Buffalo wins a 10-round shootout...No...really (Anders Nilsson)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-18-2017


As per usual lately, it was a shooting gallery for a Buffalo netminder as backup Anders Nilsson was peppered by the Anaheim Ducks with 40 shots last night. Nilsson was strong in net for the Sabres and was up to the task as he allowed only one goal-against in regulation/overtime then stopped eight of 10 shots in the shootout as he lead the Sabres to the 2-1 victory.

After a listless effort for much of the previous game in which they were shut out by the LA Kings 2-0, Buffalo was much more engaged from the get-go in this one. Instead of getting outshot by a huge, almost unthinkable margin (15-2) in the first period like they did up I-5 against the Kings, the Ducks were held to nine shots but managed to slip one by Nilsson.

The Sabres, however, would tie the game on a lucky bounce as a Jake McCabe shot would be deflected by Anaheim goalie Jonathan Bernier to the side of the net where Ryan O'Reilly was in a battle with a Ducks defender. From Bernier's glove to O'Reilly's skate and a carom from a sharp angle that trickled over the goal line, Buffalo tied the score. There was no scoring in the third period, none in overtime and Sabres fans (whomever was left watching at 1:30 EST in the morning) were left with the prospect of a shootout where the Sabres have been abysmal this season.

Prior to last night the Sabres were near or at the bottom of the league with a 1-6 shootout record, a 17.6 shooting percentage (3/17) and a .250 save percentage as their goalies managed to stop only four of 16 shots against.

Perhaps it was a case of the bling pig finding a nut last night as Nilsson was rock solid in the shootout while O'Reilly, Rasmus Ristolainen and Zemgus Girgensons all scored in the skills competition  looking like pure goal-scorers in the process. O'Reilly snapped one top-shelf, glove side, Ristolainen pulled off a "piece of magic," as called by Sabres play-by-play man Dan Dunleavy, using his reach for a long backhand reach-around and Girgensons, whom Bernier tried to fake out, looked cool as a cucumber as he went forehand over an outstretched right pad for the game-winner. Nothin' fancy for "Gus," just a simple forehand-backhand-forehand past an overconfident goalie.

For as much as we've seen a complacent Buffalo Sabres team, and for as much as it looked as if they'd packed it in on their coach and the season, deep down there's a competitive spirit that hates to lose and takes joy in winning. After Girgensons won it the Sabres bench erupted as if they'd just secured a spot in the playoffs. And for only the second time in the last seven games the post-game interviews would focus upon what went right in a win as opposed to what went wrong in a loss.

Girgensons was on the MSG post-game with Brian Duff and Brad May, a rare spot for him as it's not very often a bottom-six defensive forward gets to play the part of hero. He had an ear-to-ear grin with Duffer and May and continued with that smile in the locker room when he said of watching while the shootout went deeper, "every time I was just hoping we'd score and get to go home."

It was a pretty brutal two games prior to the shootout win for Buffalo. Between Jack Eichel's first goal 1:50 into the first period against San Jose' to O'Reilly's goal 15:35 into the second period last night, the Sabres went 153:45 seconds without a goal. It was also a rugged trio of games against three Western Conference heavies where bodies were flying everywhere, yet the Sabres held their own.

Head coach Dan Bylsma did nearly a full shuffle of his lines last night keeping only one intact--Marcus Foligno-Evan Rodrigues-Hudson Fasching. O'Reilly was on Eichel's wing along with Tyler Ennis. Girgensons centered a line featuring two fast power forwards in Evander Kane and Justin Bailey while Sam Reinhart, who is normally on Eichel's wing was centering a line of Brian Gionta and Matt Moulson.

Defensive call-up Taylor Fedun continued his strong play but was dinged up in the first period and didn't come out for the second forcing the Sabres to play with five defensemen. That's yet another defenseman down as Fedun was called up to replace Justin Falk.

The Sabres took a red-eye back to Buffalo last night and have a scheduled practice today. They take on the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow night for their last visit to storied Joe Louis Arena as the Wings will have a new home next year. Buffalo is 2-0-1 vs. Detroit this year.

Are the Buffalo Sabres a bad team, as some have intimated? (Anders Nilsson)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-20-2017


There was a strong feeling amongst some in the Buffalo media, as well as some Sabres faithful, that the Sabres were a bad team after their loss at Toronto on Tuesday night. With that loss the Sabres found themselves sitting alone at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

Injuries and inconsistencies have marked Buffalo's season right now and as they head into tonight's matchup against the Detroit Red Wings a team that is three points ahead of them in the standings having played one more game. With many of the walking wounded returning including the return of Tyler Ennis to the line up for the win on Monday prior to the Leafs game, injuries are no longer a crutch. Rather inconsistencies, as shown in those back-to-back games as well as from period to period, seems to be the focus du jour as to why this team can't get out of the basement.

The theory emanating from one particular media member stated that and inconsistent team is a convenient excuse for a bad team. "Anyone that says one day they're good, one day they're not, that's what it's like to be very bad," said the member who then followed it up with a golf analogy, "that's what a bad golfer does, they get bogies one on whole and the it's like 'hey, I got a birdie here!'

"Consistency is a word failing teams use," he said before concluding that, although the Sabres have Jack Eichel back in the lineup and they now score more, they continue to lose. Which can be construed as a bad team

Not so fast there, Ranger Rick. It may seem as if the Sabres are as bad with Eichel back in the lineup, especially after some tough losses including against Toronto, but it's not the case. Pre-Eichel the Sabres were 7-9-5 for a .452 win percentage and after his return they're 10-9-4 or a .521 points-percentage. Although it doesn't look like that much of a difference, it's a matter of 11 points over an 82-game season and the difference between a 74 point pace and 85 point pace. Granted, finishing with 85 points isn't good enough to get you into the playoffs but it's a helluva lot closer than 74 points.

So words like "very bad" and "failure" when talking about the Sabres at this juncture are not true and may even be considered a bipolar overreaction from following Buffalo sports for too long.

There are only two "very bad" teams in the NHL right now--the Colorado Avalanche and the Arizona Coyotes. The 'Lanche have 27 points and the 'Yotes 32. In 28th place are the Buffalo Sabres with 43 points and the difference between the Sabres with the 17th place Carolina Hurricanes is six points. Some of the teams that are in that pack include western teams like the 20th place Los Angeles Kings (48 points) and the 18th place Nashville Predators (49) and nobody in hockey would consider them bad.

