Monday, August 30, 2010

the dust settles on the "big" clarke macarthur signing

toronto maple leafs gm

(blaring trumpets sound)


BRIAN BURKE!!!



(you may all rise from your knees now)

signed the ever pugnacious, testosterone-laden, clarke macarthur to a 1-yr, $1.1m contract the other day...now that the dust has settled, just how much belligerence does this 5'11, 190 lb, truculent winger bring to the leafs?

according to one leaf blogger (mike "in buffalo",) macarthur has "significant offensive skills" and "could be a steal" for the leafs...he points out the short-comings of the buffalo sabres organization in "mac's" career by saying, among other things, "he never seemed to get a steady amount of ice-time" for the sabres, and continues by saying,"[he] played full-time in buffalo and would occasionally play on one of the top-two lines"...

as for the reason for him not getting top-six minutes, head coach lindy ruff would "relegate him to less ice-time and responsibility when he faltered on defense"...

forget the fact that "mac" had about as many opportunities to solidify his spot as #2 lw as he had opportunities to score score with gaping nets in front of him...and there were many, yet he has yet to crack the 20 goal mark...or the fact that he and danny paille (who was also traded last season) were two sides of the same coin--mac scoring more, but being a defensive liability, paille being defensively sound, but couldn't score...forget the fact that on the left-side, thomas vanek is king and neither could supplant jochen hecht as #2 lw, even though hecht had the worst season of his career in 08/9...just blame it on ruff...

another reason the sabres let this "gem" go, mike in buffalo said, "was  [that] due to macarthur's rfa status at the end of the 09/10 season and buffalo's notorious tight-fisted reputation, the sabres traded macarthur to atlanta at the march trade deadline to make room for raffi torres"

ummm, right...the sabres gave up a player who was making $1.4m so they could bring in a player who was making $2.75m...had nothing to do with the fact that torres was bigger (6' 223 lb,) more experienced, had hit 20+ goals twice in his career (career-high, 27,) and already had 19 goals on the year (which matched his previous season)...

nope, the "tight-fisted" sabres were already looking for ways to save in the '10 off-season...it had nothing to do with the fact that mac was "smallish," lacked pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence (didn't even have the spunk that tyler ennis, nathan gerbe and former sabre tim kennedy had) and was as inconsistent as drew stafford...nor did it have anything to do with the fact that macarthur could never slow down the game enough to crack 20 goals in the 14-17mins of ice-time (including 2nd-unit pp-time)...16 and 17 were his goal totals, more towards 15, mike, than "close to 20" you mentioned...

rave on, leafs-nation (snicker, snicker)...

good luck, mac

Thursday, August 26, 2010

who is jordan leopold?

july 1st is generally regarded as christmas day for hockey fans as gm's from throughout the league present gifts for their fans in the form of free agent signings...some years the "glamour-toys" are highly-desired and overly expensive...outside of ilya kovalchuk, july 1, 2010 was less-than-stellar in regards to free agents...lots bicycles, coats and socks...

as a sabres-fan, not much should be expected on that day...darcy regier is a firm believer in building through the draft augmenting that by jumping into the "secondary" fa-market for bargains...and, as par for the course, regier hit target looking for quality at a less-than-premium price...that's where jordan leopold comes in...

initially, when they announced the leopold signing, it was--really?...ummm...who?...looking back at my initial reactions from the buffalo news sabres blog, it was yet another vanilla player signed by a vanilla gm...

when i see the "puck-mover" tag on a player, it denotes a player who is neither a shut-down d-man, nor is he a tough/gritty shot-blocker; basically someone who has some defensive liabilities...the worth of the "puck-mover" lies in his offensive abilities...unfortunately, it's a player who does not have the end-to-end rush capabilities of a brian campbell, the finish of an elite scorer like mike green, or the pp acumen of a sergei gonchar...

the "puck-mover" provides enough skill to get the puck out of his own end, either by hitting a forward with a quick, accurate pass or moving it to center on his own...his +/- will be dependent upon his team, only hitting a solid positive number on upper-echelon teams...in most cases, though, he'll probably hover around negative single-digits to zero (dmitri kalinin comes to mind)...he does have enough skill to play on the pp and contribute on the second unit and should probably get you anywhere from 30-40 points throughout the year...

