Shutdown Pair

Tag: Tim Connolly

  • We’re Still Talking About HIM?

    Tim Connolly.  Say that name near Sabres fans, and you’ll get a reaction.  Largely, a negative one.  Maybe a few will reminisce about when he was ‘good’, recall his play in the playoffs after the lockout, but then they bring up the injuries, the concussions, and you end up back at the same place – good riddance!

    Except…have you seen the other options for centers out there?  You’ve got Brad Richards on the radar (you and every other team that is), but then what?  For UFA’s, the field is pretty bleak.  Jason Arnott?  Eric Belanger?  Brooks Laich?  Laich might be the best bet, but nobody out there is screaming Number ONE center loudly (or Number TWO for that matter).  RFAs aren’t happening either.  Offer sheets for the good ones will be matched, and if they aren’t ‘good’, see above.  You aren’t finding Danny Briere on the scrap heap every year.  Though if they could pull it off again…well, we can dream.

    So that leaves trades.  The trick here is having what others want, and the other team needing to make a move for some reason.  The fact that the salary cap went up as much as it did complicates that – not as many teams need to shed salary to keep their best players.  There are some targets out there (Stephen Weiss?  Paul Stastny?) but their are complicating factors (for Weiss, the Panthers are barely hitting the floor, and Weiss’s cap hit is over $3mil, and Stastny has a big money deal on another team near the floor).

    That brings things back to Tim Connolly.  He’s a known quantity, for better or worse.  He’s had productive stretches, though not in the playoffs lately.  He’s been brittle.  He infuriates you with his potential.  He doesn’t talk to the media very much, so despite the fact that he’s been here seemingly forever, we don’t really know him.  At least for Max, he had the language barrier, but Timmy is from this very state.

    Look, we all know the Sabres NEED a center for one of the top two lines.  I don’t think TC can do that anymore.  However, this year is not a year with an easy solution to that problem.  Sign Brad Richards! but for how much and how long?  Despite the loosened purse strings and Darcy flexing his deal-making muscles, you still don’t want to kill your flexibility.  Especially with Tyler Myers coming due for a pay upgrade.  Timmy might just be the only feasible option (at a much lower price than the last contract) while we wait and see if someone else comes available, or someone like Luke Adam takes hold of a spot.  I’m not sure I like it any more than you do, but what I am saying is, don’t be surprised if it does happen.

  • Miller, Gerbe, Kaleta and Grier

    …and throw in Connolly and Gaustad too.  These guys came up huge for Buffalo tonight.  The scoring forwards were quiet, but the tough guys and agitators did their work (though with a few too many penalties).  However, they were also instrumental in killing those penalties, and when the shot got through, Miller was dynamite.  A road win in a tough building against the 2 seed.  Not pretty, but it still puts them up one game to none.  James Van Riemsdyk was a beast for the Flyers, but the top line players on both sides couldn’t get much traction.  Mike Grier may be glacier-slow, but he still hits like a ton of bricks, and he had some solid shots.  Love that the boys stood in against the Flyers in that regard and gave some back.

    Steve Montador, now there’s a problem.  He took some bad penalties and at times was not in the right place.  Sekera should be back soon, but that still leaves Morrisonn in there, who is pretty unnecessary with Weber playing decent.  Still, it’s hard to fault the D too much when you win 1-0.  The PK was superb, pressuring the guy with the puck and forcing the pass, but not getting too far out of position to do so.  I can’t wait for game 2.  SATURDAY WHERE ARE YOU?  (yes, I know it’s after Friday before you say anything)

  • Random Sabres Thoughts

    There’s a lull in the schedule, following the loss on Tuesday, so here are some random thoughts.

    • Tim Connolly played…well?  Has had a few games.  This would be huge if it continues, so Buffalo can keep Boyes on the wing.
    • Where is Jordan Leopold?  Might be better on D but we could use his scoring.
    • Does Kaleta have a spot in the lineup when he gets back?  In the playoffs?
    • Does Patrick Lalime still wear that hat in the press box?
    • Love the tribute painted on the ice for Rick Martin.  I never saw him play, but I can see how big he was here, on and off the ice.

    The next few nights are nerve-wracking, as Toronto and New Jersey both play tonight, with NJ and Carolina in play tomorrow.  The Sabres need to have a good weekend against Atlanta and Nashville (who really need points too).

