With the 2011-12 Buffalo Sabres ending in disappointment and after a few weeks for us to gather our thoughts, it’s time for us to issue our report cards on the season. Over the next few weeks, we’ll grade every player that wore a Buffalo Sabres uniform in 2011 and 2012, from Luke Adam to Mike Weber.
Introduction: If you read the fine print at the top of this post, you’ll notice a little phrase that says, “We’ll grade every player that wore a Buffalo Sabres uniform in 2011 and 2012,” and thus, we arrive at the man who didn’t actually play a full game for the Sabres, but only saw the ice in relief: goaltender Drew MacIntyre.
MacIntyre has spent a career bouncing around the AHL, and this season, he ended up serving as the backup to Amerks starter David Leggio. Though he did make the Sabres trip to Europe as the emergency third goalie, MacIntyre was officially called up to the team on November 14 upon Ryan Miller’s injury to serve as Buffalo’s bench door opener in place of Jhonas Enroth. After making two spot relief efforts, MacIntyre was sent back to Rochester on December 2, and stayed there for the rest of the season. After the break, we’ll talk a bit about both his NHL and AHL seasons, considering that this would be a pretty pointless post if we only looked at MacIntyre’s two half-games. And away we go!
Key Stat: 23 games played in the AHL. MacIntyre was signed to be the starter for the Amerks, with David Leggio as the backup, while the organization waited for prospects Connor Knapp and Nathan Lieuwen to be eligible for Rochester – who will both be there next year, by the way. Unfortunately for him, Leggio performed very well while MacIntyre was up in Buffalo, and he never won the starting gig back.
Thumbs Up: MacIntyre did see some NHL action this year, filling in for Jhonas Enroth in two half-game stints. He performed well during those two games, and technically finished best of all the Sabres goalies in goals against average and save percentage – well, assuming you don’t care that he only played 43 minutes all season.
Thumbs Down: Didn’t have a great save percentage or GAA in the AHL, and only one shutout. Lost the starting gig to Leggio, and spent almost all of his time in Buffalo riding the pine behind Enroth. Will be a free agent this summer, and most likely won’t be back with the Sabres organization.
Voting: On a scale of one to ten, one being the lowest and ten being the highest, grade Drew MacIntyre on his season according to the expectations you had for him. If he met them, give him a five or a six. If he eclipsed them, aim for a seven or beyond. If he failed to meet them, give him a lower number relating to how poorly he missed the target.
On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest, how would you rate Drew MacIntyre for his 2011-12 season?
| 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 12 |
| 3 | 19 |
| 4 | 24 |
| 5 | 27 |
| 6 | 9 |
| 7 | 4 |
| 8 | 1 |
| 9 | 2 |
| 10 | 10 |