On the downward spiral, and the chasm between the players and Bylsma

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-17-2017


It’s more than just the fourth consecutive 2-0 loss for Buffalo in Los Angeles, which is strange in and of itself, especially when you consider the last Sabres player to score a goal at Staples Center was, of all people, Craig Rivet (nothing personal) back on January 21, 2010. It’s also more than the 2-8-2 swoon the Sabres have found themselves in since a three-game winning streak had those in Sabreland thinking about a possible playoff run.

After a rough start to the season and some inconsistencies along the way, the Sabres were seemingly righting the ship with a 13-8-2 record to start the 2017 portion of the season. But a decidedly tired Sabres team incurred a rough 5-1 loss at home against the Chicago Blackhawks just prior to their bye week and since then they've been spiraling out of control. Or should we say a surprisingly fragile team soon found themselves losing games they had no business losing and eventually succumbed to apathy. The result is that of a team that now looks content to ride out the season.

The Sabres are in a downward spiral and they neither have the will or the courage to play out the rest of the string as professionals playing for a sense of pride. As a group, they have no pride in themselves or the crest and the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

Last night in Los Angeles most of the skaters looked as if they were taking a casual walk down the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the first half of the game, prancing and stargazing while Los Angeles was busy peppering goalie Robin Lehner with 15 first period shots. Were it not for a rather stodgy style the Kings play and the stellar goaltending of Lehner, the Sabres would have been in the same situation they were in when the Columbus Blue Jackets visited last week--down 3-0.

Despite being outshot 15-2 in the first period, the Sabres and Kings were tied 0-0 heading into the intermission. The Sabres allowed 36 Los Angeles shots on goal last night in what's been a very disturbing trend. In last eight games against teams not named Arizona and Colorado, the Sabres have hung their goalies out to dry giving up an average of 37.5 shots-against/game. That ain't right. In fact it's downright shameful and their 1-5-2 record in those games shows just how pitiful this team has been.

Look, I get it. Coach Dan Bylsma and his systems have been clashing with the on-ice personnel all season long, probably dating back to last season. That much has been coming out of the media and ever so subtly (or not so subtly at times) through the players all season and the numbers indicate that this is a group of players that has tuned out their coach. If Bylsma somehow makes it to next season, it will be a miracle, especially when you consider that the team is looking to start contract-extension talk with franchise center Jack Eichel, a player who's been at odds with Bylsma. We know how this ends. Coaches don't sell tickets, star players do.

I also get the fact that this team is pretty weak on defense. D-man Taylor Fedun was called up from Rochester yesterday and caught a flight to Los Angeles. Although he didn't make it in time for the team's optional skate, he was on the ice and played a real solid game. That he was probably the Buffalo's best defenseman last night tells us a lot about where the rest of the d-corps heads were at.

We should also give a shout out to the line of Evan Rodrigues, Marcus Foligno and rookie Hudson Fasching who took the play to the Kings nearly every time they were on the ice. But they, along with Fedun, got no help from the star players on this team.

Sure Eichel and the like eventually woke up. They had spurts where they played extremely well and were all over Los Angeles, but it wasn't nearly enough. Buffalo got lucky once in the last handful of games as they eventually came back from that 3-0 first period deficit against Columbus to win, but for the most part they've looked like a team that packed it in.

The Sabres have 11 games to go. They're out of the playoffs and only a few of players are playing for a Buffalo contract next season. Captain Brian Gionta's one of them. He's been saying that he wants to return and at a reasonable price he very well could be back. Fedun is unrestricted as well and should be offered an extension. He played well on his first recall before a numbers-crunch sent him back to Rochester. Does he want to return is the big question. The other two UFA's are defensemen Dmitry Kulikov and Cody Franson.

Kulikov came over in a trade with the Florida Panthers and WGR550's Paul Hamilton said that he seemed devastated when he learned he was leaving Florida. Add a shortened training camp from Kulikov's participation in the World Cup of Hockey and the preseason tailbone injury that plagued him this season and one can see why Hamilton thinks this guy wants to be on the next train out of Buffalo once the season ends.

At one point in time Franson was considered a slow-moving defenseman with some offensive acumen who could man the point  on the powerplay. Take out the latter two positives and you have a defenseman that slowed considerably. It's been rough for Franson and despite his proclamations that he wants to return, we're not sure the feeling's mutual.

There will be changes that, more than likely, will include a coaching change thanks to their obvious display of disdain for Bylsma and his methods. However, it probably won't happen until after the season and there's still 11 games to play.

