Happy Day! (Edited)

Happy Henrik Tallinder Is Still a Sabre (For Now) So Heather B. Doesn't Have to Change the Banner on Her Blog (Yet) Day, everybody!

:::throws dimpled confetti:::

Hank's happy for me too.

Well, clearly the Sabres are as relieved as I am that Hank wasn't traded. Take that load of stress off their shoulders and look what happens. Easy wins. I suspect the "Hank is still a Sabre" bump will carry them all the way now.

Okay, seriously... let's discuss some things.

Obviously the big move today was re-signing Tim Connolly. I'm not completely sold on this move - I was perfectly fine with letting him walk at the end of the season - and when I got the text with details my initial reaction was horror. That's... a lot of money for a guy who hasn't played much in the last few years. Even in retrospect I'm okay with the first contract. I think the Sabres had to take a chance on Connolly. He was too dominant in that postseason to not hope he'd put the concussion troubles behind him. But to take that chance again? That seemed excessive.

But you know... I might have come around a little bit at least. Darcy Regier made the point in his press conference that there aren't a lot of short-term contracts in the league any more and he's right about that. Two years is really not that much of a commitment. If it doesn't work out, it's not something that's going to bury the team for the next 5-7 years the way some of the contracts signed by other teams over the last couple of years are going to. And there's no doubt Connolly is super talented. If he does stay reasonably healthy, 4.5 is going to be a bargain. I've seen other people make this point around the internet but where are you going to find another point per game player for that price? You're not going to. It's pretty hard to wrap your brain around the idea of someone who hasn't played that much getting a raise but you know, pro sports don't work the same way as the real world. They never have and they never will. Guys are always getting paid for potential and always getting more than they should. Tim Connolly is hardly a first.

I was going to link to Bucky Gleason's "Sabres likely to trade Connolly" story here but boy, TBN dismantled it. The latter half of the column is untouched but the headline has changed and the section about the Sabres trading Connolly has been replaced with news of the extension. Eager to make us forget that Bucky was wrong, I guess. Normally I wouldn't care. It's trade deadline day. Everyone's wrong about something, usually wrong far more often than right. I do delight a little in Bucky being wrong however because he's so friggin' pompous and self-righteous about everything. I can't wait to read his story tomorrow in which I'm sure he'll mention once again that if he were in charge, the Sabres would've made a trade with Chicago for that d-man he's been obsessing over. I was going to point out that one of the criticisms he makes of Connolly is that he only has 8 assists in the last 9 games which is, by my count, still almost a point per game and about what you'd want from a playmaking center. But hey, what do I know? I'm not a columnist.

I was also disappointed in Jerry Sullivan's blog about Connolly's re-signing. I have no problem with him being down on the signing - like I said, I can definitely see why people think it's crazy - but I think he misfires by accusing Regier of re-signing Connolly in an effort to justify the original contract. That's pretty contradictory of everything we've seen of Regier over the years, I feel. If you want to accuse him of getting overly attached to players sometimes, well, guilty as charged. But I really don't think there's anything more here than him liking Connolly and believing that he's a special talent.

I also don't get Sully's fixation on Connolly's game being all finesse like that's a bad thing. Yeah, the Sabres definitely need some grit and toughness but you have to have skill too. A team full of Paul Gaustads would be hard-working and likable but also (sorry, Goose) not particularly good at hockey. I'd also hesitate a little to call Connolly soft. No, he doesn't fly around the ice smashing players into the boards but he doesn't shy away from contact and he doesn't hesitate to jump into little scrums. That's one thing I've always had to give him credit for. For a guy who's had so much trouble with injuries the last few years, he's not gun shy at all. He doesn't play like a guy afraid to get hurt. So injury prone? Certainly. Soft? Eh. I don't know.

So over the course of the day I've gone from horror and slight disgust to extremely cautious, hesitating hope. It's definitely a high risk, high reward signing.

More on other trade related things tomorrow.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Tim Connolly?

Suddenly everyone is talking about what to do with Tim Connolly. And by everyone I mean, of course, Bucky Gleason and Jerry Sullivan. You can follow the links to read the columns but in a nutshell, Bucky is in favor of holding on to Timmy and attempting to re-sign him at a cheap price while Sully is all in favor of trading Timmy now while his value is high.

I hate to say it, but I agree with Bucky more than I agree with Sully. Sully and I had a debate during his Sabres Edge chat a few nights ago about this very subject and I think I made it very clear why the Sabres should not trade Timmy so I was a little disappointed to see him sticking with that opinion in his column. He's a slower learner, that guy. (Kidding, Sully.)

Sully mentioned in the chat and his column how many players have walked away the last few years and while I don't want to get into a deep conversation about that - lord knows we've covered that ground - I do want to reiterate that I think that's a silly argument. Yes, it stinks to watch great assets walk away but are you really going to trade one of your best players in the middle of a season where you have a legitimate shot at winning a championship? I have no doubt that the Sabres decided pretty early on that they weren't interested in re-signing 48 but I have no doubt they also knew that with him on the roster they had a good shot at winning the whole shebang. No way you trade one of your best players in that situation. If they had traded him and then the team had lost, people - including Sully - would've been roasting them alive for not having the guts to go all in. Last year, when it made sense to part with a player they weren't going to re-sign, the Sabres pulled the trigger and got a pretty decent return. And that's the thing. Sometimes it makes sense to deal a guy and sometimes it makes sense to let him walk. It depends on the player and it depends on where the team is. What do we get if we let Timmy walk at the end of the year? We get a point per game player through the rest of the season and the playoffs. We get someone to set up our very talented goal scorer during that period. We get someone to transform the power play during that period. That's not too shabby.

In the chat, Sully also argued that Sabres fans want it both ways. We want management to make decisions for the long-term AND the short-term. All I can say to that is... well, yeah. Every good organization, every good business has to think about both views, I think. Long-term I definitely want management to be looking at the best way to build on the young core that's signed long-term and the players in Portland who should be coming up in the next few years. But they need to look at the short-term too. I don't think there's anything hypocritical about that. Yeah, it would be nice to win the Stanley Cup but even if that's not going to happen this season, the team needs to make the playoffs. Management needs that so that the franchise continues to make money and remains a viable franchise in tough economic times. Parts of the fan base that have started to lose hope need that. Players need it too. I'm not sure how a second season of disappointment would effect them exactly but I don't think it'd be a pretty scene. The longer the team makes noise in the playoffs, the better and I think it's pretty clear that the Sabres have a much better chance of doing that with Timmy than without.

I have no doubt that there's a team out there that would take a chance on Timmy for a playoff run but what I do doubt is that they'd be willing to give much up for him. Rental players commanded a lot less last season than they did the season before that and as talented as Timmy is, everyone knows he's a UFA at the end of the year and everyone knows he's been riddled with injuries over the last three years including a pretty scary concussion history. The Sabres are not getting a valuable starter in exchange for him. They're not getting a talented prospect. They're not getting a high draft pick. Each player is different. I think what Timmy would bring to the Sabres in the short-term (the rest of the season, the playoffs) far outweighs what he could bring to them long-term via trade. Plus if he walks away at the end of the season, so what? He's barely played in the last few years. Removing him from the equation is hardly pulling out the cornerstone. And it clears his salary from the books. Get your veteran or whatever you decide you want that way instead.

See, Sully? It all makes perfect sense.

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down (without concussing it or injuring it in some other way)?

The one thing I have to disagree with Bucky on (and thank goodness there's something because I still feel a little awkward agreeing with Bucky) is that Tim Connolly does not owe the Sabres a gosh darn thing. The idea that the only way he can show he cares about hockey is to return the faith the Sabres showed to him by signing for the hockey equivalent of the low, low price of $19.95 is ridiculous. The Sabres knew exactly who and what they were dealing with when they signed Timmy to his current contract. It didn't work out but how exactly is that Timmy's fault? It's not. Yeah, it would be nice if he would do a solid for the organization but come on, this is pro sports not Montessori school. If I'm Tim Connolly, despite how much I love Buffalo and my teammates, I also know that my career is one good shot to the noggin away from being over. I'm seriously thinking about taking advantage of any team stupid enough to give me a billion dollars over the next five years.

As I was writing this post - yeah, blame Harrington for making this even longer - word came out that Darcy Regier is planning on talking to Timmy about re-signing with the Sabres so I guess it's not just idle speculation at this point. I have such mixed feelings about this. I can certainly understand falling in love with him again over the last few weeks. I've done just like a lot of other Sabres fans have done. But I'm not the GM of a hockey team. I'm not the one who's supposed to be thinking somewhat rationally. At what point does the amount of time Timmy's spent on IR override his obvious talent? At what point does him bouncing in and out of the line-up, changing the lines up all the time, hurt the team more than it helps? Are the Sabres wanting to re-sign him in hopes that he's turned a corner and will now stay somewhat healthy? Or are they feeling that any time he spends on IR is justified by how he transforms the team when he's playing?