  • Character Wins and Subsequent Losses

    A come from behind win against the East-leading Philadelphia Flyers is an event to be celebrated.  Some even declared the weekend a success just by getting these 2 points.  While that’s true enough from a certain point of view, I’d like to see Buffalo take the playoff spot by the throat and not let go.  Win tomorrow, behind Enroth (who they have won for before), and show the league they are not an easy out.  Take that 7th spot, gain points against a couple of good teams in Pittsburgh and Boston, then roll the Leafs in front of their own fans.  I want waffles on the ice, guys.  Too many times this team has impressed and regressed.  The move needs to be made now.  Make it so.

    As far as the game goes, you have Pominville, Ennis, Stafford and Sekera scoring, with Nathan Gerbe getting the empty netter that many of us missed (see below).  Brad Boyes and Thomas Vanek both had 2 assists, and Vanek played more than 20 minutes.  Tim Connolly, by the way, 17 min, -1, ‘winning’ just over a quarter of the draws he took.  So valuable.  Montador, +3.

    By the way, Time Warner Cable and MSG combined for a horrible series of gaffes in the broadcast today, twice causing those of us on the SD feed to lose the game, including with 2 minutes to go when MSG switched back to…halftime of a Women’s College Basketball game.  You just can’t be that asleep at the switch on such an important game.  I’m smart enough to have my DVR record 30 minutes past the normal end time, you’d think they could have a guy you know, watching the game to make sure the right broadcast stays on.  Terrible.

  • Vanek, Stafford Overwhelm the Lightning

    The Sabres recovered from a bad start (and a few tough goals given up by Miller) to roll over Dwayne Roloson and the Lightning 7-4.  Drew Stafford notched a hat trick, Vanek scored twice, and Jordan Leopold and Tim Connolly had the other goals.  Mike Weber and Tyler Ennis both had 2 assists.  A Vanek goal late in the second to make it 3-2 Tampa was the turning point, and the Bolts came completely unraveled after Stafford bumped Roloson on Leopold’s goal (he was pushed into him).

    I was listening on the radio and tracking it on the phone, and was shocked when I saw the score jump from 3-3 to 6-3.  Now the big discussion point while we await Pegula-mania to kick in is what to do with Stafford.  Did he finally ‘get it’?  My feeling is yes, knowing how hard he worked in the offseason and seeing the pace he is on (37 goals in 64 games after last night).  His longest stretch held pointless is 3 games, and it’s only 4 games for goals.  He’s shooting more, and I’m having a hard time thinking of a bad game for him.  Sign him to a Roy-like contract, $4mil a year for as many years as he wants.  I’d be A-OK with having Angry Eyebrows around long-term.

  • Semin and other Enigmatic Hockey Players

    Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy set off quite a discussion yesterday when he referred to Alexander Semin as ‘enigmatic’.  Apparently that’s not okay.  It got me to thinking, what is it that gets you that label?  It’s a pretty common tag, so there must be some common criteria that come into play.

    First, let’s get the definition of enigmatic:  Difficult to interpret or understand; mysterious.

    Okay, so who are the enigmas?  Here are guys who came up (some repeatedly) if searching for ‘Enigmatic *position*’:

    Enigmatic wingers:  Wojtek Wolski, Alexei Kovalev, Lee Stempniak, Alexander Frolov, Miroslav Satan, Nikolay Zherdev, Alexander Semin

    Enigmatic centers:  Olli Jokinen, Derick Brassard, Alexei Yashin, Tim Connolly, Jason Spezza, Pavol Demitra, Daniel Alfredsson

    Enigmatic defensemen: Sami Salo, Joni Pitkanen, Dion Phaneuf, Marek Zidlicky, Dennis Wideman, Chris Pronger (huh?), Cam Barker (double huh?), Michal Rozsival, Derek Morris

    Looking at the list, there are a few criteria that jump out:

    1. Be European – almost all of the players on the list are from Europe.  It’s easy to be considered ‘mysterious’ or ‘difficult to understand’ if you literally can’t understand what they say or speak through an interpreter.
    2. One Good Year – some of the non-Euros on the list fell victim to having one good year.  Lee Stempniak is the best example, scoring 14 goals in 18 games after getting traded to Phoenix.  He has 14 goals in 51 games so far this year, and one previous year of 27.  Beyond that, nothing over 14.
    3. Long term injuries – A couple of the guys here (including Semin) have had injuries, some of which kept them out for a while.  But it’s the ones we find out about after the fact (like Vanek the past few games) that can feed into Enigma status.
    4. Be expected to score (and not) – Nobody pays close enough attention to the 4th line plug to care whether he’s gone 10 games without a point, or hasn’t scored in a playoff series.