This group of players is not the first to pack it in because of their coach and they won't be the last, but there are 11 games to play and they should man up. I don't expect the Sabres stars to go all out to block a Shea Weber slapshot or to take on a heavyweight, but they should show a little professional pride and skate like it's an honor to play a game for a living.

Murray isn't a dummy. One would think that after watching this parade of stinkers over the past few weeks that he gets the hint--this team, or at least the key components of this team, are neither having fun nor are they winning and that's falls on the coach. Yet those same players should be forced to look at themselves in the mirror. They have enough talent to play to a higher level should they choose to but choosing not to, especially when they've made their message clear, is unacceptable.

The defense can be fixed, the schemes can be altered and the people in charge can make things better, but if you don't have enough character and/or maturity to know when to stop, that's on the individual. And it starts with the star players.

Tonight the Sabres finish their three-game West Coast swing with a trip down I-5 to Anaheim to take on the Ducks, a team that smoked them 5-2 on February 7 in Buffalo.

Sabres in Los Angeles, plus former d-men Brayden McNabb and Mark Pysyk

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-16-2017


The Buffalo Sabres are in Los Angeles tonight for Game-2 of their three-game West Coast swing. The Sabres defeated the Kings in Buffalo back in December as they overcame a 2-0 deficit with four unanswered goals in a span of 6:15 to eventually win 6-3. Ryan O'Reilly, Jack Eichel (2,) and Brian Gionta scored in the Sabres blitzkrieg while Evander Kane and Sam Reinhart finished it off with goals late in the third period.

With that win, the Sabres are assured of at least a season split for the fourth season in a row. Somehow, even through the down years of 2013-15, Buffalo has managed a win at home. However, haven't won in Los Angeles since 2003.

The Kings are battling for a wild card spot while the Sabres, for all intents and purposes, have only 12 games left before their season ends.

It's been a rough season for the Sabres with everyone feeling the heat from the players to head coach Dan Bylsma to GM Tim Murray. Injuries and inconsistencies have plagued the club since Eichel was lost for the first 21 games with a high-ankle sprain. Although they had many opportunities to get on a roll, Buffalo's longest winning streak reached three games while their longest points-streak reached four. Every team above them in the standings has had a winning streak of at least five games or more save for the NY Islanders who've had two six game points-streaks with five wins each time.

The Sabres will face off against former defenseman Brayden McNabb who was traded by Murray to the Kings on March 5, 2014. In the deal Murray also sent two second round picks (both acquired from LA in the Robyn Regehr trade) and in return the Sabres received two "heavies," as Murray called them--forward Hudson Fasching and defenseman turned winger, Nicolas Deslauriers.
It was Murray's first trade of his own volition as the trade of Ryan Miller and Co. to the  St. Louis Blues on February 28, 2014 was in the works via the previous regime.

Murray is getting his fair share of the blame for a disappointing 2016-17 Sabres season as the defense he went into the season with has been sub-par at best, brutalized at worst. Although McNabb isn't anything close to a Bill Hajt-type shutdown defenseman, the 26 yr. old former third-round pick (2009) has managed to play a third-pairing role while also showing some capabilities when placed in the top four.

I'm not sure the left-handed McNabb would have brought much more to the table than any of the other bottom-four defenseman for Buffalo, but when you look at a poor season by Deslauriers, the injuries that have plagued Fasching this season as well, and when you add in that the Sabres defense looked to be in disarray for the better part of 2016-17, an argument could be made that he may have been able to help.

Fasching, who suffered a severe groin injury in a game October 30 may be back in the lineup tonight as rookie winger Justin Bailey has been dinged. The 6'2" 207 lb Fasching got the call from Rochester for the West Coast swing and is looking for his first NHL point this season. After returning from injury Fasching played in 23 games for the Amerks registering five goals and two assists in that span. He's had one point in his last six Amerks games.

It's another late start as the puck drops at 10:30 EST.


*****

There's a tendency in Sabreland, or most any fanbase for that matter, to consecrate a lost player as the second coming. Even though said player may have been a good player, when he leaves Buffalo he's placed a notch or two above where he really was.

We went through that with McNabb after he played next to Drew Doughty and acquitted himself well. All of a sudden, a projected third-pairing defenseman became was looked at as a top-two and the Sabres screwing up.

It's happening again with departed defenseman Mark Pysyk.

Pysyk was traded to the Florida Panthers along with two picks for defenseman Dmitry Kulikov and the 33rd-overall pick at the June draft. While Kulkove was struggling with injury and downright awful play at times, Pysyk was holding his own and playing well in a third-pairing role for the Panthers.

Good for him. When playing for Buffalo Pysyk was a steady defenseman who could move the puck and occasionally jump up into the play. He was the type of player that the Sabres could've used this season although how much of an impact he could've made is debatable as he probably would've been in the same bottom-pairing role he'd been in the previous season in Buffalo.

