Holding onto win over the Blues

The Sabres beat the St Louis Blues 4-3, but this game should not have ended up nearly as close. Buffalo went up 3-0 early in the first period, and kept on dominating the play throughout the game. However they were unable to score many more. Vanek had some many opportunities on breakaways, but was unable to find the back of the net on any of them. Kotalik also had a large number of chances, and was unable to capitalize on any of them.

Tim Connolly looked good in this game, scoring the second goal, and getting the primary assist on the third. Connolly did appear to get injured after taking a hit to the head. The game winning goal was scored by Henrik Tallinder, who picked up his first goal of the season. The game's first goal went to Adam Mair, who had a fabulous shot that the goalie really had no chance on.

Peters played in this game, but only saw 1:26 of ice time, all within the first half of the game and used it to get into two fights. Peters actually did decent in his fights, but did not contribute anything to the actual hockey portion of the game. Kaleta and Stafford sat out this game instead. Paille who sat out last game was also back, and had a good night earning an assist and a team leading plus two. Teppo Numminen lead the Sabres in ice time, which given his age comes as a bit of a surprise.

Statistically the best players in the game were all for St. Louis. David Perron lead all players in points with three off of a goal and two assists. He was also a plus three, as was Patrik Berglund who earned a goal and an assist. West Seneca native Lee Stempinak also played well earning a goal and an assist in the loss.

The game had very few penalties besides the fighting majors, and saw very little time that was not even strength. Neither team scored on any of their few powerplays.

Official Three Stars

Henrik Tallinder

David Perron

Daniel Paille

My Three Stars

David Perron (one goal, two assists, plus three)

Tim Connolly (one goal, one assist)

Patrik Berglund (one goal, one assist, plus two)

Pre-Ottawa focus on Defense

According to James Mirtle, the Sabres have the oldest defense in the league, with 32.1 being the average age. Granted Numminen throws off these numbers significantly. Still I don't feel as if this is a bad thing, having a more veteran presence on defense like Buffalo has this year with Teppo and Rivet has so far looked to be a good thing.

Unfortunately Rivet is out with an injury, and Henrik Tallinder might be as well. Tallinder's injury does not appear to be serious, but leaves the possibility that he might not play against Ottawa.

If Henrik is out then Mike Weber would be called up from the Portland Pirates to take his place. Arguably he is even better the Paetsch who was put in as a replacement for Rivet. Weber played real well with Sekera at the end of last season, so expect those two to be paired up together again.

Injuries to Buffalo's defense look to hurt the team more than any injuries to their forwards would. Still Weber has shown himself to be a dependable player and I doubt Tallinder will be out for too long.

Buffalo's monday night opponent, the Ottawa Senators, have gotten off to a very poor start at 2-5-1. A fall was expected from Ottawa, but they still have a number of very good players and can not be taken lightly by Buffalo. Even the season the Sabres won the president's trophy they lost half of their games against Ottawa.

Ranking the top 27 Buffalo Sabres

Last season I listed the "top 26 Sabres" before the season began. With a new season starting tonight a new ranking is in order. These are based upon the importance each player brings to the team for the coming season. As a result long term potential for anything beyond this season is not counted, also these are not strictly based on the talent each player has, but also his importance to the team. As such the goalies are not really comparable, but thrown in regardless because I did so last time.

The last list was fairly accurate, but overestimated Connolly's ability to stay healthy and did not give enough respect to Spacek. This year's list is as follows...