In the Eastern Conference the bottom-half is separated by seven points. The Philadelphia Flyers are in ninth place, but they're not a bad hockey team. Bipolar, maybe, as the Fly Boys followed a 10-game winning streak with a 3-8-3 record, but they shouldn't be considered a bad team. Same with the 13th place Tampa Bay Lightning. This is almost the exact same Lightning team that made it to the conference finals last year without Steven Stamkos, whom they're without again right now. Are they a "bad" team? Only one point separates Tampa from Buffalo in percentage of points earned. Or Buffalo's opponent tonight, the Detroit Red Wings. They might be a team in decline and may miss the playoffs for the first time in two-and-a-half decades, but nobody would consider them bad. They're three points ahead of the Sabres in the standings having played one more game.

The Sabres are clumped in a group of average to above average teams and happen to be at the bottom right now. Of all the teams in the bottom half of the conference only one--Carolina--is in the plus column in goal differential (+1) while all the rest are in negative double-digits save for the NY Islanders who are 15th in the conference. The determining factor between who's in, or near, a playoff spot seems to center around streaks at this point in the season.

As mentioned, the Flyers went on a 10-game winning streak but have since fallen back and are now out of a playoff spot. Conversely, the Toronto Maple Leafs went on a five-game winning streak and went 4-1-1 in their next six to bolt up the standings and into a wild card spot. Those are the good streaks.

Although the Red Wings went on a season-high six game winning-streak at the beginning of the season and a five-game points streak in Nov./Dec. they also had a four-game losing streak and two winless streaks of five and four games. The 12th place New Jersey Devils had a five-game points streak and five game winning streak earlier in the year but suffered a seven-game winless streak (which included a five-game losing streak) in December and a four game winless streak in January.

The Sabres had a six-game winless streak in November without Eichel and a four-game winless streak in December with him. They also had two season-high four-game points streaks, one in December and one to start out 2017 and they're 4-3-1 in January, which puts them slightly behind where they were last month.

This is not a bad Sabres hockey team. Eichel makes a difference and he's surrounded by some upper-end talent. Anyone that remembers two seasons of unwatchable hockey by Buffalo should know what a bad team is and this one isn't even close two those teams. Are the Sabres inconsistent? Yup. Frustrating to watch? uh-huh. Flawed? You betcha.

But bad?

Nah.


*****

The Sabres face the Red Wings tonight for the second time this season. Back in November Buffalo dropped a 2-1 decision to Detroit in the shootout, two games before Eichel's return to action. Former Sabre Thomas Vanek scored the game-winning shootout goal for the Wings.

We talked about streaks above but another main reason why the Sabres are where they are is the shootout. Buffalo has been atrocious in the skills competition going 1-5 while compiling a league-worst .286 save percentage (10 goals-against on 14 shots) and a fifth-worst 20% shooting percentage (three goals on 15 shots.)

Detroit, on the other hand, is a perfect 6-0 in shootouts. They've scored the most shootout goals (11) and have the fifth best shooting percentage (.476%) while allowing only five goals on 24 shots for a seventh-best .792 Sv.%.

Buffalo goalie Anders Nilsson gets the nod in net tonight which was a surprise because he missed yesterday's practice because of illness. Head coach Dan Bylsma tabbed Nilsson for the first of a back-to-back presumably because of his home record of 5-1-1 and sparkling 1.84 goals-against average on a .9487 Sv%.

Nilsson also has the only Buffalo shootout win this year as he stopped Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins to help end the Sabres six-game winless streak. Cal O'Reilly, who's with the club now, scored the lone shootout goal for the Sabres.


*****

According to the media, Ennis will return to the lineup after taking the second game of the Monday/Tuesday back-to-back off. Ennis was a precautionary scratch having just returned from groin/hernia surgery that kept him out of the lineup for 30 games. Bylsma intimated that this was the plan--have Ennis play Monday, off Tuesday and return tonight. Tomorrow Buffalo travels to Montreal and if everything goes well, Ennis should be in the lineup vs. the Canadiens.

With that in mind and an optional skate this morning, we'll be looking for the following lineup, the same as they had when they defeated the Dallas Stars on Monday afternoon:

Tyler Ennis-Ryan O'Reilly-Kyle Okposo
Marcus Foligno-Jack Eichel-Sam Reinhart
Evander Kane-Zemgus Girgensons-Brian Gionta
Will Carrier-Cal O'Reilly-Matt Moulson

Jake McCabe-Rasmus Ristolainen
Zach Bogosian-Cody Franson
Justin Falk-Taylor Fedun

Anders Nilsson

Hallelujah, they scored 2 goals (kind of)...and won too (Anders Nilsson, Cal O'Relly, Taylor Fedun, William Carrier)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-20-2016


Buffalo Sabres forward Cal O'Reilly's stat line for last night's game reads like this:  0 goals, 0 assists 0 points, but the final score reads Buffalo-2, Pittsburgh-1, SO. O'Reilly scored the game-winning goal for the Sabres last night in their victory but the only player to score in regulation or overtime for Buffalo was William Carrier, so technically the Sabres scored only one goal last night for the third time in a row and the sixth time in seven games. Add in the game where they were shut out against Boston and the Sabres have scored one goal or less in seven of eight games.

That's a bit disconcerting as Buffalo is averaging a league-low 1.78 goals per game, but right now, who cares? At this point in time, the Sabres got themselves a desperately needed win by beating the defending Stanley Cup Champion Penguins. For the first time in the last nine games, no less. It was a huge win for a bedraggled group of Sabres that featured no less than five players who began the season with the Rochester Americans in the AHL and in the process they snapped a six-game winless streak.

Also included in the happiness in and around KeyBank Center were a couple of firsts.

Carrier scored his first NHL goal on a nice play where he found open space after a Pittsburgh turnover in their own end. Buffalo defenseman Taylor Fedun, appearing in his second game of the year for the Sabres, sent a shot from the point that Carrier deftly redirected past Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to put the Sabres up 1-0 just over eight minutes into the game.

Both players began the year in Rochester and Carrier told the gathered media that the redirect was something they've worked on at practice. "Me and 'Feds' have been practicing that play in Rochester and we've been practicing it at every morning skate," he said. "It's pretty nice to get that one."

Pretty nice for Sabres bench boss Dan Bylsma to get that win as well. It was the first time in four tries he was able to beat his former team and although he probably was ecstatic he finally beat the team he lead to the 2009 Cup, for him it was simply an important win for the team right now. "It doesn't really matter who it's against," he told the media post-game, "[It was] a win we desperately needed."

Perhaps the team has finally figured out a way to grind out a low-scoring win or perhaps the Sabres finally have the personnel to play and win such a game. Buffalo has been without their top two centers in Jack Eichel and Ryan O'Reilly, two cornerstones for the fast, up-tempo style of play Bylsma would prefer to play. Buffalo is also without two top-four d-men in Zach Bogosian and Dmitry Kulikov both of whom can get up-ice and move the puck well.