The Panthers had him playing big minutes the last three games and Pysyk has responded with two goals and an assist while the team has gone 1-2-0 in those three games. The last game was a 7-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs which prompted Cats color commentator (and NHL Hall of Fame defenseman) Denis Potvin to get fired up about Pysyk's potential.

That in turn was overheard by former Sabres defenseman Mike Robitaille who was on with the morning crew on WGR.

The talk moved toward "who's to blame" for the disappointing Sabres season and the focus was now on Murray and some of his trades. McNabb was the first name up then the host brought up Pysyk. Robitaille used Potvin's commentary as a springboard noting that Pysyk was said to be "taking over the Florida defense" with top d-man Aaron Ekblad out. Then he went on to say that Pysyk's "solid, money in the bank," and "a 15-year defenseman, top-four.

"He's the real deal," said Roby.

Pysyk may very well be "the real deal" but just how much of a "real deal" are we talking about. Normally when you use a phrase like that you're talking superstar or star playing in a top role. When Pysyk was in Buffalo, most thought he was a No. 4-6 defenseman which is probably where he'll end up his career. He's a smart player who knows how to play the game and will do so in a manner that may in fact last 15 years.

Once again, good for him. I always liked his game and if he's a good fit in Florida more power to him and the Panthers. If the trade ends up being a flop for Murray, and Kulikov's problems certainly make it that way for this season, and/or if Pysyk does become a Niklas Hjalmarsson-type or better, than so be it.

However, spare me the canonization of Pysyk at this juncture of his career.


*****

Defenseman Taylor Fedun has been recalled from Rochester and is headed to Los Angeles. Fedun was recalled to replace Justin Falk who's dinged up.

The 28 yr. old Fedun last played for the Sabres on February 12 against Vancouver. In 25 games for the Sabres the soon to be unrestricted free agent had seven assists and was a plus-3 while averaging 13:38 of ice-time.

From Russia, with love? Sabres said to be signing KHL's Viktor Antipin

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-14-2017


First there was the swap with Florida where the Sabres traded defenseman Mark Pysyk and two pick for defenseman Dmitry Kulikov and the 33rd overall. Then Buffalo GM Tim Murray selected Vasily Goltov, a Russian center whom Sabres selected later that day in the seventh round.

Now word has it that the Sabres are about to sign a free agent defenseman from the Kontinental Hockey League once his season is over. Sportsnet's Elliot Freidman wrote in his "30 Thoughts" today that "24-year-old Viktor Antipin is expected to join Buffalo."

Antipin is a 5'11" 179 lb. defenseman who has played for Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL for the past six seasons compiling 98 points (36+62) in 266 games with a plus-66 rating. In 69 playoff games for Metallurg he upped his .37 regular season points/game to .45 ppg with 31 points on 13 goals and 18 assists.

The Sabres are left to span the globe to find defensemen because of a very thin pool. It's a situation that's caused problems with the big club but has really wreaked havoc with their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. Going into the season the Amerks had three veteran d-men they were going to anchor their defense with--Justin Falk, Taylor Fedun and Eric Burgdoerfer. However, because of injuries most notably to Kulikov (who's injured again) and Zach Bogosian (missed 26 games) the Sabres pulled Falk to the big club for 45 games (and counting,) Fedun for 25 and Burgdoerfer for another two. Casey Nelson, a 2016 college free agent signee (Minnesota State) was also in Buffalo for the first nine games of the season because of the Kulikov injury.

What remained in Rochester was a skeleton crew of defensemen that have been overwhelmed all season.

Help is on the horizon in that highly touted prospect Brendan Guhle will be turning pro next season, although it looks as if he'll be headed straight to the Sabres. St. Cloud State defenseman Will Borgen (2015, 92nd overall) will be in Rochester next season and Devante Stephens (2015, 122nd) will also be eligible to play in the AHL next season. The only Rochester defenseman under contract for next season is Nelson. Brady Austin (2012, 193rd) will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season and whether or not they re-sign him is up in the air.

The Sabres were once again looking at the college free agent market and were said to be in on Minnesota State sophomore defenseman Daniel Brickley but he intends to return for his junior season. With him out of the equation Buffalo is said to be going after St. Lawrence d-man Gavin Bayreuther. According to Elliot in the same piece,  "It’s believed Dallas was the most aggressive pursuer, with Buffalo and Colorado lurking."

With the college FA market really thin this season and the team not expected to sign 2013 fifth round draft pick Anthony Florentino (Providence Friars,) I was told by Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com that the Sabres "were going hard for Euro FA's" right now and sure enough, with the news of the impending signing of Antipin, "There's the Euro."

