Buffalo Sabres 2020-21 Team Stats--March

You may have heard the expression "in like a lion out like a lamb" used to describe how the month of March goes weather-wise. When it came to the Buffalo Sabres place in the National Hockey League it was "in like crippled lamb out like overcooked mutton" in March.

Buffalo finished a rough month of February by being shut out 3-0 by the Philadelphia Flyers in consecutive games at home. It dropped them down to a tie for 31st in the league with only six wins on the season and if you watched them on the ice the listless, apathetic play surely was a sign that head coach Ralph Krueger had lost his team in a big way. However, it would take nine more winless games to extent their streak to 0-10-2 before Sabres management would get word to fire the head coach. 

What's worse than that brutal winless stretch and 43-19 goal differential that featured the team being shut out four times was watching Krueger's players totally diss him on-ice and having to listen to post-game interviews where he remained without answers but still tried to push an epic failure of a hockey philosophy. Much respect to the worldly man that is Ralph Krueger and a hearty good riddance to him as a head coach.

The kids are alright in Sabreland

It's taken a few weeks, but the Buffalo Sabres have gotten rid of the stench left by former head coach Ralph Krueger. The defensive, systemic load that Krueger shoveled for the entirety of his 97 games as Buffalo's bench boss has been sent to the incinerator of extreme ineptitude and has been replaced by a refreshing dose of speed and puck control with an emphasis on driving play and creating offense. 

And Sabreland couldn't be happier.

Where's the bottom for this Buffalo Sabres franchise?

In 1956 the New York Football Giants won the NFL Championship and for five of the next six seasons they made it to the NFL championship game only to lose. Regardless of that fact the Giants were considered a model franchise but after their 14-10 loss to the Chicago Bears in the 1963 championship game, New York went 17 consecutive seasons without making the playoffs and got progressively worse (4-23-1 in 1973 and '74 combined) before stagnating well below the .500 mark until the 80's.

Football fans largely ignored the Giants and in a pre-ESPN era where game highlights were mainly shown via local news broadcasts and in Sunday pre-game or halftime shows (think Monday Night Football with a national audience,) out of sight, out of mind. As the New York football Giants continued floundering through another lost season, just when you thought it couldn't get worse, it did. On November 19, 1978 with New York up 17-12 over the Philadelphia Eagles late in the game, the 'brain'-trust on the sideline scoffed at the thought of kneeling to run out the clock and 'boldly' decided to run a complicated play. Quarterback Joe Pisarcik's handoff to Larry Csonka was flubbed and Eagles cornerback Herm Edwards scooped up the fumble for the winning touchdown.

Why this story in a blog about the Buffalo Sabres?

It's about finding the bottom.

Buffalo Sabres 2020-21 Team Stats--February

If you can make it through these numbers without hurling your latest meal, God love ya for it. Rather than me harp on the play of this club in February, let's let the words of 22 yr. old defenseman Rasmus Dahlin speak after the Sabres finished the month with back-to-back shutout losses at home against the Philadelphia Flyers. A Flyers team, by the way, that came into the weekend with the eighth-worst goals-against averaged (3.25) in the NHL.

“I’m very embarrassed,” said Dahlin. “This is not acceptable. This sucks. It’s the worst.”

Out of the mouths of (relative) babes.

Rasmus Dahlin has only seen three years of the abomination that has been the Buffalo Sabres, but those words were routinely uttered in one way or another for the better part of eight years since the organization tanked for two straight seasons. A quick glance at each team stat category below shows just how bad it was at the end of the previous seven seasons...and still is after the first two months of this season:

--number of wins, no higher than 23rd in the league

--division standing, no higher than 6th

--league standing and points percentage, no higher than 23rd

--goal differential, no higher than 20th and all in the minus

--goals per game, no higher than 21st

--5v5 goals, no higher than 20th

--goals-against no higher than 15th

All of this as Sabreland was assured the "suffering" of the tank years would pave the way to "hockey heaven."

Not!