an all-around jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none, the "puck-mover" usually plays top-four/2nd-pairing minutes and will play in all situations including time on the 2nd-unit pp and pk...he'll eat up 20+ minutes and have the capability to play against the oppositions top-lines when needed without a significant drop-off from the top-pairing...

that's pretty much what the sabres have in jordan leopold...

terms like "solid in his defensive positioning," "great outlet passes," "skates well," "joins the rush,"  "consistent production" and even "underrated" have been used to describe the positives...on the negative side:  "doesn't hit," "hasn't lived up to his offensive potential" and  "career minus +/-"...and, the biggie "has struggled to stay healthy lately"

before injuries, leopold was a key defensive cog in the 2004 stanley cup run for the calgary flames who lost to the tampa bay lightning in seven games, his second year in the league (btw, steve montador was on the third-pairing for the flames as well)...

his stat-line in the playoffs as a second-pairing d-man that year: 
--26 games, zero goals, 10 assists (6 pp,) +5, 6 pim
--toi/avg:  25:41 (2nd amongst calgary d-men,) 3:39 pp (1st,) 3:20 sh (4th)

in the finals:
gm one, 4-1 win:  19:38 toi (2:52pp, 3:56pk,) even +/-, 0 pts, no pim
gm two, 4-1 loss:  20:53 (7:01, 6:34,) -1, 0 pts, no pim
gm three, 3-0 win:  23:56 (3:14, 4:17,) even, 1 asst (secondary, pp,) no pim
gm four, 1-0 loss:  25:43 (2:13, 3:33,) even, 0 pts, no pim
gm five,  3-2 win (ot):  28:55 (:44, :58,) +1, 0 pts, no pim
gm six, 3-2 loss (2ot):  33:30 (3:17, 3:01,) -1, 0 pts, 2pim
game seven, 2-1 loss:  22:39 (1:50, 4:31,) even, 1 assist (only assist on pp goal,) no pim...

post lock-out saw leopold as a solid trade-commodity as he went from calgary to colorado back to calgary then to florida and eventually to pittsburgh at the trade deadline in 2010...

sprinkled in that time-period were a myriad of injuries from groin, hip and wrist ailments to a "head injury" in 2008 culminating with the concussion in the 2010 playoffs on a well-documented hit from andy sutton...

so why did regier go after leopold july 1st?...well, he needed a top-four replacement for the departed hank tallinder and toni lydman...but why leopold?

it seems to fit the "darcy-mold" (a mold of which i'm really tired of)--a skilled player who can skate, a d-man who can get the puck out of the zone, enough offense to contribute, the flexibility to play in all situations, and enough defensive prowess as to not be a defensive liability...plus, and this is a big one, leopold wanted to come to buffalo...

a former minnesota gopher, leopold contacted fellow-alum thomas vanek about buffalo...vanek gave the area rave reviews for family life...in fact leopold's wife contacted vanek's wife as well..."I’m looking for a spot that’s good for the family, and my kids have fun while we go out and strive for goals," he said... "I think it was the whole package for myself, my family, hockey – for what I was looking for, Buffalo was a good spot for me."

this wasn't the first time that family came into play when leopold needed to decide upon his future...back in july, 2009 leopold re-upped with the florida panthers on a one-year deal having "turned down longer-term offers and more money from other clubs" because, he "didn't think other interested teams were 'the right fit for my family.'"

with leopold wanting to sign with buffalo and the sabres needing a top-four d-man, the three year/$9m deal was easily consummated...

for the sabres, is a solid, if unspectacular, 2nd-pairing d-man who can play in all situations worth $3m per year?...will his "puck-moving" skills/point-play on the pp generate more offensive production?...is regier taking a gamble considering leopold's recent history of concussions?...am i convinced?

i'll stick with my "vanilla-player" initial reaction, although i've tempered my stance a bit (the bitterness of not landing volchenkov having subsided) and am looking at leopold as a compliment to craig rivet on the second-pairing...a defensive version (if you will) of jochen hecht, a player villified for his production/price ratio, yet a player who, imo, has more value than given credit for...

i think that's what we'll see with leopold...having him on the second-pairing with  rivet, having him healthy and playing a system where he'll fit in, and having his family situation stabilized may get him back to the form he showed back in 2003/04 with the flames...