Murray put himself in a tough spot when he focused almost exclusively on the forward group while using defensemen as currency in trades. There's been a huge shift in talent away from d-prospects and young players when he did his wheeling and dealing for young, veteran forwards. It's a self-inflicted bind he's got himself in and it will be interesting to see how they come out of this.

Right now Baker called Buffalo "desperate" and it's to the point where a real good (according to Baker) but not "amazing" prospect like Bayreuther will probably be able to burn the first year of his two-year contract this season, something they did with Nelson.

Prior to last year's draft Murray had not used a draft pick on a Russian as GM in Buffalo. There's always been this thought that he's had an aversion to players from the Motherland. Perhaps it's gotten to the point where every area in the world's been scouted so much, from North American colleges to Denmark, Finland and Sweden that there's really not much uncharted territory out there, except for maybe Russia because of the so-called "Russian Factor."

Times may be changing, see Artemi Panarin and Nikita Zaitsev, to name a couple, and teams may have no choice but to scour Russia for players.

And that includes Murray and the Buffalo Sabres.

Will Buffalo have room for Evander Kane and a d-man like Shattenkirk?

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-13-2017


Buffalo Sabres left wing Evander Kane has played his way into a contract extension with the team. Scoring 25 goals and looking every bit the powerforward he's always been touted as has brought the conversation in Sabreland from "trade him for a bag of pucks!" to "will he want to re-sign in Buffalo? And for how much?" Because of Kane's exceptional season, it won't come cheap for Buffalo GM Tim Murray, but then again, nothing ever worth having does.

Kane still has one year remaining on his old contract which comes in at a $5.25 million dollar cap-hit.
Dollars and term are the big hurdles for the team and player, but I'm going to get this out of the way right now and say based upon his past history which includes off-ice incidents and solid but not premier production between 2011-12 when he scored 30 goals and this year where he' on a pace to equal that (which amounts to 21 goals/season,) dancing around that $7 million/year average seems a big high. A cap-hit of $6 million would be about right using that past history, however $6.5 million might very well be where this all ends up.

In looking ahead to the 2018-19 season, Murray has a few huge factors working in his favor when it comes to cap-management--some dead weight will be off the books by then, he will have a trove of forwards filling in at low cap-hits around his core group and two of his longer-term, top-four d-men, which includes Rasmus Ristolainen on the top pair, will account for a combined $7 million cap-hit.

Before we get to Kevin Shattenkirk who may end up signing a long-term deal somewhere (maybe Buffalo) for $6.5-7 million, let's take a look at the potential forward group heading into the 2018-19 season. There will be two players for sure on the team moving forward:  Ryan O'Reilly and Kyle Okposo. Matt Moulson and Tyler Ennis will be in the final year of their contracts and I can't see either being on the team at that point. Moulson looks to be a sure buyout candidate after this season and if Tyler Ennis can stay healthy enough his $3.65m salary but $4.6m cap-hit could be enough incentive for a team looking to get to the cap floor to take him off of Buffalo's hands.

In adding to the forward group we'll go high on Eichel and put him at an $8m cap-hit while Reinhart may be in the $4m range, which is a pretty hefty hike. The rest of the roster can be filled in using the present lineup which includes a lot of youthful speed and talent.

Here's how the forward group would stack up with Eichel at the top of the food chain and the rest falling in place behind him:

Eichel--$8m
O'Reilly--7.5
Kane--6.5
Okposo--6
Reinhart--4
Foligno--3
Girgensons--2
Larsson--2
Rodrigues--1
Carrier--1
Bailey--1
Baptiste--1
Nylander--.975
Reserve--.650

Approximate cap-hit forwards:  $44.6 million


On defense the Sabres will need a significant upgrade and Shattenkirk may be their ticket. With him and Ristolainen anchoring the right side, Jake McCabe and Brendan Guhle will probably be rounding out the top-four on the left side. Zach Bogosian who is under contract through the end of 2019-20 is a big question mark as his $5.14 million cap-hit makes things extremely tight, but here goes with him in the lineup:

Shattenkirk--$7m
Ristolainen--5.4
Bogosian-5.14
McCabe--1.6
Guhle--.700
#6 FA--1
#7 FA--.75

Approx. total cap hit d-men:  $21.5m

I'm of the opinion that Murray will be able to re-sign goalie Robin Lehner to a contract that won't exceed a $3m cap-hit and that for the 2018-19 season either Linus Ullmark or Cal Petersen will be his back-up. My bet is on Ullmark (if he's not taken in the upcoming expansion draft) which leaves us with a goalie tandem of:

Lehner--$3m
Ullmark--.9

Total for goalies:  $3.9m

Grand total for the entire roster:  $70 million

Add in Moulson's approximate buyout number of $2.83 (according to cap friendly.com) and the grand total for this roster as constructed in 2018-19 is about $73 million which is this year's NHL salary cap.