With four of their top-10 skaters out of the lineup, Bylsma's been trying to grind out wins. However, he's been trying to do it with young players like Nicolas Baptiste and Justin Bailey plus other, somewhat older players with very little NHL experience like Casey Nelson and Evan Rodrigues. That didn't work out very well as prior to the game last night, the Sabres had lost three in a row by a combined 12-4 score with each opponent scoring four goals against the Sabres.

The parade of call-ups continued on Saturday with 30 yr. old Cal O'Reilly and 28 yr. old Cole Schneider made the trip to Buffalo. O'Reilly has 134 NHL games to his credit and played over 500 total games at the AHL-level. Although Schneider has played in only five NHL games, he's played in over 300 in the AHL.

That duo joined  defensemen Fedun with over 300 pro games (14 in the NHL) and Justin Falk who's played in 176 NHL games plus over 300 AHL games. Both of those players are also 28 yrs. old.

Although none of those four should be considered upper-level NHL'ers, there's a lot to be said for grinding out a hockey career over the course of many years in the AHL. Individually they may only be able to have an impact on a very limited basis, but as a group, they managed to add some stability to the Buffalo lineup, giving Bylsma the low-scoring, grind-it-out game he's been forced to play.

Which was the plan going into the game against the high-flying Penguins.

"The game-plane was keeping the game 0-0, trying to win it 1-0," said Carrier. "They've got a lot of skill over there so we were just trying to keep it 0-0."

"It's kinda how we want to play the game," said Bylsma, "We wanted to play a tight game and we wanted to be comfortable in a tight game.

Keeping it a tight game would have been impossible without the stellar netminding of backup goalie Anders Nilsson. The game's first star stopped 46 of the 47 shots the Penguins threw at him in regulation and overtime plus stopped Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang in the shootout. The Penguins didn't score until the third period and it was the first time since November 14, 2003 that Pittsburgh went into the third period without a goal against the Sabres according to ROOT sports.

Nilsson increased his record in Buffalo to 2-1-2 with a 1.74 GAA and .951 Sv%.

This was a great, hard-fought win for the Sabres but all will be for naught if they cannot keep it going. They finish their four-game home-stand with visits from the Calgary Flames on Monday and the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday. The walking wounded should start returning in the latter part of this month with an expected return by Eichel before December 1.

That said, the Sabres can't rest thinking that Eichel will float down from heaven to relieve them and their fans from all the suffering that's been going on so far this season. They haven't even hit the quarter-pole yet and if they want any chance of making a run at the playoffs it needs to begin now by consistently winning without Eichel and Ryan O'Reilly and Zach Bogosian and Dmitry Kulikov.

Last night was a good start and winning with only one regulation goal is quite the feat. But methinks they'll need to score a little bit more if they want to head into Thanksgiving on a roll.

Analytics, schmanalytics... (Anders Nilsson, Cole Schneider, Mark Pysyk)

...sometimes you just gotta will your way to a win.


Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-30-2016

It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but it would have made former head coach Ted Nolan proud. Nolan, who twice had stints asd the Buffalo Sabres head coach was never aan X’s and O’s kinda guy, he just got his players to believe that if you worked hard and kept at it things would eventually go your way. Often times he was right, then again, he wasn’t right enough to remain coaching in an ever-evolving NHL. Yesterday was one of those games for the Sabres where it went right as they came away with a hard-earned, 3-0 shutout win against the Florida Panthers at KeyBank Center.

For the time being, possession is the trend d’jour in the NHL and the Panthers went heavily in that direction this off season. After making the playoffs for the first time in three years with a good, young mix of talented young players that look to be on the rise, management made the decision to upgrade the blueline with analytics darlings like former NY Ranger Keith Yandel and former Sabre, Mark Pysyk. In the process they traded away gritty, Nolanesque type d-men in Eric Gudbranson, who went to Vancouver and Dmitry Kulikov, who was part of the Pysyk trade.

Sabres begin back-to-back against Toronto tonight, plus other notes (Anders Nilsson, Nick Baptiste)

Published by hockeybuzz.com--9-29-2016


It's been just over three years, and a whole lot of losing in between, since the infamous John Scott/Phil Kessel incident at Air Canada Center in Toronto. After Toronto's Jamie Devane pummeled Buffalo's Corey Tropp in a scrap, the two teams lined up for a faceoff at center ice and the 6'8" Scott found himself next to 6' Kessel with the Sabres in retribution-mode. Words were exchanged, the puck was dropped, Scott went after Kessel and Kessel started hacking at Scott's ankles with his stick.

Since then Kessel was traded by Toronto to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2015 and won the Stanley Cup with his new team a year later. Scott bounced from the Sabres to the San Jose Sharks, to the Arizona Coyotes. Scott won the NHL All-Star fan vote and seemingly at the behest of the league was shipped by the 'Yotes to the Montreal Canadiens where they sent him to the minors so he couldn't be a part of the All-Star Game. Scott would not only play in the game but was named MVP and had the pleasure of receiving a check from the league (to it's embarrassment.) He went home with a new Honda Pilot, $90,000 as being part of the winning team and was with his wife when she gave birth to twins less than a week later.

As for the teams, the Sabres were a mess during that 2013-14 season and plummeted to the bottom of the league two years running for a complete rebuild. The Leafs would follow suit two years later punctuated by the trade of Kessel. Now both teams are armed with a bevy of youngsters and are about to make their climb up the standings.

Building the 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres roster--G, Anders Nilsson

The Buffalo Sabres continued to chug through their preseason schedule with a trip to St. Catherines, Ontario last night. Buffalo and the Toronto Maple Leafs took a scoreless tie to the shootout where Matt Moulson scored the only goal in the fourth round to give the Sabres the shootout win.

The key word for the Sabres is scoreless and the goalie responsible for it was Anders Nilsson as he stopped all 23 shots in 65 minutes of play then stopped four more during the shootout. "He was rock solid," said head coach Dan Bylsma to the gathered media post-game. "It gives you a real comfortable feeling when you see a guy in net backstop your team."

Nilsson has made a pretty strong impression thus far. He played 30 minutes of shutout hockey over the course of two games during intrasquad scrimmages then stopped 26 of 27 shots in 40 minutes of ice time vs. the Minnesota Wild in Buffalo's preseason opener. Add it all up and he's off to a pretty good start for his fourth NHL team in six seasons.

Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray acquired Nilsson from the St. Louis Blues as a backup to starter Robin Lehner after a free agent deal went south. Pittsburgh Penguins backup Jeff Zatkoff had agreed to a deal with Buffalo before changing his mind and headed to Los Angeles leaving Murray holding the bag. Murray immediately turned his attention to Nilsson and the deal with St. Louis for his rights was consummated.