The sentimental part of me that watches sports to see beautiful things would love to have Timmy back in a Sabres jersey next season. But I don't know, the logical side of me feels like maybe that ship has sailed. I'm not going to give the Sabres hell for signing Timmy to his current contract. The price would've been favorable if he'd produced like he has for a full three years and he was so good in 2005-2006 that I think they had to take a chance on him coming back strong. But do you take that chance again? There are a lot of quotes in Bucky's column from Ryan Miller in which Ryan talks about how much Timmy loves hockey and cares about being in the line-up but you know, all the love in the world doesn't change the fact that he's only played 70 games in the last three seasons. In the end, hockey players don't get paid for caring. They get paid for playing and producing. I'm not sure he's done enough of either to justify another contract.

So how do you solve a problem like Tim Connolly? Get everything out of him you can for the remainder of this contract and then go your separate ways.

I think.

(Get back to me if he wins the Conn Smythe though.)

You Gotta Know When to Hold 'Em, Know When to Fold 'Em

Friday I complained about the Sabres defensemen not being involved enough in the offense so far this season. Last night against Carolina two goals were the result of d-men putting the puck on the net (Toni Lydman's shot tipped in by Tim Connolly and Teppo Numminen's goal) . I'm pretty sure that makes me a genius.

Outside of that, I'm not sure there's a lot to say about last night's game. Kevin and Kate both remarked on how nice it was to see the Sabres win easily and it really did feel that way, didn't it? For the first couple of minutes we were worried because the Sabres didn't seem very intent on getting the puck out of their end but once they did, they never really seemed in danger of losing.

I say "we" because Kate (of the Willful Caboose) and I watched the game at Gambler's house. Gambler is the writer of Desperation Hockey and has long been on my to-meet list. I'll always remember her as one of the first people to comment on this here blog which is pretty cool. Gambler and her parents were all delightful and I was sorry to have to leave early to pick up Mark at the airport. I've said this before but one of my favorite things about blogging and hockey fandom in general is how many really neat people and friendships it's led me to. Gambler took a bit of a blogging hiatus during the last half of last season while she was spending a semester in the Land of Jochen Hecht but she's back at it now and if her blog isn't on your list of favorites, it should be.


The Gambler family also introduced me to hockey in HD. Yes, here at Top Shelf HQ we live in the sports dark ages. We started out watching in standard TV because the HD channel was having audio problems - first there just one guitar riff playing over and over and then the dubbing was off. We did eventually end up watching despite the dubbing issues. Rick Jeanneret was just a few seconds ahead of the play which was oddly comforting at times. As Gambler said, "It's like he's visiting from the future and assuring us, 'Don't worry, Sabres fans. That shot's going high and wide.'"

But the HD, oh the HD. If I hadn't gone straight to the airport to pick up Mark he just might have come home to a new television. I didn't even realize just how amazing the picture was until the mystery guitar riff returned and we flipped back to the standard picture. It looked kind of like this:

I'm pretty sure that guy plays for the Sabres. Tough to tell.

During the course of the game, we started talking about Drew Stafford and Kate and Gambler asked me how Mark was feeling about his Stafford jersey these days. I told them that not that long ago he'd confessed that he thought maybe Stafford had been a rebound favorite player choice after Chris Drury left and I mentioned that I'd once felt the same way about Tim Connolly. I had a very brief but intense love affair with Timmy and I have a CONNOLLY jersey (red and black) in my closet to prove it. Timmy is very out of character for me. On the list of Heather's favorite players he was preceded by Jay McKee and followed by Henrik Tallinder so he's the obvious answer to the question "Which one of these things is not like the other things?" Not only did I end up moving on from him, I ended up turning on him pretty hard. Jeez, what an absolute waste of a three year contract.

And then games like the Carolina game happen and even though I know Timmy is one second away from a career-ending injury at pretty much all times, I'm just blown away by him. When he's missing months at a time and then taking a while to get back in game shape and then going back out of the line-up again, it's really easy to forget how talented he is but jeez, he is so gifted. When he's playing like he did last night... he's just beautiful. He makes everything look so effortless. Thomas Vanek, as gifted as he is, looks like a gorilla on skates sometimes, chugging down the ice. Timmy looks like he's never breaking a sweat, gliding down the ice and then flicking his wrists a few times and pulling off something amazing. When he actually shoots the puck once in a while, his game can be pretty awesome.

Re-signing him is a terrible idea. It's terrible. He'll never make it through a whole season in one piece and that means he's taking up a roster spot someone else could be using. Him popping in and out of the line-up is disruptive to line chemistry and a distraction to the rest of the team. When he does get back from IR visits it takes him so long to look like himself again.

And then games like last night happen and I start thinking well, maybe he's worth re-signing to a really small contract. What's a million dollars or so for one year? Maybe he would be healthy for the whole year. Maybe he would be worth it. Maybe he'll finally get the happy ending that his talent deserves.

Hockey does funny things to your brain sometimes, you know.

Not Much To Say

- Boston again? Really? Aren't we done with them yet? I missed one of the games against them and I still feel like we've played them twice as much as last season. We're done with them after this game, right? Please?

- I'm so glad to hear Lindy Ruff just straight-up call out Derek Roy. There's an interview with him on Sabres TV right now where someone asks about Thomas Vanek being moved from his line and Lindy said, "Derek has three even strength points. His game needs to be better." Hallelujah and amen!

- It's time to put Tim Connolly down. When the team is throwing in fancy words to make an injury sound extra-special, it's time. (For some reason it cracks me up that the PR guy text-messages statements to the press.)

- I know everyone is clamoring to see Nathan Gerbe and I know Tim Kennedy is the center but the Portland guy I'm the most interested in seeing is Mark Mancari. For some reason I got it in my head that he was one of those guys who wasn't going to ever stick at the NHL level so I'm a little intrigued by his production so far. He's a pretty big guy too which we need. (For the record, at first I accidentally typed "he's a big pretty guy.")

-Interesting list of some of the local charities various Sabres players are involved with at Sabres.com. They're all worthy causes, of course, but I have a little bit of a soft spot for Patrick Kaleta's involvement with Cradle Beach Camp. A lot of my kids go to Cradle Beach and it's a really wonderful place with lots of different programs for kids who might not otherwise be able to go to camp whether it be for behavioral reasons or because of various disabilities or because of financial need. I know kids who look forward to their week there all year. They also have all kinds of really cool stuff all year round to help families with special needs kids. If you're ever looking for anywhere to donate time or money, I cannot say enough good things about them.

Annnnd that's all I got. More tonight.

The Season To Come, Part One

Hockey - real live, counts in the standings, totally valid to freak out about hockey - is finally, FINALLY just around the corner. I don't know about the rest of you but I really felt like this off-season was never going to end. Ever. But in 72 hours or so the Sabres will have claimed their first victim of the season - and I mean the Canadiens not me, fellas - so it seems like it's time to lay out a couple of thoughts and predictions about the upcoming season. If I were a real journalist I would sit here until my thoughts were all nicely organized and worked but I'm not. I'm a lowly blogger who's not making any money doing this. Some totally random, unorganized thoughts:

TIMMY, MAX AND AL

Tim Connolly, Maxim Afinogenov and Ales Kotalik are all in contract years and their futures with the Sabres are cloudy at best. I think only one of them - if any - will be in Buffalo next season and they all definitely come with their pros and cons.

We all know how talented Timmy is. He's amazingly gifted and he's shown flashes of really pulling it together especially on the playmaking end. There have been times in the past when he's pulled moves that have left me staring at the TV. I had a game on our Tivo for almost an entire calendar year because of the last goal in this highlight package. I just now watched it three times. The Sabres have taken some crap for making a commitment to a guy who was out with concussion problems at the time but I think that's a blatant use of hindsight. It was a risk but a risk worth taking considering how dominant he'd just been in the postseason.

It's no newsflash that Tim's trouble is injuries. The concussion troubles are bad enough but there always seems to be something else going on too. I will admit that I did actually say to Mark a couple of weeks ago, "I have a good feeling about Timmy this season. I think he's going to play 70 games." I have no idea what I was thinking. A couple of days later he was nursing a sore back already and the preseason had barely started. Granted, he is coming off a surgery but we keep hearing that he worked out really hard the rest of the off-season and he was in great shape and I don't know, while I obviously have no idea what kind of pain he's feeling in that fragile little body of his, I've reached the point where I have to really wonder if he has the toughness and the desire to have the career that he could have if things worked on talent alone. I'm sure Tim understands how much he needs to have a great season - at 27 this could be his last, best chance at a big money contract - and I'm sure he'll have his usual near point a game numbers in the parts of the season he does play... I just don't see him making it through a whole season.

