Sabres Thoughts

Sabres lack passion
Don't blame Jhonas Enroth for the Sabres loss on Saturday against the Bruins. Good teams that have a rookie goaltender starting, don't get outshot or turn the puck over in droves. The team lost because they were completeling going through the motions. I don't want to hear about the fights during the game, but the Sabres didn't play with any sort of physicality.

How many times did we see Bruins crowding the Sabres crease? Remember the opener against the Habs? The Sabres beat down anyone who breathed on Miller. There were at least 2-3 encounters where Bruins players made contact with Enroth. The Sabres didn't do anything about it. When you have a young goalie in net, why not show him that you have his back.

Where exactly do the Sabres stand?
Look, are the Sabres going to win the division title? No. Are the Sabres going to finish with the worst record in the conference? Double no. They are exactly what I predicted prior to the season. Their a 6th-8th seed. The biggest issue to me is the Sabres lack of big play ability from their so called star players of Vanek-Roy-Stafford-Connolly-Pominville-MacCarthur.

Sure, the six of them can score, but they just don't seem to be star players who can take a team on their shoulders and run with it. If the game is on the line and the team needs 2 goals in ten minutes, do you really feel any of the 6 guys I've listed can do that? I don't want to hear about the Sabres being able to roll four lines. Star players always beat out depth in the NHL. Mike Schopp said it best (Never thought I say that), the Sabres need that superstar type player to break through the glass ceiling

Break up the 3rd and 4th lines
Remember during the 2003-2004 season when the Sabres best line was the Briere-Hecht-Dumont line? Unfortunately, the rest of the lines struggled. Lindy Ruff had no choice but to break up the line, in order to help the other lines out. Flash forward to 2009 and Ruff is having the same problem. The 3rd and 4th Lines have been the MVP's for the Sabres this season.

Maybe Ruff should consider putting some of his checkers on the front line. I think Connolly-Grier-Pominville would work and have MacCarthur-Kennedy-Hecht on the third line. It seems that whenever Lindy decides to juggle lines, he always does it with the top 6 guys that I mentioned earlier. I think Lindy should look at his most consistent players (3rd and 4th liners) to bring to the top lines.

Should the Sabres trade Tallinder?
If the Sabres don't plan on resigning Tallinder, it's a resounding yes! Harry Neale said it best, Tallinder is playing the best hockey of his career. We all know the Sabres don't exactly have a great track record when it comes to signing their own UFA. So since Tallinder is playing at an all-time high, lets try and get something for him before he moves on.

Again, this is all on if the Sabres decide NOT to resign him. The Sabres do have a lot of depth on the blue-line and may not want to pony up 2-3 million dollars for a player that has had injury and confidence issues over the past three seasons. Hmm, kind of sounds like the Tim Connolly quandary from last year.

Personally, I feel the same way about Connolly as I do about Tallinder. They are both to fragile to rely on to be key members for this team. I just feel having younger guys take their roster spots is more beneficial for the team. It should also be noted how much Tallinder's turnaround may have to do with being paired up with Tyler Myers.

Jack Edwards is a moron
So before Halloween, I decided to invest $160 in buying the NHL's Center Ice package. I could of gone the bootleg route and watched on some shitty stream. But I've got an HD TV and wanted to be able to see the stench of Rick Jeanneret's semi-toxic breath (JB perhaps?). Anyways, for Saturday's game against the Bruins, I decided to watch the Boston telecast because it was on the NHL HD Channel.

Jack Edwards, who use to be an anchor on ESPN and does broadcast some NHL games for Versus was the Bruins announcer. I think Mr. Edwards must of been working from the Sabres 2006-2007 media guide when researching the Sabres prior to the game. Edwards must of used the word "explosive" 10 times during his broadcast when describing the Sabres offense. Um, not sure if he's noticed the way the Sabres make average goalies look unbeatable. Thought that was bad? He used the words "strong leadership" when describing Derek Roy. Um, yeah...have another Jack Daniels, Mr. Jack Edwards.