1. #1 Jason Pominville - Although ultimately not named captain, he will still be looked to lead this team. How his stats end up is highly dependent on who he plays with, but he will need to be counted on to play a full game every day of the season.
2. #2 Derek Roy - Number one last year, the Sabres need to count on Roy again this season. As the center for Buffalo's top line, he is likely to touch the puck more than anyone else on the team.
3. #3 Craig Rivet - New to town Rivet will be expected to take care of things on defense. This is where Buffalo needs help, and if Rivet can perform then things will go much better for Buffalo this year. Earning himself the role of captain only heightens his expectations.
4. #4 Ryan Miller - As the goalie he is obviously the most important player on the team, and will need to be solid in net for the Sabres to have any chance. If he can get good in the shootout again, that would earn another three of four wins that the team missed out on last season.
5. #5 Thomas Vanek - Buffalo's scoring machine had a disappointing season last year. While he still scored alot of goals, he was not playing both ways as much as he needed to, and went from leading the league in plus minus to ending the year minus four
6. #6 Henrik Tallinder - Will be relieved with the addition of Rivet and Numminen, but will still need to be the team's shut down defender.
7. #7 Toni Lydman - Same story as Tallinder. These two need to guarantee no goals against.
8. #8 Jochen Hecht - A captain for most of last season and an alternate this year, Hecht will be counted on to continue leading this team. While he doesn't have the biggest offensive numbers he is a very solid two way player.
9. #9 Teppo Numminen - Just like last year's list defense is extremely important. Numminen is a very consistent and reliable defender for the team. His only limiting factor is he is not likely to get lots of ice time, and isn't a huge help when it comes to scoring.
10. #10 Paul Gaustad - Out for the start of the season he is still one of the hardest working players on the team. Also has a history of coming back early from injuries so may not be out all that long.
11. #11 Jaroslav Spacek - Proved last season that he actually can play. If his pairing with Rivet works well, he could see alot of ice time and have a very good year.
12. #12 Patrick Lalime - Last season nobody had any confidence in the backup goaltender forcing Miller to be overworked. Last season Lalime earned himself a winning record as the backup for a team that failed to make the playoffs. If he can be a reliable backup once again, then Miller should be able to be better off when he does play.
13. #13 Patrick Kaleta - Should see more games this year even if playing time is still limited. He is a real difference maker on the team, and is defensively responsible enough to be counted on.
14. #14 Maxim Afinogenov - May very well prove that last year was a fluke. Has the ability to play very well, and if he gets in sync with Roy and Vanek has the possibility to have a great year. Also is in danger of getting traded mid-season though.
15. #15 Ales Kotalik - He hasn't always been providing the offense needed, and needs to return to his backhand in the shootouts. If he can keep scoring there, that will give Buffalo some free points in the standings.
16. #16 Tim Connolly - Will probably miss a large number of games due to injury, but is still a great talent when he is on the ice. If he can stay healthy it would give Buffalo a huge advantage up the middle.
17. #17 Andrej Sekera - Looked very good at the end of last season but will have to continue to play well to prevent losing his job to Paetsch or Weber. Is likely to be part of the third defensive pairing with Numminen.
18. #18 Adam Mair - The bedrock of the fourth line will continue in that role. He sees limited ice time, but is usually pretty good when he is out there.
19. #19 Daniel Paille - Paille is a player that has the potential to be good, but still has yet to really prove it. He still needs to find his spot on the team.
20. #20 Drew Stafford - Like Afinogenov he needs to prove that last season was a fluke. He showed much promise in his rookie year, but fell off from that somewhat. If he can get scoring again, it would be a huge asset to the team, and if he plays on a line with Roy and Vanek he better be able to contribute heavily.
21. #21 Nathan Gerbe - starting the season on the minors, Gerbe should figure to be the first call up, and be an excellent player for Buffalo. He won the NCAA frozen four last year with Boston, and has proven himself to be able to play very good hockey. If Buffalo has any long term injuries, Gerbe will be needed to contribute.
22. #22 Clarke MacArthur - With some NHL experience he may get a call up before Gerbe does. While he has some very good games last season he needs to do so more consistently if he wants to make the NHL full time.
23. #23 Mike Weber - He will start the season in the AHL, but proved to be good when paired with Sekera at the end of the last season. Despite being more talented will probably be behind Paetsch in the depth chart.
24. #24 Nathan Paetsch - Currently the seventh defenseman he will need to rebound from last season which was a bit of a disappointment for him. Still it is highly unlikely that the team will go all year without any injuries so he should see some playing time.
25. #25 Tim Kennedy - Fresh out of college he will not see much time in the NHL this season, but looks to be a very good player down the road. If he does get called up count on him to look impressive.
26. #26 Andrew Peters - Will have a hard time justifying his roster spot with so much talent in the team's prospects. Furthermore with Kaleta playing a more prominent (and well rounded) role Peters may no longer really have a spot on the team. In fact new Sabre and captain Craig Rivet is probably even a better fighter than Peters is.
27. #27 Matt Ellis - not really sure why he is on the team. If he couldn't make the cut with the Las Angles Kings there is no reason to believe that he deserves to be here.