Regardless, I don't think he'll be back next season for one reason: Lindy Ruff sounds more and more frustrated every time he talks about him. I think he's clearly had his fill of "What's going on with Tim?" questions and we all know Lindy has a lot of say in personnel decisions. The Sabres made their commitment, it didn't work out, I really don't see them trying it again especially with so many talented forwards already on the roster and coming up through Portland. It really is too bad.

I said my piece about Max not that long ago. He was terrible last season but while I do find him pretty frustrating I really do think a lot of that can be chalked up to his injury - groin pulls do have to be pretty tough for a guy whose entire game is based on speed and quick cuts - and being played on some very ill-fitting lines once he was back from injury. I'm sure Max will pass the puck to a myriad of opponents and pull Derek Roy offside a million times but I also won't be the least bit surprised if he scores 25-30 goals and has fans reconsidering whether we should get rid of him or not.

But like Timmy, I think Lindy has reached the end of his patience with Max which means he will also be gone, possibly before the end of the season. And like I said before, I think he'll catch on with another team, enjoy the freedom of a new coach and new system and do really well for himself. And all of Buffalo will complain incessantly about letting him go for years to come.

Finally that brings us to Al. Oh, Al. If you made me rank all the Sabres players from favorite to least favorite, Al would be pretty darn close to the bottom. Some nights he would be the bottom, yes, ranked below even Andrew Peters. I find him completely infuriating because people say all the time, "He can be physical, he can shoot the puck, he can can can" but he usually doesn't do those things. Max is annoying and set in his ways but if nothing else, he tries hard. He actually probably tries too hard to do too much. Al completely disappears for 20 game stretches - he doesn't score, he doesn't hit, he makes absolutely no impression at all unless he's taking a really stupid penalty - and that drives me crazy. I would gladly cast Al into a hockeyless pit of despair.

That said, if any one of these guys will be back, it's him. Let's face it, not everyone on your roster can be a highly skilled, highly paid star. Every team needs shorter, cheaper contracts to move around their core and Al is exactly that kind of player. He's not a total disaster on the ice and despite my complaints he has averaged just under 20 goals per season (19.75) for the last four seasons. As long as he's agreeable to a shorter contract for a reasonable amount of money (always the tricky part) I could see him sticking around.

The offense was pretty good last season overall but it would definitely help if the above guys all had good contract years especially Timmy who still seems to be the only player we have who can run a power play.

RYAN MILLER

Ryan was really bad last year. There are lots of valid reasons - the death of his cousin Matt right at the beginning of the season and the number of games he started being the two biggies - but the bottom line is, he played some very, very bad hockey. And good lord, what the heck happened with the shootout? He had ice water in his veins the previous two seasons and suddenly looked jittery the second a guy started moving in on a breakaway. As off as some of the other components of the team were last season, they missed the playoffs by four points. Better goaltending would have made up that ground easily. The team probably wouldn't have done much damage in the playoffs once they got there the way they were playing but they would've made it.

The good news is Ryan looks and sounds great right now as opposed to looking and sounded like he needed a very long nap at the end of April. It would appear that he built his frame up a little in the off-season which has to make a difference over the long grind of a hockey season. It sounds like he's also found a little better balance between playing goalie and trying to lead the team. Last year I think he tried to take on too much of the leadership mantle that was suddenly left vacant and his game suffered for it. There's an interview with him up on Sabres TV right now where he talks about how hard it is for a goalie to handle the responsibility of his game while also worrying about addressing questions and concerns about the rest of the team so it sounds like he's thought a lot about how to handle that coming into this season.

And let us all say a prayer to the mighty hockey gods that Patrick Lalime shows himself capable of playing 20 or so games in a somewhat adequate fashion. He played all of the preseason game I attended and he looked pretty good so fingers crossed.

JASON POMINVILLE AND JOCHEN HECHT

God bless Jochen and Pommers.

Looking at last season, Pommers is the one youngster on the team whom I have absolutely no complaint about. Even when he wasn't scoring he was finding some way to contribute night in and night out because he never, ever quit working hard. I think he got stronger on the defensive side of the puck, he's much more responsible with the puck than some of his buddies and he showed so much maturity off the ice. Everyone else seemed to have stretches where they were clearly panicking and flailing, pressing way too hard. If Pommers ever felt that way he sure did a good job of hiding it. I don't want to turn every post into "Lindy, for the love of god just name a captain please!" but even if you want to argue that he has some growing to do yet, I have no doubt he'll grow right into any letter you put on his chest.

Most of the above applies to Jochen too. Every team needs a Jochen - quiet, responsible and dependable. A lot of people may have been willing to part with him but I think he's exactly the kind of player you miss when he's not there. I'm still grouchy about a chart the Buffalo News ran last season after the trade deadline, suggesting that Brian Campbell's absence was responsible for the current skid because it completely ignore that Jochen was also out for that stretch and his absence always makes a difference.

(An aside since we're talking about Brian Campbell: In the ESPN preseason picks, Scott Burnside picked Campbell for the Norris. Someone please explain to Burnside that the Norris is for outstanding defensemen. There's obviously some confusion here.)

It's 1:18 in the morning so a couple quick predictions before I post this:

Leading goal scorer: Thomas Vanek
Leading assister: Derek Roy
Leading in total points: Derek Roy
Derek Roy's final tally: 36 goals, 65 assists, 101 points

How We Got to Hank (Or How Many Post Titles Can I Squeeze Henrik Tallinder Into This Month?)

I've been thinking a lot the last few weeks about favorite players. I love knowing who other fans love and why. I think it's really cool how different things about different players call out to different people. I think it's really interesting how different fans appreciate different skills and abilities. Since my hockey fandom is still relatively young, it's pretty easy to trace my favorite hockey players through the years.

My first favorite hockey player was Ron Francis. I was born in Pittsburgh and still have family there so before I even knew the Buffalo Sabres existed, I had a soft spot for the Penguins. I partly liked Francis because he was handsome - even as a kid I was more drawn to more mature looking men than baby-faced pretty boys so that salt and pepper hair was a killer. I also liked him because he seemed like the low-key, slightly overlooked guy on a very good team. Mario Lemeiux was on one side, Jaromir Jagr on the other, Francis in the middle. My brother once said he was kind of the Penguins' version of Andy Van Slyke who, while popular, was often overlooked in favor of Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla. I also very clearly remember reading this Sports Illustrated article and falling in love with the story of him and his younger brother Ricky and how he asked the Penguins if he could take time off during the season to go see Ricky run in the Special Olympics. As I've become more knowledgeable about hockey, I've been pretty delighted to discover that everything I thought about Ronnie all those years ago is apparently true. I could probably count on one hand the number of games I actually watched him play but I was definitely aware of him and he was the first guy who really brought hockey to the forefront for me even if it was in a kind of a superficial way. I think I've mentioned this before but the first hockey jersey I ever bought was a Francis #10. Even though I'd never wear it now it's still in a box somewhere because I've never been able to throw it out.

The first two Buffalo Sabres I really liked were Matthew Barnaby and Michael Peca. I have to admit that looking back, I'm not sure how this worked. I was thinking that the Sabres weren't on my radar at all until the '99 Cup run but Barnaby wasn't on that team, at least not by that point. Mark said he was pretty integral in the previous season's success and talking over dates and trips to Buffalo with him, I must have gotten attached to Matt during that season. I remember a big interview with him in ESPN Magazine that probably ran around that time even though I was sure it was after we'd actually moved to Buffalo. So it turns out the Sabres were working their way into my blood before I even remember. I liked Barnaby because he was small and scrappy. Looking back I also think maybe his role on the team was easy for a new hockey fan to get a handle on. He was there to bug the heck out of the other team and try to sucker them into doing something stupid. I didn't need to understand a lot of strategy and intricacies to recognize when he was doing his job well. I also thought that little rat-faced grin - you know the one - was totally charming.

Mike Peca is also kind of a surprise looking back because I would swear that I saw him play a fair amount in person while he was with Buffalo but I didn't. The year that Mark and I moved to Buffalo we went to the preseason carnival the Sabres used to do (they should really bring that back, by the way) and Peca wasn't there because he was holding out. And then he never played for the Sabres again. I saw him once on a pre-move trip we made to Buffalo and once on our honeymoon. (We spent our honeymoon in the mountains of Tennesse - absolutely beautiful - and our trip home just happened to coincide with a Sabres visit to Atlanta so we stopped for the game on the way back to Birmingham. I hadn't thought about it until just now but seeing the Sabres on our honeymoon seems pretty fitting in retrospect.) So I mostly saw him via TV, but I think Peca was my first stepping stone towards really becoming a hockey fan even though it still took a few years for the bug to really bite me. There was probably a little bit of "hey, I know what that guy is supposed to be doing!" involved because of his propensity for big hits but he was the first guy that really made me ask a lot of questions about the sport. What's the Selke? How exactly is a forward defensive? Is there an award for offensive defensemen? Why not? But if offensive defensive win the Norris what about defensive defensemen? How come some guys are good penalty killers and some aren't? Even then I was kind of fascinated by penalty killing. My pea hockey brain figured it was easy to be good on the power play - I mean, you have more players on the ice than the other team! - but penalty killing was totally different. It seemed hard and challenging and I automatically liked a guy a little more if he was a penalty killer, something I still feel today.

