Daily Links for Tuesday, January 17
by Andy Boron on Jan 17, 2012 6:08 AM EST
in Daily Links
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PrintThe Sabres have been playing poorly for weeks and finally got the shellacking they deserved at the hands of the Red Wings.
In Joe Louis Arena, Wings Buffalo You! Wings 5 - Sabres 0 - Winging It In Motown
A recap from our masters over at WIIM.
Sabres touching bottom after latest loss - The Buffalo News
Ownership and management apparently put together a flawed team over the summer. Injuries have decimated the product, the players left behind have badly underachieved and the NHL's senior-most coach has had absolutely no answers.
Miller brothers have a get-together - The Buffalo News
Miller and Miller went mano-a-mano Monday night in Joe Louis Arena.
Sabres Ruff Knew Miller Wasn't Himself - WGR 550
Apparently he still isn't.
More Sabres News:
Hold On - The Goose's Roost
This Pegula-owned Sabres team feels a whole lot like its aimless predecessors. That's not a good sign, right?
19-20-5 Just Feels Different This Year - KuklasKorner
Dave Davis makes some salient points about where the Sabres stand this year.
Marc-Andre Gragnani: Before I Made It - THN
The Sabres defender talks about his unexpected rise through the ranks and move from forward to defense.
Around the NHL:
Mike Grier played hockey with toughness, character - ESPN Boston
Mike Grier exhibited toughness and character in his long NHL career.
Blue Jackets' Byers suspended three games - NHL.com
Columbus' Dane Byers has been suspended three games by the department of player safety.
Capitals defenceman Mike Green out another 4-6 weeks for abdominal surgery - The Globe and Mail
Green has played in only 10 games this season
Julien: Bruins have been 'very mediocre' - NECN
The Bruins have been "very mediocre" in the words of Claude Julien, and they’re determined to get back to their brand of hockey.
Flyers welcome being home; Bryz still No. 1 - Philly.com
Though Sergei Bobrovsky has played like the Flyers’ top goalie, Laviolette made it clear that Ilya Bryzgalov is still his No. 1.
Yzerman must fix Lightning's goaltending woes - THN
Steve Yzerman made a mistake in signing Dwayne Roloson in the off-season, but is making a bigger one in sticking with him now.
Dallas Stars' Tom Gaglardi: The Rare Sports Owner Who's Right For His Team - SBNation.com
It's obvious that Dallas Stars owner Tom Gaglardi is in it for the right reasons: Not for profit, not for a business opportunity, and not because daddy left him the team. But because he loves the game and wants to win.
Pass or Fail: Is Forest Face the creepiest thing the NHL has ever tried to sell us? - Puck Daddy
Shop NHL has featured its share of oddities for the hockey buying pubic. The $325 bedazzled purse. The "no, seriously, this isn't a bong" drinking tubes. That Rastafarian puckhead thing for the Winter Classic. But few items can claim to be as creep-tastic as this:
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I’ve been hesitating to say this because I wasn’t really sure and I really had some hope left. After last night, I’m sure: the days when Ryan Miller was an elite NHL goaltender are over. He’s done. It is time that he is formally replaced as the starter and traded.
If Anaheim wants Miller and a first for Getzlaf, we should take it.
"I could have conquered Europe, all of it, but I had women in my life." - King Henry II of England
He's not been completely "right" since the Lucic hit.
It certainly didn’t help that the D coughed the puck up time after time and the team was not sharp in front of him. Vezina Miller stops 2 maybe 3 of the goals.
Looking at the goals I see this:
First goal: Leo turnover, high deflection off of Weber’s stick. (25% Miller)
Second goal: Leo getting torched by Franzen, Miller playing like a pylon (75% Miller)
Third goal: Staffy losing track of Lidstrom for the backdoor (Miller 0%)
Fourth goal: Brutal turnover by Weber, Roy/Pomers nowhere to be seen. (10% Miller)
Fifth goal: Boyes not getting back to stop the backside shot (he coasted to stay even and didn’t try to get ahead of Helm) (33% Miller).
The only goal where Miller got beaten badly was the second goal. The team defense in front of Miller was awful and at this stage of this year, Miller can’t pull the team out of it.
He will return to being a top NHL goalie, so if he is traded, it better be for value and not a firesale.
Go Sabres!
I don't think he's been right all year
Maybe it was because it was only a preseason game, but when I saw Miller in the preseason game in Washington, he looked slow and like his timing was off. The patience that he was famous for before was gone as far as him going down too early. Specifically, Ovechkin and Semin scored in the shootout on chances that I know Miller would have been able to stop previously because I had seen him do it. .
He had many good games before the hit...
40 saves against the Habs, shutting out the Panthers. He was shaky a couple of times, but the D in front was awful, 3 goals on 11 shots against Philly is one example.