It's not that Campbell is a bad palyer...

I don't mean to be hating on Brian Campbell. Really I don't. In fact I would love to see him come back to Buffalo for next season, and sign a contract for a reasonable amount. It's not going to happen though, because apparently Campbell is the most overrated player in the league, and will sign for billions elsewhere.

The Norris voting has been revealed and Campbell came in fifth in the league in voting. Ignoring for a second the fact that he was only the third best defenseman on the Sabres, that is still way to high. He came ahead of some of the top guys in the league such as Duncan Keith, Mike Green, and Tomas Kaberle, who all had very good seasons.

One voter even decided that Campbell was the number one defensemen in the league. That is just insane. Remember I'm not saying that Campbell is bad (he's not), but top of the league honours are not where he lands. The spin-o-rama is cool, but you need to block shots in order to be the best defenseman in the league.

Buffalo's top two defenders didn't get a single vote. Everyone in Buffalo knows that the top two Sabres on the blue line are Lydman and Tallinder. Henrik Tallinder is easily on of the best players in the league, but he didn't get a single vote. Not one.

The only conclusion that I can come to is that none of the voters ever watch the Sabres play. Two of the best defensemen in the league get ignored, and a flashy player gets loads of votes. Has nobody watched Buffalo since the 2005 playoffs? That would explain this odd voting. Campbell was terrific that spring, Tallinder and Lydman (and pretty much everyone else on defense) was injured. In fact when he was traded, lots of people talked about how Soupy has a "hard hitting defenseman" which if you watch him, you'll see is really not his style (nothing wrong with how he does play though). But back in the 2005 playoffs, he did have one pretty good hit on Umburger, and nobody can figure out that is the exception rather than the rule.

Not to take anything away from Patrick Kane, but the voters are clueless.

Memories of 2006

All of these injuries to the defense is starting to bring back memories of the Sabres collapse in the 2006 playoffs where Campbell was our one and only healthy defenseman. I'm not talking about the injures to make excuses for the team, but rather because the 7-3 loss to the Penguins was so bad I don't want to talk about it.

The Sabres flat out played very poorly in the game. Miller didn't mess up huge, but probably could have played better. Adam Mair, Andrej Sekera, and Nolan Pratt were all -3 on the game. Given the insane number of goals given up while shorthanded, that is even worse. Sekera and Pratt have been pretty bad all year and I have no idea why we are giving these two any ice time at all. Both finished the game with more minutes then Tallinder.

On the other side Mike Webber played very well. He was plus two in the game with a primary assist. If the rest of the defense played that well the Sabres would make the post season no problem. Lydman and Tallinder were also both plus one, but need to put in ten more minutes a game if they really want to help carry this team.

The other Sabres with respectable stats were the ones known for working hard. Hecht, Roy, Gaustad, and Bernier all had decent or good games, and Paille also picked up two goals for Buffalo. Lindy needs to start adjusting the playing time accordingly.

Back to the original topic the Sabres are very short on defensemen. Currently they have to do without Paetsch, Kalinin, Spacek, Numminen, and the traded Campbell. That's five defensemen out of our line up. All who came into the season as our top seven. I don't even know who the next defensemen in the system is. Rumour is that it may even be Pominville.

Official Three Stars

Sergei Gonchar

Tyler Kennedy

Darryl Sydor

My Three Stars

Tyler Kennedy (one goal, two assists)

Kristopher Letang (two points, plus three)

Danial Paille (two goals, plus two)

Max is back

The Buffalo Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 and Maxim Afinogenov showed up for this game and played great. Afinogenov set himself up for a breakaway that resulted in a nice goal, set up Derek Roy for a breakaway that resulted in a goal, and then managed to squeeze a shot through for another goal that Biron looked to have pretty well covered.

At one point the Sabres were looking as if they were going to blow their lead like they did the last time they played the Flyers, but instead came away with three goals early in the third period to take the win.

While neither team scored (or even looked good) with the man advantage the game saw a high amount of four on four play, and three goals scored in those situations (two for Buffalo). On Roy's goal the Flyers have claimed the Sabres had five on the ice but I'm not quite buying that, and think they probably should have thought about covering Roy anyhow.