and, if that's the case, then it's a good thing

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

the last on tim kennedy (for me, at least)

tim kennedy would be in the blue-and-gold for the 10/11 season if:
  • he could win faceoffs
  • his agent, allain roy, would have properly guaged the market-place
  • he would have accepted a two-way contract with the sabres

cut the crap with all the home-town-boy sentiment...

simple fact is that nobody wanted to trade for the former 6th-round pick and nobody was willing to snatch him up on waivers for $1m...and, as we speak (type,) kennedy has yet to sign a contract even though the sabres are on the hook for $167k this season (and next)...fact is, kennedy is a small, bottom-six (as of now) lw who gambled and lost...

as a player, i really liked his sandpaper, really liked the way he brought it every game, and think he has the capability to become a top-nine lw production-wise...in essence, he was anti-core...a hard-working, lunch-bucket player who, on the ice, didn't seem to take for granted the fact that he was in the nhl...

for his part, darcy regier offered $800k on a two-way contract which, imo, was a somewhat generous offer considering the market-place this off-season...as much as i dislike what regier has done over the past few years, and as much as i believe he should not be renewed at the end of the season, it looks as if his offer was above market-value for kennedy and more than fair in this case...

the gamble for the kennedy camp was that regier would do what he said he would do...that he would buy out the contract if it came in at that price...after all, they thought (imo, of course,) there's no way that the sabres would create a public relations mess over $200k for a hometown-boy, right?...the (print) press and the afternoon radio sports-talk show would be all over it...dirt from the past would be flying...parallels between past "controversial" decisions and this one would put regier in a cage...and the quinn-bashing would, once again, reach a feverish pitch...

all parties played their cards well on this one...it was obvious that regier had the hand won, pretty foolish to think that he could be bluffed...

much respect for kennedy...he did well on the ice and i'm sure a contract awaits him for this season...even though it may end up being a parallel salary (including the sabres $167k,) there are many players who've either done that or have taken less to continue to play the game...

good luck, tim

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

early returns have sabres #6 in the east

the hockey news is slowly releasing their predictions for the up-coming season...you can get the full release through the magazine itself or wait for the daily place-by-place release...sports illustrated.com's allan muir has jumped in early as well with his preseason rankings...both have the sabres 2nd in the northeast, 6th in the conference...here's what they had to say:

the hockey news--
"Where this team ultimately ends up clearly depends on goaltender Ryan Miller. When the reigning Vezina Trophy winner is healthy, the Sabres are lethal; when he’s out of the lineup, well, the Sabres struggle to maintain a place in the top eight. Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder were the noteworthy losses in the off-season, though free agent signee Jordan Leopold should replace at least some of Lydman’s offense and Shaone Morrisonn should step in nicely for Tallinder. Rob Niedermayer was brought in to provide some depth on the forward lines, but it’s the headliners Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville and Derek Roy who need to find their production from a few years ago. Also, if Tyler Ennis can continue what was a promising performance at the end of the season and in the playoffs, Buffalo will have another source of offense."

si.com--
"Is Ryan Miller still under contract? Then the Sabres are fine. Still, is there anything other than the presence of the world's best goalie to get the fans' blood pumping this season? Replacing Henrik Tallinder and Toni Lydman on the blueline with Shaone Morrisonn and Jordan Leopold rates a massive meh, and while Rob Niedermayer will bring an honest effort, he's a diminishing resource. If you liked that first-round exit last season, get ready for more of the same."

yup, sho'nuff, as miller goes, so do the sabres...and #6 isn't really a bad prediction for a team that, on the surface, made lateral moves...thus far...

on d, you basically have a bigger version of lydman in morrison and a very similiar player in hank when it comes to leopold...although leopold may end up doubling hank's production, morrison may not get as many points as lydman...

on the bottom-six, neidermeyer/mcmuscle (snicker, snicker) in, mair/ellis out...an upgrade if just for the simple fact that neidermeyer has a cup-ring...

the wild card here will be tyler ennis...sure, you could say that there's a ennis for tim kennedy swap, but we're looking at a top-six in the former and a bottom-six in the latter...

then there's patty lalime...meh, probably can't do any worse than last season...

all-in-all, it doesn't look as if the sabres did too much in the off-season...on the surface, but, then again, it didn't look like the they did that much last season with the additions of grier and monty...

will be tracking all the "experts" predictions for the blue and gold and will look at the team in-depth as they're about to begin the season...

