It seems like I've been asking the same question about Patrick Kaleta every year for the past few seasons - Is there room for #36 on the Sabres roster?
Buffalo waived Kaleta on Saturday in an attempt to save his career and wake him up. He cleared waivers and has been assigned to Rochester.
“This was a move we thought was necessary to help Pat change his game and preserve his career in this league,” Regier said. “We believe in Pat as a person and we hope he will continue his career in our organization and, if the circumstances are right, with the Buffalo Sabres.”
Kaleta has become less and less useful to the team because of his style of play. He's either injured or suspended every season, or even scratched. He can't be relied on to put up points, or play in 60 games.
In his first couple of seasons, Kaleta showed how he made it to the NHL, by his bone-crushing hits and ability to get under the skin of his opponents. He was the type of player that you'd hate to play against, but would love if he was on your team...at least that's how it used to be.
In the '09-'10 season, Kaleta lit the lamp 10 times, including twice short-handed and four of the goals being game winners.
Kaleta's contribution to the offense were nice to see, but now it looks like he's just out there looking to hit people, which is why he earns so many reputation penalties and suspensions.
If Kaleta is unable to change his game, then I don't want to see him on this team in the next few years. It's nice to be able to throw a hit once in a while, but he's not going to last if that's all he's doing.
I hope being waived does wake him up and helps change his style of play because having a fourth line of Stafford and Leino certainly isn't what I want to see. Kaleta's role has become more limited. It's up to him on whether or not he changes his style.
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