Barnaby and Peca led to Jay McKee who was probably my first genuine, real-thing favorite Sabre. I saw him play a lot on TV, I saw him play a fair amount in person, he was here while I was in Buffalo, I read all those daily game interviews and quotes from him, I saw him on the news... all those little ordinary things that you take for granted that somehow add up. I'm not going to lie. At first I liked him for two reasons. One, I thought he was handsome in a slightly off-beat kind of way. Two, he's the same age as me which was pretty young at the time. I thought it was cool that someone my age was in the NHL full-time. Eventually I did come to like the way he played and my fondness for defense fully bloomed. I was especially taken with Jay in the 2005-2006 season. The New NHL favored speedy skaters and puck carriers and that wasn't his game. He did a great job of finding a way to make his skills work in a changing game by becoming one of the best shotblockers in the league. I think shotblocking can be overrated sometimes but I admired his fearlessness and how he he would just show up and play with some pretty gnarly bruises and cuts. I know he's hardly the only hockey player to play through pain but he was a toughie. Since I was actually in Buffalo for a chunk of his time here he was also the first hockey player I loved who I really connected with the community. He was fully embedded in Buffalo by that point - we loved him and he loved us - and I thought that was very cool. Remember I didn't grow up with professional sports teams so I'd never really seen that firsthand before. The only reason I never bought a McKee jersey is because by the time I decided I wanted one it was his last season here and Mark suggested I wait to see if he re-signed. Even though he didn't and I wouldn't have gotten much use out of it, I'm a little sorry that I didn't buy that jersey anyway. It would've been right for Jay to be my first Sabres jersey.

Instead it was Tim Connolly. I know, weird, right? Mark said one day a few months ago, "I always thought Timmy was just a fling for you," and I guess that's what he was. Sometimes you have to date the bad boy to know the bad boy isn't your thing. I had to cheer for the flashy offensive player to realize that flashy offense isn't my thing. Don't get me wrong, I definitely enjoy seeing Sabres score - kind of hard to win games when that doesn't happen - and I do think Timmy is amazingly gifted (when not hurt) but I really am more thrilled by an awesome defensive play or a nerve-wracking penalty kill. When the 2006 playoffs started I, like most of the city, was totally swept up and decided I had to have a jersey and I had to have it stat. Mark had scared me off the McKee so I had kind of decided a Connolly would do and one day while walking through the mall I saw one hanging in the window of Laux. I think sometimes an impulse buy like that is pretty indicative of how you really feel but sometimes an impulse buy is just an impulse buy. If I'd waited until a few months into the next season I wouldn't have made that purchase but now I'll always have a memento of my short but intense love affair with Timmy.

When the 2006 season started, Jay was gone (::sniff:::) and Timmy was still sidelined with his concussion. While I missed Timmy and worried about him at first, eventually I... kind of forgot about him. That was my first hint that I was probably not as attached to him as I thought. And before I knew it, bam! I was in love with the unassuming Swedish d-man who was coming off a great postseason. I've written many a post, including one mini-opus, about why I love Henrik Tallinder but the short story is this: beautiful skater, often unnoticed and underrated, smart, and super pleasant. I think Hank is partly a reflection on my growth as a hockey fan - understanding and appreciating defense requires a little more knowledge, I think because it's not always obvious and easy to miss - but I also think part of me has always been drawn to guys like him. Barnaby to Tallinder seems like a bit of a leap but Barnaby to Peca to McKee to Tallinder makes some sense. And I suppose it comes as no surprise that Mike Weber is the youngster I'm most excited about. As Mark said, "Yep, you have a type."

How about you guys? Who's your favorite now? Whose jersey do you don at game time? Who's your all-time favorite? Who was your first favorite? Do your favorites have similarities? Or are you all over the map? Can you articulate why your guy is your guy or is it just a gut feeling that can't be explained? Please share if you're so inclined. Like I said, I love knowing who other people love.

Written By Anonymous

So I have this anonymous commenter that has popped up a couple times now, always on posts that are months old. I deleted the last comment without writing it down but it went a little something like this:

Hether,
Your a tool. Never right anything like this again.

To which I say, dude, at the very least, could you spell my name correctly? It's over there on the right next to the picture of Hank and at the bottom of EVERY SINGLE POST!

Here's comment number two:

You guys all suck for jumping on the ban wagon shut up i hate him i hate that shut up already have you ever been in the nhl[tougher than it looks]So you dont know what its like GO BUFFALO

I see you decided to skip my name. Too tough, right, with the whole silent A? Well, I applaud you for at least recognizing your limitations although you really don't have much excuse for missing the hard "d" at the end of "band." Also? Brilliant job picking out one of three or four really negative posts I've written this season. Seriously, do you pay attention? I'm the hopeful optimist of Buffalo! I'm the one who excused losing Danny, Chris, Jay, Soupy and pretty much every guy ever! I'm the one who said the team would be fine without all of those guys! I'm the one who'd rather meet and chat with Darcy Regier than any hockey player in the league! I'm the one who only just publicly admitted LAST WEEK that the Sabres probably weren't going to win the Stanley Cup! And I didn't even really mean it! I totally think they're still going to win it all and I won't believe they're not until the season's over!

It's true. I have one guiding thought when it comes to watching sports in general but the NHL specifically: You never know. Once the playoffs start, YOU NEVER KNOW! A goalie or top scorer that goes hot or cold changes everything. An average team that strings together a bunch of wins can go all the way, a great team that struggles can hit the skids fast. It's awesome! It's amazing! And YOU NEVER KNOW! Why give up on your team when YOU NEVER KNOW?!

I'm getting off-track a bit, but I have to say, this is what I most don't understand about Buffalo. I get that the team is less talented than the two teams that went to the Conference finals. I get that the team has been desperately and frustratingly inconsistent. I get that it's pretty hard to have any faith that they're suddenly going to right that here and now, nine games before the end of the season. I get that for some people it's a defense mechanism, kind of I'm going to break up with you before you have a chance to break my heart kind of thing. I get that between the four Super Bowl losses, the No Goal, the Music City Miracle, and random things like goals scored through the sides of nets, the instinct is to be bitter and cynical and I get wanting everyone else to feel that way too.

Except I don't! I don't get it at all! What's the point of sports if you're going to be all bitter and cynical? Why watch players who you seem to think suck and are worthy of all your hate? Why not enjoy when the team you root for does win even if it is fleeting and hard to predict? And why - WHY - must you travel all over the internet and city spreading your pessimism to everyone who clings to a shred of hope? If I wanted to wallow in cynicism and hopelessness I'd pay more attention to politics. I don't watch sports for that stuff! I watch sports for all the good stuff - watching people in awesome athletic displays that regularly blow my mind, to cheer on people who I've never met and probably never will meet and don't really care if I do meet and totally feel attached to anyway, and to hope for those guys to triumph in the face of ridiculous odds. Not only do I want to be optimistic, I want to be STUPID optimistic. Okay, let me get back on course...

Look, anonymous commenter, I have no real beef with you. I'm a little offended that you're lumping me in with the ban wagon fans of the world but I can appreciate your GO SABRES! attitude. But come on. Look at the comment again. Am I really supposed to take that seriously? For the future, here are a few guidelines for you and the anonymous commenters of the world who might wander by:

1. Spell any and all names in your comments correctly. This applies to any players but it goes double for me. Seriously, my name is all over the friggin' place and it's not exactly uncommon.

2. Punctuate. If you're not sure where the period goes, just take a guess once in a while.

3. Make a criticism that actually makes sense. If you're going to attack someone's outlook, look around you first. Read more than one entry, maybe read something from the last two months. Respond to what the person you're responding to is actually saying.

4. Man up and leave a name. Dude, if you really have to, use a fake name. It's not like I'll know. But real names are preferable. If you're say... I don't know... Tim Connolly, just fess up. Anonymous comments are lame, yo.

(I am in no way suggesting that Tim Connolly can't spell, punctuate, or read. And I'm sure he's totally above leaving lame comments on the internet. I would never say that he's not that smart. Never.)

