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In Chaos Lies Opportunity |
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In the first six weeks of the NHL season, the Buffalo Sabres have played 16 games, many of them of are the dreadful variety.
This Sabres vintage cannot score goals to save it’s life.
Do you want to know how many 5-on-5 goals that they’ve scored? Try 15.
Toss is Drew Stafford’s 2 PPGs, and a shorthanded goals, its easy to see whey the Sabres are heading into the seventh week of the season in the pole position for the Connor McDavid Sweepstakes.
The Sabres can’t score and they can’t keep the puck out of their own net. They are the undisputed last place team in the NHL right now because they have earned it. Ted Nolan’s troops are scoring 1.12 goals per game.
At the lonely end of the rink, Sabres goalies can’t be blamed for the 53 goals against that they have allowed. The Sabres have been victimized 38 times while playing 5-on-5 hockey. They’ve allowed 11 PPGs against. Poor Jhonas Enroth nd Michal Neuvirth. Both Buffalo goalies have been left to fend for themselves while their defenseman and forwards have gone to sleep inside shifts of important games. The last place team in the West, the Edmonton Oilers, attempted 85 shots on Neuvirth on Friday night. They landed 52 of them. The Oilers forwards and D were seen leaving First Niagara Center with ice bags ace bandaged to each of their arms to keep the swelling and inflammation down. That Enroth got zero help from D and forwards after he was torched for six goals by the Penguins on Saturday night. Sidney Crosby, the QB of five of six Pens goals against Enroth, looked like Ben Roethlisberger on Saturday night in Buffalo. He was just chuckin’ the ball around the school yard making it look so easy.
While many Sabres fans left the building or clicked off the MSG broadcast for Hockey Night In Canada, I kept my eyes glued on the Masacre at First Niagara Center on Saturday night. I was in search of a glimmer of hope. Something. Anything that resembled a positive trend. With the Sabres getting curb stomped 5-0 in the third period, it would have been easy to walk away from the wreckage. I’m glad that I didn’t. I got excited by a coaching decision that left me wanting more. Nikita Zadorov finally earned the trust of Ted Nolan. I saw it with my own two eyes. I liked what I saw. No, I loved what I saw. After weeks of trying to get play his way out of the doghouse Zadorov was paroled and allowed to roam free. The combined penal sentences of Zadorov’s so-so rookie camp showing and his Traverse City benching were pardoned by Nolan and the kid more than adequately responded. In fact, he played pretty damn great considering the circumstances. Buffalo’s top D pair of Josh Gorges and Tyler Myers were dreadful against the Penguins. Gorges was on the ice for all six Penguins goals and the one Buffalo marker. Myers was on the ice for all but one of the Pens daggers through the heart and the Girgensons goal that broke Marc Andre Fleury’s shutout.
In chaos lies opportunity.
I was hoping that Nolan would lean on Zadorov more in the final period of the blowout and that exactly what he did. The ginormous Russian didn’t disappoint either. Nolan, flummoxed and enraged by his slobbering veteran leaders, looked to the kids to lead the charge. Nolan’s true coaching roots shined through. Forget the analytics and the math. Nolan’s coaching instincts told him to play the kids because they listen to him and they show him their undivided attention and respect. His veterans are another story for another day. Like he had done with Girgensons last season, and he has done with Ristolainen this season, Nolan empowered and featured the eager, deserving young Zadorov on special teams and it was a smart decision to do so. Through his hard and smart work in his first five NHL games, Nikita earned 1:55 of PP time and :18 seconds of PK play in the third period. In fact, Zadorov and his new D partner Rasmus Ristolainen ran their power play opportunity like a couple of five year veterans would. They played pitch and catch across the blue line; Zadorov crept down the half wall in pursuit of the seam through which he ripped darts for one-timers and chances. The kids were good. Hell, they were better than good. They were great. Nolan saw it. The 10,000 or so fans left in the seats saw it. The Penguins saw it.
Though the Sabres PP didn’t score on Fleury, Zadorov and Ristolainen showed their shell-shocked veteran teammates that you can have fun and play well when playing with confidence and poise. Nolan can preach structure, discipline, and compete until his head explodes. His words are not permeating the thick skills of some of his veteran players. Nolan took currency away from several of his millionaires in the losses to Edmonton and Pittsburgh. Losing ice time to other players is like losing money at the casino. Players hate it. Especially veteran players who feel that they have earned the ice time. Ice time is a privilege, not a right and it can be taken away at any given time, without prior notice. Nolan went back to his Team Latvia coaching roots on Saturday night by pumping the tires of his young, underdog kids and then turning them loose like pit bull terriers on the almighty Pittsburgh Penguins traveling circus. They lost the game, but they won the third period. No, Nolan has a body of work of coaching moments that he can use to further inspire Zadorov, Ristolainen, Girgensons, Deslauriers and his kids.