Thursday, August 19, 2010

why is scoring not like it once was in the nhl?



you...




be...





the...





judge





(shrugs)

btw, those are alternating photos of 6'3" 210 lb tom barrasso and
6'1" 200 lb jean sebastian giguere

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

danny boy, we need ya


5'9" 175 lb danny gare vs. 6'3" 215 lb clark gillies



the past few seasons have seen a number of lingering negatives concerning the buffalo sabres in general and the top-six in particluar:

--they’re small (but skilled)
--they lack grit and heart
--they don’t defend their teammates.
--they wilt under pressure.
basically, boys amongst men.

in 1974 the buffalo sabres drafted a small winger with a wicked wrist-shot who lit up the wchl to the tune of 68 goals and 128 pts in 65 games for the calgary centennials...

danny gare was selected in the second round, #29 overall, in the 1974 amateur draft, hit the ground running on his first shift (1st goal on his first shot 18 sec. into his first shift,) and proceeded to score 31 goals in the ‘74/5 regular season as well as seven in the playoffs...interesting to note that the 5’9, 175-pounder was in six fights that season plus one in the playoffs...

the following season, he lead the team in goals with 50 (nudging out rick martin [49] by recording a hat-trick in the final game) and also lead the team in pim with 129...included in those pims were nine fighting majors...that season he squared off against the likes of noted “broadstreet bully," dave “the hammer” schultz, leafs enforcer “tiger” williams and st louis blues tough-guy steve durbano, who lead the league in pim that season.

a small, but highly-skilled sniper with a the heart of a lion, gare not only could score, but he was fearless in defense of himself, his teammates, and his crest...qualities that would define him throughout his career and make him one of the most beloved sabres of all time.

danny boy, we need ya...not so much for the present core, who have shown that they play small in big games, can’t find their heart, turn their backs on their teammates and wilt at the first sign adversity, but for the future core...skilled-guys like tyler ennis and nathan gerbe who have already found themselves tangling with chris pronger and rick nash, respectively...even though the nhl has changed over the years, the qualities that earned gare respect throughout the league, have not...

there's a new generation of players that are coming up the ranks who have been coached by a warhorse in his own right, kevin dineen...players like ennis and gerbe have yet to be tainted by "the core" and seem to have gare-like qualities...

danny gare needs to be a part of the sabres organization...some have called for him to return to the broadcasting booth...and that would be a good thing...some may wish he took a consulting position...that's even better...hell, he was so good on the pp that he pushed rene robert to the point...and god knows the pp could use some extra attention...but...

as a long-time sabres fan, i would love to see either ennis or gerbe coming off the ice after a goal or five-minute stint in the box, to a smile from associate coach danny gare...a smile that says he's passed on what was taught to him by his father, “you’re small, you have to be strong. You’ve got to learn how to fight, it’s a big man’s game and it’s a tough game.”

Sunday, August 15, 2010

40th anniversary/all-time sabres team--defense and goal

players like perreault, martin, robert, lafontaine and even ramsay, gare and andreychuk were pretty much given's on their respective lines because of the distinct contributions they made to sabres history...that group boasts six captains and two in the hockey hall of fame...

the defense, on the other hand, is a bit tougher to tackle:

jim schoenfeld/mike ramsey
during the mid-seventies "slapshot" nhl, schoenfeld had to deal with the likes of the big, bad bruins featuring carol vadnais, wayne cashman and terry o'reilly as well as the broadstreet bullies featuring fly-boys dave schultz, bob kelly and don saleski...he had that monumental task while blocking shots, clearing the front of the net and defending his 1971 folksie music release, schony...