    Using these criteria, you can see where the ‘enigma’ label comes from, but should it be valid for Semin?  I think it is, but only because the label doesn’t truly mean anything.  Gabe at Behind the Net broke down the Caps’ loss to Montreal as the sort of bad stretch that happens in a short sample size like a playoff series.  Combine that with being european, and you get ‘enigmatic’ instead of just saying snakebit or struggling.  You are less likely to hear about a nagging injury or something he’s working on in practice from someone like Semin with the language difference.  We KNOW what Iginla is thinking, if he goes 15 games without scoring, because he’s talking every night about it.

    This reminds me of when Maxim Afinogenov was here.  He certainly wasn’t the first Sabre to struggle and not score for long stretches, but he bore the weight of that ‘enigmatic’ label.  The thing is, we’d go weeks without hearing from Max while out fan-frustration with his performance would build.  Paul Gaustad doesn’t get the enigma label, but we see him on commercials every broadcast, he’s on the news, we know him.  He can frustrate us, but that word enigma doesn’t come into play.

  • Tradeable Assets

    Yes, I think it’s time to look at who has value to ‘sell’, after that effort this weekend.  There is still time to recover, but it’s growing short.  49 games left, but only 30 points in the standings in the first 33.  It took 88 to make 8th last year in the East, but that was unusually low.  It will probably take a few more than that, which seems problematic for this current cast of characters.  So that means changes, and the decision to be a buyer or a seller.

    For the purposes of this post, we are looking at ‘selling’.  I covered ‘untouchable‘ players before the year, thought I am taking Goose off the list.  I might even put Leopold and Roy on, considering their performances so far.  Either way, here’s what i’m looking at for tradeable assets:

    1. Tim Connolly – He’s always going to top the list for a lot of people, and it’s understandable.  We are tired of the injuries, the streaks, potential that never gets realized.  He would have value, maybe, and his contract isn’t terrible closer to the deadline.  He has to be healthy to move though, which is the biggest problem.  By the way, shouldn’t they be putting in a steel honker for Timmy?  Anyway, I don’t know anyone that would complain about him being gone, and most would be happy for whatever they get for him.
    2. Drew Stafford – This would be a case of selling high, as Angry Eyebrows is on a very favorable contract ($1.9mil expiring this year, RFA) for his production so far.  Trading Drew would potentially open a wing spot for Zack Kassian next year while getting some return for another guy who has shown potential here but never really put it all together for any length of time.
    3. Craig Rivet – It honestly makes more sense for him then the team, you know he wants to play but just doesn’t seem likely to get back in barring a run of injuries.  $3.5mil prorated would still be tough for a team to swallow for a d-man in the twilight of his career (who’s not cracking THIS lineup).
    4. Jochen Hecht – Has the complicating factor of another year left on a fairly hefty deal for a two-way forward who is underperforming.  Seems more likely to go if the Sabres are trading for a player with salary coming back.
    5. Chris Butler – Sekera has to be safe, in my mind, as Myers’s new partner.  I get the feeling Butler is on borrowed time, if there was someone that was trusted more to slide into his spot (which is not Rivet).

    I’m honestly not sure what to do about Enroth, as no one would want Lalime, and anyone else that left would be a spare part for spare part deal, not any sort of change that would fix the culture/shake up the incumbents.  Same thing for trading prospects – there may be fantastic deals to be made, but that doesn’t fix the team next year.  All of this also assumes the long-term deal guys stay, which I find extremely likely (Miller, Vanek, Pominville, and probably Myers after this year).

    There are two things that could shift the focus from selling players for picks/prospects.  One would be the Sabres going on a big-time winning streak…and the other is Terry Pegula.  He is the wild card, no doubt about it.  He could complete the sale and decide to set a bomb off in the locker room, wiping out coaches, GMs, players, the whole nine yards.  I know some of you are hoping for that, and to be honest I wouldn’t get upset if it happened.  What that would mean, though is giving up on this year AND next, unless you think the young players and newly acquired talent would mesh immediately with a potential new coach.

