Sabres Pegula should take note of Dr. Fauci's taking lead in Covid-19 pandemic

Far be it for me to equate sports with a life-threatening pandemic that's sweeping the globe, but when looking at the Buffalo Sabres and how the Trump administration responded to the Covid-19 pandemic, and especially with whom in their respective roles as department leaders, there are some parallels.

Prior to the NHL suspending the 2019-20 season, the Buffalo Sabres were on their way to an NHL-long ninth consecutive season outside of the playoffs. Since Terry Pegula bought the team in 2011 they've gone through a short-lived President of Hockey Operations, are on their third team president, third general manager and sixth head coach. The overall choppy results, at best, since he took over are representative of an organization that has neither found the right people nor found the right philosophy to guide the franchise out of this mess.

It's Deja vu all over again as the Sabres right now look like the Sabres of the post-Drury/Briere era

Former Buffalo Sabres general manager Darcy Regier was pretty much dead on when he was building his team for the "new NHL" prior to the 2004-05 lockout. He came out of that owner-imposed loss of a full season with a team that was poised to become the most exciting group of players in the NHL.

Regier came out of the Dominik Hasek/Michael Peca "hardest working team in hockey" era and began to build more with speed and skill as well as a focus on puck-movers on the blueline. Coming out to the lockout Chris Drury, Daniel Briere, Thomas Vanek,  Max Afinogenov, Tim Connolly, Derek Roy were either fast, skilled or a combination of both-up front while the defense had Brian Campbell, Teppo Numminen, Henrik Tallinder and Dmitri Kalinin who were noted for their skating and/or puck-moving and/or offensive abilities.

Having said that, the 2005-06 Buffalo Sabres also had some tenacity baked into the lineup with the likes of Mike Grier, JP Dumont, Jay McKee and Toni Lydman who could hold their place in the lineup while adding a ton of sandpaper to a team that had a lot of skill and finesse. That team was the surprise of the league that season and were it not for a rash of injuries on defense, they very well could have represented the east in the Stanley Cup Finals instead of the Carolina Hurricanes, who beat Buffalo in seven games in the conference finals and went on to win the Cup.

Buffalo Sabres 2019-20 Individual Stats Leaders--February

Sabres record by month:

October       9-2-2

November   3-8-3

December   5-7-2

January       5-5-0

February     7-6-1

Whelp. Jack showed up. At least for the beginning of February. Despite playing with an injury that seemed to catch up with him on a post NHL Trade Deadline road trip that covered three games, Jack Eichel was his usual self. No word on the injury thus far but common sense might dictate that it's his back from carrying the team this season. Eichel posted all of his 13 points (5+8) and a +4 rating in the first 11games of February before being shutout and falling to a minus-2 for the month.

Buffalo Sabres 2019-20 Team Stats--February

Sabres month by month record: 

October  9-2-2

November  3-8-3 

December  5-7-2
January  5-5-0

February  7-6-1