town (say, Guerin in Pittsburgh).
    3. Eligible Bachelors:  I get the feeling that the younger puck bunnies go for (ugh) Derek Roy or Jason Pominville, while the non-teenager ones are more about the graybeard heart and soul guys mentioned above.  They have signs (and sometimes wear wedding dresses) for their favorites.  There may be some hockey knowledge, but it’s more about the guys.
    4. Fighters:  Most likely a fan of George Laraque, or Colton Orr, or even better, a fighter from the 70s or 80s that they obsess about.  They like MMA too, with the Tapout shirt and way out of date barbed wire tattoo giving them away.  Often these fans are unaware or at least uninterested in other aspects of hockey.
    5. Pity Party:  You like Drew Stafford, or Patrick Lalime.  Sometimes you just take a liking to the guy that’s getting kicked while he’s down.  You might very well do a doubletake if you see someone wearing their jersey.  Maybe this fan followed the player in college, or watched them tear up the AHL, and haven’t forgotten the glory days.

    I think that covers most situations.  Any disagreements?  Another category I missed?

  • Buffalo Sabres: A Look At The Depth Chart

    With training camp less than a month away, and the Buffalo Sabres roster looking pretty much set, I thought now would be a good time to investigate the lines and defense pairings for the coming season.  Starting up front:

    Ennis – Connolly – Pominville
    Vanek – Roy – Stafford/McCormick?
    Gerbe – Gaustad – Kaleta
    Hecht – Niedermayer – Grier

    It’s an odd mix of diminutive players and size/grit, to be sure.  Zack Kassian could make things interesting when he’s off his time-out from GMDR and gets to sign.  I’m not sure what happens if McCormick gets one of the RW spots, Stafford really is the only one that can come out.  I don’t think you play anybody out of position to try and keep him in the lineup.  Gerbe, I suppose, could end up on the fourth line if Lindy wants to keep Hecht up on the third, though my hope is with cagey vets like Grier and Niedermayer taking over the fourth line will get more than 6 minutes a night.  It’s a lineup that has some scoring potential, but should help out the revamped defense core quite a bit as well.  Speaking of:

    Myers (RH) – Morrisonn (LH)
    Montador (RH) – Leopold (LH)
    Rivet (RH) – Sekera (LH)

    Butler (LH)

    Obviously Myers is the top dog, and I slotted Morrisonn next to him as he’s another more stay at home type as Tallinder was for Tyler last year.  You get a similar Off/Def pair with Montador/Leopold, leaving Rivet and his bad shoulder to mentor Sekera and Butler in the third pair.  This keeps the left hand/right hand balance, and keeps Rivet healthier so he can bulldoze some guys in front of Miller.  If Leopold can chip in points to balance the Myers pairing, the offense from the backend will be right where it needs to be.  Now, Morrisonn may not fit in as a first pair guy which blows all this up but I think this works the best.

    I don’t HAVE to go over the goalies, do I?  Miller gets more work than we like (without the Olympics thankfully), especially considering the TWENTY TWO back to back game situations.  Does Lalime get 15 games?  Lalime and Enroth combined for 14 starts last year, I’d like to see that at 20 with all the back to backs but I can’t predict it.

    Look, it’s not the wholesale changes in the top 6 we were looking for, but as we’ve investigated before, there aren’t a lot of guys available who are a for-sure improvement.  Stempniak might be a one-hit wonder, and there’s that self-imposed cap…

  • The Hard Truth

    What’s the hard truth?  The power play most likely won’t be fixed in free agency.  At best, this team gets lucky with a signing or trade, strikes on a castoff from another team that maybe will blossom here (sort of like bringing in Briere) and help.  But that’s difficult in the best of times.  I hate to come off too much like Lindy Ruff, but it’s the system that will bring success.  The problem is, the power play system has sucked for a few years, possibly due to the loss of Scott Arniel as assistant coach.  I’m not sure how much better it can get this year, without more of a coaching focus on it.

    So does that mean GMDR should close up shop?  Nah.  If there’s a good value, even if it’s trading our Stafford for what amounts to their Stafford (or signing someone like Patrick O’Sullivan), do it.  For the Sabres advance past the first round of the playoffs next year, it’s going to take team play, chemistry and good coaching.  We know they have the last thing (even with some of Lindy’s quirks), which helps with the first, but that middle item is key.

  • Something for Nothing?

    Bit of a warning:  I plan to ramble a bit here, as I may end up convincing myself I’m wrong.  It’s a work in progress.

    One of the recurring themes you hear when talking about guys in their walk years (especially on bad teams, or small market teams that ‘can’t afford them’) is that the GMs have to get something back for them.  The Sabres recently had that with Brian Campbell, and most likely will hear about Tim Connolly in regards to this for this season regardless of what he does.

    But the salary cap changes this, to my mind.  You always ‘get something back’ for a UFA, cap space.  When (if?) Timmy is not re-signed at the end of this season, you are getting back $4.5M in cap space, a tidy sum.  I’m not arguing that $4.5M in cap space is better than $4.5M and a 2nd round pick, but it IS something.  And it IS better than $2m in cap space and someone on the level of Drew Stafford or Clarke MacArthur (or Raffi Torres).  This makes sense to me, but I *am* sleep deprived, so feel free to poke some holes.