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.
After an off-season where Regier had to make tough choices because of salary-cap considerations, the Sabres lost Grier, Dumont and McKee to free agency and the grit they brought on a nightly basis wasn't fully replaced. That was fine during the regular season as the Sabres went on to win the President's Trophy and were dubbed a "Ferrari" with their style of play. However, much of that success came earlier season (28-7-3 through the first three months) but midway through the league got tighter with less obstruction being called and it bogged Buffalo down. In the playoffs the Sabres struggled even more. At the end of their five-game series loss to the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference Finals Drury, who took a puck to the face and looked like he'd just been in an alley fight, basically said that the team didn't play the type of tough game that was needed in the playoffs.
His intimations have rung true over the course of the last 12 season.
Stop me if you've heard this before, Sabreland--when things are going well, the Sabres look unbeatable. When the going gets tough, they fold.
Such was the case during the post-Drury/Briere era as the team floundered with only two playoff appearances since 2007 and a first-round exit in both of those. After riding a treadmill of mediocrity and the Sabres decided on a new strategy for building a winner under new owner Terry Pegula--tanking. Regier led the charge, admitting to Sabreland that there would be suffering, but was fired and he was replaced by Tim Murray who whose Grinch-like jettison of every ounce of talent got the Sabres to the bottom of the league in 2014-15 and the selection of Jack Eichel.
Yet, after almost five full seasons since Eichel was drafted, and with an NHL-long ninth consecutive season outside of the playoffs all but mathematically assured, the same problems that have haunted this club since the two ECF appearances, and even including the '06-'07 season to an extent, continue to frustrate the entire Western New York Hockey community.
Dig.
The Sabres lost Drury and Briere, two centers who were not only skilled, but played the game with tenacity, and were replaced by two centers who had a good amount of skills, but had issues. Connolly was a remarkable player with a skill-level that rivaled Briere. Unfortunately his career in Buffalo was beset by injury. Roy was a very good player who put up points, but was lacked urgency, tenacity and leadership. On the left side you had Vanek who was a supremely skilled shooter and on the right you had Jason Pominville, about as soft a player as one would ever see but still managed to be top-three in Sabres scoring up until the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season when he was traded at the trade deadline.
After two tank years (2013-15,) two team presidents, one president of hockey operations (for six months,) five coaches (beginning with the tank years,) and a near complete turnover of personnel (save for Zemgus Girgensons and Rasmus Ristolainen who started their careers in 2013,) nothing has really changed.
Except for Eichel.
The Jason Botterill regime has himself a left-winger in Jeff Skinner who came off of a 40-goal season and signed a lucrative, 8yr./$72 million contract, just like Vanek did in 2007 when he signed a 7yr./$51 million offersheet from the Edmonton Oilers, which the Sabres matched, after a 43-goal season. On the right side Botterill has a player whom he inherited in Sam Reinhart who somehow manages to put up points despite being one of the softest players on the team. Just like Pominville.
Throughout the lineup this edition of the Buffalo Sabres has a group of players that are speedy and skilled but won't get into the dirty areas to score goals. Marcus Johansson has Roy-like qualities without the production. Victor Olofsson, whom I love, is channeling Alex Kotalik, who turned into a powerplay specialist in the latter stages of his Sabres career. Jimmy Vesey is Drew Stafford with more speed but the same tendencies to be no more than a third-line winger who will pot you goals in the teens but can't seem to be counted on consistently.
Before I go on, this is not to say I don't like these players, it's just I'm having a severe case of Deja vu.
Sabres fans might remember the last couple of seasons Ryan Miller was in net. Miller, who'd won 2010 Vezina Trophy and was the MVP of the 2010 Winter Olympics for Team USA, had a strong career in Buffalo but fell apart near the end as the "Mr. Softie" moniker began to really take hold. From 2005-2012 Miller was 5th in wins amongst goalies with 246 total. Amongst goalies who played 250 or more games during those seasons Miller had the 11th-best goals-against average (2.55,) 9th best save-percentage (.916,) faced the 4th most shots (11,954) and was 8th in shutouts with 27. After that things fell apart and most will remember him as not being able to stop a beachball on many nights, getting booed on more than one occasion and at least once reciprocating those boos with a negative gesture of his own.
This season we witnessed a catastrophe in goal as Carter Hutton was a train wreck from November through January when the team needed him most. Although he's gotten better, there's a huge question mark with Buffalo's starting goaltender. Back in the latter part of Miller's career as he was struggling, back-up Jonas Enroth was hailed as "the truth" and the future but he eventually flamed out and today we have Linus Ullmark as the future and we're not really sure what the future holds.
Goaltenders need a sense that the skaters in front of them know what the hell their doing and Buffalo's defense could be described as anywhere from struggling to the Keystone Cops post-Drury/Briere save for the 2009-10 season when Miller won the Vezina and defenseman Tyler Myers was won the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year.
On an individual level, Myers had a great season skating next to Tallinder, who covered a lot for the 19 yr. old who was still learning what his condor-like 6'8" 220 lb. frame would allow him to do at the NHL level. Myers was looking like a possible Norris Trophy candidate after that season but Tallinder was allowed to walk as a free agent in 2010 and Myers never came close to that level. Since then has settled into a lower-half/bottom-pairing defenseman who still puts up a decent amount of points.
Last off-season Botterill pulled off a nice trade for defenseman Henri Jokiharju. Although Jokiharju didn't start out playing in the top-four for Buffalo like Myers, much less top-paring duties which the latter saw much of, at 20 yrs. old he earned himself a regular spot on the blueline. Head coach Ralph Krueger found himself a nice pairing as he put the young Jokiharju alongside a comparable 31-yr. old vet in Marco Scandella who could help the kid find his way at the NHL level. That duo was the best, most consistent pairing for the Sabres...up until Scandella was traded on January 2. Since then Jokiharju has been middling while looking lost in the defensive zone on many occasions.
On July 4, 2008 Buffalo traded for defenseman Craig Rivet who was named the captain of a team that lacked both grit and leadership. Rivet was always a rugged, stand-up guy and was there when his team needed him. At 29 yrs. old Rivet wasn't chronologically over the hill but the wear and tear of his style of play during the previous 12 NHL seasons took it's toll and he wasn't the same defenseman he was with the Montreal Canadiens or the San Jose Sharks. At the trade deadline this year Botterill acquired 31 yr. old Wayne Simmonds, a tough, rugged powerforward who isn't afraid of the bloody nose areas of the ice and was always willing to drops his gloves. Like Rivet, Simmonds 12 seasons in the NHL has taken it's toll and he's nowhere near the player he was five years ago, but the Sabres needed more grit and more net-front presence so Botterill traded for him.
A lot has been made about the lack of a true No. 2 center on this team and there's a lot truth to that. Plenty has also been said about their overall lack of quality depth, and there's a lot of truth to that as well. The post-Drury/Briere years had similar struggles with the center position and quality depth and about the only difference this edition has is Eichel.
As we move towards the end of a disappointing, but not entirely unexpected, playoff-less season, Botterill's task at hand will be to add more talent, especially up front, as well as find some not-so-talented pieces to blend in. Yeah, it's great to have players who on paper put up numbers, but hockey is more than that. Having said that no one, this writer included, wants to back-fill the team with gritty players who may be hard working but lack talent. There's a balance in there somewhere and hopefully he can get there or get real close.
However, after three years on the job and with little overall progress to show for it, the question resonating in Buffalo right now centers around whether he's the man for the job.
We're not sure, but this Deja vu running through my head right now is making me think we never left the treadmill of mediocrity. It's the same result with different names.
Except for Eichel.
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