Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray traded for young vets like Evander Kane and Ryan O'Reilly for a number of reasons. First, they were very talented players who were available, the Sabres had the goods to make the deals and Murray wasn't afraid to pull the trigger. In going after those two (and goalie Robin Lehner as well,) Murray stated often that he didn't want to be atop the draft every year and that he felt players like Kane and O'Reilly would speed up the rebuild.
In addition to that, especially in the case of O'Reilly as the team's No. 1 center, the most important aspect may have been that these young vets could act as a shield while allowing rookies like Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart the opportunity to grow into their roles. O'Reilly lead all NHL forwards in average time on ice with 21:44 while Kane was second at 21:02, both of them taking all the heat that the opposition's best players could through at them.
Murray's plan, executed by head coach Dan Bylsma and his coaching staff, worked to a "T" as O'Reilly, Eichel, Reinhart and Kane occupied four of the top five scoring spots on the team. O'Reilly topped 60 points for the second time in his career while his team-leading 39 assists was a career best. Eichel's 24 goals lead the team in scoring, the first time a Sabres rookie had done that since, according to Sabres PR, the 1987-88 season (Ray Sheppard.) Despite missing 17 games due to injury, Kane finished fifth on the team with 35 points (20g + 15a.)
But perhaps the biggest surprise of the season came from the stick of Reinhart.
Showing posts with label 2015-16 Individual Stats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2015-16 Individual Stats. Show all posts
Monday, April 11, 2016
Sunday, April 3, 2016
2015-16 Individual Stats--March
Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
In going over individual Buffalo Sabre stats for a rather successful month of March, aside from the usual suspects hitting the top three in most scoring categories, there are some notables that made their presence known.
Sam Reinhart has been consistently hitting the scoresheet all season long and joins the ranks of "usual suspects" like Ryan O'Reilly, fellow rookie Jack Eichel and Evander Kane after yet another strong month. Reinhart was his usual quite self while amassing a total of 12 points in 15 games for the Sabres in March. He scored four goals and added eight assists (five of them primary) with only one goal and one assist coming on the powerplay. In the past two months Reinhart has double his production and now has 40 points on the season.
O'Reilly still leads the team in points (58) even though he only played eight games in March because of an injury. He augmented his team-leading assist total (38) by adding six of them last month and chipped in his first goal in 24 games as well. Eichel, who leads the team in goals (23) and is second in points (51) had another strong month registering 10 points last month on the power of six goals and four assists. And before his injury, Kane continued his late-season push with three goals and six assists in 13 games. He's been shelved for the rest of the season.
Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who has cooled off considerably since the first part of the year, remained in the top-five in scoring despite a sub-par month. O'Reilly, Eichel, Ristolainen, Reinhart and Kane lead the team in points so far this season.
In going over individual Buffalo Sabre stats for a rather successful month of March, aside from the usual suspects hitting the top three in most scoring categories, there are some notables that made their presence known.
Sam Reinhart has been consistently hitting the scoresheet all season long and joins the ranks of "usual suspects" like Ryan O'Reilly, fellow rookie Jack Eichel and Evander Kane after yet another strong month. Reinhart was his usual quite self while amassing a total of 12 points in 15 games for the Sabres in March. He scored four goals and added eight assists (five of them primary) with only one goal and one assist coming on the powerplay. In the past two months Reinhart has double his production and now has 40 points on the season.
O'Reilly still leads the team in points (58) even though he only played eight games in March because of an injury. He augmented his team-leading assist total (38) by adding six of them last month and chipped in his first goal in 24 games as well. Eichel, who leads the team in goals (23) and is second in points (51) had another strong month registering 10 points last month on the power of six goals and four assists. And before his injury, Kane continued his late-season push with three goals and six assists in 13 games. He's been shelved for the rest of the season.
Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who has cooled off considerably since the first part of the year, remained in the top-five in scoring despite a sub-par month. O'Reilly, Eichel, Ristolainen, Reinhart and Kane lead the team in points so far this season.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
2015-16 Individual Stats--February
Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
Although the attention of the hockey world is focused upon today's 3 P.M. trade deadline, there's usually some time before the West Coast offices wake up and things really heat up in the trade market.
The Sabres played some hockey last month to the tune of an up and down 5-5-3 record. Individually there were the usual suspects hitting the scoresheet with a trade as well as a significant injury thrown in for good measure. The familiar names leading the point procession are there, but how they arrived at them is interesting to note.
For instance, as usual, Ryan O'Reilly always appears in the points-leader category and it's no different this time. But what's different is how the team leader in points got there. For the month of February O'Reilly lead the team in points with nine and all of them came from assists with five of them being primary, which lead the team also. No goals for O'Reilly, who lead the team in that category up until this month was rather unusual and it will be a while until he can rectify that situation as he'll be out at least another week or two with a lower body injury.
Carrying the weight in the goal-scoring department was Evander Kane and Sam Reinhart. Kane in particular is really starting to heat up as his nine goals in the last two months coupled with O'Reilly's drought has the two tied for second on the team with 17, one behind Reinhart.
Although the attention of the hockey world is focused upon today's 3 P.M. trade deadline, there's usually some time before the West Coast offices wake up and things really heat up in the trade market.
The Sabres played some hockey last month to the tune of an up and down 5-5-3 record. Individually there were the usual suspects hitting the scoresheet with a trade as well as a significant injury thrown in for good measure. The familiar names leading the point procession are there, but how they arrived at them is interesting to note.
For instance, as usual, Ryan O'Reilly always appears in the points-leader category and it's no different this time. But what's different is how the team leader in points got there. For the month of February O'Reilly lead the team in points with nine and all of them came from assists with five of them being primary, which lead the team also. No goals for O'Reilly, who lead the team in that category up until this month was rather unusual and it will be a while until he can rectify that situation as he'll be out at least another week or two with a lower body injury.
Carrying the weight in the goal-scoring department was Evander Kane and Sam Reinhart. Kane in particular is really starting to heat up as his nine goals in the last two months coupled with O'Reilly's drought has the two tied for second on the team with 17, one behind Reinhart.
Sunday, January 31, 2016
2015-16 Individual Stats--January
Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
January was a tale of two players for the Buffalo Sabres amidst maddening team inconsistency. Ryan O'Reilly and Jack Eichel are the Sabres top-two centers and for the first half of the season it was O'Reilly doing the heavy lifting. While Eichel was busy acclimating himself to the NHL-game, O'Reilly was busy leading the team in every statistical category save for plus/minus. In addition to that he lead all NHL forwards in average TOI (21:52) and was tops in the NHL in the number of faceoffs taken (1267) and his 57.1% is third in the league amongst those who've taken 1,000 faceoffs or more.
O'Reilly was a busy man, to say the least. And it was somewhat of a Herculean feat as he tried to almost singlehandedly lift the Sabres out of the basement while helping the entire team acclimate to new coaches with new system. Reports always have him as first one on the ice and last one off and he even made time to work with rookie Sam Reinhart on face offs and shots after practice.
He was pretty much St. O'Reilly throughout the first few months of the season but being a mere mortal, it took a heavy toll.
Good thing for the All-Star break. Although O'Reilly is in Nashville representing Buffalo as their lone All-Star time away from the everyday grind of the NHL should serve him well. O'Reilly's numbers took a dive last month as he went from 14 points (7+7) in December to only seven (2+5) last month. Dude was at his usual pace to start the month but entered the All-Star break with zero goals in nine games although he did have five assists.