The overriding theme emanating from Sabreland at the time was that Murray panicked and paid too much both in the fifth-round pick he sent to the Blues as well as the one-year/$1M contract he doled out. Nilsson had played in a total of 52 NHL games for three teams compiling a 19-22-4 record with a composite 3.09 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. Not exactly sterling by any stretch of the imagination, even for a back up.

One thing Nilsson had going for him, other than Zatkoff putting the Sabres in a pinch, is that he has the size Murray covets in his goalies. Nilsson, like Lehner, is 6'5" and he chimes in at 225 lbs.
What he's been unable to do thus far in his career is create a large presence in net to match is size and it will be up to Sabres goalie coach Andrew Allen to help create that. Allen is in his second season with the Sabres and last season under his tutelage, backup goalie Chad Johnson had some of the best numbers of his career (including a career-high 22 wins.)

Nilsson has paid his dues in the league and even went to the KHL to get playing time against better competition. After finishing up his entry-level deal with the team that drafted him, the NY Islanders, Nilsson packed his bags and went to the KHL where he made the All-Star team and came back to the NHL with a ton of confidence. "I felt I needed an environment change to continue my development," he said via Amy Mortiz of the Buffalo News. "I felt it was the right way to go for me. My goal before going to Russia was to come back to North America and that was always in the back of my head and I was fortunate to do that."

During his time in Russia his rights were traded twice--from the Islanders to the Chicago Blackhawks to the Edmonton Oilers, the team he played for upon his return to North America. After a robust start to his career in Edmonton, Nilsson slumped and was sent to St. Louis. He appeared in three games for the Blues to finish last season before Buffalo acquired his rights.

No matter where he plays, however, it always comes back to size, something Bylsma talked about from the get-go. "It's tough to look at him and not see the size of him net," he said of Nilsson after that first scrimmage. "To play big, to play that big, and certainly he did in the scrimmage today, that’s got to be the strength of his game. He’s such a big body to be square and be in front of the shots. The expectation is that he stops the puck and he showed today he can do that."

Nilsson is continuing to do that so far this preseason and he's done so as the level of competition is getting better. As the preseason wears on, prospects will be sent back to their respective developmental leagues and the NHL'ers will start gearing up for the regular season. Hopefully for the Sabres Nilsson will be able to continue to progress as the competition gets stiffer. One thing that will help him is the Sabres defensive system that was on display last night against Toronto.

"The guys in front of me have played two very good games," said Nilsson last night. "They didn’t give up a lot of scoring chances or a lot of shots. It was more a team shutout and a team win." Save, of course, for the shootout where Nilsson stood alone.

Opportunity is knocking for Nilsson as he tries to solidify his role in Buffalo. Bylsma believes that the 26 yr. old is making his opportunity count. "He wants to prove he can be in the net and be a capable goaltender when he gets the opportunity,” said Bylsma last night. “He’s had two opportunities to this point, and he’s been really good in both of them."

That's a good sign for the Sabres and let's hope it continues.  



 Building the 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres roster:


LW, Evander Kane / C, Ryan O'Reilly / RW, Kyle Okposo
LW, Tyler Ennis / C, Jack Eichel / RW, Sam Reinhart
LW, Matt Moulson / C, Zemgus Girgensons/ RW, Justin Bailey
LW, Marcus Foligno / C, Johan Larsson / RW, Brian Gionta

D, Rasmus Ristolainen/ Dmitry Kulikov
D, Zach Bogosian/ D, Jake McCabe
D, Cody Franson / D, Josh Gorges

G, Robin Lehner
G, Anders Nilsson

On new Sabres goalie, Anders Nilsson

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


He's big, he's Swedish and since he was drafted by the NY Islanders at the top of the third round in 2009 he's managed 52 NHL games while playing for three different teams the last four seasons.

Goalie Anders Nilsson came to Buffalo in a July 2nd trade with the St. Louis Blues for a 2017 fifth-round draft pick, the day after Sabres GM Tim Murray watched as last year's backup goalie Chad Johnson took his talents to Calgary. Murray thought he had a deal done with goalie Jeff Zatkoff, a 29 yr. old Detroit, MI native who spent last season with the Stanley Cup winning Pittsburgh Penguins, but he was played and Zatkoff ended up with the LA Kings. Enter Nilsson and his 1yr./$1M contract.

Nilsson has been bouncing around the last couple of seasons. In 2014 he bolted the Islanders organization as a restricted free agent to sign a deal with Ak Bars Kazan of the Kontinental Hockey League. While Nilsson was busy putting up stout numbers in the KHL--1.17 GAA and a .936 Sv%--NHL teams were busy trading his rights. First Chicago traded for them in the October 4th Nick Leddy deal then less than a year later the Blackhawks traded his rights to the Edmonton Oilers where he restarted his NHL career in 2015.

And restarted it he did. Nilsson had a brilliant preseason with the Oilers then played well enough in his first two regular season starts for Edmonton to the point where Nilsson was now said to be pushing Cam Talbot for the starters role. When head coach Todd McLellan started Nilsson over Talbot after the latter was named first star in the previous game against Detroit, Nilsson had his chance to bring "goaltender controversy" into the conversation. It was not to be, however, as he got lit up by the Washington Capitals for six goals on 17 shots.

Nilsson did recover and he went on a pretty good streak for the Oilers--one which included winning five in a row and six out of seven from November 28th to December 11th. In those 15 games he went 9-5-1 with a goals-against average around 2.50 and a save percentage of .919. But the bottom dropped out after that and he would not win another game in Edmonton. On February 27 Nilsson was traded to the Blues for goalie prospect Niklas Lundstrom (2011, 132nd-overall) and a 2016 fifth-round pick (#149) which the Oilers turned into LW, Graham McPhee, son of former Capitals GM, George McPhee.

The overall numbers for Nilsson's NHL career are not all that great. He's appeared in 52 NHL games going 19-22-4 with a 3.09 GAA and a .900 Sv% and one should wonder what Murray was thinking when he made the trade, especially when there was a known quantity in Jhonas Enroth on the market who was said to be interested in returning to Buffalo.

Size does matter when it comes to Murray and his goaltenders and Murray likes big goalies. Nilsson chimes in at 6'5" 229 lbs. whereas Enroth is 5'11" 185 lbs. and with the change in goalie equipment on the immediate horizon a smaller goalie like Enroth will have even more to overcome.

