Buffalo Sabres Season Preview 2011-2012: Special Teams

by Zachary Zielonka on Sep 29, 2011 10:00 AM EDT

BUFFALO, NY - SEPTEMBER 24: Jonas Gustavsson #50 of the Toronto Maple Leafs makes a save aginst Tyler Ennis #63 of the Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center on September 24, 2011 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

Our week long season preview continues with a look at the Buffalo Sabres special teams. If you missed the first three installments of the preview, you can check them out here, here, and here.

The Buffalo Sabres special teams finished 9th in the league on the power play with a conversion rate of 19.4% and finished 13th in the league on the penalty kill with a kill rate of 83.0%. Two of the top five leaders in time on ice on the penalty kill were Mike Grier and Steve Montador, who are no longer with the team. The team also allowed the third most shorthanded goals last season with 13. What exactly will the special teams look like this season though?

Power Play

The Sabres power play should have a new look to it thanks to a bunch of new faces in the organization. To start, the Sabres let go assistant coach Brian McCutcheon who was one of the main role players in how the power play was run. Also, Christian Ehrhoff was the leading defenseman for the Canucks on their power play with a total of 3:33/game of power play time and 28 points on the power play. For the Sabres last season, 28 points would have been tied for the team lead with Thomas Vanek.

During this preseason, the Sabres have rolled out power play lines with three forwards and two defensemen on each of the power play lines. The Sabres top PP unit should feature Jason Pominville, Thomas Vanek, Drew Stafford, Tyler Myers and Christian Ehrhoff.

Penalty Kill

The Sabres penalty kill will have some new faces to go along with it as well. With top penalty killers Grier and Montador moved on, enter new defenseman Robyn Regehr. Regehr was a key member to the Flames penalty kill, spending 3:12/game on the penalty kill for the Flames. The Flames finished the season with a penalty will rate of 81.2% which was good for 21st in the league.

The Sabres also need to figure out how to shore up the imbalance in their shorthanded goals scored versus goals allowed department as well. The Sabres allowed one of the league worst 13 last season and only scored two shorthanded goals. Nothing is worse than killing a team's momentum by allowing the opponent to score a shorthanded goal, so the -11 in that department is a black mark for this team's special teams.

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Excited about the new power play. Ehrhoff is a beast and Leopold, Myers, Gragnani, and Sekera really showed promise last season on the PP as well. I think having 4-5 defensemen that can play on the PP is a built-in solution for the SH goals-against problem. Now that we can stop playing forwards at the blue-line on the PP, we should have a far easier time defending against any SH breakouts. I imagine that Miller can much more easily predict the play’s development on a SH opportunity when one of his defensemen is defending versus when a forward is trying to defend. I think we have one of the league’s most threatening power plays this season.

On the PK, I am less confident. I think Myers and Weber have both come quite a way in their PK effectiveness, but the losses of Connolly, Grier, Montador might really hurt us here. I will reserve my judgment on Regehr until we see him in action, it is no stretch to assume he can fill the hole left by Montador while adding some physicality. I am excited to see Kaleta and McCormick get more responsibility on the PK. Maybe Vanek will see some PK minutes as well, I remember him having a great season when Ruff put first put him on the PK. Perhaps Gerbe would be a good candidate for some of that motivational PK time. Roy, Pominville, and Hecht are all reassuring presences on the PK, but I am still a bit worried about the loss of Grier and Connolly. And I know Gaustad is our best face-off man, but I really hope we don’t overuse him on PK draws as it is quite a gamble to have him rushing to the bench after the draw… I think PK faceoffs might end up being our biggest issue. Having Miller and Enroth in net should offset any growing pains with the new-look PK.

by lassathrax on Sep 29, 2011 2:23 PM EDT reply actions

I forgot to mention that I think we are all going to dearly miss the signature Mike Grier shorthanded “cruise-away.” How he could ever out-skate the opponents to get those breakaways continues to baffle me, it was like watching a slow-motion replay. Even though he very rarely scored on those opportunities, I loved how embarrassing they looked for the opposing team.

by lassathrax on Sep 29, 2011 2:27 PM EDT up reply actions

There needs to be a “Remember the cruiseaway” video on youtube.

Original member of the Mike Weber bandwagon!
To make up for lost time, the Sabres signed six seasons worth of front-loaded cap skirting contracts in one week.

by Ubiquitous on Sep 29, 2011 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions

I get your point

but it’s not like having Pomminville on the point left us hanging.
And I’m really not worried about the PK. Pomers, Roy, Gerbe, and Hecht are fine defensive players and even Ennis and Vanek, while not know for their defensive prowess, are probably capable if given the opportunity.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Sep 29, 2011 6:17 PM EDT up reply actions

I wasn’t trying to insinuate that Pominville is bad at defending, he is great for a forward… I think Miller has a harder time predicting the play with a forward backing up than with the usual defensemen strategies. In the end, Miller has to stop the goal more often than the defensemen break up the play, and we all know Miller’s style of goaltending is all about reading the play and predicting the exact position he needs to put himself in. I would wager that a lot of that prediction depends on how the defender defends, as the opposing forwards react to the defender’s actions while approaching the goalie.

by lassathrax on Sep 30, 2011 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions

Of course, a lot of it also comes down to luck. We had bad luck with SH goals last year.

by lassathrax on Sep 30, 2011 11:03 AM EDT up reply actions

I think that the Sabres will score more SH goals this year because you will see players like Stafford, Vanek and Gerbe getting opportunities to kill penalties. I also think our SH goals allowed will go down simply because Tim Connolly doesn`t play for the Sabres anymore. I look for our special teams to be improved overall from last year.

by BUBLSRM on Sep 30, 2011 12:40 PM EDT reply actions