Buffalo Sabres 2020-21 individual stats leaders--January

Record

--January:  4-4-2

The Buffalo Sabres started out the season with six new forwards in the mix:  Taylor Hall, Eric Staal, Riley Sheahan and what turned out to be a completely new 3rd line to start the season, Cody Eakin, Tobias Rieder and 19 yr. old rookie forward Dylan Cozens. Hall and Rieder have made their presence known through 10 games with Rieder being a pleasant surprise as he's showing speed and scoring as well as a strong 200' game while carrying the bottom-six and helping the penalty kill on the second unit. Although Staal has contributed offensively and looks to be having a positive effect on Cozens, the 37 yr. old has looked his age as he tries to get that heavy Chevy rolling while gaffes in his own zone have been detrimental and still more turnovers have made things extremely difficult on the team. 

As for Cozens, he came straight from the 2021 World Junior Championships and hit the ice flying. Although he's made some rookie mistakes and is still getting a feel for the NHL, the game itself doesn't seem to be too fast for him and he's really impressed thus-far earning second-line minutes next to Staal. 

Buffalo has really struggled with 5v5 scoring and find themselves near the middle of the pack so far. Considering six of their first 10 games have been one-goal affairs, with two others being losses by two goals via empty-netters against, every goal counts and 5v5 scoring needs to improve or they'll end up on a road that's all too familiar. The Sabres rode two hot streaks early in each of the last two seasons with a similar formula only to fall apart when it mattered.

Right now every game matters as there are only 56 games in the season meaning every point counts. At 4-4-2, Buffalo is right in the middle of the eight-team MassMutual East division despite efforts that have been mostly sketchy save for a couple of good games and one impressive one where they beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-1. Special teams have been carrying the Sabres as they have the eighth-best powerplay and 10th-best penalty kill, but when it comes to 5v5 they mostly look disjointed.

Head coach Ralph Krueger has some soul-searching to do when putting his lines together as he's caught between a hard-headed belief in players following his system and fashioning his team to his players strengths. Such is the case with winger, Jeff Skinner.

Skinner was a 40-goal scorer before the arrival of Krueger last year and he was noted as much for his 5v5 scoring (191 goals, 5th-most in the league from 2010-11 to 2018-19) as he was for his less-than-stellar defensive game (minus-96, 4th-worst in that same time period.) Since the new coach arrived, Skinner has been Krueger's doghouse under the ruse of wanting balanced scoring amongst as many lines as possible. It hasn't worked out as Skinner scored only 14 goals in 59 games last season (all of them at even strength placing 3rd on the team) and has yet to twinkle the twine this season while playing bottom-six minutes almost exclusively.

These two rams are butting heads and it's not doing anybody any good. However, common sense demands attention to Skinner's 29 goals/82 games career scoring average, his contract which has seven more years at $9 million/season and the fact that he has a no-movement clause. Krueger has resisted giving in thus far but he really needs to do something fast as Skinner looks close to taking the money and running with 46 games to play. I highly doubt the word 'kapitulieren' is in Krueger's motivational book, Teamlife--Beyond Setbacks to Success, but for as worldly as Krueger is, and he's a magnificently well-rounded and intelligent individual, this is the National Hockey League where the salary cap is extremely important, talented players are well-paid and managing egos is the betriebsart in North American professional sports.

In addition, the Sabres are in a division that's widely regarded as the toughest division in the NHL and they have the league's longest playoff drought at nine years, just one shy of the league record. Krueger may need to entertain the thought of Stolz schlucken to give his team the best chance to make it to the playoffs. If he's gonna do it, he needs to do it fast. Though his Sabres are struggling, the race for the fourth spot in the East could be a dog-fight and he'll need to get everything he can out of every player he's got if he wants them to remain in it.

Another thought Krueger might want to entertain involves Skinner taking the top left wing spot next to Eichel (where he had his career-high 40-goal season) and dropping Hall to the second line. In addition to hopefully maximizing what's left of Skinner flailing confidence, the Staal line needs more skill, speed and experience. Victor Olofsson is trying to hold his own 5v5, and he's made great progress in his sophomore campaign, but he's not there yet. Having him move to the right side to help create a third scoring line a isn't bad idea as he can still kill it on the powerplay while providing a top-nine scoring threat. Also in play with that move is the separation of Hall and Eichel. Sure, it looks deadly on paper especially with Reinhart on the right side, but those two love the puck on their stick and we haven't seen a consistently strong, complimentary relationship yet with only one 5v5 goal between them (Eichel.)