The Sabres had a big goalie in Nathan Lieuwen but chose not to qualify the restricted free agent. Lieuwen has the size (6'5" 189 lbs.) but he's dealt with concussion issues the last two seasons which have put a hurtin' on his career. He's not Swedish either.

Buffalo's starting goalie is Robin Lehner is also from Sweden so he and Nilsson can now swap stories in their native tounge. Lehner had a rough start to his Sabres career as he hit IR after playing only two periods of hockey for his new team. When he came back, he came back pretty strong, but may have come back to early and the team shut him down in mid-March. Although Lehner's 5-9-5 record with Buffalo isn't anything to speak of he posted a 2.47 GAA and a .924 Sv%.

The addition of Nilsson does a number of things for the team even though fans will need to keep up on their high blood-pressure medication whenever he's in net. With him on board, Lehner will be the undisputed starter and will also have a homeboy with him in case he needs a hug. It also places goalie-prospect Linus Ullmark in Rochester for a full year of AHL development with Jason Kasdorf as his back-up for the Amerks. Should Lehner get injured again, unless Nilsson pulls a rabbit out of his hat, Ullmark will probably get the nod while Nilsson retains his back-up role.

Murray has said he wants to get better every day and many aren't sure how the signing of Nilsson as a back-up makes them better. Regardless of those thoughts, Buffalo's goaltending hierarchy is in place and if they plan on making the playoffs next season a healthy Lehner will go a long way in achieving that goal.

Ramp-up to the 2015 NHL Draft Pt. 1--Goaltending Prospects in the system

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Over the course of three drafts a franchise is given a total of 21 draft picks in seven rounds by the NHL and dependent upon where said franchise is on the food chain they will either have more or less picks. Those atop the chain gunning for the Stanley Cup will have fewer picks as they bolster their roster with specific players via trade-deadline rental players. The rental players will come from those teams at the bottom of the food chain in need of building blocks.

The Buffalo Sabres have been in rebuild-mode since 2012 and have made 36 selections over the course of the last three drafts. In 2012 they picked eight players, in 2013 they picked 11 and last season they left the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA with nine. In essence Buffalo was able to pack five years worth of picks into three drafts.

More impressive than that, and the main reason that many media outlets have Buffalo with the No. 1 pool of prospects, is that they had five first-round picks from 2012-14. To augment that, the team was able to add seven second-rounders to the pool. All totaled, from the first-overall pick in those drafts until the Sabres last pick in the second rounds, Buffalo brought in 12 of the top 145 prospects or about 8% of the prospect pool.

2014-15 Individual Stats--Final

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


The 2014-15 season is in the books and Sabreland is much better for it.

It was a season of flux, one that was filled with a wide range of emotions that captured what will be noted as the most divisive season in the history of the franchise. From the demotion of Mikhail Grigorenko to start the season, to the streak in late November/early December, to the franchise-long 14 game losing streak, to the 0-fer in January, to the quest for McEichel and the Arizona Coyotes, to Chris Stewart, Nikita Zadorov, Cody Hodgson, Tyler Myers, Anders Lindback and Mike Weber emotions ran the full gamut. In the end, the only thing left was a 30th place finish and the departure of head coach Ted Nolan and nearly all of his coaching staff with the emotions directed at him this season were more divisive and far-reaching than everything else combined.

A total of 34 skaters and five goalies laced 'em up for Buffalo this season. Nicholas Deslauriers was the only one to play in every game while the departed Joel Armia and goalie Andrey Makarov were the only players to play one game. And if you thought having 39 players play in at least one game was a lot, in 2013-14, there were 39 skaters and six goaltenders who laced 'em up for at least one game.

A petulant Lindback? And, Lindy Ruff's 2006-07 gameplan can help bring this thing home

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Perhaps it was the headline that read, Lindback courts many fans' displeasure, and the notion put forth that "he’s on his way to becoming one of the most reviled Sabres ever," as written by the author, Jon Vogl of The Buffalo News. Or maybe it was the number of games he's played in consecutively, which has reached eight, all since Michal Neuvirth was traded to the NY Islanders. Or it may have been something unseen, but Sabres goalie Anders Lindback began last night's game versus the New Jersey Devils in a petulant mood.

He wasn't angry, throwin' crosschecks or elbows or anything like that, but it seemed as if there was a slight change in his demeanor as seen when he handled the puck early in the game. It looked as if something was bugging him, throwing him off a bit. It had the look as if he'd mentally thrown his arms up to say, "whatever."

Anders Lindback raising some eyebrows

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


That was a helluva performance by Sabres goalie Anders Lindback at TD Garden. Buffalo headed into Beantown last night on the second game of a back-to-back against a team in the thick of a wild card battle and came out on top, 2-1 via the shootout (on St. Patrick's Day, no less.) In doing so, Buffalo avoided getting swept by Boston in the season series for the first time ever.

Lindback turned back 44 of 45 Boston shots en route to his first victory in the blue and gold since coming to Buffalo in the Jhonas Enroth trade to Dallas. All totaled, Lindback has stopped 227 of 243 shots for a stellar .934 sv%, but because he's on a last place Sabres squad that once again is scoring at an historically low pace, his record in Buffalo stands at 1-3-2.

It was only his third win of the season for him and first as a starter.

"You have to be able to give your team a chance to win every night as a starting goalie in this League and it’s not an easy thing,” Lindback said post game.

Especially in Buffalo this season. Although things are looking quite a bit different at this point as opposed to earlier in the year and during their team record 14 game losing streak.

Ovie "the King," another tanking team plus Sabres notes from last night

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com.


Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals were a tired lot last night. They came to Buffalo after an emotional, hard-fought shutout victory over the Boston Bruins the previous night to face the last place Sabres. And true to coach Barry Trotz's pregame warning, Buffalo did indeed represent a trap game.

As sluggish as the Capitals were they still managed to overcome a dedicated Sabres squad 4-3 in the shootout. As tired as Ovie was, he still managed to fire over 20 shots Buffalo's way with nine of them being registered as shots on goal with none of them tinkling the twine.

One can't dismiss "The Great Eight's" supreme talent. Ovechkin's skill-level is outstanding and when he wants to compete and be hard on the puck, he's a tough customer. But my word, what a lazy, goal-sucking slacker he can be.

Sabres goalie coach Arturs Irbe working some magic with Buffalo's netminders

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


When goalie Anders Lindback was traded to Buffalo for Sabres netminder Jhonas Enroth on February 11th, it was a somewhat curious trade for Buffalo. Not that they weren't intent upon getting a return for the soon to be unrestricted Enroth, but the return of Lindback was a bit of a head-scratcher.

