One of these days, the Sabres players are going to clean the wax out of their ears so that they can hear Lindy Ruff when he implores them to 'stay out of the box".
One of these days.
Until then, they'll take eight penalties in a game like they did in Ottawa, and they will lose.
How can a team commit eight minor penalties and still expect to win the game?
Foligno was guilty twice. Myers, Kaleta, Regehr, Hecht, Ehrhoff and Leopold committed minor penalties. There's no way to sugar coat it. This Sabres team is playing so inconsistently because it lacks discipline.
The same thing happened on the 3-1 loss to Boston when the Sabres took four consecutive penalties in the second period and it killed all momentum that they had built to that point.
Its a recurring theme: Sabres take dumb penalties, don't score enough (or any) goals, and they kill another great Ryan Miler performance.en their team needs them the most. K
In Ottawa, Buffalo's best players like Pominville, Hodgson, and Ott got way to much ice time while on the PK, thus rendering them useless and tired in the third period when their team needed them the most. The best players were gassed late in the game and the fresh, seldom-used non-PKers were ice cold when they were called upon to play after all the penalties were done.
The Senators took five undisciplined penalties of their own. o-5 on the power play won't win you hockey games, to say nothing of being zero for their last 21 attempts on the PP.
To add insult to injury, Erik Karlsson's GWG came while the Sens were shorthanded.
Haven't you, the ardent fan of the Sabres, seen this movie before? Dumb penalties cause the PKers to get worn down so that they cannot compete at their highest level in the third period? Same thing as 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Bad habits never die.
Marcus Foligno had an uncharacteristically bad game in Ottawa. He whiffed on his back check. Karlsson scored. Two penalties to boot.
Thanks, sabres.com
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Another Ryan Miller command performance flushed down the crapper by his forwards and D
Thanks, sabres.com
No worries. The Bruins and Penguins are the next two dance partners for the Sabres
Ryan O'Reilly's days in Denver are all but done. Its all over but the shouting.
The Colorado Avalanche are in turmoil right now. They’ve lost eight starting players to injury in the first month of the 2013 abbreviated season.
#1 D Erik Johnson (shoulder) and robust forward Cody McLeod (unknown) were injured in Monday's 3-2 overtime loss to the visiting Phoenix Coyotes.
The other key contributors in the Colorado M*A*S*H unit include:
Team captain Gabriel Landeskog (head and leg)
Defensemen Ryan Wilson (ankle) and Matt Hunwick (torso).
Agitating forward Steve Downie is out for the season (knee surgery).
Center John Mitchell missed Monday's game (flu)
Talk about a hurting unit. The Avs are a disaster right now.
Ryan O'Reilly led the Avs in scoring last season, and its looking more and more likely that the second coming of Michael Peca and Jonathon Toews will be traded in the very near future. O’Relly isn’t willing to accept the same type of two year “bridge contract” that Matt Duchene settled for last Summer. Duchene left money on the table and it suppressed O’Reilly’s contract value to the team. Now the ferocious two-way centre is boxed in. His value has already been determined by Duchene’s comparables. O’Reilly and his agent have been demanding a five year, $5 million per season deal. The Avs are only interested in offering him two years at $3.5 million per season. There will be a bidding war for O’Reilly in th every near future, and he will get his five years and $25 million. In my opinion, he’s a value at that cap number.
Avs GM Greg Sherman is not about to give in to the pressure and sign O’Reilly a long term deal at dollars north of $3.5 million per year. Take it or leave it, is what the Avs are telling O’reilly and his agent.
If I’m Buffalo, I’m all over O’Reilly like powdered snow on the Rocky Mountains.
Regier pitched a huge deal at free agent Shane Doan last Summer, however, he couldn’t land the mammoth fish. Why not make a realm, concerted effort to land O’Reilly with the same type of financial bait that he used to chum up the water for Doan?
Its time for Darcy Regier to swoop in an chopper lift Jonathon Toews, Jr. out of his bad situation in Colorado.
On July 17, 2012, I wrote this piece on Ryan O'Reilly of the Colorado Avalanche:
Like Tyler Ennis is in Buffalo, Ryan O'Reilly is an RFA in Denver.