Perhaps this might work:

Skinner - Eichel - Reinhart

Hall - Staal - Cozens

Rieder - Lazar - Olofsson

Sheahan - Eakin - Okposo

And we should also keep an eye on Okposo and Casey Mittelstadt with the former looking way past his prime and the latter looking like he's on the upswing. 

Buffalo Sabres 2020-21 Individual Stats Leaders

Points

--January:  Eichel 11;  Olofsson 10;  Hall 9

Goals

--January:  Olofsson 4;  Lazar, Staal, Rieder, Reinhart 3

EV Goals

--January: Lazar, Rieder 3; Staal 2; eight with 1

Powerplay Goals

--January:  Olofsson 3,  Reinhart 2;  seven with 1

Assists

--January:  Eichel 9;  Hall 8;  Olofsson 6

Powerplay Assists

--January:  Eichel 6;  Olofsson 5;  Hall 4

Primary Assists

--January:  Hall 6;  Olofsson 5;  Ristolainen 3

Plus/Minus

--January:  McCabe, Ristolainen +2;  Lazar, Sheahan, Cozens +1; Asplund, Skinner 0

Plus/Minus (Bottom)

--January:  Dahlin -9;  Miller, Reinhart -7;  Eichel, Olofsson, Hall, Montour -6

Goalies

Linus Ullmark

--January: 3-1-2;  2.56 GAA;  .914 Sv%;  0 shutouts

Carter Hutton

--January:  1-3-0;  3.05 GAA;  .895 Sv%;  0 shutouts

Jonas Johansson

--January:  0-0-0;  3.15 GAA;  .889 Sv%;  0 shutouts

Primary Assists

Olofsson----5

Cozens------1

Eichel-------2

Hall----------6

Sheahan-----1

Staal---------2

Skinner------1

Ristolainen--3

Reinhart---- 2

Eakin--------1

Dahlin-------1

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.

Domink Kahun could be a boon to the Sabres' middle-six

Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill gave his inconsistent, middling team a shot in the arm when he traded for a skill-forward in Dominik Kahun. The 24 yr. old Kahun is on his third team after being signed by the Chicago Blackhawks, who then traded him to the Pittsburgh Penguins last June. Kahun was then traded tot he Sabres at the 2020 trade deadline this past Monday.

Although Kahun played center in Germany he has been on the wing in the NHL and it raises the question of can he play center in the best hockey league in the world? Sabres bench boss Ralph Krueger hasn't ruled it out, but for now Kahun will be riding shotgun somewhere in the middle-six of the lineup.

Three-game Sabres recap, Feb. 16-22

When we look at those three games below Sabres fans can't help but think, damn you Ottawa! Or should we really say, damn you Buffalo!

The Sabres rode a three-game winning streak into Ottawa and hit Canada's Capital after smoking Toronto 5-2. This would be great, right? Except for one thing. Buffalo was already 1-2 against the Senators and when they left Ottawa they finished the season 1-3 against a division foe who will end up near the bottom of the conference.

DOH!!!

Buffalo's win last night coupled with the Leafs  embarrassing 6-3 loss at home against the Carolina Hurricanes has the Sabres eight points back with two games in hand. They'll make up one of those games this afternoon as Buffalo hosts the Winnipeg Jets in their final game before tomorrow's trade deadline.

Just what the Sabres need, another tank season

If you want to pique the interest of Sabreland and assure yourself social media attention and hits to your site, bring up one of two things--Rasmus Ristolainen or tanking. Sure, there are players like Zach Bogosian, Marco Scandella (who's been traded this year,) Zemgus Girgensons, Jake McCabe and/or the many young players under the Free_________ hashtag who tend elicit responses. Trades as well are a good way to get hits and you can argue advanced stats, the Pegulas,, DJ Milk and the game-day experience, who's the best Sabres of all time, etc., but to elicit a guttural response and/or engagement in a circular argument sure to go nowhere but last forever, tap into Ristolainen or tanking.