From the Stars perspective, they were just three points out of a wild card spot at the time without any help from Lindback so an upgrade at the No. 2 spot was a necessity. As Kari Lehtonen's back-up the 26 yr. old Lindback was sporting a 2-8-0 record with a bloated 3.71 gaa and an AHL-worthy .873 sv%. Of note, both of Lindback's wins came in relief of Lehtonen.

Enroth was dealt a tough hand as the Sabres No. 1 goalie this season. Coming out of camp he got the nod as a starter over Michal Neuvirth, proceeded to get shelled, firmed up his game then capitulated under the relentless pressure of being a sitting duck in a shooting gallery. Yet, as the Sabres plummeted to a 16-36-3 record with a league low of 103 goals-for, Enroth was able to maintain a sense of dignity. He left Buffalo with a 13-21-3 record, a 3.27 gaa, a .903 sv.% and was a perfect 5-0 in the shootout allowing one goal on 21 attempts.

Have you recovered from the Evander Kane/Tyler Myers trade yet? (Brendan Lemieux, Jhonas Enroth, Joel Armia)

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Lost in the whirlwind trade that included one often talked about d-man long-rumored to be on the move plus a volcanic eruption of speculation in a 23 yr. old left-winger described as a misfit are a couple pieces that were largely ignored in the blockbuster deal between the Winnipeg Jets and the Buffalo Sabres.

But before we get to that, the earthquake that was the Kane/Myers trade was swallowed up another move by Sabres GM Tim Murray done later in the day. He sent soon to be unrestricted free agent goalie Jhonas Enroth to the Dallas Stars for a struggling back-up goalie in Anders Lindback and a conditional 2016 3rd round pick. According to TSN's Bob McKenzie the pick could be a 2nd-rounder should Enroth wins four playoff games for the Stars.

At this point in time, Dallas is five points behind Calgary with one game in hand and there are two other teams ahead of them in the chase--Minnesota  and Los Angeles. The Stars have been struggling all season with their goaltending and as a team sit 28th in the league in goals-against average at 3.20. Only the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo are worse. In addition to that, Dallas moved on from a goalie with one of the worst gaa in the league at 3.71 and one of the worst sv% at .875 to Enroth who has a respectable line of 3.27 gaa and .903 sv%. Enroth also won 13 games for the worst team in the league and rocked the shootout this season with a 5-0 record and a .953 sv%.

Sabres 2011/12 Season Preview Part. 2--Behind the Blueline (Andrej Sekera, Jonas Enroth, Jordan Leopold, Marc-Andre Gragnani, Jordan Leopold, Mike Weber, Robyn Regehr)

You cannot discount the fact the Terry Pegula had the opportunity to clean house when he took over the team in February.

But he, and Senior Hockey Advisor Ken Sawyer, along with right-hand man and Team President Ted Black decided to retain the longest tenured GM/Coaching tandem in the NHL--Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff.

With Regier, Pegula did his "due diligence" and said that no one he talked to had a bad thing to say about the GM.

For Ruff, it was cut and dry, "Lindy ain't goin' nowhere," Pegula proclaimed.

Both Regier and Ruff have strenghts and weaknesses, and both have been at odds with personnel choices, but one thing they both firmly believe in is the old NHL adage--build from the goal out.

And that's where we'll start as we look at the product on the ice.

Built From the Goal Out

In goal is 31 yr. old Ryan Miller, who is entering his ninth season with the team. The former Vezina winner and US Olympic Silver Medalist will, once again, be looked to as a big part of the team's foundation.

Miller is coming off of a below average 2011/12 regular season, a season in which both he and the team started the year in a deep funk. The team pulled out of the mess that was the first six weeks of the season and went on a tear in the 2011 portion which propelled them to the #7 seed in the Eastern Conference. Miller went 20-10-4 with a 2.50 gaa and four shutouts during 2011.

Although he'll never steal game after game like legendary Sabres goaltender Dominic Hasek, and although he'll never be an elite workhorse like the NJ Devils Martin Brodeur, Miller often times looks impenetrable in net and is regarded as one of the best goalies in the league.

His successes are often interwoven with, and his failures can be directly related to, the team in front of him, especially his defense. This season the defense is much stronger than last and may be even stronger than the one that played in front of him two years ago when he won the Vezina, so there's no reason he shouldn't be in that talk again.

Jhonas Enroth worked his
way into the role of
Ryan Miller's back up.

Goalie-prospect Jhonas Enroth made the jump to legit-NHL'er last season when he wrestled the reigns of backup from Patrick Lalime. His work in net has instills a sense of confidence in the skaters in front of him. It's not so much Enroth's numbers, it's the presence he has on the ice and how the team responds with him in goal. In fact, if you look a Lalime's last full season as Miller's back up in 2009/10 and compare them to Enroth's from last season, they're almost identical, except in the most important column--the win column.

Going forward, it looks as if the Sabres could have one of the top goaltending tandems in the league.

Regier Reinforces the Defense Corps

There's no doubt that the Sabres have some pretty good young d-men with bright futures ahead of them. Last year youngsters like Andrej Sekera and Chris Butler found themselves on the top pairing while another one, Marc-Andre Gragnani was played himself into big minutes late in the season and into the playoffs. It was unbalanced, though, leaning heavily towards the youth end of the equation and during the playoffs while facing a veteran-laden, tenacious Philly team their inconsistencies were exposed.

The Pegula-effect takes hold here, as the owner's drive to take care of business immediately lead to Regier bringing in two vets to bolster the top-pairings on defense--Robyn Regehr and Christian Ehroff.

Both players will be directly linked to the ownership of Terry Pegula and the teams' quest for the Stanley Cup and both players add dimensions that were lacking last year--Regehr's top-pairing, physical, stay-at-home style and Ehrhoff's offensive/power play acumen.

New Sabres d-man Robyn Regehr
will be adding some snarl
to the Sabres blueline.

Robyn Regehr--Everyone in the league knows what the former Calgary Flame brings to the table. He'll never be confused with Mike Green in the scoring department, nor will he be confused with former Sabre Hank Tallinder for his skating. But the big, gritty d-man brings an edge to the Sabres top-pairing that they haven't had since Jay McKee left. Regehr's big. And he's mean. And he has a sense of humor too. During a preseason game versus Montreal, Regehr deposited the Canadians Aaron Palushaj into their bench. When asked about it he had this to say, "I had an opportunity to line a guy up along the boards in front of their bench. I’ve only played out east occasionally being with a Western Conference team, so I took the opportunity to introduce myself to the guys on the opposing bench."

Christian Ehrhoff--The uproar over Erhoff's signing to a 10-year, $40m contract was loud and furious. That was until the preseason and Erhoff showed why he was brought on board. He a smooth skater who finds open ice. He can set-up a teammate or unleash a lethal shot that can get through traffic and find the back of the net. There are some question marks concerning his defense, but what we've seen thus far in the preseason, they may be somewhat overblown.