(But okay, doesn't that second comment sound like something a drunken Connolly might leave somewhere. "Have YOU ever (hic!) played (hic!) HOCKEY BEFORE? Haaave yoooou?! 'Cause it's really, really (hic!) (swaying back and forth) REALLY HARD! (passes out)")

I Think There Was a Game Tonight?

I slept through parts of the Tampa Bay game - I went through a week or so where I hardly slept at all and have now entered a period where I can hardly stay awake - so please take all game-related thoughts with a grain of salt.

- It's hard to say how well we played because Tampa Bay is a bad team. Still, it's nice that we pretty handily beat a bad team instead of floundering against them and it's nice that we made a bad goalie look like a bad goalie instead of a future Hall-of-Famer.

- Is there any way we can trade the whole team to the Southeast division at the trade deadline? Wow, they are not good. I think it's a little unfair that any of them get to be in the playoffs at this point.

- It's goals like the first goal that make me miss Jim Lorentz. If he'd been doing the game he would've rolled back the video tape and made it a point to applaud Jochen Hecht for keeping possession of the puck long enough to get the pass off to Jason Pominville even while being sandwiched between two opposing players. (Lightnings?) No one pointed that out tonight. Of course, I was watching the Versus feed so I'm probably lucky they were looking at the ice at all and not giving me an update on Sidney Crosby's injury status instead.

- I do like to watch the occasional game on Versus just because I like to hear what people who aren't watching every Sabres game think about the team. Obviously I think we see some things that people who are only watching the scoreboard miss, but I think we're also sometimes too close to the team and get mired in all of the off-ice stuff, some of which affects the team but some of which is just noise. I would agree with Versus' assessment that our defense has been inconsistent and I would definitely agree with Keith Jones's observation that a lot of the defensive lapses have really been due to forwards not getting back and doing their part. But I think the offensive stats he cited are deceiving. I was originally stunned that we have the 6th rated offense in the league - geez, goals really are down - but after I thought about it I decided that stat is seriously knocked out of whack by the handful of games we have where the team just went crazy: 6 goals here, 8 goals there, 10 goals here. If I'm doing my addition right - a questionable thing at any time of day much less this late - the Sabres have scored 2 goals or less in 23 games and what do you know, almost all of them were losses. Most nights in the NHL, you aren't going to win with only 2 goals unless the rest of your game is absolutely stellar which, as we've established, the Sabres' game has not been.

- Tonight was good though. Four goals, good goaltending, and no glaring mistakes... That'll win you some games.

- Tim Conolly has bone spurs, huh? At this point I'm not going to be the least bit surprised when his head just pops off his body and rolls into traffic. Pretty mean of God to put that much talent in a body that's so freakin' fragile.

This came up in the comment thread a few days ago so I just want to make it very clear that I have no problem with anyone out there disagreeing with my opinions and I certainly have no problem with people letting me know that. I think the interaction and back-and-forth is one of the most fun parts of blogging. I like that despite my established Tallinder blinders, brian s. came right out and said, "Hey, you know what, I think Hank is overrated," and I appreciate that he felt comfortable saying that despite knowing that I'm never, ever going to publicly agree. All I ask is that you disagree without personally insulting the person you're disagreeing with and if you're up for it, tell me why you're disagreeing, not because you have to defend yourself but because I just really like knowing how other fans are feeling and thinking and why they're thinking and feeling that way. And just fyi, in my world, "I just hate that guy" is a perfectly good argument :-) I haven't really had any problems with any of this - so far all my commenters have been great - but I wanted to put this out there for the record.

In closing, check this out. It made me laugh.

Hockey Players Are Not Smart

Today I was put in the very uncomfortable position of agreeing with Jerry Sullivan. On his blog, Jerry informed us that one of the players approached John Vogl, one of the Sabres beat writers, and requested some positive, morale-building stories. (Thanks to Amy over at Shots Off the Crossbar for the link because I might have missed it otherwise. Hey, Amy, did you know shots off the crossbar were going to be a theme this season when you named your blog?)

First of all, why are you guys even looking at the media for encouragement? Are you crazy? Have you read the Buffalo News? I know this is my bias showing, but I haven't found them to be particularly positive even in the best of times. You really expect that to change now?

Second of all, are you kidding me? John Vogl is a REPORTER. He REPORTS what's happening in front of him. You're not really giving him a lot of good stuff to work with. If you want some positive press maybe you should try winning more than one game in a row. Maybe you could start by atleast looking like you care that you're not winning. Maybe you could try playing really, really hard for an entire sixty minutes. I'm a fan who desperately wants to be positive and I can't think of anything nice to say about you as a group. Not a single, solitary thing.

Third of all (watch out, I'm on a roll!), the Buffalo News has been pretty damn generous considering how crappy you're playing. They're (rightfully) criticizing Tom Golisano and Larry Quinn and letting you guys slide on a ton o' crap. They're harping on how much the losses of Chris Drury and Danny Briere have hurt you. They're giving the Sabres grief for getting backed into a corner on Thomas Vanek's contract and not completely ripping Vanek for signing a contract he clearly wasn't ready to handle mentally much less hockey-wise. They seem to just be getting around to you guys and you turning into whiny little boys is not very becoming.

Seriously, you guys are professional athletes. This is your job, it's what you're paid to do. (And quite well I might add. I'd love to see any of you do my job for my pay.) You're supposed to play for pride and your teammates and yourself and all that rah-rah crap. If you really need the local media to boost your morale, well, you're just not very good at this professional athlete thing. Time to grow up, boys. You said you could handle new roles and expectations. Stop talking and do it.

Gah! Do you guys have any idea how painful it is for me to side with THE BUFFALO NEWS?! It burns!

All that said, I'm dying to know who it was that approached Vogl because even if you are pissed off at negative attention, that just seems completely stupid. Even I know better. I've discussed this with quite a few people today and heard a few different opinions, but my money is on Brian Campbell. I don't know, he just strikes me as the type for some reason.

Jerry Sullivan is also running a Most Overrated Sabre poll. The five choices he gives us are Tim Connolly, Maxim Afinogenov, Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek, and A Defenseman That Heather Is Choosing to Eliminate From Said Poll. When I voted at 2:12 a.m. Wednesday night/Thursday morning, Ryan Miller was leading with 30.5% of the vote which is harsh, man. I have to agree with Jerry (AGAIN!) that some of that is just the nature of his position. I know a lot of people who pretty much blame the goalie for everything. Ryan and Thomas have had rough seasons but I think they'll both be fine so I wouldn't call them overrated - underachieving maybe is a better word. Max drives me crazy but I think he does bring some positives, even when he's not scoring. There's no doubt that his speed does scare a lot of teams into backing off. He probably came into this season with a little too much hype considering that last year was the first year he's consistently finished. But no, I have to go with Tim Connolly. I like Timmy as a player. I really, really wanted him to be great this year. I believe that somewhere on this blog I made a prediction for his points output that would be pretty darn embarrassing now but at the time, I really believed it. I still think he has a lot of talent but it's looking more and more like the 2005-2006 season where he was both productive and reasonably healthy (until the playoffs) was an anomaly. Too bad.

My most disappointing Sabre of this season though is Derek Roy, but I'll save that for another because it's late and I'm tired. How about you guys? Who's your most overrated and/or disappointing Sabre?

Paging Tim Connolly

Yeah, so I slept through all of the game against the Capitals last night. Hank, I was really excited to see you again, I promise, but what can I say? It was a long and difficult week at work. I was wiped out.

The only thing I remember past the first period is this exchange:

HEATHER (mumbling into the back of the couch and a pile of blankets): Xpewdllw bwemllwl aweiadly.
MARK: What'd you say?
HEATHER (picking up head and yelling): I said, "Wear a !#!@&!# visor already!" (head falls back down)... ZZZZzzzzzz...

I think I've mentioned before that it drives me crazy when players repeatedly take pucks off their face but refuse to wear a visor, but Timmy drives me especially mad. He's unfortunately at a point where, due to his concussion history, every knock to the head, no matter where it comes from, is potentially dangerous. The Sabres have been very good to him. They brought him over from the Islanders and were patient with his development. After the 2005-2006 season they signed him to a multi-year deal for what was at the time very good money even though he was out with post-concussion symptoms and even though no one was clear on when he'd be on the ice again. I think the Sabres organization has shown a lot of faith in Tim's talent and his long-term health. I also think Tim, more than any other player, owes it to the Sabres to do whatever it takes to protect himself on the ice. That means tightening his chinstrap, putting in a mouth guard, and wearing a !#!@&!# visor.

I'd like to be watching you do this for a long time, Timmy.

First Quarter Comments

In honor of NaBloPoMO, I'll be attempting to post something every day in November. If you're not checking in every day, make sure you're catching all the posts! Tonight we talk about actual hockey! I know!

