Shutdown Pair

Tag: Paul Byron

  • Sabres Draft Six and Land Regehr

    To be honest, I wasn’t able to be as into the draft this year as I wanted to, thanks to family obligations and time constraints.  The players the Sabres drafted are here.  Some things haven’t changed from the past few years.  Most of them are big, over 6 feet tall.  Most are North American, though they finally broke out of that by drafting Joel Armia from Finland with their first pick (at 16).  From the report by Kris Baker on Armia, sounds like a guy to watch a couple of years down the road.

    The Sabres also got their man in Robyn Regehr, acquired in a trade from the Calgary Flames.  We also got Ales Kotalik back, who might play (he DID have his best years here) or who might go to Portlan–er, Rochester, or who could always go play in Europe.  Buffalo also nets a 2nd round pick next year, while giving up Chris Butler, who showed promise at times but could never seem to get past Sekera on the depth chart, and Paul Byron.  Regehr is big and tough and migh just settle in as a partner for Tyler Myers.  It’s one of those spots people thought needed to be addressed this offseason (a veteran D, a top-flight C), and it didn’t cost the Sabres too much.  There are plenty of good prospects still stacked up, and there’s room for more deals to be done.

  • Take a breath

    The Buffalo Sabres come into the All-Star break on a surprisingly good note, considering where they were even a few weeks ago.  8th place is in their reach, 6 points back with 3 games in hand on Atlanta, though before the year I’m certain most of us wouldn’t have pictured being happy about that but it’s what we have.  Even though the team is rolling a bit over the last 13 games, the break comes at a good time for the health of guys like Stafford, Kaleta, Vanek, maybe Montador, and Miller who could use a rest.

    The next game is February 4th against the Pens, and the 3 weeks after that leading to the trade deadline will tell the story.  It *should* be possible for the Sabres to make up ground with multiple games against Toronto, along with games against Ottawa, Florida, the Isles (well…), and Atlanta (a great chance to help themselves).  Get your points there, do some good work against the likes of Detroit, Washington and Tampa and see what happens.

    The trade deadline is the thing, though, isn’t it?  Despite Darcy Regier’s best efforts, it hasn’t been kind to the Sabres for several years.  Heck, I’ve liked some of the guys picked up but, well, hear it from Darcy:

    “One of the hard parts isn’t just finding good players but players that fit. That’s the challenge.”

    I’m pondering the roster this year, and I’m not honestly sure what the move is.  It’s easy to say they need scoring, but what team wouldn’t want that?  Heck, who do you move?  The ones we want to get rid of, nobody wants, and I think we generally like all of our prospects that we’ve gotten to see so far (even Byron scored, and Gerbe is on fire).  I don’t envy Regier’s position this year, especially with the specter of ownership ‘changes’ hanging over.