January was a tale of two players for the Buffalo Sabres amidst maddening team inconsistency. Ryan O'Reilly and Jack Eichel are the Sabres top-two centers and for the first half of the season it was O'Reilly doing the heavy lifting. While Eichel was busy acclimating himself to the NHL-game, O'Reilly was busy leading the team in every statistical category save for plus/minus. In addition to that he lead all NHL forwards in average TOI (21:52) and was tops in the NHL in the number of faceoffs taken (1267) and his 57.1% is third in the league amongst those who've taken 1,000 faceoffs or more.
O'Reilly was a busy man, to say the least. And it was somewhat of a Herculean feat as he tried to almost singlehandedly lift the Sabres out of the basement while helping the entire team acclimate to new coaches with new system. Reports always have him as first one on the ice and last one off and he even made time to work with rookie Sam Reinhart on face offs and shots after practice.
He was pretty much St. O'Reilly throughout the first few months of the season but being a mere mortal, it took a heavy toll.
Good thing for the All-Star break. Although O'Reilly is in Nashville representing Buffalo as their lone All-Star time away from the everyday grind of the NHL should serve him well. O'Reilly's numbers took a dive last month as he went from 14 points (7+7) in December to only seven (2+5) last month. Dude was at his usual pace to start the month but entered the All-Star break with zero goals in nine games although he did have five assists.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
2015-16 Individual Stats--December
Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
"Just the facts, Ma'am," was a classic Joe Friday line from the 1950's TV crime series, Dragnet, and the cool part about doing these month by month stats, is that oft times our preconceived notions about a player and/or how he's been playing is either propped up or derailed by "just the stats."
Case in point No. 1--Evander Kane.
Nary a Sabres fan out there would disagree that Ryan O'Reilly is the MVP of the team right now as he leads Buffalo in goals (15) and points (33,) and is tied for the lead in assists (18) while leading all forwards in average time on ice. Nor would they argue that after hitting the rookie wall in December, Jack Eichel has begun to assert himself on the scoresheet with two goals and seven assists in his last six games. Both are extremely good players who don't rock the boat (O'Reilly's off-season escapade at Tim Hortons not withstanding.)
Kane, however, is cut from a different cloth. He's been vilified for a non-criminal (as of yet) off-ice issue that occurred last month while on the ice Sabres fans have been chastising his play to the point where some seem ready to tie a noose around GM Tim Murray's neck for making that trade with Winnipeg.
After a slow start upon his return from injury midway through the month of November (zero points in three games) he proceeded to end the month with three points (1+2) in three games. In December he would bump it up a notch to six goals in 14 games for the Sabres placing him second behind O'Reilly's seven.
"Just the facts, Ma'am," was a classic Joe Friday line from the 1950's TV crime series, Dragnet, and the cool part about doing these month by month stats, is that oft times our preconceived notions about a player and/or how he's been playing is either propped up or derailed by "just the stats."
Case in point No. 1--Evander Kane.
Nary a Sabres fan out there would disagree that Ryan O'Reilly is the MVP of the team right now as he leads Buffalo in goals (15) and points (33,) and is tied for the lead in assists (18) while leading all forwards in average time on ice. Nor would they argue that after hitting the rookie wall in December, Jack Eichel has begun to assert himself on the scoresheet with two goals and seven assists in his last six games. Both are extremely good players who don't rock the boat (O'Reilly's off-season escapade at Tim Hortons not withstanding.)
Kane, however, is cut from a different cloth. He's been vilified for a non-criminal (as of yet) off-ice issue that occurred last month while on the ice Sabres fans have been chastising his play to the point where some seem ready to tie a noose around GM Tim Murray's neck for making that trade with Winnipeg.
After a slow start upon his return from injury midway through the month of November (zero points in three games) he proceeded to end the month with three points (1+2) in three games. In December he would bump it up a notch to six goals in 14 games for the Sabres placing him second behind O'Reilly's seven.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
2015-16 Individual Stats--November
Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
Rise of the Youngins.