A week or so into the season, I had a conversation with Earl Sleek. The overall gist of the conversation was, "Good Lord, our teams can't really be this bad, can they?" and we assured ourselves that no, they weren't. Teams sometimes have slow starts, no big deal. Earl, being the stat-head that he is however, couldn't just let optimism rule the day. No, he had to drag numbers and you know, reality into the conversation. Earl pointed out that the last few Stanley Cup winners have done really well in their first sixteen games. A good record in the regular season doesn't necessarily guarantee playoff success - after all, the 15-1-1 Sabres flamed out in the playoffs last year while the 6-10-1 Senators ripped through the playoffs and played for the Cup - but it does seem to be a good sample size. So here are some observations at the almost quarter mark of the season, some about the Sabres, some about the league in general:

- As Thomas Vanek goes, so go the Sabres. Other players can take the load here and there - Pominville, Hecht, Connolly - but for the Sabres to win, Vanek needs to be playing good hockey. I know, shocker, right? The good news is, despite some bumps in the road thus far, I think we'll be okay here. Vanek has definitely struggled and he needs to learn to channel his emotions better - he and Derek Roy both seem quick to let frustration take over too quickly - but he's pushed through the struggles and played hard even when it wasn't paying off. I believe Thomas is completely sincere in wanting to live up to his contract (good luck, buddy!) and he's too talented to not score more goals than he is right now. I think it's a little soon to decide that we should have kept Daniel Briere over him.

- Tim Connolly is important, especially on the powerplay. Last season I thought people got a little crazy with the "Timmy will make our PP better!" pronouncements, but there's no denying that the special teams have been better this season with him (even without Briere and Drury!) and have suffered some - especially the PP - during his injury. Fans can complain all they want about the wisdom of putting so much responsibility on a player who seems to live on IR, but you can't deny Timmy's talent. I also think Tim is potentially one of the most important players in the room. Some of the younger guys - Vanek, Pominville, Roy, Stafford - have been fortunate enough to succeed quickly on good teams and now they're having to work through things not coming so easily. Tim isn't that much older than them but he's been in the league forever and he's certainly had his share of ups and downs. I think his more even-keeled on-ice personality will balance out Vanek and Roy until they learn to use their emotions in a more productive way.

ETA: It turns out I'm not totally making things up here! Mirtle has some powerplay stats that reveal that yep, Timmy is indeed the straw that stirs the drink. See, I do occasionally know what I'm talking about.

- Derek Roy needs to be better. He's made some progress in the last couple of games but he needs to be so much better. More hustling, more getting under opponents' skin, more shooting. Less stick-handling, less whining, and less blaming things like bad bounces and chippy ice.

- For all the complaints about our defense, they've been anywhere from serviceable to solid which is especially impressive with the loss of Teppo and Kalinin. Losing Teppo's experience and leadership was a big blow and I think Tri was one of the few guys who played well from the drop of the puck this season. Considering that we had two very inexperienced d-men in the line-up for a stretch, things have been okay back there. Most nights they're holding the score down enough that the team has a chance to win and that's what you hope for. This group certainly isn't going to blow anyone away and there have been goals that were definitely the result of some kind of break-down. But the defense hasn't been the biggest problem most nights which is a very good thing.

- It might be time for Maxim Afinogenov to move on. He's very frustrating to watch. I know that, in his own way, he's trying to make things happen but after he finally seemed to figure things out last season, it's tough to watch him take such a big step backward. If we have to part with someone to pick up a missing piece - a big, physical forward for example - he's probably the player I'd be the most willing to see leave.

- No one's really mentioned it, but I think this first part of season has probably been an adjustment for Lindy Ruff as well. He had a young team last year too but he also had Drury and Numminen and Briere to take on some of the leadership. I'm sure you coach a team with that kind of player presence differently than you coach a team that's lacking that. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like it would require a little more hands-on work, more building up, and calming down. It's possible that he's been adjusting to a new role as well.

- How good does that Jochen Hecht re-signing look right now? Pretty good. Jochen's been busting his butt every night at both ends of the ice and he's done a bang-up job at center while Timmy's been out. I'm all for keeping him between Pominville and MacArthur and letting Timmy center Max and Ales Kotalik. Jochen is exactly the kind of player that every team needs and while he's under the radar most of the time, I think we would've really noticed his absence if he'd ended up elsewhere next season.

- The schedule this year blows. It feels like almost every week the Sabres have played two games in three nights or three games in four nights and then not played for four or five days. And this all-divisional games month is killing me. We still have two games against the Canadiens and I'm already tired of looking at them. One more "Ole, ole, ole!" just might drive me over the edge of insanity. Is it really that hard to spread these games out over the course of the season? You have 82 games to work with! A home and home weekend against Montreal should be exciting because the two teams usually do put on good games, but we've played them what feels like 18 times in the last two weeks. This is not building rivalries, it's killing them.

- I'm glad the league seems to be taking suspensions a little more seriously but I won't be completely sold until Chris Pronger gets more than one game for a transgression.

- Definitely a disappointing start but there are signs of life and I think the team will be mostly okay. In the end, struggling now might be a good thing. Let the kids learn now that it's a new game this year. If they want to win, they're going to have to work hard every single night. That's definitely better than them getting some flukey wins, deciding they can coast, and then discovering (again) that it's not that easy in the playoffs. While it's nice to finish at the top of the division or conference, I'm a firm believer that in hockey you really just have to make the playoffs. Once the playoffs start, it's a new season and crazy things happen. Guys who have been scoring all season suddenly stop while guys who have scored a handful a goals all season are finding the back of the net. Goalies get hot and carry teams or freeze up and doom them.

- You never know.

State of the Union

In honor of NaBloPoMO, I'll be attempting to post something every day in November. If you're not checking in every day, make sure you're catching all the posts!

So I guess we should shake things up and talk about the Sabres, huh? Okay.

Honestly, I have a hard time picking on them too much right now because most of them have worked really hard the last few games. The effort is definitely there now, they're just not getting the puck in the net. A few random thoughts that have been percolating in my brain:

- Thomas Vanek is not Miro Satan, okay, Sabres fans? I think it's killing him that the team is losing and he's not contributing. We went to one of the Boston games last week (the OT win) and watching him on the ice and the bench made it pretty clear that he's extremely frustrated and pressing way too hard. As much pressure as we're putting on him, he's putting way more on himself.

And this is exactly why a third year player shouldn't be making so much money. I'm not blaming the Oilers - what they did was within the rules of the CBA. I'm not blaming the Sabres - no one would've extended Vanek to a long-term deal after his rookie season and once there were rumors about offer sheets, his agent clearly wasn't going to let the Sabres anywhere near him. I'm just saying, it's a very unfortunate situation. Vanek doesn't have much experience with long slumps and he has no experience with being the go-to guy at this level. Now not only does he have to work himself out of this scoring drought, he has to do it while knowing that every single person watching him is thinking about how much money he's making. At this point I'm really just crossing my fingers and hoping he comes out of this in one piece. (I think he will.)

- It's not helping Vanek's case that he's playing with the two worst players on the team. Derek Roy and Maxim Afinogenov are playing wretched hockey right now, turning over the puck like crazy with fancy passes and extra stick-handling. Max is particularly frustrating to me. He finally seemed to put everything together last season - he used his linemates, he became a good playmaker, he figured out how to effectively use his speed to create space for himself and his team. To see him go back to his more selfish, careless bad habits is disheartening. Max isn't quite as young as the other forwards and he's been at the NHL level much longer. He should know better.

- So along those lines, let's break up RAV, PLEASE. I guess I understand Lindy's inclination to keep them together. They have played well in the past and Derek and Vanek have to get used to being centerpieces of the team. But with young players I think there comes a point where you have to worry a little bit about where they are mentally. Right now I think the most important thing is getting them jump-started no matter what it takes. When Tim Connolly comes back - hey, when is Tim Connolly coming back, by the way? - I'd flip-flop him and Derek. Tim has brought out good things from Max in the past and then you have Vanek with a playmaker who's actually playing well right now which might help get him back on the scoresheet. Tim would also bring a little responsibility and a level-head to that line, two things which are desperately needed at the moment. He doesn't seem to panic or press when things aren't going smoothly and in Vanek-Afinogenov-Roy you have three guys who are trying too hard to make things happen. Maybe Tim's more laid-back patience would soothe Max and Van a bit.

Derek tends to have a symbiotic relationship with his linemates. As they go, he goes. I hope that he'll eventually be able to bust out of that and impose his will a little more on his line but for now, putting him between Jochen Hecht and Jason Pominville might be beneficial. Jochen and Jason are busting their butts every night
and playing strong at both ends of the ice. Maybe being surrounded by their hard work would bring out more of the fiery dynamo I love and less of the whiny turnover machine I hate.