The book on Miller must be glove side high, odd angle on the blocker side, and run him to make him lose focus. If he starts out okay, teams will run him to get him out of his groove. I have seen that a number of times since the hit.
The response by the Sabres for a goalie run needs to be either a new pile of crap freshly beaten out of the runner or a run by anyone not named Kaleta on the opponent’s goalie (both would be good also).
Go Sabres!
I’m wondering if three concussions in a year (year and a half?) is a problem. It’s a serious concern of mine. We should probably Crosby him at this point but that’s a tough pill to swallow.
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
November 13, 2010 Missed 6 games (upper body injury).
April 8, 2011 Missed 4 games (Concussion like symptoms).
December 2, 2011 Missed 8 games (concussion).
2 (3?) concussions in a year… usually pretty bad.
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
Define many
I counted two. He was exceptional in that Montreal game. Other than that, he was pretty pedestrian.
I’m not trying to run Miller down, honestly. I think he’s still a good goalie and will be again. He has just sucked this year.
I did a highlight samplings, about 5 goals a night are scored glove side high…. almost always a couple feet from the face-off dot.
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
The bigger issue is why aren’t WE scoring those goals. Oh wait, it’s because everyone on the team is shooting 6%.
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
Stafford might have damaged the paint on Howard’s helmet last night, which was I think one shift after Leino had a beaut rebound kick to his backhand that wouldn’t go.
Even if you don’t convert, good teams can take plays like that and smell blood in the water and create another chance, bad teams feel sorry for themselves and say ‘why didn’t that work for me.’
The whole team other than Vanek looks like Emo Thomas Vanek from a few years ago.
Maybe we need to sign whoever fixed him to the training staff.
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
Miller’s save percentage was .909% up to and including the Boston game where he was hit by Lucic and .886% since so I am inclined to agree with you, although I think the deteriorating defence in front of Miller also has something to do with the decline in his numbers.
by Gareth Braxton on Jan 17, 2012 11:30 AM EST up reply actions
Stick a frok in Miller ... he's done!
I almost hate hearinf Miller whine about this or that, and Ruff is just as bad. Injuries be damned these players are being paid pretty good bucks to play like kindergarteners. I’m sick of Miller for one. In my humble opinion he needs to go (yesterday) along with a few others. If I were the owner I would pimp slap Miller with sweaty jockstrap in front of his wife and friends; i.e. if he has any left. PU Miller I can smell you all the way here on the east coast.
They’re being paid to play like kindergartners? I think I know what the problem is!
by Frank Reich Revolution on Jan 17, 2012 8:16 PM EST up reply actions
Interesting piece from Chicago. Who happened to have their leadership change (granted, it was after a father passed away and a son taking over) and take a new direction in 2007 and happened to win a cup in 2010. A lot of it is about changing to a culture of winning from the top and getting the belief to feed down.
http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=611460&navid=DL|CHI|home
It seems more like Pegula is acting as a suck enabler at least with his public statements. I’m still convinced that he doesn’t want to criticize the team in public and that he and Black are waiting to see how the team responds. If they don’t, then there will be changes made. If team continues to tank and there are no changes made, then hold on to your seats folks, because we’ll be in for quite a ride.
Dale Tallon
deserves most of the credit for what took place in Chicago. He’s off to a similar start in Florida—they’re the only team that spent more than Pegula in the off season—looks like their ROI is a little higher.
"I wore my knees out praying we'd win the 1st choice and could take Perreault. I never wanted a hockey player more."--Punch Imlach
by Sabresfansinceday1 on Jan 17, 2012 12:58 PM EST up reply actions
He also deserves a lot of credit for all the talent leaving Chicago because of the cap-hell he put them in.
Save Jenrry Mejia!
2012 Amazin' Avenue Offseason Plan: 2nd place
Tradeoffs
I’ll take a Cup and a step or two back.
"I wore my knees out praying we'd win the 1st choice and could take Perreault. I never wanted a hockey player more."--Punch Imlach
by Sabresfansinceday1 on Jan 17, 2012 9:46 PM EST up reply actions
Would you rather a one and done
or several opportunities?
Save Jenrry Mejia!
2012 Amazin' Avenue Offseason Plan: 2nd place
At my age I'll take one :-)
"I wore my knees out praying we'd win the 1st choice and could take Perreault. I never wanted a hockey player more."--Punch Imlach
by Sabresfansinceday1 on Jan 17, 2012 9:56 PM EST up reply actions
That was a bad move that managed to pay off. Most of his cap-hell was completely unnecessary (forgetting to fax RFA offers, terrible Huet contract,…)
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
Signing Campbell to a mega deal when the market for him was pretty thin.
Save Jenrry Mejia!