Did you know that O'Reilly is Colorado's only unsigned player for next season? Weird, isn't it? It can be argued that Ryan O'Reilly is the best player on the Avs roster because of his carbon copy similarities to Jonathon Toews. He's a big, tough, centreman who can win draws, plays superbly on special teams, and defends all 200 feet by 85 feet of the ice rink with amazing dexterity for a man his age. The kid is 21 and plays like he's a ten year vet. Whats more, he's got 20-25 goals in his twig annually. What would you be willing to pay a player of O'Reilly's ilk?
O'Reilly's entry level deal has expired and now he and his agent are waiting patiently for the Avs to re-sign him. On its surface, seems like a two foot tap-in putt, right?
Not so fast. Something happened last week that may be causing a tremor in the Rockies. Matt Duchene, O'Reilly's team mate took a hometown haircut to stay in Denver. Two years and $7 million for a 21 year old, 40+ goal producer, with 250 NHL games in his equipment bag? I'll admit that I was taken aback when I heard the brevity of Duchene's term and his team-friendly $3.5 million annual cap hit. Some are saying that Duchene left money on the table. If its true, how can that help O'Reilly in his quest to maximize his leverage in his quest for a new long term deal with an annual cap hit that will be north of $3.5 large?
Duchene's deal sets the market in Denver. Duchene will be used as a comparable to O'Reilly. Sucks for O'Reilly.
Young centres like Duchene, Tavares, and Hodgson to name a few don't grow on trees. Thats why GMs lock them up long term when given the opportunity to do so.
Adrian Dater of the Denver Post recently wondered if Matt Duchene's new deal may have usurped whatever leverage that O'Reilly had with the team. Its possible.
Thus, there's no urgency to sign O'Reilly. It must be noted that its only mid-July. Training camps won't open for 60 days, or more, if there is another work stoppage due to the new collective bargaining agreemnent.
Both Duchene and O'Reilly came into the NHL at the same time. Each have similar numbers, though it can be argued that O'Reilly is the more well-rounded and complete pivot, while Duchene is the sniper. Their ELCs had expired at the same time. Duchene was the third overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, while O'Reilly was the thirty third overall pick (second round) that same year.
Statistically speaking, Duchene had the better start to his Avs career, scoring more points than O'Reilly in his first two seasons. Then, last season, while Duchene was nursing injuries, that would sabotage his season, O'Reilly established himself as a force and created quite an impressive brand name for himself by virtue of his rugged two way game.
One asks:
How is it that the Avs are taking their sweet old time re-signing O'Reilly? How does the guy go from being your best player to your last player to sign, all in one fell swoop?
Perhaps the Sabres should make an inquiry as to the status of O'Reilly. I'd be asking the obvious question of the Avs front office: how do they value O'Reilly? I'd also be asking the Avs if he's available for a trade to Buffalo.
The Avs have their two top centres, Stastny and Duchene locked up right now. O'Reilly sits and waits for his next contract. Eventually, O'Reilly will be re-signed. Or, will he? Perhaps the Avs are content to move forward with Stastny and Duchene as their one-two punch down the middle, and, perhaps they are more interested in trading O'Reilly for a high scoring winger to compliment the amazing Gabriel Landeskog, like say Jason Pominville or Bobby Ryan. Buffalo can include a veteran puck-moving, mobile D like Sekera or Leopold to sweeten a deal. The Avs have centre prospect Joey Hishon on the come, and I'm told that he may be making the Avs squad this season.
Hishon played his ass off and was a force for the Owen Sound Attack for the past four seasons. He's NHL ready. Perhaps the Avs want to plug-n-play Hishon and trade O'Reilly. Hishon was the 17th overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft. He's a magician with the puck on his stick as he can score and can create plays in traffic and out of the corner for his linies. Hishon scored 110 regular season goals and added 9 playoff goals in his four years at Owen Sound. He also added 145 assists in regular season play.
Here's Hishon's body of work from his junior hockey career at Owen Sound:
214 regular season games played. 110 goals. 144 assists. 254 regular season points. 1.19 points per game. 162 PIMs. +16 . 26 playoff games. 9 goals. 22 assists. 31 points. 1.19 points per game. 38 PIMs. +4.
Hishon is a beast, and he needs to play in the NHL this season.
So I ask you, are you as interested in Ryan O'Reilly as I have been for the past two seasons?
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The Avs are a wreck right now and are desperate for an infusion of talent at forward and D.
The Sabres have stocked cupboards on their blue line, with Leopold, Sekera, and Pardy. They also have skilled forwards to bargain with in Ennis, Armia, Adam, Varone.
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