- Tom L. made this point over at Sabre Rattling but I think it bears repeating: This team desperately misses Teppo Numminen. I'm sure he was partly re-signed because of his dependable defensive play but I'm also sure he was partly re-signed because he was a veteran who the younger guys on the team clearly like and respect. I really think Teppo's leadership was supposed to be a bridge from last year's team to next year's team. The d-men - Campbell and Kalinin in particular - have talked openly about how calming Teppo always was for them on the ice. I can't help but think that if he were around, he'd be able to help the younger guys get out of their heads a bit.

- The defense has looked better, especially considering that Kalinin is still out. Sekera still makes me a touch nervous but I do think he's much improved. Ryan Miller also seems to be finding his game. He hasn't stolen one yet but you can't really nitpick much about his last few starts.

- Seriously, what's up with Timmy? I get nervous when he's out and everything's hush-hush.

Come back later tonight/early tomorrow for some thoughts on Ottawa!

Shipping Up to Boston

I hate games like the one tonight. The Sabres didn't really play that terribly - some things were much improved actually - but they just couldn't pull it together. A few notes, some about the game, some about other things:

- Ryan Miller was not good tonight. I think Buffalo fans are sometimes too hard on him, but Boston's second goal was terrible and a shot that has to be stopped if we're going to win. It's just as well that we lost in overtime because I wasn't feeling very confident that Ryan was going to shut down anyone in a shoot-out tonight. Hopefully he looks better tomorrow night. Last season I always felt great about his chances on breakaways and in shoot-outs and I'm kind of missing that feeling, Ryan. It'd be nice to see him and the defense play well at the same time.

- Three cheers for Toni Lydman taking a puck off the face and then coming back in the game. That was the best save by anyone in a Buffalo jersey tonight and Toni had a great game overall. I thought he was an oddball choice as November's captain since he got off to such a slow start but it's that kind of play that Lindy probably had in mind when he chose Toni. Perhaps a subtle message that talking don't mean nothing if your play ain't backing it up? I'll take a bunch of quiet guys who play tough like that over a bunch of talkers any day of the week and I imagine Lindy would too.

- Speaking of Toni (Tony Tone), there's a great interview with him up on Sabres TV right now but once again the local media missed an obvious question: Toni, are you going to abuse your position and commandeer the dressing room CD player for the month? Or maybe force the teammates who aren't playing well to listen to your favorite thrash metal albums at full volume all night? Paul Hamilton, these are the things I want to know!

- Toni had this to say in the Buffalo News today: Me and Jochen are kind of the same when it comes to being vocal in the room,” Lydman said. “We’re quiet. It’s more Hank and Millsie doing the talking, and Spacho the yelling. First of all, it's nice to get confirmation that Hank is indeed one of the more vocal leaders on the team. Paul Hamilton seemed really surprised when he found out that Hank was one of the players who spoke in the closed meeting the team had last week and quite frankly, I was too. I'm shocked to learn that the media and fans might not know everything about the inner workings of the team. Shocked, I tell you! Second of all, another obvious follow-up question missed: Just how hilarious is a screaming Spacek? Amy brought this up over at Shots Off the Crossbar and it's so true. I can barely understand Spacek when he's carefully speaking during plain ol' interviews. Does anyone on the team really get what he's saying when he starts yelling because I'm imagining a lot of loud, fast, booming gibberish. Seriously, Toni, do you all just sit around and giggle while Spacho goes off? And what do I need to do to get him to yell at me?

- For the record, I really thought Tim Connolly should have gotten a letter this month. He showed up almost every night, he's playing at a point per game pace, his line has been the most consistent and the hardest working, and his power play unit is looking very strong even when it's not scoring. But one little note to Timmy: You can shoot the puck, you know. It's okay!

- Jason Pominville also put together a very good first month, in my opinion. I was really hard on him during the playoffs last year, but he's busted his butt almost every night so far and he's one of the few forwards who's played well at both ends of the ice. He gummed up a defensive play a bit tonight and I found myself completely startled. Evidently Mark shared my feelings because he said, "Wow, you don't see that from Jason very often" and while I'd never thought about it, you really don't. Some games he, Timmy, and Jochen were the only signs of life out there. Also, I think we can officially put the "Pominville is nothing without Briere" argument to rest, people. Does he need a strong center? I don't know, maybe. (And seriously, a winger needs a good center? Whoa, hit me with some more earth shattering knowledge!) Was Briere the only good center on the team? Evidently not.

- This schedule is a travesty. We play what feels like five games in three days and then have a week off. We play nine straight division games with three or four different teams. I usually enjoy the Montreal and Ottawa games but having six of them in one month is overkill. I understand that scheduling thirty teams is probably a complicated process but I'm pretty confident I could do a better job. Are everybody's schedules this screwy?

- I'm not a big fan of Independent Health calling their workers "Red Shirts." First of all, it's stupid. I wear a red shirt to the grocery store. I'd really like to think the person answering my health related questions is a little more educated than the average grocery store cashier. Second of all, doesn't anyone at the company watch Star Trek? I don't really like my health insurance conjuring up thoughts of pointless death.

- After contributing nothing for far too long, I recently posted something at HLog regarding my one hockey related superstition. Want to know what it is? Ha! You'll have to read it there.

Blow Leafs Blow!

EDITED TO ADD A VIDEO:

Please watch this video.

(Canadian TV is so much cooler than American TV. Tim Connolly either thought this was a real interview or he's a great actor (bravo, Tim). And now we know why Derek probably got that unsportsmanlike conduct last night.)

A couple of thoughts during the Buffalo-Toronto game:

If anyone could possibly hit both posts and still not get the puck in the net, it's Jochen Hecht, God bless 'im. I popped in and out of the open game thread at Bfloblog and after Jochen completely missed the net on a breakaway (sigh), someone brought up old Hands of Stone himself, Mike Grier although someone quickly added that that's the only way Hecht compares to Grier. At the risk of offending those who bow at the altar of Mike Grier, I think they compare pretty well with the exception of Grier playing more phyiscally than Hecht usually does. The primary difference is that Grier always played on a checking line and wasn't expected to score whereas Jochen has always been on a scoring line even though his skill set is more suited to a checking line. He's not a scorer, folks. Never has been, probably never will be. (And almost exactly as I finished typing that sentence, Yo-Yo scores. Sorry, man.)

Seriously, tell me Tim Connolly isn't every bit as good as Daniel Briere. If anything, he's better. His vision is absolutely mind-boggling. Please stay healthy, Timmmy. Please.

Has it ever been more clear that Andrew Peters is dead weight on the ice? He seems like a decent guy, I know he's well-liked in the locker room, but why is he getting any ice-time? The fourth line was completely invisible tonight until Lindy started putting Derek Roy out there in Peters' place and boom, Mairsy puts it in the net. I know, I know... He was in the line-up to protect against any funny business from Belak and Tucker. But even when he's doing that he's just so stupid about it. Can't we let Mair and Goose take care of that stuff and move Peters on down the line?

Hecht extended? Granted, it's Eklund. But it's also an E5 which means someone else probably already did the legwork to confirm it and Ek is just latching on. I wouldn't mind seeing Yo-Yo around for a few more years so I hope it's true. Now let's get cracking on Campbell and Kalinin.

The Kids are Alright

Why I Love Hockey #29 - Seeing Games in Person
I've mentioned a time or two (or three or four) that I grew up in Birmingham, AL. Birmingham, for those not in the know, has no professional sports teams. Atlanta was the closest pro sports city while I was growing up (and still is, I think) but due to my single mother's work schedule and some financial restraints, we only got over there for a game every couple of baseball seasons. So the very fact that I can just get in my car and drive fifteen minutes down the road to watch a pro sports team play still seems very much like a luxury.

Watching this particular sports team in this particular city at this particular time however is even more special. I love everything about going to Sabres games which I did tonight for the first time this season. I love fans milling around in the lobby before the game, laughing and smiling and looking forward to a couple hours of fun no matter how good or bad the previous game was. I love looking over every inch of the mural there, pointing out the different players and the best and worst pictures (best: a toss up between sneering Teppo and bleeding Mair, worst: Timmy with that stupid fu manchu). I love keeping a running tally of all the different jerseys worn - Miller and Afinogenov still way out front with Pominville, Roy, and Vanek gaining - and I love finding one that I don't see often. A little girl in a Kotalik jersey! Someone brave enough to wear a Kalinin jersey! God bless you!