    I still have hope that this team figures it out and makes these rambling thoughts moot.  The rational part of me has serious doubts.

  • Fins to the Left

    We get a visit from the San Jose Sharks tonight, who apparently managed a come from behind win last night against the Flyers.  It was 4-1 Philly when my wife got home, so good on the Sharks for coming back.  A Flyers loss is always a good thing.

    Buffalo has done quite well against the Sharks here at the Arena, owning a 13-1 record against them.  Pretty solid.  The Sabres will most likely be without Drew Stafford and Shaone Morrisonn, along with Tim Connolly.  Coach has Mike Weber’s back too.

    I have been dealing with a huge amount of stuff lately (sick little girl, cub scout party last night, etc.) so I haven’t been able to post much.  Should get things back up and running right soon.

  • Thanks, Craig Rivet, and BLOGGER SOLIDARITY

    First off, Craig Rivet is a healthy scratch again tonight, with Weber in his place.  Most interesting is this bit from Lindy Ruff:

    Mike hasn’t been in but we feel that it gives us a physical defenseman, a guy with some edge and we’re going to give him a shot

    Physical defenseman is what Rivet was, when he first got here.  Remember those days?  I thought trading for him was a solid move, despite his age, as he was under a contract that was not too painful, and he came with a rep as being a serious tough guy.  Not bad for scoring, either.  He was a bulldozer in front of the net, voted captain by his peers, and his second game with the team had him deeply involved in the Islanders “Kid’s Day” brawl.  The team rolled right along with him, but it was short-lived.  First a knee injury, then a bum shoulder sidelined Rivet for longer and longer stretches.  A team that started the season without a regulation loss in their first eight games now couldn’t manage to win two in a row.  There were other injuries and struggling players, to be sure, but Rivet’s influence in those early games can’t be overlooked.  Nothing has happened with his roster status or captaincy, but it’s a matter of time.  All I ask is that we remember that there were good times.

    Now, on the fun-time yesterday.  Twitter started to buzz (mildly at that) about Tim Connolly sporting a black eye…and the oddity that maybe Derek Roy was to blame.  It seemed ridiculous, so we started pestering people that were there about it, and checking the pictures.  There wasn’t much to go on at first, so most of us shrugged and waited for more information.  Honestly, most interest in it seemed pretty tongue-in-cheek, with jokes about giving “that’s great, Derek” Roy a medal.  Our ears perked up when Matthew Barnaby tweeted about the Roy/Connolly angle, which he refuted a short time later, with basically the same story Ruff gave Vogl.  There are many opinions out there on this matter, but here’s my take:  Vogl vastly overrates the impact of what we discuss in the boundless wastes of Twitter.  He seemed to see us as plotting mayhem from our underground warrens, boiling out of our lightless tunnels like so many sewer rats to disparage Derek Roy’s and Tim Connolly’s good names.  Most of us seemed to just be having fun with it until the inevitable denial/explanation came.  After that, we denizens of the dark would’ve shrugged, and gotten back to our photoshops and our statistical analyses.  But no, Vogl just HAD to get us all riled up by ripping thousands of sports fans and a fair number of his own colleagues at the same time.  Now, whenever a local blogger or twitter-er needs an example of ‘old media’ that ‘doesn’t get it’, Vogl’s name will be the first one brought up.  All because he took offense (it seems to me) at having to follow up with a rumor that came from Twitter, except for the fact that real people at Catwalk saw the shiner and started asking about it.  But hey, it livened up a few days with no Sabres games.  Maybe we should thank him.  NAHHHH.

  • Gameday 2010-2011 – Penguins at Sabres

    The Thanksgiving Eve special may feature quite a different lineup than the last few games.  Ryan Miller practiced Monday but couldn’t commit 100% to playing against the Pens, after missing Saturday’s game.  Tim Connolly started practice but didn’t finish it with a groin injury.  Jochen Hecht skated on his own after practice but is expected to play Wednesday.  Drew Stafford isn’t quite there yet, still no contact.  Rob Niedermayer had his knee scoped and is on the shelf for a couple of weeks.  This has prompted the Sabres to proactively call up Luke Adam and Colin Stuart from Portland.

    The prevailing thought is, if Miller can’t go against the Pens, Enroth comes back up and plays.  Hard not to blame Lindy after Lalime’s gaffe, but when you only score one goal there’s not much margin for error.

    Might actually end up attending this one.