The game saw a few line changes as Sekera was brought up for Kalinin and Peters for Paille. I still think Paille should be playing ahead of Peters, but perhaps they felt bad benching Peters for two games after he finally scores a goal, or else assumed there would be some more fights against Flyers. Speaking of fights, with a bit of a brawl behind Buffalo's net Marty Biron drifted out to center ice to consider taking part. As much as I like Biron, I don't want to see him fighting against the Sabres. Against other teams I'm all for it, but he is supposed to like Buffalo.

The big news though is that Tallinder got himself injured. This could be really bad. He (along with the also injured Hecht) is key to the Sabres game, and their best defenceman. While I wasn't worried playing the Capitals before, that was based on the idea that Tallinder and Lydman could double shift to shut down Ovechkin and the rest of the Sabres could outplay the rest of the Capitals. Suddenly this next game isn't looking so good. Also suddenly the absence of Brian Campbell is starting to hurt. Fortunetly Sekera looked good last game.

Back to Campbell, he had an awesome spin-o-rama goal for San Jose the other night. I've never seen him score off of that before, but then again the goalie probably should have had that. Of course that's Montreal's fault for trading away Huet.

A few more thoughts on the game. Vanek was the only Sabre to have a minus plus/minus, but didn't play to poorly. Kaleta had zero hits, but probably didn't deserve the ten minute game misconduct he got, and finished the game with only 3 min of ice time. Peters ended with even less ice time and no fights to show for it. Bernier looked good, picking up two assists while picking up two shots and two hits as well. He also looked good in the corners as a Gaustad like scraper.

Official Three Stars

Maxim Afinogenov

Jason Pominville

Steve Bernier

My Three Stars

Maxim Afinogenov (two goals, one assist, plus three)

Jason Pominville (two goals)

Henrik Tallinder (two assists, possibly should have had credit for Pominville's first goal, and in only 7 min of ice time)

Tallinder looking after his own neck

Over the past few games Henrik Tallinder has been wearing a neck guard to further protect himself. I can't find a picture right now, but it appears as if is something relatively small that is built into his underarmour than as a separate piece of equipment. Such things are a required in most european leagues (where Tallinder is from) and are considered to be rather effective.

However most NHL players don't use them, and considering the rareness of neck injuries in the league most feel perfectly safe not wearing them. However after seeing Zednik's neck get split open in a game a few weeks ago, Tallinder probably decided that a little extra protection would probably be a good thing. Hopefully he stays healthy, because the Sabres need him more than ever on the blue line.

Needing more Tallinder

The Buffalo Sabres could use more players like Henrik Tallinder on their team. So far this season he is the most defensive defenceman in the NHL. His linemate Toni Lydman came in ninth on the list.

These two were Buffalo's key to victory last season, and they appear to be helpful this year as well. Keeping Tallinder healthy has been critical for the Sabres success in the past two seasons, and haven't had the offense this year to hide it. Too often the Campbell and Spacek line has been, but out for the games most critical points, when perhaps the Tallinder Lydman line should be used instead.

In a similar comparison of forwards, Jason Pominville was the only Sabre to make the top 20 at number eight in the league. Personally I would have expected his linemate Hecht to be the top shutdown man up front for the Sabres. After a slow start to the season, Pominville is showing how good he really is.

Shootout Success

The Buffalo Sabres have finally turned the corner on the shootout, beating the New Jersey Devils 3-2 after going 2-0 in the skills competition.

The game was exciting and close, but the real excitement was in the shootout. All four games against the Devils went to the shootout this year, but New Jersey managed to win the first three. Buffalo finally decided to follow my advice on the shootout to give themselves their first SO win that didn't come against the worst shootout team in the league (yes, Philly's shootout performances have been worse).

First on the defensive side, Ryan Miller stayed back in his net, and kept away from the poke check, that wasn't working for him all season. Neither of the Devil's shots were particularly good, but the fact the Ryan Miller was able to stop both of them was critical.