mike ramsey may be the most underrated sabre of all-time...an integral part of the u.s.a.'s 1980 "miracle" team, he relished his role as a top-notch defensive-defenseman in both the olympics and the pros...and boy could he block shots, completely giving up his body shift-in, shift-out...he was a four-time all-star and was selected for the '87 rendez-vous team vs. the soviet union

phil housley/bill hajt
simply put, pure-offense and pure defense...people do remember housley's offensive prowess, as well as his defensive short-comings, but i think alot of people don't remember bill hajt...he was an unheralded defensive-defenseman who's +/- (321) was more than the points he scored (244)...absolutely rock-solid in his own end vs. some of the greatest teams in the history of the nhl including the habs and isles dynasties

jay mckee/jerry korab
the back-bone of the '99 eastern conference champs and the '06 eastern conference finalist teams, mckee was a solid, crease-clearing, shot-blocking machine...his early years forgotten, mckee is more well known for the staph infection before the game-seven ecf loss to the 'canes and his subsequent departure for a 4yr./$16m contract with the st. louis blues that off-season...
it was a tough choice between korab and brian campbell for the 6th slot on d, but in the end it's hard to top a knick-name like "king kong," who was a behemoth on the back-end...korab fought as well, had a hard, heavy shot from the point and produced a significant amount of offense for the brute he was

honorable mention:  brian campbell


the sabres have had many excellent-to-great goaltenders on their teams from aged vets like roger "the dodger" crozier and grant fuhr to young studs like tom barrasso to journeymen like marty biron...
all of them, and nearly every nhl goaltender in the history of the league, take a back seat to:

dominik hasek
in what might be heralded as the most lop-sided trade in hockey history, the chicago blackhawks traded "the dominator" to the buffalo sabres for stephane beauregard and a pick (eric daze)...an immediate hall-of-famer when he officially retires, hasek will go down as one of the greatest (arguably the greatest) goaltenders in the history of the nhl...
don edwards
the number of potential back-ups is great...adding to the aforementioned, you have the likes of gerry desjardins, al smith and bob sauve, but don edwards, to me, had the longevity as well as the vezina (shared with sauve)...for some reason he always seemed to come up big versus top teams

honorable mention: ryan miller

40th anniversary/all-time sabres team--forwards

the buffalo sabres 40th anniversary season will soon be upon us...no better way to start a new blogspot than to look back through the years and come up with the all-time buffalo sabres team beginning with the forwards:




first line: rick martin, gil perreault, alexander mogilny
what more can be said about the "original sabre" perreault and the pure goal-scorer, martin, two-thirds of "the french connection" which inflicted nightly damage through dizzying speed...it would've been pretty easy to add the third member, rene robert, here and a case can be made...alexander mogilny, though, had more speed, more quickness and a more lethal shot...his 76 goals in the 92/3 season was just sick and he continued to put the puck into the net well into his career
 
second line:  dave andreychuk, pat lafontaine, rene robert
lafontaine still holds sabres records for points (148) and assists (95) in one season, but his career is somewhat tragic, being cut a little short because of concussions...probably one of the greatest players to never win a cup having appeared in only one stanley cup final (his rookie season)...andreychuk took the "phil esposito approach" to goal-scoring consistency by parking his big frame in front of the net...a consistent game produced consistently strong numbers...that coupled with his longevity finally got him to the holy grail as captain of the cup-champion lightning... as for robert?...he was a point-per-game player for the sabres, the work-horse for the french connection and has his #14 hanging from the rafters at hsbc...not bad for an undrafted free agent
 
third line:  craig ramsay, don luce, danny gare
luce and ramsay, quite possibly, were the best shut-down tandem in the league...although the likes of jim lorenz and ric seiling joined them on the checking line, it was luce and ramsay who were out there in every crucial defensive situation...were i sticking strictly to a "checking line," ric seiling might be here...but you cannot discount the contributions of danny gare...people remember him for his scoring prowess (two 50-goal seasons,) but he was also a standout two-way player (career +190, scored 50 goals on a "checking-line" with luce and ramsay) as well as a firecracker who never thought twice about jumping out of the penalty-box to defend his teammates...a truly special player
 
fourth line:  vaclav varada, micheal peca, rob ray
kris baker of sabresprospects.com had enforcer rob ray as one of the faces of buffalo's "mount puckmore" in the piece he wrote for hockeyindependent...and i think it's a very solid choice...fan favorite peca could check (selke award winner) and could score and also was a real pest to play against...vaclav varada was one of my favorite sabres of that era...he was a pest that could put the puck in the net (five goals in the '99 stanley cup playoffs)...for me, this is a truly personal choice as many others could be slotted as the #12 forward...in one of the classiest moves by this regime, he was shipped to a contender (ottawa, no-less) so that he could compete for the cup...that's how much he was respected
 
honorable mentions:  ric seiling, tony mckegney