Lindy Ruff told the media that he is "optimistic" that Thomas Vanek will play Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, Vanek told sabres.com that he woke up Saturday morning and his back felt fine. Then when he tried to skate, the back wasnt where it needed to be Vanek said there's no use playing at 75-80% if it means he cant skate.
Vanek said he will see how he feels on Tuesday. The Sabres host the Leafs in a battle for the Northeast Division basement.
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As for Ville Leino, no good news. Hasn't skated in a week. Still on IR
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Photo courtesy, Dan Hickiling
Updated 11:25am EDT:
Mikhail Grigorenko is still in Buffalo, this according to Bill Hoppe of Buffalo Hockey Beat. Grigorenko is on the ice this morning for practice at First Niagara Center.
On Sunday, Grigorenko skated in his fifth game as a Sabre. Speculation abounds as to whether Buffalo will keep him for the rest of the season. Playing the Russian rookie vs. Toronto on home ice on Tuesday night will start the meter rolling on his three year NHL entry level contract. Just do it, Darcy. You know you want to. In my opinion, the Sabres are a better team with Grigorenko in their lineup than they are without him.
The Montreal Canadiens have announced that they will be keeping rookie Alex Galchenyuk for the remainder of the NHL season.
I feel like the Sabres should do the same with Grigorenko. He’s already proven to his doubters that he can compete at the NHL level without many challenges. The one thing I’d like to see him work on is his upper body strength. He’s fine on the puck now, however, he’ll be all the more effective and will be able to win more one on one battles with a better developed upper body. He’ll be harder to move off the puck by opposing D and forwards.
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Should he stay or should he go?
Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff have a serious decision to make right now.
To keep Mikhail Grigorenko in Buffalo to finish what he has started. Or, send him back to the Quebec Remparts to continue his junior hockey career?
The decision is a no-brainer to me. You keep the kid and let him flourish in Buffalo. Were it not forTyler Ennis’ offensive awakening on Sunday, I’d be calling Grigorenko Buffalo’s best centre on the day. Hodgson was so-so in my opinion. He and Pominville looked confused with Vanek on the left wing to round out their super-productive scoring line. Nathan Gerbe looked lost with Hodgson and Pominville, Ennis found his scoring touch by listening to Ruff’s demands to take thepuck hard to the net. He created Foligno’s goal by using his speed to beat the Caps D to the blue ice.
I saw all that I needed to see for him in Sunday’s loss to Washington. In his 17:10 of ice time, Grigorenko was dynamic and creative. He was disciplined and deceptive. Were it not for two excellent save by Caps tendy Michal Neuvirth, Grigorenko would have scored his first two NHL goals. His best chance to score would come late in rthe third period of a tie game when Tyler Myers hit Grigo with a high-low play. Grigo received the pass, cradled the puck, rolled his wristes and attempted to beat the Caps goalie to the far side pipe. Neuvirth read the play perfectly and threw his pad out to make the save. But barely. Grigo had a man on his back, but that didn’t matter, as he made a power skating move to the crease and then took matters into his own hands. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t blink first. He didn’t panic. He took the puck hard to the net. Something that Ruff said his team didn’t do enough of with the 4 or 5 chances it decided to shoot on rather than go to the paint in the second period of the game. Grigo was poised and in control the whole game. He played within himself and he clearly listened to the words of wisdom that Ruff shared with him before the game.
After the game, Ruff praised the young Russian’s moxy and his determination.
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I thought overall, it was a good showing for him”
“He got some good help from Marcus and Jochen, and I thought he made some nice plays. We’ll have to look at his whole package”.
“He’s worked hard. We went over some things this morning. We actually had him skate, and look at some small plays within the game. I think he’s receptive. He understands that there are some areas that he has to get better. I thought tonight that maybe it was his best effort”.
If only Ruff could get his other forwards to buy-in to his north-south philosophy. On Saturday, Ruff proclaimed the death of river hockey. On Sunday, some of his players opted to ignore his demands to play a more puck-control style, and they instead played risky games with the puck as they tried to squeeze pucks into areas that they should not have.
Not Grigorenko. He was responsible with the puck and he held onto it as if his NHL hockey life depended on it. He hasn’t killed the Sabres in the face-off circle either. In 11:13 of ice time vs. Philly, he was 55% in the circle. Against Toronto, he skated 13:00 minutes and was 57% on the dot. Thursday in Carolina he skated 11:47 and won 33% of his draws. Friday night, he barely saw the ice, skating only 6:48 TOI, but was still 50% on draws. On Sunday, his defining moment as a Sabre, Grigo skated 17:10 of total ice time and was respectable in the face-off circle by winning 36% of his draws.
Regier and Ruff have a decision to make today. Do they scratch Grigo for the purposes of keeping him in Buffalo to practice and to work out with the team? Or, do they just throw caution to the wind, put him in the top six forward group and let him play the next 43 games in Buffalo, thus eating one year off of his entry level contract? How much has the kid hurt the team in his first five games?
Has he been a hindrance? Has he added value to a Sabres team?
One thing is clear that the Sabres are in desperate need of offensive production from whichever sources it can get it from.
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