Image courtesy of www.diebytheblade.com
There are plenty of words I could use to describe the first
two weeks of the Buffalo Sabres season but most of them would not be fit to
print here. Suffice it to say the Sabres are off to an inauspicious start.
They’re 0-5-1 with only six goals scored to 16 allowed. The
superb goaltending of Ryan Miller (and Jhonas Enroth) is the only reason the
Sabres don’t lose by five every night. They’re last in the NHL with only one
point and it doesn’t seem like they’ll be able to climb out of the basement
anytime soon.
So, what has gone wrong so far for the Sabres? Four things
in particular.
1.
Too
many moving parts/new faces: General Manager Darcy Regier
made a conscious decision to rebuild near the end of last season. That has led
to plenty of young players being
inserted into the lineup. While many of these players are talented first-round
picks with plenty of upside, not all of them are ready to contribute at the pro
level. And, boy are there a lot of them. The Sabres have already used three
teenagers this season (Mikhail Grigorenko, Zemgus Girgensons, Rasmus Ristolainen)
and employ 12 players aged 24 or younger. A team this young is bound to
struggle out of the gate.
2.
Stupid
lineup decisions: What’s worse than using a player who’s not
entirely ready for the NHL yet? Using that player improperly. Head Coach Ron
Rolston has to be smarter regarding lineup decisions. There’s no reason for
rookie Johan Larsson to be placed on a line with fighters John Scott and Cody
McCormick. In fact, there’s no reason for Scott and McCormick to be in the
lineup at all. And there’s no reason for Mikhail Grigorenko to be scratched in
favor of Scott and McCormick. Play your young guys. Put them in a position to
succeed. Or send them back to Rochester/juniors.
3.
A
defense only a mother could love: Holy wow, this is easily the
biggest issue. Ristolainen is painfully raw, Tyler Myers seems desperate for a
sports psychologist and Mike Webber is Mike Webber. And it’s not just the
defensemen that have been awful; Buffalo may have the worst collection of
defensive centers in the NHL. Hell, they might have the worst defensive
forwards in general. According to extraskater.com, Tyler Ennis and Cody Hodgson
have been on the ice for a whopping 75 shots in the first six games. Vanek’s
been on the ice for 40, Stafford for 35. This is a team-wide issue. The Sabres
are last in the NHL in corsi-for percentage (measures a team’s ability to
possess the puck) at 38.9%.
4.
A
dearth of scoring talent: Somehow this cavalry of one-way,
defense-first forwards can’t seem to score. Thomas Vanek is a creator and one
of the most offensively-dangerous forwards in the league and Hodgson is pretty
dangerous in the offensive zone as well. Beyond that? Yikes. Girgensons and
Grigorenko have shown some skill but both are too young to consistently
produce. Stafford has apparently lost whatever touch made him a 30-goal scorer
three years ago. Ville Leino is…let’s not talk about that here. The bottom line
is the Sabres trot out too many forwards that are useless on both ends every
night. All the Ryan Miller magic in the world won’t change that. There are no
quick, in-season fixes here. This team will be awful until something major
changes.
Stay hungry, my friends
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