It's time to put the finishing touches on the 2009-2010 season for the Buffalo Sabres. Here is a complete report card of every single player that played any amount of time with the Sabres this season. The journey will begin with Chris Butler and conclude in almost a month with Thomas Vanek. Thanks to Japers Rink and Mile High Hockey for the inspiration.
Key Stat: Every season there is a question as to whether or not Tim Connolly will be or will stay healthy. This season he played in 73 regular season games before getting bit by the injury bug late in the season. Connolly averaged almost a point per game for the Sabres during his 73 games played.
Vote: Read the voting instructions at the end of the post before voting.
Interesting Stat: Connolly had a career high 16-game point streak that extended for over a month from December 23 to January 25. He had 25 points during the streak which was the third longest in franchise history. He had just 40 points outside the streak this season.
During streak - 16 games played 7G-18A-25PTS
Non-Streak - 57 games played 10G-30A-40PTS
Fun Fact: Tim Connolly is known as an offensive player but because of injury he has never been able to put together a full season. He set career highs in points (65) and assists (48) this season.
Line Mates: Who did Connolly fare well with this season?
| Line Mates | On-Ice Frequency | Points |
| Jochen Hecht - Jason Pominville | 28.82% | 18 |
| Clarke MacArthur - Jason Pominville | 11.76% | 2 |
| Clarke MacArthur - Drew Stafford | 5.32% | 3 |
| Drew Stafford - Thomas Vanek | 3.35% | 3 |
Information provided by Dobber Hockey
The Good: Tim Connolly finally played a full season and had decent offensive production. When Lindy Ruff put him on a line with Jochen Hecht and Jason Pominville they all seemed to gel and gave the Sabres a true offensive line. Connolly seemed to help Hecht climb out of a two year slump with his creativity in the offensive zone.
Connoly was able to thrive while playing the tough minutes for the Sabres. According to Behind the Net he was one of the best players on the team in both ends despite playing against some of the toughest competition. Only his line mates Jason Pominville and Jochen Hecht had higher quality of competition ratings this season.
The Bad: Connolly had a disappointing end to the season with an injury at the end of the regular season and a disappointing playoffs. He publicly admitted blame for his playoff performance that included a minus-2 rating and only one assist.
Consistency is one of the biggest issues with the play of Connolly. Nobody expects him to consistently have 16-game point streak but he needs to be counted on offensively to be productive and too often he disappears for a couple of games at a time.
2009-2010 Salary - $4,500,000
2010-2011 Status - signed for $4,500,000
Contract Info via Cap Geek.com
Vote: It's time to vote on the play of Tim Connolly. Last season we used a letter grade but this season we are adapting the Japers' Rink method of rating. Every player has expectations before the season begins. This ranking should be based off of those expectations. If a player met your expectations you will give him a 5 or a 6 ranking. If they exceeded your expectations the rating should be higher with 10 being the best. If they fell short of expectations the rating will be lower with 1 being the worst.
Discuss: Tim Connolly is taking much of the heat for the Sabres first round failure and that has caused speculation for his future. Should the Sabres trade Tim Connolly in the off-season?