Add in that the cap will probably go up anywhere from $3-5 million in the next two years and the Sabres will be in good shape using the players and numbers laid out above.

Sabres do hometown fans a solid

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-12-2017


Individually there's a lot of pride in Buffalo Sabres players. Some are simply hockey players motivated 100% of the time, others fall into the trappings of riding emotional waves while still others need someone or something to shake themselves out of the cocoon that they've built around them. During the course of a game it all can contribute to a full performance when they're aligned positively or they it can amount to an absolutely dismal performance 180 degrees to the negative.

Inconsistency represents all the points in between.

For the Sabres inconsistency was the key word in defining this team up until the Chicago game just before their bye week. Beginning with the 5-2 loss to the Blackhawks late last month and coming off of Friday night's 4-3 loss in Columbus, the needle ended up fluctuating on the negative side from meh to disastrous, hence Buffalo's 1-6-2 record prior to their game last night vs. the Blue Jackets.

And as we've seen all season, said inconsistencies are not only game-to-game, but quite often are found period to period and even shift to shift with this edition of the Buffalo Sabres. Countless times throughout the season, players and coaches lamented after a loss that the team needs to play a 60-minute game.

Last night it looked as if that needle was going as far to the negative side as possible for the second time in three games. On Tuesday, with their playoff hopes vanquished for all intents and purposes, the Sabres laid their biggest egg of the season in front of their fans as they dropped a 6-3 game vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. There have been bad performances by this club all season but to allow six even-strength goals to a team that's worse than them at scoring 5v5 was a bottom they'd yet to hit all year.

When Columbus upped their lead to 3-0 late in the first period last night, it looked as if the Sabres were going to reach a new low. Yet they somehow managed a comeback the likes of which we haven't seen since December, 2009 when Buffalo overcame a three-goal deficit to win in regulation vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins who, ironically enough, were coached by present Sabres bench boss Dan Bylsma at the time.

Drew Stafford (2 goals, the first on a penalty shot) Paul Gaustad and Jason Pominville (on the powerplay) scored for Buffalo that night and Patrick Lalime (wearing #40) relieved Ryan Miller 1:28 into the second period and stopped all 27 shots he faced on the way to a 4-3 Buffalo victory in front of the home crowd who left the arena ecstatic.

Last night it was another #40 coming into the game in relief as starter Robin Lehner took over for Anders Nilsson to begin the second period. Lehner stopped all 24 shots he faced, including some fine stops to keep it 3-2 and one incredible stop on Cam Atkinson with just over 30 seconds left in the third and Buffalo up 4-3.

For the second night in a row special teams was the difference. On Friday in Columbus the Jackets went 2/3 on the power play in their win. Last night they went 0/3. For their part the Sabres went 0/1 at Columbus in the loss then went 2/5 in last night's win.

The positives kept coming in the second period as much maligned (deservedly so) Nicolas Deslauriers provided the spark that the Sabres needed as he set up defenseman Jake McCabe for the Sabres first goal just 18 seconds into the second period. "D-lo," who's the lowest forward on the totem pole, snagged a point for the second straight night which happen to be his first two points of the season. He went was placed by Bylsma on the top line to give the team a spark but when no willing pugilist was to be found on the ice, he got on the forecheck and fed a pass right into a pinching McCabe's wheelhouse.

McCabe's goal was his third of the season and the third by a Buffalo defenseman in the last two games and he almost had another as he rifled one off the post less than three minutes later. Also on the positive side, there was a Matt Moulson sighting. He lit the lamp for the first time in 11 games as he scored his team-leading 10th powerplay goal. Sam "The Quiet One" Reinhart bookended McCabe's early second period goal with one of his own and only :03 seconds left on the clock in the second period.

From there it was some solid goaltending at both ends of the ice until Jack Eichel, with Buffalo on the powerplay, took advantage of a broken Columbus stick and sent a cross-ice rocket to Evander Kane who promptly buried the feed into a gaping net for the lead. Eichel would add the empty-netter with a few seconds left, after a nifty pass to himself in his own zone, for the 5-3 final score.

This edition of the Sabres has seen it's fair share of difficulties this season and they could've easily packed it in last night and methinks the Blue Jackets, who had such an easy time through the first 20 minutes, were expecting that as well. But in a league where parity is the norm and almost any team can come back against a complacent opposition, the best teams step on the throat of a downed opposition and Columbus just couldn't do that last night.