On the other side Stafford just got a really, really good shot off, which Brodeur had no chance to save. Ruff did not include Vanek in his top three, and Kotalik was supposed to go third so there was no way to know how he would have done. The big surprise of course was Tallinder. It's rather rare to see a defenceman taking a shootout, and I don't think I've ever seen Tallinder on a breakaway before. After the game Ruff said that Tallinder had been a forward at some point back in Europe, but he seemed to be the only one remotely aware of that fact. Tallinder thought made Brodeur just look silly. Brodeur tried to run over the defenceman, but was easily side stepped and then helplessly watched as Tallinder shot the puck into the open net.

As to the actual game the Hecht, Pominville, Paille line got yet another goal, and Tallinder continued to have a great game, as he got an assist on the game first goal when Ryan tipped his shot into the net. In the regular game thanks also has to go to Kaleta who lead the team with five hits for the second night in a row, and Paul Gaustad who had four hits of his own, and won ten out of twelve faceoffs. For other top performers see my three starts of the game.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

John Madden

Henrik Tallinder

My Three Stars

Henrik Tallinder (an assist, and a shootout goal)

Adam Mair (plus one, an assist, and won 67% of faceoffs)

John Madden (two assist, and plus two in the loss)

Defence is healthy

The Sabres defence is finally healthy. Tallinder was able to finally comeback last weekend, and Kalinin is expected to play tonight against the Islanders. Nolan Pratt will be a healthy scratch and Sekera will be sent back to the Amerks.

Even Teppo Numminen is getting healthy. After needing heart surgery to start the season, he has been practicing with the team, and even went with them on their recent trip. In fact the Sabres are actually healthier now then they were at the start of the season...

Numminen back to practice

The Buffalo News has reported that Teppo Numminen has been practicing with the Buffalo Sabres now for the first time since his heart surgery in October. It looks as if Teppo will be coming back for sure now, and that he will be in game shape around the end of January.

Tallinder has also been getting healthier and is expected to play tonight against the Washington Capitals. Additionally Kalinin looks as if he will be back by next week as well. This will most likely take Sekera and Nolan out of the line up, as the Sabres defense is suddenly getting healthier in a rush. Having Sekera and MacArthur as the teams number one call up guys puts the Sabres in a comfortable condition to be in.

Sabres top 26

About a month ago Sports Illustrated put out a list that ranked the top 500 NFL players. While I have no ambitions to create a list of that size, I can rank the players on the Buffalo Sabres. Rankings are based upon the importance each player brings to the team for the coming season.

#1 Derek Roy - Expecting Vanek? Roy is far more important to this team, and assists are just as important as goals. Now with Briere and Drury gone Roy and Connolly are the teams go to centers, and will have to live up to those expectations.

#2 Tim Connolly - The other leading centerman for this team is the next most critical part. If Connolly can return to the excellent play he had in the 05-06 season then the Sabres should really be in good shape. The possibility of seeing him on a line with Afinogenov would dance around defences to no end.

#3 Ryan Miller - The job of Goalie is always important, and even more so now that Biron is no longer the backup in Buffalo. In many ways Miller has assumed the role of the de facto captain for this team, and will hold the responsibility throughout the season.

#4 Henrik Tallinder - Although the Sabres had the leagues best regular season last year, the team was barely above .500 while Tallinder was out with a broken arm. He is by far the teams top defensive player, and the most reliable on that side of the ice. He may not have the offensive statistics of Lindstrom, Campbell, or Pronger, but in his own zone he is arguably the best Defenseman in the league.

#5 Brian Campbell - Last year's All-Star defender is the biggest offensive weapon the team has on the blue line. Campbell is one of the teams best defenders, and has an awesome, seemingly unstopable spin move that he breaks out from time to time. With the possibility of playing on Tallinder's line this year, the duo may very well average over 25 min a game.

#6 Toni Lydman - Getting the idea that the defense is important to this team? It most certainly is. With all the offensive risks the team takes the defence (and goalie) are responsible for covering up any mistakes. This year on a line with Spacek Lydman will be asked to play a little harder than he needed to with Tallinder by his side.

#7 Thomas Vanek - Some might think this is a little low for the teams highest paid player, but defense is important. So much so that Vanek's most impressive stat from last year is not his goals, but rather his league leading plus/minus stat of +44. A fact often overshadowed by his large offensive numbers is his ability to play well both ways.