2012 Amazin' Avenue Offseason Plan: 2nd place
Miller states that no big trade can fix this team:
I know he is right, but this is just painful to watch night in, and night out. Losing 11 of our last 14 at this point of the season is really damning for the year…unless we pull off a couple long 6-7 game winning streaks, there is no way we would squeak into the playoffs.
"We’re gonna win the Stanley Cup. Then, you know what, we’re gonna win it again,"
-Terry Pegula
I think he’s right that no trades are forthcoming, but it’s hard to imagine that if you traded enough of the guys, the team wouldn’t change.
He did say if they got rid of everyody, obviously you would.
But that’s not reasonable.
Save Jenrry Mejia!
2012 Amazin' Avenue Offseason Plan: 2nd place
Studies do show that the team to score first in a shutout rarely lose.
by VFN FTW on Jan 17, 2012 11:42 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Crazy Red Wings at home stats:
only 3 home losses (none since Nov 3)
Have scored 5+ goals in half of their home games
Have outscored their opponents by at least 3 goals in half their home games.
Have allowed two or less goals in 17 of their 21 home games. (5 shutouts)
So really the Sabres played well.
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
I know you’re half kidding, but it could have been worse, the Wings went into energy-saving mode after the 5th goal (or who knows, maybe even before that). They’re a machine.
by Frank Reich Revolution on Jan 17, 2012 11:49 AM EST up reply actions
Sabres Green Team is all about conserving energy, maybe Weber took his role a little too seriously last night?
by VFN FTW on Jan 17, 2012 11:52 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I should probably wait for the "By the Numbers" post but i'm looking at it now so
Lindy started the game with Weber and Leo as his “shutdown pair,” throwing them out there against the Datsyuk/Bertuzzi/Franzen line whenever possible. Obviously that did not work too well as they were out there for the first 4 goals (3 of which were scored by the Datsyuk line). After that he broke them up and put Weber with Grags and Leo with Brennan, and no more goals were scored against them – of course that may have more to do with the Wings not really trying than anything else. From that point the “shutdown” (Datsyuk line) minutes were split between Myers/Sekera and Grags/Weber (Weber and Leo still played together on the PK), but that was probably to hide Brennan more than anything else. Those of you who watched the game probably already knew all this but it will be interesting to see what Lindy does going forward until Regehr gets back.
by Frank Reich Revolution on Jan 17, 2012 1:51 PM EST reply actions
Miller's WGR post-game was spot-on
I thought he was 100% correct: Yes, you could throw away 1/2 the team and completely rebuild, but there isn’t any magic trade or coaching change or anything really that is going to fix our beloved team. Only they can fix it. Sounds corny but its true. I was actually rather inspired by that. Hockey is a game of confidence and the team doesn’t have any – you can’t beat them up for it because they are already doing it to themselves. Miller’s comments were mature and on the money, and make me think they will sort it out soon. I couldn’t care less that he left the ice and had a tantrum, he’s a human.
Re: the game, Brian Duff said it best – if even 1 of the 1st period chances the sabres had went the fuck in, it’s a different game. Detroit capitalized on every turnover we gave them.
Re: High glove on Miller – sure, but pretty much any goalie who is down leaves the top available and these guys will burn them more often than not. Miller may indeed also be por on those shots, but Enroth has his weakness too – 5 hole.
At least finally some people are figuring this out... Here's the wgr poll
How do you think this Sabres season can be saved?
Fire the coach 345 Votes ( 12% )
Fire the GM 590 Votes ( 21% )
Make a huge/shake-up trade 743 Votes ( 27% )
It can’t. Start planning for next year. 1115 Votes ( 40% )
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
I’m totally against trading away everyone now, but once we hit the offseason, trading is perfectly fine. Though we should ask hecht if he wants to pull a Tkachuk and get traded to a contender and re-sign in the offseason
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
Hecht is useful
I wouldn’t mind doing that. As long as he comes back for less $.
I liked the results of that….gave me a little faith in our fan base.
"We’re gonna win the Stanley Cup. Then, you know what, we’re gonna win it again,"
-Terry Pegula
Fifth option(not included)
Call up / Comment on WGR and demand everyone be fired, traded, and deported simultaneously: 112460 Votes (99.99%)
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
I think it would help if Schoop and Bulldog were better at analyzing the team. They tend to just cater to the reactionary fan base so that they get lots of calls…I get it, but it makes me NEVER want to listen to them when the team is bad.
"We’re gonna win the Stanley Cup. Then, you know what, we’re gonna win it again,"
-Terry Pegula
by bgred105 on Jan 17, 2012 2:41 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I can’t blame the radio hosts, they aren’t the ones phoning in (usually.)
I’ve found it helps if the radio hosts give multiple choice questions instead of open-ended ones. (where all the options are somewhat reasonable and not TRADE EVERYONE DURRRR.)