The Sabres had the 9th best power play in the league last season, and nabbing Ehroff, who came from the #1 power play in the league in Vancouver, should only enhance that. The misnomer on Ehrhoff is that he's a power play quarterback, but here's what he brought to table (from Vancouver Sun,) "the Canucks used him as a roamer, a fourth forward, of sorts. Often, the other members of the Canuck powerplay would form a diamond around the opposition’s four-man box, then have Ehrhoff drop down inside of it. Either the box collapsed, opening up room on the outside, or it didn’t, and a narrow passing lane to Ehrhoff opened up to be exploited."



Ehrhoff is coming off of back-to-back 14 goal seasons to a team that was in the top five in defense scoring. With his ability to find open ice and his wicked shot, there's no reason why the Sabres shouldn't continue to be one of the top teams in the league for scoring by defensemen.

Tyler Myers--Make no mistake, Myers is the future of the Buffalo Sabres rear-guard and were it not for the above acquisitions and their importance to the team, Myers would've had top-billing here.

Tyler Myers is adding
physicality to his already
impressive game.

Meyers is a franchise defenseman who was just signed to a franchise-like 7-year, $38.5m contract that both he and the Sabres are glad they got out of the way before he reached RFA status. Said Pegula, "It's a good felling to know that the players and the team are doing things quick. We didn't even know that Tyler wanted to get things over with this year and we said, 'Let's start talking about Tyler. The fact that it happens like that quick, it's a good feeling to know that he wants to be here, we want him.

Myers is 6'8" and can skate like a breeze, has a firm grasp on when to jump into the play, is solid in his own end and is a former Calder Trophy winner who dismissed his sophomore slump midway through last season. Even better, at 21 yrs. old Myers still has tremendous upside.

The scary part of Myers is that in addition to his skating, defense and offensive acumen he's beginning to develop an attitude. Being paired with Regehr this season will only further his development in the physicality department.

All-in-all, the Sabres went from top-three featuring youngin's like Myers, Butler and Sekera to one that now features a franchise d-man augmented by two top-four vets--both of whom have made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Bottom-Four

Jordan Leopold--Leopold logged the most average time on ice of any Sabres player last year, which might be surprising to some fans. Unfortunately, those minutes lead to a season that was very inconsistent and ended up the the d-man a team worst minus-11. Taking a look at last season, it's pretty obvious that Leopold was put in situations that were just out of reach for him. With Regehr, Ehrhoff and Myers locking down big minutes in big situations, Leopold should be in a position to succeed as he settles into a #4/5 role on the team. He's a puck-mover who can join the rush and put up points who will now be doing it mostly versus the opposition's second and third lines as well as taking his place on the Sabres second power play unit.

Andrej Sekera--Once again, as the top spots on d are filled competently by those who can play to that level, those in lesser roles will be in a position to succeed, and Sekera should benefit immensely by being in the bottom-pairing. Sekera's a puck-mover who has had severe brain-cramps on the back-end. On the opposite end of the spectrum, he did have flashes of brilliance last season during a stretch while paired with Myers. He's still relatively young and is still battling consistency issues so the best thing for him and the team right now would be for "Rej" to hone his game as a bottom-pairing d-man striving to reach the top-four.

Mike Weber clears Daniel Carcillo
from Ryan Miller's crease during
the playoffs last season.

Mike Weber--When you look at Weber, ya gotta say to yourself, "here's a man who's paid his dues." As a rookie call-up late in 2007/08, Weber put together a stretch of 16 games during the Sabres failed playoff push, where he was a plus-12. Unfortunately an injury the following season derailed any plans to stay with the Sabres in 2008/09. He had an unremarkable 7-game stint with the club that season, 42 with the Portland Pirates, then spent the entire 2009/10 season in Portland working his way back.

Last season he forced his way into the line up after being rotated in and out early on. He played 58 games for the team and finished second in plus/minus with a +13.

Weber's worth should not be closely tied to numbers, though. The big, physical Pittsburgh native plays a Regehr-type stay-at-home physical game and has no problem clearing the crease for his goalie. Just ask Daniel Carcillo.

For as big and nasty as he is, Weber is very adept in his own end with the outlet pass. Sure, he's had some blunders, as do nearly all 23 yr. olds. But he seems to be able to recover rather quickly.

As with Leopold and Sekera, the competency up top will put him in a position to succeed on the bottom-pairing.

Marc-Andre Gragnani is looking
to build upon a stellar appearance
late last season and into the playoffs.

Marc-Andre Gragnani--Simply put, Grags was a revelation during the playoffs last season vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. He lead the team in points with seven, averaged over 21 minutes per game and was one of two regular d-man not to be in the minus column as he and Leopold logged an even plus/minus rating.

Not bad for a late-season call-up who played all of nine regular season games for the team.

During the preseason, Grags did not look out of place beside Ehrhoff on the second pairing (WGR audio clip :30-mark) and it wouldn't be surprising to see him, Leopold and possibly Sekera playing quality minutes in the top-four. Based upon his play last season, it wouldn't surprise me to see Grags firmly entrenched in that #4 role by season's end.

The Skinny

At the end of last season, it was obvious that some of the biggest holes were on the back-end. It was not so much lack of talent as it was youthful inconsistency. Pegula and his charges didn't hesitate when the opportunity arose to fortify the d. Regehr and Ehrhoff, along with Myers, will be taking charge of top minutes, allowing for the rest of the d-corps to fall into place in roles more suitable to their talents and experience.

The Sabres defense will be the force that drives the team this season and may be the best group of players they've had in a long, long time. They're a diverse group, a nice mix of vets and youngsters that can defend, move the puck, score and hit. They have size, speed and grit as well. And with the goaltending tandem of Miller and Enroth back-stopping the defense corps, teams are gonna have their hands full in every area of the ice.

lindy ruff's gotta have a smile on his face... (Andrej Sekera, Jhonas Enroth, Marc-Andre Gragnani, Mike Weber, Nate Gerbe)

after last night's 1-0 win vs. the rangers.

A frustrated Rangers squad wants to continue play after the Buffalo Sabres
hold off the NY Rangers at HSBC with a 1-0 victory.
The Sabres on the ice--Nathan Gerbe, Paul Gaustad, Drew Stafford,
Mike Weber, and Andrej Sekera (not pictured)
will have none of that.



