Is
it just me or does it not seem like the Sabres have been in a
rebuilding mode for a really long time now? It's only been four
seasons since the Sabres last made the playoffs, but every season the
team seems optimistic about some group of youngsters or another.
The problem is, the Sabres are still waiting for some of those same
youngsters to make an impact while the franchise essentially treads
water until they do. There's certainly a lot of "ifs" on the
Sabres; if one of their goalies step up, if three or four of their
young forwards break out, if the defense gels somehow, etc.
Unfortunately, there's far too many "ifs" and not enough certainties
for this to be considered anywhere near a playoff team.
These
previews will appear, two a day, until the season starts on October 5th.
They will be put on-site by division, roughly in order of predicted
finish. Note that the rookies listed are only those most likely to make
the team, not necessarily ones who have already sewn up a spot, and surprises
always occur in training camp. The In/Out portion represents significant
players added and lost since the end of the 2003-04 season. And now, on
with the show...
In: Teppo
Numminen, Toni Lydman
Out: Eric
Boulton, Miroslav Satan, Alexei Zhitnik, James Patrick, Brad Brown
Rookies:
Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Paul Gaustad, Doug Janik
Sure,
another season has passed, and it’s a brand new NHL, but it’s hard to tell if
you’re looking at Buffalo. Unless, of
course, you’re looking at the lineup and wondering what happened to longtime
Sabres Satan and Zhitnik, both of whom signed with the Islanders this
summer. Seems like the Sabres have gone
into camp saying the same thing the past three, non-playoff seasons: lots of
goaltending depth, some good young talent up front, wait until next year.
Strengths:
1. This may finally be the year prospect Ryan Miller makes his mark in the
NHL. Miller was named the top
goaltender in the AHL last season with the Sabres farm team in Rochester, and
after three standout AHL seasons after a fine college career with Michigan
State, the Sabres swear that this time Miller will make the team for sure. That means that unlike the last two seasons
when pundits said the Sabres would have to deal a goaltender to make room for
him, this time it’s really true.
2003-04 backup Mika Noronen had an excellent season in Finland last
year, which means that that season’s starter, Martin Biron, the oldest and only
one of the three who didn’t play last season, might be the odd man out. Unfortunately for the Sabres, the market for
goaltenders right now strongly favors the buyer. Still, it’s an asset the Sabres will have, and hopefully two of
their three goalies will combine to form a first-rate tandem.
2. Since
we’ve talked about the goalies, that must mean we’ve moved on to the good young
talent up front. Mike Grier, at 30, and
Chris Drury, 29, are the old men of the bunch.
The line of Daniel Briere, J-P Dumont and Jochen Hecht is expected to lead
the team’s offense once again, while an intriguing new addition will be Vanek,
who scored 42 goals as a rookie pro in the AHL last season. Behind Briere and Drury at center will be
young Derek Roy, who played very well for the Sabres towards the end of 2003-04
and was good again last season in the AHL, and a fully-recovered Tim Connolly,
who’s concussion problems sidelined him for all of 2003-04. Connolly has never lived up to expectations
as a pro, but at 24 is still young enough to prove his doubters wrong.
Weaknesses:
1. Losing Zhitnik and Brown to free agency and Patrick to retirement leaves the
Sabres with a dearth of veteran leadership on defense and a lot of minutes to
make up. In an attempt to address both
problems the team signed Numminen, but at 37 and coming off a particularly
uninspired 2003-04 in Dallas, just how much he can contribute is an issue. Luckily for the team Dmitri Kalinin emerged
as a defensive leader in 2003-04, playing both special teams and leading the
defense in points. He and young Henrik
Tallinder are ready for even more responsibility, and if the team can get a
full season out of oft-injured Jay McKee, that will help. Still, even if those four perform well
that’ll only give the team a decent, not great, defense, as the rest of the
blueline contingent is filled with suspect performers.
2. While
Buffalo has some talent up front, the do have some issues in terms of size and
physical play, particularly at center.
Only one of their top four centers is over six feet, Connolly, and he is
less than renowned for his physical play.
The wings aren’t much better, with several players over six feet, but
only a handful, enforcer Andrew Peters, sparkplug Adam Mair, and Grier having
any sort of physical element to their game.
Grier was a nice addition late in 2003-04, and he is an excellent hitter
and forechecker, but he’s the only winger on the top three lines that can claim
either distinction. The team could
conceivably play Drury, who does have some bite to his game, on the wing, but
he’s by far the team’s best faceoff man and is needed at center because of it.
Don’t be
Surprised If: Vanek ends up a serious rookie of the year candidate. After a bit of a slow start in the AHL last
season, one that affected pretty much the entire Rochester roster, Vanek caught
fire and finished second in the league in goals. The Sabres have some centers who can get him the puck in good
scoring position and are more than willing to make room for him on their top
two lines, so Vanek, who is only 21, could excel this season.
Outlook:
Virtually the same lineup failed to make the playoffs in 2003-04 with Satan and
Zhitnik. There’s little reason to
believe that it will make the playoffs this season. Look for the Sabres to occupy the basement of the Northeast
division and finish well out of the post-season.
Centres: 1. Daniel Briere
2. Chris Drury 3. Derek Roy 4. Tim Connolly 4. Adam Mair
5. Chris Taylor 6. Paul Gaustad
Wingers: 1. Jochen Hecht 2. J.P. Dumont
3. Maxim Afinogenov 4. Ales Kotalik 5. Mike Grier 6. Thomas Vanek
7. Taylor Pyatt 8. Milan Bartovic 9. Andrew Peters 10.
Jason Pominville
Defensemen: 1. Dmitri Kalinin 2. Jay
McKee 3. Teppo
Numminen 4. Toni Lydman 5. Henrik Tallinder 6. Jeff Jillson 7. Brian Campbell
8. Rory
Fitzpatrick 9. Doug Janik
Goalies: 1. Martin Biron 2. Mika Noronen 3. Ryan Miller