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
I suppose, though Bulldog seems to try to push his Derek Roy vendetta on listeners whenever possible. If he more statistics backing how Derek Roy hurts the team, he should use them. Of course, he really isn’t a “Stats Guy” (his words), so it tends to just be a lot of conjecture.
"We’re gonna win the Stanley Cup. Then, you know what, we’re gonna win it again,"
-Terry Pegula
I can understand the reactionary fans ...
… but no sane team-oriented person is gonna let it have any effect on decisions relating to the team.
solution to the team's problems?
rebuild through the draft?
trade away prospects?
try to dump salaries?
fire ruff & regeir?
with miller’s comments last night about not succeeding via a simple trade, what do you folks think needs to happen to turn this team around?
Draft someone good and start from there is as far along that train of thought I’ve gotten. We’ve got three bad contracts coming off the cap (and Tyler Myers getting a raise) so we’ll have room to make some sort of interesting move if there is one to be made.
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
confidence
They need to play with confidence, they need to dictate the play. Anyone chasing the puck for the better part of the game is gonna lose more often than not.
Yeah, a run of good luck would do wonders.
Also not getting outshot by ten shots a game, having a reasonable lineup of defensemen, MIKE WEBER DON’T DO THAT… etc, but one step at a time.
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
luck
i mean they’ve definitely had their string of bad luck… vanek hitting the post for the penalty-shot… injuries… mike weber fumbling the puck in front of the net… etc.
to me, miller has not had his full confidence since the olympics… i mean he was firing on all cylinders and really carried that team right through the final goal… since then… spirrrrraling down. are the sabres going to keep him? i know his relationship with the buffalo media hasn’t been so hot the past couple of years. hmmm.
so, keep myers…. keep vanek…. keep kassian… build around them?
Keep anyone that doesn’t get you something useful in return and wait for their contracts to run out, and Jochen Hecht because he’s worth a goal per game on back-checking alone and is acceptable offensively.
As long as 70 minutes of ice time is being doled out to AHLers and Matt Ellis, the Sabres are basically doomed
Miller
One of the things that kind of got lost in the kerfluffle over Miller once again dropping the F bomb was that he said “it’s time to stop being nice.” If you read between the lines, guys in the locker room don’t hold each other accountable enough which makes sense. If you were at your job and you got into the face of someone who held the same position for not giving effort, I can’t imagine it would be well received.
Besides a center, they Sabres need an older player with league-wide respect who preferably has won the cup. I think it would really help.
Maybe the season turns on Miller F-bombs. Last time it turned for the worse, this time it will go back the other way.
#logic
by Frank Reich Revolution on Jan 17, 2012 5:07 PM EST up reply actions
when he said “it’s time to stop being nice” I read it as “to other teams,” but I guess it’s open to interpretation. I think Miller wants more TRUCULENCE
by Frank Reich Revolution on Jan 17, 2012 5:36 PM EST up reply actions
Are you talking about Miller skating by Enroth? I wouldn’t read too much into that, Miller’s an emotional dude and was embarrassed and pissed off.
by Frank Reich Revolution on Jan 17, 2012 8:33 PM EST up reply actions
I frankly don't care how the media feels about it.
He’s right. He can only yell and scream so much. He can only skate them so much.
Save Jenrry Mejia!
2012 Amazin' Avenue Offseason Plan: 2nd place
Why not though, I guess I ask because I think as a coach what he said was a valid argument to make. I couldn’t see the game well because of the lousy internet feed, so I will only comment about the validity of the argument.
I think if you get your ass handed to you, but you had a high compete level and you could tell that people were still trying and after a couple bonehead plays and some unfortunate bounces it doesn’t mean you played a terrible game.
Conversely, if you lose 3-1 and get one lucky bounce goal but the effort is crap and the team doesn’t compete it doesn’t mean you were right in it and had a chance to win.
Furthermore, I think it can also be a bad game even when you win, maybe even in OT, a game that should’ve been a blow out but you let the other team stay around too long because you know players didn’t mentally engage because they thought they could walk right though the other team.
I think as the head coach, is that all he should do is give an honest evaluation of what happened, which it sounds like he did. I’m not saying the performance was good enough by the boys, just that Lindy’s comments might not have been that far off.
Agravated in Alaska
I was really pumped up to watch a promising Sabres season this year, what with the new owner, new players, old but re-vamped players, veteran coach … What the heck happened to this team?? It’s like they forgot how to play hockey! Yesterday was the first game I missed watching all season … I just couldn’t get motivated to venture out in -35 below zero temp and go to the sports bar to watch the Sabres likely lose to Detroit (I expected a loss, not a route) Looks like I made the right choice … Now lets see what choice Buffalo makes to try to salvage this season !?
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