Shutdown Pair

Tag: Tyler Myers

  • What to Expect: Ryan Miller

    What can we expect next season for Ryan Miller?  He’s coming off his best year so far, with a 2.22 GAA, .929 SP, 5 shutouts, an Olympic silver medal, the Vezina trophy, and a super-hot girlfriend.  There are some causes for concern, no question.

    First thing to look at is that the D in front of Ryan will be quite different.  Gone are Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder, in is Jordan Leopold (and most likely Mike Weber).  Definitely a few wild-cards there, barring additional signings or trades.  Tyler Myers has to mesh with a new partner and continue to progress.

    Secondly, the workload comes into play.  Since Patrick Lalime is back as the backup (with some potential spot starts for Jhonas Enroth), you can rest assured Ryan sees 65-70 games again barring injury.  Really feels like a non-issue to me now as Miller had a tighter schedule last season and did well.

    Why there is hope:  Miller’s game is about positioning, knowledge of the game and quickness.  All of which he’ll still have.  His even-keeled attitude is exactly what is needed for long term success.  For numbers, I’m thinking GAA in the 2.35 range, .920 SP.  43 wins.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Sabres Special Teams

    As promised, a rambling exploration of the Sabres’ performance in special teams situations.

    PP:  Ranked 17th, 17.6%.  The Sabres scored 55 total goals in man advantage situations (49 5 on 4, 3 at 5 on 3, 3 at 4 on 3).  It’s interesting to note that at home, they were quite good (21.2%, 34G), but horrific on the road (13.7%, wow).

    It was no secret throughout the year that the power play was struggling, which carried over into their dismal performance in the playoffs.  When you consider that Vanek (10 PPG) and Hecht (3 PPG) missed most or all of the Boston series, it was that much worse.  At various points, they had issues getting pucks in deep and getting established positions, which is why the elusive ‘puck moving/power play quarterback type defenseman’ was a deadline target, and probably remains one this offseason.  On the positive side, Tyler Myers was a solid addition on the power play, with his willingness to shoot early and often helping things quite a bit.  Several of his goals were just ‘screw it, I’m shooting’ plays that found their way through.

    PK:  Ranked 2nd, 86.6%.  For the record, Buffalo took 333 minors (less than 20 other teams), 28 majors, 6 misconducts, 3 game misconducts.  There were 8 bench minors.  They were tops in the league at home, killing 89.8% there, while clicking along at 84% on the road (still a solid 6th place).  Total allowed power play goals was 38, one more than Boston, the best team in that regard.

    Night and day difference, eh?  Tyler Myers and Henrik Tallinder lead from the rear here, average just over 3 minutes of short-handed time per game, with Jochen Hecht (that name again) and Mike Grier taking charge from a forward perspective.  I have no complaints here, the team was great at keeping opponents around the edges and clearing the puck, for the most part.

  • Can Myers Be Our Pronger Or Lidstrom?

    Steve Simmons has a column over at the Toronto Sun regarding Chris Pronger and what he brings to a team when he joins, and the wreckage left in his wake when he leaves.  GM Ken Holland of the Red Wings has this to say:

    “He does things that other players can’t do, haven’t done, don’t know how to do. And he just does them easily,” said Ken Holland, general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, who admitted to being “pretty damn happy” when the Ducks traded Pronger to the Eastern Conference.

    Kukla’s has a a bit more of Ken’s comments, which is where Lidstrom is reference:

    If you wonder why we’ve worried about Lidstrom leaving, it’s because look what happens when Pronger leaves teams.  They don’t recover. It’s pretty apparent what he does for teams and he’s even more appreciated when he’s not there because you come to appreciate all he does. Look at Edmonton. They had one great year. That wasn’t an accident. Look what’s happened to them since.

    Indeed.  Anyway, that brought me back to thinking of Tyler Myers.  His meteoric rise to the top of the defensive depth charts is not completely unexpected for those that saw his final year of Juniors.  That leaves us wondering just where his ceiling is.  Here are the relevant stats for the two mentioned guys and Myers in their rookie seasons:

    • Tyler Myers (Buffalo Sabres, 19yrs old) – 82GP,  11G 37A, +13, 32 PIM
    • Chris Pronger (Hartford Whalers, 19yrs old) – 81GP, 5G 25A, -3, 113 PIM
    • Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroid Red Wings, 21yrs old) – 80GP, 11G 49A, +36, 22 PIM

    You can see that Myers (as of now) fits in right between the two.  Pronger has a physical game right now that Myers can’t match, though his offseason goals to gain wait and strength would go a long way at putting him in that territory.  As for the much smaller Lidstrom, the offensive numbers are in line, with the +/- as the main outlier, thanks to the better goal-scoring of the Red Wings that year, compared to Buffalo this year (+64 goal differential).