The new one out there when it comes to Ristolainen, Buffalo's 25 yr. old defenseman, concerns whether or not he should be traded right now not because he stinks, as had been the argument for nearly the entire length of his career, but because he's playing very well, possibly the best hockey of his career. "Strike while the iron's hot" is the mantra and there's some validity to that. The Sabres have had the tendency, unlike many top-notch organizations, to hold on to their players past well past their expiration date assuring the team of a minimal return on investment if they get any at all.

Wake up ya sleepyheads, there's a 1 p.m. matinee today

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-14-2019



Three wins in a row. That's what the Buffalo Sabres have going for them as they resume play today with a 1 p.m. game against the NY Islanders. Those three wins came against the Western Conference (at Edmonton, vs. St. Louis and Nashville) and they'll be facing off against an Islanders team that shut them out 1-0 in Buffalo on November 2. The loss against the Isles was loss No. 2 in a particularly rough November slide where they went 1-7-1 through the first three weeks.

However, since pulling off a solid win in Florida against the Panthers, Buffalo has put together a nice little streak that includes a 6-2-3 record, the three-game winning streak (their first since October 17-22,) and a four-game points-streak.

Speaking of streaks, the man behind the Sabres resurgence is their, Jack Eichel. The 23 yr. old Buffalo captain is riding a career-best 15-game points streak (14+13) and has scored two-goals in back-to-back games. During that span, beginning November 17, Eichel's 14 goals, 27 points and plus-18 rating leads the league. Through 33 game this season, Eichel has 22 goals (which is second in the league) and 46 points T-fifth.)

Only one blemish on an otherwise great Aud Night.

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-13-2019


For those of us who remember the old Memorial Auditorium, seeing the old gold, red, blue and orange section motif brought back some fond memories. Props to the marketing department for draping color T-shirts over the seats to rekindle those memories.

My first memory came via my sister who took me to my first-ever game back in the early 70's. We had standing room only tickets and there was a wall up to that you had to get to fast so that you could see the ice. So up we ran on those ramps all the way to the top and we got ourselves parked on that wall next to the men's rest room. Included in that memory of basically looking straight down on the ice was the smell of cigarettes, stale beer and urine. For those of you looking for a Hallmark memory moment, sorry, that's the way it was and they lost to Vancouver that night as well. There were other memories, mostly of concerts and the treacherous stairs in the orange section during concerts where altered states was the norm from the mid-70's through the early 80's but last night was about hockey and it was Aud Night, a tribute to that grand old building's legacy.

About the only thing better for this particular night would have been for the Sabres to be squaring off against the Boston Bruins as nothing reminds me more of the old Aud than The Buffalo/Boston matchups featuring the French Connection going up against the Big, Bad Bruins. However, it the Sabres organization put on a good show and their hockey team followed it up with a solid 4-3 win in front of a very appreciative crowd at KeyBank Center.

Sabres get timely saves/goals and some puck-luck in win over STL

Published by hockeybuz.com, 12-11-2019


There was a string of games in November where nothing seemed to be going right for the Buffalo Sabres. It seemed as if the hockey gods were unhappy with them and in addition to struggles with head coach Ralph Krueger's designs, the Sabres seemed to be hitting an inordinate number of posts while pucks from the opposition were bouncing in from everywhere. Add it all up and you had a Sabres team that followed a 9-2-2 October with a 1-7-1 start to November.

Credit to the Buffalo players for straightening things out and taking care of what they could with Krueger's systems. Beginning with a 3-2 loss in Boston against the Bruins, they began to play the type of game that made them successful in October and they slowly began pulling themselves up by the bootstraps. Buffalo was still struggling in the win column but they were playing a consistent brand of hockey that eventually would lead to last night's 5-2 win over the defending Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues.