Here's why:

• the Sabres are now in 7th place in the Eastern Conference (via the new NHL tie breaker) and are one game over the .500 mark (wins vs. total losses) once again
• they did it by beating, and therefore jumping over, the NY Rangers last night in a game that had a "playoff feel" to it
• the Sabres shut out the Rangers 1-0, with "back-up" goaltender, Jhonas Enroth, getting the start in place of an injured (day-to-day) Ryan Miller
• Buffalo played a "lock-down" defensive game limiting the Rangers to a handful of scoring opportunities
• they only had one penalty against and they killed it
• they only had one power play opportunity and scored the only goal on it
• the team came back from laying an egg in Toronto the night before and put forth one of it's best performances of the year
• the Sabres have not lost back-to-back games dating back to February 16-20, which ended the Tom Golisano-era
• the team ended a stellar month going 10-4-2 which included three shutouts in the last five games

Individually, here are some players who stood out:

• Enroth--1st star of the game, was minimally tested and turned aside every Ranger opportunity in his 23-save performance
• call-up, Marc Andre-Grangnani, foils a three-on-one shorthanded break by the Rangers and gets a secondary assist as the puck bounces off of him to Thomas Vanek who feeds Tim Connolly
• Connolly--much maligned for nearly every reason under the sun, including not using his shooting skills, blasted a slapshot top-shelf, blocker side with authority for the only goal of the game
• Mike Weber--rugged, gritty, tough. Just ask Artem Anisimov who ended up on his ass at the side of the Buffalo net
• Andrej Sekera--"Rej!". Was that you burying Ranger, Ryan Callahan, at the end of the game? Or was that your "bad-ass" twin brother?
• Weber and Sekera entrusted to preserve the win for the last 1:11 of the game
• Drew Stafford who was on the ice for the final Ranger's onslaught and came through

And then there's Nathan Gerbe, on the ice once again to preserve a one-goal lead at the end of the game.

The following video, culled from the NY Rangers web-site, shows his defensive smarts as Ranger Marion Gaborik has a golden opportunity in the waning seconds. Gaborik is in position, Enroth is not and Gerbe does the littlest (snicker, snicker) of things (which can be found at the 1:25 mark):

tradeable assets (Andrej Sekera, Drew Stafford, Jhonas Enroth, Mark Mancari)

if, by some wild stretch of the imagination, buffalo sabres gm darcy regier were to bring in a legitimate top-six forward, i.e. a #1 center, left-wing or right-wing or a #2 center or left-wing, via trade, it'll certainly come at a cost...no team in the nhl will want to trade a player like that for the likes of tim connolly, drew stafford or jochen hecht...one of these could certainly be a piece, but teams willing to trade a top-six player will be looking for a top-notch prospect in return, a young nhl'er with up-side as well as a top draft pick (or two)...

right now, the sabres best prospect-commodity in a trade for that caliber player would be:

• jhonas enroth, g--although he's on the smallish side, enroth is a position-goaltender type with quick reflexes...he's shown steady improvement since coming over the pond and, although he didn't wow the team in his only call-up, he's on the nhl-cusp right now...why would a team want him?...enroth is real close to being nhl-ready and his ahl-play makes him a potential #1 with some nhl-seasoning...unless your goaltending situation is set for the foreseeable future, allowing enroth's talents to evolve at a reasonable pace could pay big dividends in the future...why would the sabres part with him?...they really don't want to, but enroth would probably be a key piece in any trade for top-notch talent...one thing that we do know is that ryan miller is the sabres goaltender for at least the next four years (barring anything funky happening) and that the sabres will not use enroth in a back-up position when he can get everyday work in the minors...although the sabres are a bit thin in goaltending depth after enroth, four years could be enough time to develop one of brad eidsness, nick eno or hulking connor knapp all of whom are in college right now...a wild-card in the works is williamsville, ny native david leggio, who is providing quality back-up work with portland...in four games he has a 2.41 gaa and a .933 sv%...he was signed to a two-way contract this past august...
• as for other prospects, the sabres are organizationally thin up-front so teams who are interested in the likes of luke adam, zach kassian or even present sabre tyler ennis will need to be offering a premium player in return...on defense (see names below,) the sabres have plenty of puck-movers who probably won't be a part of any trade, unless there's a premium return, defensemen being the organization's strong suit...and they can probably forget about prospect brayden mcnabb, a prospect whom the sabres coveted for his size, grit, strength, skating ability and production...not any like him in the system right now...

which leads us to a couple of current roster players as "sweeteners":

• andrej sekera, d--"rej" is into his third full season with the big-club and will be a restricted fa at seasons end...his price tag is $1.2m...he's a puck-mover on the back end capable of logging secon-pairing minutes...although he doesn't hit the score sheet as much as you would like, he does contribute and has the potential to up his numbers...on the down side, although most think he's having a solid season thusfar, he's still inconsistent and it's still scary when he's defending the zone...why would a team want him?...anaheim is one of few teams who are in need of an nhl-caliber d-man right now and, as the old adage goes, you cannot have enough of them...why would the sabres part with him?...the sabres have some good puck-movers in the ahl right now lead by marc-andre gragnani who had a legitimate shot of making the team out of camp before he was injured...offensive-minded tj brennan has been working on the defensive aspect of his game and it seems to get better all of the time...drew schiestel is continuing his development in portland as a puck-mover and seems pretty solid in his own end...nick crawford was a offensive revelation last season in the juniors and is presently developing in portland...that's a succession of four puck-moving d-men that makes sekera tradeable...

• drew stafford--he's got good size, has been able to put the puck in the net and has shown that when he wants to he can really control the play in the offensive zone...problem is, he's inconsistent...he comes at a cost this season $2.3m, but will be a restricted fa afterwards...why would a team want him?...show the game tapes when he's motivated and you see a power-winger waiting to have a breakout season...why would the sabres get rid of him?...they've seen too much of his jeckyl/hyde routine over the past 3+ seasons and would part with him, putting him in a package for a legit top-six

one more possibility:

• marc mancari--a hulking presence in the ahl, mancari is earning the reputation of "the next jody gage"...he has ahl-all-star talent, but falters when he comes to the big-club...he is slow and the action seems too fast for him on an nhl level...why would a team want him?...as a throw in, it wouldn't be a bad gamble for a player like mancari who could someday have the switch turned on and take a spot on the top-six in the line-up...odds are stacked against this happening, but it could happen...why would the sabres move him?...why not? after this season zach kassian will be with portland as the #1 rw prospect, and a slew on unheralded, mid-lower-round draft-picks like cory tropp, maxime legault and gregg sutch will have the opportunity to move up the depth-chart....the depth on rw is very, very thin, but guys like undrafted fa derek whitmore and nhl-castoff mark parrish should be able to hold down the fort in portland and/or bring as much to the table with the sabres as mancari has...

just some food for thought...