For today, we'll refrain from the obvious short-comings of the Sabres and allow for a little sunshine as the Sabres are set to embark on a three-game West Coast swing beginning Tuesday against the San Jose' Sharks. They'll travel to Los Angeles to take on the Kings Thursday before heading down I-5 to meet the Anaheim Ducks for yet another back-to-back on Friday.

Pegulaville '17: Jackals folding, Rochester mess, Sabres sliding

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-11-2017


When billionaire Terry Pegula took over the Buffalo Sabres in February, 2011 he laid out a picture where no expense would be spared to turn the Sabres into a top-notch organization. In his first presser he talked about taking the financial chains off management while also boldly stating that money would be pouring into drafting and developing (as well as keeping) theirplayers.

"There is no salary cap for the National Hockey League on scouting budgets and player development budgets," Pegula declared. "I plan on...increasing our scouting budgets, both with bodies on the ground, and in areas we may not be hitting capably, and also enhancing our video department. Starting today, we will bring in more player development coaches, to help these guys become better hockey players, work on their weaknesses, or whatever the coaches think. We will aspire to be the best in the league at finding, developing, and keeping our players in their new Buffalo Sabre family."
True to his word, Pegula allowed upper management to bolster the scouting department. When he took over from GM to amateur scout there were 16 people who represented the hockey department which included two scouting directors, two pro scouts and eight amateur scouts. Today the Hockey Department has a group of six scouting directors overseeing a scouting department of 16 pro and amateur scouts as well as one person devoted to Analytics.

However, it's an evolution that does not bring instant gratification and it's best to keep in mind that GM Tim Murray began to put this team in place nearly three years ago with 2014 being his first draft for Buffalo.

Pegula furthered his player development plan by purchasing the Rochester Americans and buying out the Sabres affiliation with the Portland Pirates. Under previous Sabres owner Tom Golisano, the long-time affiliation with the Rochester Americans went from a lone, 29-year affiliation to a shared one with the Florida Panthers (2005-08) to Buffalo breaking away and aligning themselves with the Portland Pirates beginning in 2008. With Pegula's 2011 purchase of the Amerks, Rochester was back in the fold and Western New York hockey was whole again.

To expand their player development plans even further, the Sabres announced an East Coast Hockey League affiliation with the Elmira Jackals beginning with the 2014-15 season.

Unfortunately for Pegula and his Sabres, things haven't gone quite as planned yet as every organization is going through a rough patch.

Yesterday it was announced that the Jackals will cease operations at the end of this season. The Sabres have three prospects on the team--F, Justin Kea;  D, Brycen Martin;  G, Jason Kasdorf--who've all been placed in difficult situation on a losing team.

According to the Jackals Wiki page, the franchise had been in trouble for years beginning with ownership issues in 2012 when, according to the page, "the Arena owner failed to pay $136,234 in taxes for three years" and foreclosure was on the horizon. Chemung County held off and in 2013 First Arena and the Jackals had new owners.

At the start of the 2013-14 season the Jackals announced that they were "community owned" and that any profits would go back into the community. They lost money and in 2016 the Chemung County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) took over ownership of the Arena and the Jackals. With the team at the bottom of the league yesterday "the IDA announced that it had sold First Arena to local businessman Brian Barrett [and] as part of an agreement, it was announced that the Elmira Jackals would cease operations at the end of the season."

As of now there's been no official word from Pegula Sports and Entertainment (PSE) concerning the Jackals.

Yesterday wasn't a good day for the Rochester Americans either as they lost. The Amerks are 24-33-0-2 and it looks as if they'll be out of the playoffs for the third consecutive season. Rochester had made the playoffs three consecutive seasons after Pegula bought the franchise but were bounced in the first round every time.

In addition to on-ice woes there are squabbles over the Amerks home, Blue Cross Arena. Basically the 61 yr. old arena which was renovated in 1998 and is due for a makeover and the city and PSE are not fully on the same page when it comes to the undertaking.

Rochester just secured $10 million in state funding for the downtown arena and while the city and it's mayor, Lovely Warren, have their plans PSE and the Sabres, who are the primary tenants via the Amerks, would like a broader say. "Being the largest tenant, we would like to have more control and active discussion in how the dollars that come in are appropriated,” PSE Managing Partner and President Russ Brandon said. “We’re going to need some changes down the road to ensure viability."

The Amerks one-year lease is up at the end of the season and now there have been reports that "the team is exploring other venues in which to play," according to a recent article by Brian Sharp and Leo Roth of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

"A report on ESPN 95.7-FM," wrote Sharp and Roth, "that team owners, eyeing the expiring lease, had contacted at least one other arena outside the city about hosting the team, led to speculation on other programs and on social media that the Amerks might leave."