Sabres salvage a Buffalo sports Sunday and their road trip

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-9-2019


Late Sunday morning one of the posters on here referred to the upcoming slate of events for both the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bills as "brutal." The take was warranted considering the Bills were about an hour away from taking on the AFC-leading Baltimore Ravens and the Sabres were set to finish up a three-game Western Canada road swing against the second-best team in the Western Conference, the Edmonton Oilers, later that night.

Western New York football fans knew what their team was up against as the Bills faced a nightmare in multi-faceted and uber-talented Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson as well as a blitz-crazy Baltimore defense that had given offenses fits all season. Winning that game would be a tall order for the Bills and though they came out on the losing end, they walked out of New Era field with a lot of league-wide respect for the game they played against the Super Bowl favorite.

A few hours later the Sabres hit the ice at Roger's Center to minimal expectations as they were in the second game of a back-to-back finishing off their three-games-in-four-night swing. They'd lost the first game in Calgary 4-3 on Thursday, lost 6-5 in overtime the night before in Vancouver and were up against an Oilers team that boasted the top two scorers in the NHL, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. They came through with a 3-2 win in overtime.

It's time to ride Linus Ullmark, more. Plus...

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-30-2019


Prior to the Buffalo Sabres road trip in Florida, some of what we'd like to see out of this team to help them turn it around centered around little steps. The Sabres had just come off what might have been their best game of the season in Boston but lost to the Bruins 3-2. Both Buffalo goals were scored by defensemen that game and it continued a bad trend that has been haunting the Sabres all month as secondary scoring from forwards through nine November games had almost dried up. Only three Sabres forwards outside the top line had goals (Jeff Skinner, Johan Larsson and Curtis Lazar, all with one each) in that span.

That has slowly begun to change as Zemgus Girgensons (two goals vs. Florida,) Jimmy Vesey (goals in now three consecutive games beginning in Tampa,) and Casey Mittelstadt (first goal in 17 games last night vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs) have joined the usual suspects of Jack Eichel, Skinner, Victor Olofsson and Sam Reinhart in scoring goals. After beating the Leafs last night, the Sabres are 2-1-1 in their last four games and have lit the lamp 15 times, all by the forwards and all at even strength.

Even though the powerplay has been all but non-existent with only one goal all month (by Rasmus Ristolainen vs. Boston) in 35 opportunities (3.5%,) it is a good sign that the Sabres have been able to tally at even strength these past four games.

Calgary in town, Johansson back, Krueger's blender, plus Dahlin/Sobotka

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-27-2019


The Calgary Flames have been struggling as much as the Buffalo Sabres this season. After taking the Western Conference crown last season with 107 points, Calgary is off to a rather pedestrian start to 2019-20 and finds themselves off the pace out west. They're 11-12-4 record is good for 26 points which places them in the middle of the pack just outside a playoff spot but they've played more games than anyone else in the conference and if you take a peek at their points-percentage, you'll find they're third-last.

Buffalo is very similar in the standings as they took a dive after a fast start. The Sabres are 11-10-3 on the season with their 25 points placing them 11th in the Eastern Conference and are only a little better than the Flames with a .521 point-percentage as opposed to Calgary's .481.

That was...interesting. Krueger is mad scientist in win over FLA

Publised by hockeybuzz.com, 11-25-2019


The lineup to begin last night's game in Florida against the Panthers was somewhat of an eyebrow-raiser to begin with as it featured 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Yes, we've seen it before and other teams have used it before, including the Tampa Bay Lightning last season, as mentioned by Buffalo Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger post-game, but still, that set-up is a little difficult to wrap your hands around. Especially when you're accustomed to Krueger religiously sticking to his lines and pairings this season.

Last night, however, the hockey coach became a mad scientist after forward Evan Rodrigues went down with an injury during his first shift on the ice. Krueger did some juggling on the blueline to start the game as he tried to work in seven defensemen while double-shifting able bodies up front. But after Rodrigues went down he let it all hang out and rolled with various concoctions up front that were full of surprises, including defenseman Brandon Montour taking a regular shift at left wing.

"The way we play," said Krueger to the media after their 5-2 win, "it's about finding your role in the group. Sometimes d-men will be up in the front, forwards will be back and vice-versa. I think it's an easy style of play that you can step into that."