One thing you'll notice throughout the individual stats for the month of November is the increase in production from many of the young building blocks for Buffalo. Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen was rockin' it from the back-end and saw his point total nearly triple as he added nine points (3+6) to the five points he had last month. His 14 points on the season places him in a tie for 12th in the league amongst defensemen. He also had the most primary assists (4) amongst the Sabres last month.
Rookie Sam Reinhart got himself into the offensive flow with a team-leading five goals for the month. During October he was acclimating himself to the NHL and was doing plenty of the little things to grab the coaches attention, like creating a screen or playing defensively sound hockey (even, plus/minus last month.) November saw head coach Dan Bylsma increase Reinhart's ice-time and give him more responsibility. The 2014 second-overall pick responded well.
Another rookie, Jack Eichel, just continued doing what Jack does--electrify. He matched his four goals from the previous month while also adding four assists, meaning his linemates were finally able to get involved. His 12 points place him behind Ryan O'Reilly and Ristolainen for the team lead while his eight goals ties him with O'Reilly atop the Sabres.
Rise of the Youngins.
One thing you'll notice throughout the individual stats for the month of November is the increase in production from many of the young building blocks for Buffalo. Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen was rockin' it from the back-end and saw his point total nearly triple as he added nine points (3+6) to the five points he had last month. His 14 points on the season places him in a tie for 12th in the league amongst defensemen. He also had the most primary assists (4) amongst the Sabres last month.
Rookie Sam Reinhart got himself into the offensive flow with a team-leading five goals for the month. During October he was acclimating himself to the NHL and was doing plenty of the little things to grab the coaches attention, like creating a screen or playing defensively sound hockey (even, plus/minus last month.) November saw head coach Dan Bylsma increase Reinhart's ice-time and give him more responsibility. The 2014 second-overall pick responded well.
Another rookie, Jack Eichel, just continued doing what Jack does--electrify. He matched his four goals from the previous month while also adding four assists, meaning his linemates were finally able to get involved. His 12 points place him behind Ryan O'Reilly and Ristolainen for the team lead while his eight goals ties him with O'Reilly atop the Sabres.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
2015-16 Individual Stats--October
Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
Buffalo Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma
spent the first month of the season mixing and matching his players in an effort to find chemistry amongst his forward ranks. He started out the season relying upon pairs to anchor lines but injuries to two top-six players threw a bit of a monkey-wrench into his plans. Left wing Evander Kane had been paired with 2015 second-overall pick Jack Eichel in Bylsma's scheme, but week ago he went down with a knee injury and will be out 4-6 weeks. Then on Tuesday right wing Tyler Ennis suffered a lower-body injury in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers. He had been paired with Ryan O'Reilly to this point of the season.
Two injuries to top-six forwards could have provided a set-back, but instead the rest of the team stepped up with two very strong performances on back-to-back nights. Even though they lost on Thursday to the Pittsburgh Penguins they controlled much of the game pumping a season-high 53 shots on net including 24 in the third period. And in last night's 3-1 win over Phildelphia they once again controlled much of the game with a forecheck that made the Flyers envious.
For one four-minute stretch in the second period last night, Buffalo had the Flyers hemmed in to the point wher Philadelphia got the puck as far as the Sabres blueline twice. The rest of the time was spent in Flyers zone resulting in two penalties including a 5-on-3 for Buffalo for 1:06. The Sabres couldn't convert, however, but with the amount of skill and the way the team has possessed the puck, one senses it's only a matter of time if they continue to play that way.
Except for O'Reilly.
For one four-minute stretch in the second period last night, Buffalo had the Flyers hemmed in to the point wher Philadelphia got the puck as far as the Sabres blueline twice. The rest of the time was spent in Flyers zone resulting in two penalties including a 5-on-3 for Buffalo for 1:06. The Sabres couldn't convert, however, but with the amount of skill and the way the team has possessed the puck, one senses it's only a matter of time if they continue to play that way.
Except for O'Reilly.
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