Brandon flatly denied it saying the report is “100 percent wrong. We're not planning on going anywhere."

To further what Brandon said, the article points out that "the team already has sent in its game dates to the American Hockey League, officials said, is working with arena manager SMG on promotions for next year, and the team website is accepting season ticket renewals for next season."

As for the Sabres, the 2016-17 season is turning into a disaster as they lost again last night. In the last nine games Buffalo has won only one time and mathematics is the only thing keeping from a sixth consecutive season outside the playoffs.

Buffalo travelled to Columbus last night and even though the Blue Jackets didn't play anything close to their best game, the still beat the reeling Sabres.

This might be more than just a late-season slide, as Buffalo's spiral into the abyss could cost coach Dan Bylsma his job.

Bylsma and his systems have been in place for nearly two seasons and in both Buffalo and Rochester the results have been underwhelming. Last year Buffalo may have exceeded expectations after gaining their footing and finishing the season on a high note, but this year the team seems to be regressing. Although individual players like Evander Kane and Jack Eichel are having stellar seasons while Kyle Okposo, Ryan O'Reilly, Rasmus Ristolainen and Sam Reinhart are around previous expectations, the team as a whole is a mess.

Same goes for Rochester.

Dan Lambert went from Bylsma's side in Buffalo as an assistant coach last season to Amerks head coach this year and with Lambert came Bylsma's systems. The Amerks, like their parent club, is languishing near the bottom of the conference and amongst the troubles with both are goaltenders who are facing tons of leather.

Linus Ullmark, in his first full season as a starter for Rochester, has faced a league-leading 1416 shots-against while the next nearest is 1251. In Buffalo the duo of Robin Lehner and Anders Nilsson have faced a league-high 34.1 shots per game or a grand total of 2319 shots.

Another area is the Penalty Kill. Buffalo's penalty kill sits 29th in the league (76%) while the Amerks are 25th (80%.)

There are discrepancies as pure talent has the Sabres powerplay second in the league at 23.3% while the Amerks sit at 27th with only a 14.8 conversion rate, but for the most part the overwhelming sentiment with both clubs is utter disappointment.

If you're about to slit your wrists having read the above, take heart in knowing that help is on the way for both clubs, at least with the forward group.

It's best to keep in mind that Murray completely gutted both teams and his primary focus of the rebuild was Buffalo. He had Eichel and Reinhart rightfully bypassing Rochester and this past season saw an Amerks roster that had only a handful of draft picks on the team. William Carrier, Justin Bailey and Nick Baptiste, all spent most of last season with Rochester but were summoned to the big club this year and spent some good chunks of time in Buffalo. Carrier, who progressed nicely in Rochester played in eight games for the Amerks and 35 with the Sabres until he was felled by injury. Bailey had a two-game call-up early in the season and after impressing during his second call-up has stuck with the team for the last 25 games.

Evan Rodrigues struggled in Rochester last year and in the early part of this season but has been outstanding during his latest call up to Buffalo. He scored his third goal of the season last night and in doing so broke Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky's shutout streak at 182:50. It's highly doubtful he'll be seeing Rochester again as Bylsma tried to give him as much ice-time as possible last night.

Those four--Carrier, Bailey, Baptiste and Rodrigues--managed to seemingly break trough the NHL threshold which is a good developmental sign. Take them out of the equation in Rochester and there's a huge gap that won't be filled until next year.

Defense is still a shaky matter as the Amerks best defenseman, Justin Falk, was summoned to the big club in mid-November and for the most part hasn't left. Veterans Taylor Fedun and Eric Burgdoerfer got a taste of Buffalo but have mostly stayed in Rochester and both have held their own in a mostly dismal Amerks season. Homegrown defensive talent is severely lacking and it won't get much better next season as prime prospect Brendan Guhle will probably bypass the AHL and head right to Buffalo.

Other than that 20 yr. olds Will Borgen (St. Cloud State) and Devante Stephens (Kelowna, WHL) should be on their way to Rochester with an outside possibility that Providence Friar Anthony Florentino could be there, maybe on an AHL or ATO contract, according to Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com.

And if the Sabres can get goalie Cal Petersen signed should he decide to leave Notre Dame early, this next wave of prospects should add a jolt of talent to the system.

Was told last night "trust the process," which is tough to do when the product is in such rough shape. That said, in looking at what the Sabres have done scouting wise--Guhle, Petersen, Borgen, Rodrigues, Stephens and Giorgio Estephan who may also be in Rochester next season, along with Rasmus Asplund and goalie Jonas Johansson overseas--there's plenty of room for optimism even if Pegulaville looks to be burning.

