Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
Save for center Zemgus Girgensons, the Buffalo Sabres will be off until January 27 when they kick off a three-games-in-four-nights west coast swing starting in Calgary. They'll head to Edmonton on the 29th and Vancouver on the 30th to finish off the month.
Girgensons will be the lone Sabres participant at this weekend's All-Star Game in Columbus, OH. Although his team-leading 13 goals and his 22 points are hardly All-Star worthy, he was the top vote-getter as his Latvian countrymen helped propel him to the top with 1,574,896 votes. Second place in the voting was the Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane with 1,232,201 votes.
While Girgensons is in Ohio's capital rubbing elbows with the NHL elite, rallying with the National Champion Buckeyes and participating in various events of joy and happiness this weekend, it will be a desperately needed break away from the rink for his teammates and the coaching staff. The Sabres extended their franchise record losing streak to 11 with a 6-4 loss at Detroit last night and full reset might be in order.
Sometimes it's just best to drop back and punt rather than continue beating your head against the wall and the All-Star break couldn't have come at a better time. The stats and video are there for review, but an 0-fer for January and 11 regulation losses in a row pretty much says it all.
Although that pointless streak is unprecedented in Sabres history, there have been other stretches of futility that could be looked back upon as hearkening in change.
The 2002-02 edition of the Buffalo Sabres set the franchise record with seven losses in a row from November 3-19, 2002 then matched it between December 20-31, 2002. And they weren't done either. Less than a month later they set the mark at eight games between January 25 and February 13, 2003.
The last vestiges of GM John Muckler's team were being purged by then GM Darcy Regier and were being replaced by his draft picks and players. The "Age of the core" was beginning as names like Kotalik, Campbell, Connolly, Patrick and Tallinder were the foundation with which the team was rebuilding.
Another streak of futility years later would hearken the beginning of the end of Regier's core. The Sabres set a franchise mark for road losses with 12 from December 17, 2011 to January 12, 2012. It started with an 8-3 embarrassment in Pittsburgh where new owner Terry Pegula would sarcastically say "that was some goaltending, huh?"
The Sabres franchise is beginning it's transition to GM Tim Murray's team and his foundation began with veterans Josh Gorges, Brian Gionta and Matt Moulson. Future pillars he inherited include Girgensons, Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadorov. Murray also has the two Tyler's--Myers and Ennis--which were also drafted during the Regier regime.
There will be no rest or reset for Murray over the course of the eight day break for Buffalo as he's considered one of the prime sellers leading up to the March 2nd trade deadline. There is an array of players that bridge both regimes that teams are interested in acquiring, but unlike his predecessor, Murray likes to get out in front of the pack. Last year he jumped the gun with the Ryan Miller/Steve Ott trade on February 28, 2014, well before the March 5 trade deadline.
There are plenty of calls to field during the break and as noted road warrior, Murray likes to take in as many games as possible so his schedule should include a scouting road trip as well. He's looking at a ton of options for his group of players and it will be interesting to see when and with whom the whole trade process begins.
Back in 2003, Regier had a great stretch when he landed Daniel Briere at the trade deadline, drafted Thomas Vanek fifth-overall, and traded for Chris Drury in July. Three years later the Sabres were the toast of the NHL.
This is the time for Murray to fully make his mark, and with the benefit of hindsight, a few years from now we'll see just what kind of mark he was able to make.
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