Buffalo Hockey Beat's Bill Hoppe penned an article today about enforcer John Scott's desire to return to the Sabres for a third season, “I love it here,” said Scott, “I don’t see myself playing anywhere else, hopefully.”
Which opens up the retort coming from many Sabres fans, "Yeah, buddy. Neither can any NHL team."
Scott was brought in by former GM Darcy Regier to police the ice. The Milan Lucic/Ryan Miller incident was a blow to the organization and showed just how fragile and soft this team was.
In a way, it worked. That was until Scott mopped up the ice with Bruins "master pugilist" Shawn Thornton then taunted the Bruins bench with a "you're next" finger pointed at the entire team.
(thx Fred Murtz)
Since that Jan, 2013 incident, though, Scott's fights have been fewer and further between.
His four fights in 54 games played this season can be viewed a culmination of a couple of factors: there are not many willing combatants for him to dance with and the NHL has been cracking down on staged fights between heavyweights (which is great for all parties.)
According to Hoppe, fighting in the NHL is at it's lowest since the 2005-06 season.
Although the NHL has pretty much taken out the heavyweight bouts between enforcers, there are still willing pugilists in the cruiserweight class. It's difficult survive without them (unless you're Detroit.)
Zenon Konopka is one of them.
Hoppe contrasts Scott and Konopka. "The 6-foot-8 Scott has only scrapped 33 times in his 234-game career," he said. "Sabres center Zenon Konopka once fought 33 times in a season."
Konopka is one in a long line of players who can play regular minutes, contribute offensively and/defensively and fight as well.
The Bruins have had that enviable combination for years as Thornton, Lucic, Greg Campbell and Adam McQuaid (not to mention Zdeno Chara) formed the nucleus of a gang roaming the ice.
But they could play as well.
When Sabres GM Tim Murray was in Ottawa, they followed Boston's lead by upping the pugilism when Konopka was added to a core of Chris Neil, Zack Smith and Matt Carkner.
The Toronto Maple Leaves have the heavyweights like Colton Orr but will use a Philadelphia Flyers-type "pack mentality" as evidenced by the preseason line brawl between the Leaves and the Sabres.
(thx HD HockeyDude)
Scott, as well as any heavyweight in the league know that they're slowly becoming extinct. “That’s why guys are adapting and that’s why you see I’ve only fought (four) times this year," he said "but I’ve played in (almost) every game. It’s one of those things where guys adapt and either sink or swim. That’s how it goes.”
In addition to playing in a career high 54 games, Scott is averaging a career high of 6:43 per game.
Does that mean he can play the game and take on a role of a fourth-liner like a Campbell, Thornton, Konopka or Smith?
The answer is no. Except on a last place team like Buffalo.
And if he wants to re-up, then the Sabres should oblige. It's not like he's taking up a key roster spot with a Buffalo team at the bottom of the league.
The Sabres are looking at one more last place finish next season and they'll need to ice 23 players on the active roster. They'll also need to sign or re-sign a total of five forwards next year. And they'll need to add about $8-10m in payroll to get to the cap floor, which doesn't include an almost certain buyout of Ville Leino and his $4.5m salary.
Be it noted that Scott has scored one goal this season which is one more than Leino has.
Scott's a good soldier on the ice and is great in the locker room.
On the ice he does have that enforcer presence but also can fill in on defense, which he's done a few times this season. Although a minus-13 on the year looks pretty poor, there are only two Sabres who've been with the team the entire season who are better--Zemgus Girgensons (minus-6) and Brian Flynn (minus-10.)
Scott is a hoot in the locker room and no doubt his levity has helped this team get through this rough patch of hockey dating back to last season.
(thx Alpha Male)
The Sabres are fully engaged in the rebuilding process and it would seem as if management is fully expecting a last place finish next season.
“This is the start of building a team for the future," said head coach Ted Nolan, "and (we’ll) see who fits in, who doesn’t fit in, put people in positions, see how they react and see how they seize opportunities. This is a situation where a lot of players on this team are given opportunities maybe they wouldn’t be given anywhere else. So how you take advantage of it and what you do with it is totally up to the player. I played John a little bit more."
John Scott has earned some fourth line minutes and wasn't much of a determent to the outcome of most games.
He'll be the same player next season as well.
On a team that's headed no where in the near future, $750K for the 23rd player on an active roster that lacks definitive skill won't hurt.
It might tick off the Scott-haters.
But. Haters gonna hate no matter who's in their crosshairs.
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