Zadorov’s game is trending very well at this critical juncture of the season.
Against Pittsburgh, Zadorov skated 26 shifts 20:11 TOI. He was an even player. He skated 22 shifts for 15:23 TOI and was an even player against Edmonton. He skated 17 shifts for 12:13 TOI vs. Montreal and was an even player. He skated 17 shifts for 12:42 TOI and was +1 against Detroit. Against Los Angeles, Zadorov skated a season low 6:12 TOI on shifts shifts and was an even player. His five game sample size suggests that the kid is not a liability at the NHL level. In fact, the more he plays, the better and more confident he has gotten. He’s been defensive responsible and has stayed out of the penalty box. The one area that he can immediately improve in is on offense. He has a scud missile of a point shot that he has detonated on enemy goalies only twice this season. With more playing time and more power play time, Zadorov can easily lift the Buffalo offense.
Ristolainen is averaging 18:19 of TOI this season. He has earned the respect and admiration of Nolan. He struggled early this season, which is understandable for a 20 year old NHL sophomore. I contest that Ristolainen’s early struggles were due largely to his playing partner Andrej Meszaros who was often caught out of position, was slower than molasses to get to 50-50 pucks, and was soft on opponents below the face of circles. Moving Ristolainen away from Meszaros makes perfect sense to me and it should to Nolan. Ristolainen skated 25:30 vs. Detroit and 24:03 against Montreal earlier this week. He skated 20:03 against Pittsburgh, however, this was due to the fact that Nolan played the Gorges-Myers duo against the Hornqvist-Crosby-Kunitz line. One wonders if Ristolainen would have played any worse against Sid’s line than Gorges-Myers? Ristolainen hated having to go down to Rochester last November after Nolan took control of the Sabres. In retrospect, the decision to play him in a featured role for the Amerks was the best thing for his NHL development. He’s become a well-rounded, confident blue liner for having served his one year apprenticeship in Rochester. He lost 15 pounds of baby fat and its helped him to play at a higher pace this season. He isn’t laboring to breathe after shifts. He’s fresher in third periods. He’s a star in the making and that’s why Nolan and Murray should be rewarding him with a more prominent role with the Sabres in the final 66 games of this season.
The perfect solution is to play the big Finn with the humongous Russian. They are the future and they are the present.
Frankly, there’s nothing not to love about a Nikita Zadorov-Rasmus Ristolainen defense pairing. Alongside one another, they play like men, not 19 year old kids. Darcy Regier knew what he was doing when he selected them in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft. They are hostile, mobile, agile, skyscraping D-men who are learning on the job. I’m in favor of seeing this pairing stay together for the rest of this depressing season of suffering. What does Nolan have to lose? Is he going to continue to play a busted down and irreparable D in Meszaros who is -10 and getting worse by the shift? Is he going to continue to watch Andre Benoit (-11) stuggle? Tim Murray brought Meszaros and Benoit into the Buffalo D corps hoping that they would produce and help mentor the kids. It ain’t working. If anything, Meszaros and Benoit are putting on a clinic on how not to play D against the best hockey players in the world. I say get rid of both of them and play the kids. Tyson Strachan and Mike Weber have played well of late. They both have played well enough in recent weeks to garner decent trade value. Tyler Myers trade talks will only continue to amp-up and intensify in the next couple of weeks. The trade winds will continue to howl through Buffalo. Pending UFA’s Drew Stafford and Chris Stewart will fetch a handsome return on the trade market. Scoff Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Edmonton, and Boston have been keeping tabs on Stafford and Stewart in recent weeks. Why not set them free and TMGM has the opportunity to adjust his roster by trading away the players that are not going to play a role in the bright future of the Sabres. Murray can achieve nice returns on his D-men right now. It’s a high demand, low supply marketplace right now. Murray, Nolan, and their scouts have a book on all of their players in Buffalo and Rochester right now. Murray often talks about his philosophy of “losing properly”. Was blowing a third period lead to a bottom-dwelling Edmonton team that lost in Boston on Thursday night “losing properly”? Was getting destroyed for the second time in a week by being blitzed 11-1 by the Penguins “losing properly”?