    This second year is going to be huge for Myers.  Possibly a different defense partner, higher expectations, and adjustments from the rest of the NHL.  His offseason work will determine whether or not he becomes Chris Pronger/Zdeno Chara, or Andrej Sekera.

  • The Untouchables

    Looking at the Sabres roster as it stands right now, before free agent signings, I’m trying to figure out who is ‘Untouchable’.  Who will not be traded no matter the offer (even if it’s 10 first-round picks)?  The list is short:

    • Ryan Miller – A great goalie, and the one true international star we have, thanks to the Olympics.
    • Tyler Myers – Barring something insane happening next year with his production, he’s the one guy I’d sign to one of thos ridiculous 8+ year deals.
    • Thomas Vanek – Our one true goal scorer, on a big contract.  Don’t know about you, but I’m keeping the 40+ goal guy (with a good center ice guy)
    • Paul Gaustad – Future captain, faceoff ninja, fan favorite. 

    There are a few others that are in that category by default (rookies on their ELC, just-signed Mike Grier) but that’s really it.  Seems like there should be more than that.  I can think of 4+ forwards alone on many teams.  I wonder if other teams view their rosters the way I do, though.  I know the Pensblog boys have been having fun with all the ‘Trade Malkin!’ articles that popped up after their playoff ouster.  I can think of a bunch of guys I’d keep if I were Pittsburgh, just not sure they’d agree.

    If you have any others that fit in there for Buffalo, let me know.

  • UFA! UFA! UFA!

    Since the Buffalo Sabres have been eliminated for a while now, I think it’s safe to take a look at the pending UFAs and see who we want to bring back.  The Sabres got out ahead of us, by announcing the signing of Mike Grier to a 1 yr, $1.4 million deal the other day.  He said right off he wanted to be back, so this was the easiest decision GMDR and company have made.  Grier is an important part of the PK as well as being the sort of hard worker you want the younger guys learning from and leaning on.

    The rest of the UFAs, with last season’s cap hit after:

    • Raffi Torres – $2,250,000
    • Adam Mair – $758,333
    • Matt Ellis – $500,000
    • Toni Lydman – $2,875,000
    • Henrik Tallinder – $2,562,500
    • Patrick Lalime – $1,000,000

    Not including the AHL roster filler guys like Joe DiPenta (although Cody McCormick did make an impression).  Looking at the forwards, I’d be fairly certain Raffi Torres is not sticking around.  He just never found ‘it’ here, and he has his sights set on other locales anyway.  Mair and Ellis are a bit different, though.  It’s easy to say ‘let them both go!’ and bring in Gerbe or Ennis or someone like that, but it’s not that simple.  Mair has stuck around longer than you’d imagine, simply due to the fact that he’s one of the few ‘tough’ Sabres.  But there are guys coming up (Zack Kassian, for one) who can provide that with more upside.  Matt Ellis seems more likely to be back, especially if he is willing/able to go on a two-way deal.  Lindy seems to be a big fan, and he has been a consistent effort guy, which you can’t always say for the top six as currently formed.

    For the defense (your honor), Tallinder and Lydman are both heading towards free agency.  Keeping both seems unlikely, but I’m not sure which one I would choose.  Lydman may be better all around, but I also have a hard time letting go of the guy Tyler Myers developed so much chemistry with.  Keeping neither is also an option, though the questions around Rivet’s shoulder might make at least one coming back more likely.

    As for backup goalie, Patrick Lalime may be the best option out there as far as a guy willing to take that role, unless Marty Biron decides it’s worth coming back.  To be honest, the numbers weren’t much different last year between the two, but Marty is still a fan favorite and has an obvious love of the area.  Management is probably comfortable with either guy, so the wants and needs of other teams may be the biggest factor here.