There's been no fun in the Florida Sun for the Sabres

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-24-2019


Let's get this out of the way right now.

Since the 2013-14 season, the Buffalo Sabres have a combined 5-15-2 record against the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning in a two-game, Florida road trip and they've been swept out of the state in seven of those 11 duals.

If that isn't enough of a downer for Sabres fans, heading into this evening's matchup at the Panthers, Buffalo is 1-7-2 in their last 10 games while Florida is 7-2-1.

Most of the focus in Sabreland for today's matchup with Florida centers around the defense and which NHL-caliber defensemen will be in the press box. The order of pairings as relayed by those at Buffalo's practice yesterday are:

Ristolainen - McCabe
Dahlin - Bogosian
Miller - Montour
Scandella - Jokiharju

Krueger Crisis? A 2-6-2 slide makes you wonder what's next for the Sabres

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-18-2019


Buffalo Sabres bench boss Ralph Krueger was a motivational speaker at one point in his professional life and even wrote a book:  Teamlilfe - Über Niederlagen zum Erfolg. Teamlife is his motivational company and the English translation of the rest is Beyond Setbacks to Success, which is what a motivational book should be all about. In case you were wondering, the entire book is in German, a language Krueger is fluent in, and as of now there's no English translation.

Perhaps head coach Krueger needs to revisit "motivational" Krueger's book because his hockey team is facing more than a setback right now. In fact, he may even want to get an English translation of the book and hand it to his players as his Sabres are in the midst of a pretty good slump. After beginning the season 8-1-1 while looking motivated and on fire, the team is now mired in a 2-6-2 slide while  looking tired and beaten only a quarter into the season.

The latest setback for Buffalo came last night in a place they rarely win, the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The Sabres dropped a 4-1 decision to the Blackhawks and ran their record of futility in the Windy City to 0-7-3 in their last 10 games. Buffalo hasn't won in Chicago since January 7, 2007.

"Twenty-one games to Christmas"

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-14-2019


That was Buffalo Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger talking to the gathered media post practice yesterday concerning their upcoming schedule. His Sabres squad had just come back from participating in the 2019 Global Series which featured a somewhat compact schedule in October and early November, five days to travel and acclimate to Stockholm, Sweden for their back-to-back against the Tampa Bay Lightning last weekend and another four days to reacclimate to North America. Sunday was a travel day with Monday and Tuesday being mandated days off. The Sabres resumed practice yesterday and will have a game tonight at home against the Carolina Hurricanes. 

Krueger said that the team will have a pregame skate this morning because they haven't been on the ice and mentioned how he and his club will be approaching 21 games in 39 days leading up until the Christmas break. "The reality is we have the 21 games 'til Christmas and we're breaking it up into little groups. We've got five games, two-day pause;  six games, two-day pause;  six games, two-day pause; four games."

Some mid-six juggling and the search for secondary scoring (again)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-13-2019


You have to like the gumption Krueger has shown in sticking to his system of beliefs. With his Buffalo Sabres on a five-game losing streak (0-4-1) and mired in a 1-5-1 slump with litany of offensive woes plaguing his team, Krueger is standing firm to what he laid out in the beginning of the year and continues to defend his players work-ethic. Krueger was on the WGR550 radio this morning and once again he talked about how hard everyone has been working on the ice but not having the results there.

It's common theme Sabreland has heard dating back the Lindy Ruff years and unfortunately, on the whole, it's lead to full-season results that have kept them out of the playoffs or worse for a NHL-long eight seasons. Last season we heard head coach Phil Housley talking about playing a good team over there while coddling his players despite some despicable efforts and we found out, among a number of things, that he wasn't really cut out for the job and that his team was lacking in a few key areas.

Things have changed for the better with the Sabres as general manager Jason Botterill added key pieces to his blueline and added to his forward ranks. Early in the season it looked like it was a huge step in the right direction but with this recent streak there have been calls for Botterill to make a move if he wants his team to take a big step over last season. Perhaps there are things in the works, but the third-year GM runs a pretty tight ship with very few leaks coming out during his tenure.