The time is now to clear the decks of the beggars, hangers on, and roster space holders. Why not trade a member of the core like Myers? What have the Sabres got to lose at this point? The Sabres can position it to their fans as a market correction. The original plan wasn’t working and it needs to be augmented. TMGM can spin it to his 16,000 season ticket holders as an incubator program for his talented young kids. Nolan can use the final 66 games to further develop and inspire Zadorov, Ristolainen, Girgensons, Larsson, and Deslauriers. Murray can disptach Grigorenko, Pysyk and McCabe from Rochester so that they can gain needed NHL experience. He can also play the players that he wins in trades. I’d love to see Anthony Mantha and Riley Sheahan in the Buffalo top six forward group. If it means trading Myers to Detroit, then so be it. Murray should demand a two-fer of Hampus Lindholm and Nic Kerdiles for Myers. The Boston Bruins have been decimated on defense and are desperate to add a top four D-man. Reports out of Beantown suggest that Zdeno Chara's knee injury is not progressing. He has been seen hobbling badly inside and outside of their arena. His original prognosis was 6-8 weeks, then a thorough examination to determine next steps. Surgery has not been ruled out yet for Chara. If he undergoes surgery, his season will likely ne over. Losing the he 39 year old mountain of a man to surgery would be a bullet to the guy for Pete Chiarelli and Claude Julien. They are proactively scouring the league for an impact D-man, and Myers might fit that bill. Subtract the injured Torey Krug (may return this week), David Warsofsky (out 2-4 weeks groin), and Kevan Miller and its easy to see why Chiarelli is looking. The Bruins had to trade Johnny Boychuk to the Islanders at the beginning of the season in order to sign their two RFAs Reilly Smith and Krug. Chiarelli will have to trade away two top prospects and a pick if he's going to get his hands on Myers. The Bruins are 9-6 an have won four straight. They may want to make a preemptive strike before the other contenders beat them to the loose puck. The Bruins would have to send Reilly Smith and Alex Khokhlachev and a pick to Buffalo for Myers. "Coco" was a line mate of Mikhail Grigorenko on Team Russia's WJC team and the two players work well together. If the Bruins really want to pry Myers out of Buffalo, they may want to include Brad Marchand in the deal instead of Reilly.
Murray should make a trade now while there are oodles of NHL teams still in need of D help.
In recent weeks, several NHL clubs have been scouting Buffalo aggressively including: Anaheim, Los Angeles, Calgary, Boston, Colorado, Winnipeg, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, San Jose, Arizona and others. These teams are looking for defensive help. There is a dramatic shortage of veteran D available in the NHL right now. Contenders and bubble teams are licking their wounds and trying to duct tape their rosters together while injured players get well. Others are inconsistent and looking for upgrades in the form of a difference maker. But where? All the great D are locked up to long term deals teams can’t earn playoff spots in Movember, but they sure can lose them.
NHL GMs are looking for trade partners before the Thanksgiving holiday begins.
The Sabres have a cornucopia veteran assets that they can trade away in exchange for more young, skilled building blocks. Oh, by the way, Connor McDavid scored goals and added three assists in an 8-1 win over Saginaw on Saturday night. McDavid
The future is now.
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The Sabres enter week eight of the NHL season with an abysmal 3-11-2 record this season. They will play against their former captain Steve Ott in St. Louis on Tuesday and against Vanek and Pominville on Thursday. They will return home to host Toronto next Saturday. They will host the San Jose Sharks on 11/18 and the NY Rangers on 11/21.
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Is a Patrick Kaleta return to the lineup getting closer? I have to think that its not a cost savings measure as the Sabres have a ton of salary cap space and can afford to have Larsson stick and stay in Buffalo.
The Sabres opened up a roster spot on Sunday by sending gritty forward Johan Larsson back to the Rochester Americans.
Kaleta is ready to ready to play his first game of the season from hell. He busted his chek/orbital bone when he blocked a Morgan Rielly clapper with his face on September 28. He's been practicing with the team and has told me that he's ready to go. Perhaps his doctor has given him the okay to resume playing in games.
The Sabres don't play again until they travel to play Steve Ott in St. Louis on Tuesday night. They play the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night then return home to host the Maple Leafs next Saturday night.
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The Berlin Wall came down 25 years ago today.
Where were you on that historic day?
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