    A trade involving the upper half of the roster is still possible, and I know some of you are hoping it’s likely, to give the forward lines a bit of a shakeup.  I don’t think that does much to change what the Sabres do with these guys, though.  Will be looking at RFAs another time.

  • Perspective…

    This post is influenced by this post at Hockey Rhetoric, and also Pixar’s Ratatouille.  I may ramble around a bit, but I want to get these thoughts down, and where better than right here on the new site?

    My wife was surfing around the other day, trying to put something kid-friendly on the tube, when she stopped on Ratatouille.  It was towards the end, but the lines of the critic Ego struck a chord with me:

    …you know what I’m craving? A little perspective. That’s it. I’d like some fresh, clear, well seasoned perspective. Can you suggest a good wine to go with that?

    *snip*

    Very well. Since you’re all out of perspective and no one else seems to have it in this BLOODY TOWN, I’ll make you a deal. You provide the food, I’ll provide the perspective, which would go nicely with a bottle of Cheval Blanc 1947.

    Waiter:  I’m afraid… your dinner selection?

    Ego (with anger):  Tell your chef Linguini that I want whatever he dares to serve me. Tell him to hit me with his best SHOT.

    We as sports fans, especially fans of a specific team, often think we have a perspective or special insight on the teams we live and die with.  Even though, as Paul notes in the linked article, we know even less about these guys than the team does.  I don’t think that should reduce the impact of what we decide about teams and players, though.  Let’s look at how the Sabres season ended.  Many, many Sabres fans on their blogs and on Twitter decried the lack of performance of Craig Rivet.  It’s safe to assume Sabres managment knew exactly how bad his shoulder was, but they kept rolling him out there night in, night out, and he kept answering the call, cuz the dude is TOUGH.  Does that mean we are wrong to harp on his performance, or single him out for playing terrible?  I don’t think so.  We don’t know everything, but there is enough information for informed opinions, if you put as much time into the team as we do.

    I have a tendency to try and stay positive longer than most of you, for the team in general, but I do analyze how players are playing and compare them to guys in similar roles around the league.  It’s especially easy with tools like the blogosphere and Twitter to get a feel for how fans of other teams feel about their players.  Where do Derek Roy and Tim Connolly fit in with the top 6 centers in the league, for example?  Most fans think we know these guys, what they can do, that they’ve reached their ceiling as far as performance…but there’s no way to be sure.  We cry out for these two to be traded, but are the points they provide going to be that easy to replace?  Roy had 69 points (26 goals), which is really right in line with his usual production.  If you saw points like that on a guy, who doesn’t have a bad faux hawk and hang on Chippewa, you’d take him.

    Let’s face it – Darcy Regier is not stupid.  He has signed, drafted and traded for some good players, and the ones he’s let walk that you’d still actually want, he did so because he’s not in the business of handing out huge overpayments.  They may have to get into that business with Tyler Myers, but we’ll cross that bridge in a couple of years.  So why do his deadline deals hardly ever pan out?  Raffi Torres should’ve been as close to a sure thing as you could get – a tough player, who had already scored plenty of goals on a lacking team, who turned invisible once he got here.  Zubrus did okay, but Dominic Moore and Steve Bernier pretty much just had one good game a piece.  There’s more to it than that (as some of the draft picks and things GMDR has picked up in these trades are or might still turn out), but even with the additional information we don’t have, management gets it wrong.

    Another example – the aforementioned Tyler Myers.  For most Buffalo sports fans, the best thing that’s happened this year is the emergence of Tyler Myers as a legit top pairing D-man.  The thing is, that was never a sure bet to happen.  As little as 2 years ago, there were questions about how hard he wanted to work at things, and his early Junior numbers were only so-so.  The main reason he was talked about was his size, as many teams drooled over the potential to develop another Chara.  But it was Myers own hard work at the end of his junior career that rocketed (ahem) him up into the lofty status he has now.  That includes WHL playoff MVP (watched those games, he kicked ass), and the Gold medal for Canada at the World Junior Championships.

    I just want to say that I will continue to provide my perspective on the Sabres in this spot, same as I did over at the ol’ stomping grounds.  Hope you enjoy your stay here, and be sure to follow my new Twitter account (@TheTickSP) if you want to get notified of new posts here and see my much shorter Sabres thoughts.