#8 Maxim Afinogenov - This guy is just a great all out play maker. It doesn't matter if he ends up with Vanek and Roy or Connolly, either way he will find ways to bring the puck to the front of the net.

#9 Drew Stafford - Only in his second year Stafford should be one of the top five goal scorers on the team this season. Stafford may find himself on the teams top line with Vanek and Roy, which will further help his totals. Additionally the Sabres may want to consider Stafford as one of their top shootout guys this season.

#10 Paul Gaustad - The Goose is an absolute beast. Giving himself to every play the possibility of a scoring chance coming out of no where always exists. Gaustad's ability to bring a physical presence is something that isn't too common on this team.

#11 Ales Kotalik - On the shootout the whole world know that he is planing on going backhand to the blocker side, yet he still manages to pull it off time after time after time. Why Kotalik can't score with such ease in a game is beyond me.

#12 Nathan Paetsch - Although towards the bottom of the teams depth chart, Paetsch is one of the teams, quicker more offensive players. He also played very well on the powerplay last season. A powerplay with him and Pominville on the points would rack up the goals rather fast.

#13 Jason Pominville - Although one of my favorite players, Pominville may find himself to be the odd man out a bit this season, as his center from last year is no longer with the team. Pommers still has excellent speed, and a good shot, and should be able to rack up the goals this season. With his playing time down Ruff may be more likely to use him on the powerplay, and possibly even on the point like he was two seasons ago.

#14 Jochen Hecht - A bit low for the team's captain (this month at least), Hecht is a solid offensive player, but has really never put up the high goal numbers that some of his teammates have. At least we know he has the respect of the team.

#15 Adam Mair - Mair is alot better than most people give him credit for. Although he seems forever destined to be on the fourth line, he is the type of player who is good and getting the puck, and along with Gaustad and Kaleta, pretty much the team's only physical presence.

#16 Daniel Paille - Paille is pretty much in the same boat as Stafford, except that he is not as good. While Stafford is clearly ready to be in the NHL full time, Paille is more of a question mark. This year he should be on the Sabres roster full time, so hopefully he can keep on scoring the goals.

#17 Dmitri Kalinin - One of the team's top six defencemen, Kalinin will have to be able to play well through the season. He had a few off games last year, and that won't do so well for him this season.

#18 Jocelyn Thibault - Although Miller is by far expected to get most of the starts this season, the team will want to give him a break, and when that happens they better be able to count on Thibault to be solid in net. He's not Marty Biron, but he doesn't have to be.

#19 Teppo Numminen - Although out for half the season, if the Sabres can get Teppo back, even by next spring, it would be a huge boost to the defence.

#20 Clarke MacArthur - With Stafford, Paille, and Ryan up full time this season, MacArthur will be the team's go to guy in Rochester. Whenever there is an injury he will be counted on to help the team out.

#21 Michael Ryan - Due to get more playing time then MacAruthur, Ryan must prove that he deserves his spot, or else he will be replaced by Peters. Much like Paille, Ryan still has much to prove.

#22 Patrick Kaleta - A fan favorite and solid hitter, Kaleta is not due to see much ice time for the Sabres this season, and will spend most of his time in Rochester. However when he does come up he will have the expectation to play big.

#23 Jaroslav Spacek - A bit of a low ranking for a guy so high on the depth chart, but this is really where he is with the team. Spacek simply makes too many mistakes, especially for the money he is being paid. Furthermore on the powerplay he is absolutely useless. I would rather see Paetch or Campbell used on the powerplay any day.

#24 Andrej Sekera - With Numminen out Sekera is the number one defenseman in Rochester and will need to be ready to go if anyone else gets hurt. Ruff's choice to send him to the Amercks rather than to be a healthy scratch is a good one.

#25 Andrew Peters - With Ryan up in Buffalo Peters was almost a healthy scratch for opening night. Although he played more NHL game last season then he ever has Peters may have a hard time keeping his position on the team, as it become more clear that the Sabres are probably better off using Kaleta.

#26 Michael Funk - Up for a short time last season, Funk really didn't look ready for the NHL. With Numminen out for a while the possibility of Funk coming up to Buffalo for a few games this season isn't that unlikely.