Woof.

Just who are these Sabres?

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-10-2017


For all intents and purposes, the road for the Columbus Blue Jackets have travelled since their inception in 2000-01 has been a rough one and should not be dismissed. The franchise has made the playoffs only twice in that time--in 2008-09 with Rick Nash and in 2013-14, post-Nash--while the rest of their time has been spent struggling to get things right.

Although Nash wasn't the Jackets' first-ever pick, that one went to Rostislav Klesla, a Czech defenseman taken fourth-overall in 2000, he was the first overall pick in 2002 and the player that the team built around until he was traded on July 23, 2012. Nash was a big, 6'3" 188 lb. powerforward who was ranked the second-best North American prospect and one whom the Jackets were enamored with to the point where they traded up from No. 3-overall pick to the top spot to select him.

Columbus made the playoffs once with Nash and were promptly swept in the first round by the defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings. In the years after that appearance, the Jackets continued to tread water with Nash until he was dealt to the NY Rangers in a five-player deal that netted the Jackets Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Erixon and a 2013 first round pick (LW Kirby Rychel.)

The Jackets missed the playoffs the following lockout-shortened season but came storming back in 2013-14 and gave the Pittsburgh Penguins fits in a first round series loss (4-2.) With expectations high, but injuries plaguing the team, Columbus stumbled the next two seasons which cost coach Todd Richards his job. But what they established in that playoff series is the identity of the team the Buffalo Sabres will face tonight.

"They're really one of the most aggressive teams, physical teams, heavy forecheck teams from just about anybody we've seen," said Sabres benchboss Dan Bylsma to the gathered media yesterday, "and they've turned [themselves] into a pretty dangerous offensive team with how they play."

Columbus right now is the poster child for playing and winning without a bona fide superstar in their lineup. Their leading scorer and lone NHL All-Star this seaosn is Cam Atkinson and throughout the lineup there are familiar names like veterans Dubinsky, Nick Foligno and Scott Hartnell and youngins Seth Jones, Brandon Saad and rookie Zach Werenski, but no stand-alone superstar. At least not yet.

The Jackets are playing the exact same style of play today as they did when they battled superstars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins back in the 2014 playoffs. It's an identity they formulated and stuck to despite a major roster change (moving 2010 fourth-overall pick Ryan Johanson for Jones) and a coaching change as they went from Richards to noted hard-ass head coach John Tortorella.

Which leads to the question, if the Buffalo Sabres are one full season and 67 games into their post-bottoming out period, why are they still trying to find their identity?

Some of the catch phrases we've heard coming from the foot of Washington Street over the course of the tear-down and rebuild of the Buffalo Sabres is "bigger, stronger, faster" and "hard to play against." Forward Marcus Foligno told the press that he thinks the Sabres are "physical, quick, tenacious, mostly in the offensive zone a lot." He calls it "physical hockey and [the Sabres] a team that doesn’t give up."

For those watching, all those words are simply the ideal they're striving for, not something we've seen this team do, at least not on a regular basis. We're still confused about this team and how they can go from beating real good clubs like the Rangers and Ottawa Senators but then get swept by the Boston Bruins or losing back-to-back games against the two worst teams in the league when it mattered most.

Bylsma said yesterday that “you should have no misunderstanding and you should have no questions about who the Buffalo Sabres are and how they play." Yet, he continued, "that’s something we haven’t gotten. It’s something with the 15 games that we are playing that we need to take as a challenge to establish our group.

"We have a lot to prove in the last 15 games with who we are and how we're going to play."

The team has played 149 games under him and their recent 1-5-2 slide with the playoffs reasonably within reach points to a team that's regressed. Forget their projected pace, after watching Buffalo lay a huge egg at home in a 6-3 loss to Philadelphia this is a team that doesn't seem like they have enough in them to even match last season and they're only 15 points away.

Their identity now is that they have none or that they're a Jekyll and Hyde team.

Would it surprise me if they went into Nationwide Arena tonight and came away with a victory? No.

Nor would it surprise me if the Jackets threw 50 shots at the Sabres net and came away with a six-goal win.

Those are the extremes we've witnessed this year and it doesn't really sit well with the fanbase now that the team is effectively out of the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. Sure, injuries and growing pains were definitive factors in the results and even the February scheduling played a part in things, but since the bye week this team folded and it's not something the fanbase can get behind.

Methinks it doesn't sit well with ownership and management either as they're probably wondering why the team is still looking for an identity nearly two years into this portion of their plans.