I love settling in our seats and feeling a buzz start to build as the clock winds down. I love the cheesy "I Love This Town" video, especially the shot of a grinning Henrik Tallinder ("say hey!") and the intros of the starting line-ups. I love hearing Doug Allen sing the anthems, complete with finger pointing. I love watching Ryan Miller stare up intently at the flag with the image of a waving American flag superimposed on the ice around him. I love the crowd going nuts when the singing is over and hearing, "And now let's play some hockey!" I love that first spontaneous "LET'S GO BUFF-A-LO!" chant.

I love how engaged the crowd at a hockey game is. I think the speed and constant motion of the game demands it. Baseball is a slower, easy-going sport and because of that, the crowd tends to be laid back as well. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's something special about the up and down excitement of a hockey game. I love 18,000 heads going back and forth and back and forth as the puck moves down the ice. I love how united the crowd's reaction is: Everyone scooting to the edge of their seat and leaning forward when Max gets the puck and starts gaining speed, everyone gasping at the picture perfect pass Timmy fed to Al in front of the net, everyone watching the replay of a big save on the (snazzy new and improved) jumbotron and that one guy responding with, "Holy shit! I can't believe he stopped that!" I loved the crowd giving the kick ass penalty killing standing ovations, cheering every time the puck was sent flying down the ice. I loved the crowd cheering for Jason Pominville's goal and then taking it to another level when the fans put up the "1" next to "Pomminville Population" up in the 300s section. I loved walking around during the first intermission, hearing Harry Neale say, "Atlanta hasn't won yet and it looks like they won't win tonight either," and then hearing more than a few fans yell, "Shut up!"

I love how the whole world feels perfect and light after a win. I love fans whooping and hollering as they pour out of the arena. I love seeing how excited the younger fans are about being up past their regular bedtime and seeing a great game of hockey (Overheard conversation between a young son and his father: "Dad, what a great day to be a Sabres fan! We just kicked their anus holes right back to Atlanta!" "What did you just say?" "Anus holes!" "What?!" "ANUS HOLES!" "Don't say that." "... We just kicked their scrotums!") I love, love, love one car honking "Let's Go Buff-a-lo!" (honk, honk, honkhonkhonk) and cars all across downtown honking back in reply. I love that strange but undeniable camaraderie you feel with the strangers walking alongside of you and I love the overwhelming affection I always feel for the entire city of Buffalo in those moments. It's awesome.

Some quick notes about the game:

I think the Sabres were noticeably more relaxed tonight. They were focused and keyed in but they didn't seem to be pressing nearly as hard as they were in the first couple of games. Lindy clearly got on to them about doing all the little things right because there was less cutesy stuff and more work - chipping the puck into the offensive zone and chasing it down, cycling things down low, using the body a little. Tom mentioned over at Sabre Rattling how some of the current Sabres have struggled at home, often seeming to want to impress the fans with flashy play. Tonight they seemed more committed to playing simple and smart and it was effective.

What to say about the special teams? Geez louise. Three power play goals and perfect on the penalty kill? I'll take that any night. I can't even remember the last time I was actually excited about getting a penalty call. I won't pretend to understand all the different power play set-ups and structures but the puck movement just seemed much quicker than last season and things cycled to everyone and not just back and forth between a couple of players. The unit of Connolly, Gaustad, Kotalik, Campbell, and Spacek was particularly impressive. I've already heard some grumbling that Atlanta isn't a very good test because they're not a good team but a little confidence boost can't be a bad thing especially considering how much we struggled on special teams last season.

Speaking of Connolly, holy crap, Timmy looked great. Even when he didn't have the puck he was going hard, hustling all over the ice. If he stays healthy - and I know that's a pretty big if - I think he's going to be more than a fair trade-off for Briere. He's every bit as good a playmaker as Danny was - if not better - and he'll score his share of goals. He's also a much better two-way player who doesn't leave all the defensive responsibility to his linemates.

I know all the "Do it for Matt Man" stuff comes across as cheesy to some people, but I was really glad to see Ryan get the shut-out, particularly tonight. I'm not sure if the Three Stars were shown on the TV broadcast or not but when Ryan skated out, turned his helmet so the "Matt Man" on the back was facing the crowd, and then lifted it over his head, I admit I got a little misty-eyed. Matt was obviously very special to Ryan and the rest of the Miller family.

That's all I got for tonight. I have a couple of non-game related points to make but they can wait until tomorrow. Gotta get to bed!

The Sky is Falling! The Season is Over! We're Dooooooomd!

I think every fan has atleast one That Guy as in "If someone has to beat us just don't let it be that guy." I have a few but at the very tip-top of my That Guy list is Mike Comrie. I hate Mike Comrie so much that I usually just refer to him as That Little Bitch and evidently have done it enough that most of my internet buddies know exactly who I'm talking about when I say it and use the shorthand "TLB." Man, I just want to punch him square in his smug little, Hilary Duff kissing face.

Listen, I know it stinks that we lost again, but you guys and gals on the message boards needed to settle right the heck down. Was this game great? No, it was not. Was it a death knell to the entire season? No, it was not.

Here are a few good things for you to ponder:

- The special teams looked better. The PK was very strong overall and while the PP was up and down and could still use more shots on goal, it did sustain some kind of pressure/possession for most of the time.

- Play in the third period was greatly improved. There was less "I'm going to get this goal if I have to do it all by myself!" going on and more dumping and chasing. The team had 17 SOG in the third period and created a lot of good chances. It was just one of those nights where the puck wouldn't go in the net. It won't be like that every night.

- When the team needed a goal Captain (of the Month) Hecht provided one. You could argue that it took a flukey hop up and over DiPietro (who played really well in both games) but it got to that point because of Jochen's determination to get to the net with the puck. I'm looking forward to Kotalik's return and a line of Stafford-Hecht-Gaustad. At the very least, those three are going to be fun to watch because they're all such hard workers.

- The defense didn't look quite so much like a train wreck. Tallinder looked more like himself, Campbell turned in a fairly solid game, and Kalinin was very good in both zones while soaking up Lydman's minutes as well as his own. (Haters, feel free to hate on, okay?) And hey, Spacek is on pace for 82 goals this season! I'll admit that there are things that could definitely be improved in this area. How about clearing the puck after Ryan comes up with a big save and is flat on the ice? Oh, and maybe you guys could keep the idiots on the other team out of Ryan's crease? On one hand, I was glad to see Tri take a penalty for hacking at the guy harassing Ryan after the whistle but on the other hand, it was a pretty mild hack. Knock somebody down! But overall I think you'd have to say the defensive game was better.

As much as I'd like to pretend that the loss of Chris Drury and Daniel Briere means nothing, they were the go-to guys for the last couple of seasons. That doesn't mean the team as is is lost forever. It does mean that they'll need some time to sort out how they fit together on the ice and off. The season is 82 games long. Last season the Senators had a wretched first half and ended up playing for the Cup. A little patience if you please? Let's give the guys a month or so before we decide they're going nowhere. As my pal Kate said while we we commiserating about opening weekend, "It would have been awesome to have a great start, but I would rather have a great finish."

A few other random notes:

- Drury and Briere are good hockey players, okay? They're going to score points. There's no rule that says every point they score is one less the Sabres are going to score for the season. It is entirely possible for them to play well AND for us to play well, maybe even at the same time. I really don't need a daily update on how they're doing. They're not on my team anymore so I DON'T CARE!

- The Sabres website is now listing all the songs played over the PA during games at HSBC which is pretty cool. Even cooler though is that some of those songs are being selected by a player every night and are noted as player selections. This has the potential for awesomeness. My life is already much improved knowing that somewhere in the world, Jochen Hecht might be getting down to Nelly. I picture Jochen as a terrible, terrible dancer. Make sure you bring your earplugs on Toni Lydman night, Sabres fans!

- My heart felt all light and happy when they announced Teppo Numminen during the official player introductions last night even though he wasn't there to skate out on the ice. Seems like hard feelings all around to me.

- Scott Niedermayer, you are screwing with my fantasy team. Please do something - anything! - soon.

And I'll close with this personal note to Tim Connolly (because I know the players huddle around their laptops just waiting for me to post): Timmy, please tighten your chin strap and wear a mouth guard. Your helmet currently barely qualifies as buckled and that's not going to cut it when some ass-wipe barrels into your head. Your helmet is going to go flying and you're going to make contact with whatever you hit - the boards, another player, or god forbid, the ice - with your unprotected, bald skull. You're going to get carried off the ice on a stretcher and I'm going to cry like a little girl. And here's the thing Timmy... I feel like this is probably going to happen. Players can talk all they want about having respect for each other and the league can talk all they want about cleaning up the game but they're all full of it. Someone somewhere is going to take a run at you and I really hope you get back up after it happens. Don't be stupid about this, okay? Don't let some idiot with no self-control end your career.

Closing Thoughts

Okay, so one round down, three to go. I'm glad to get this wrapped up in 5 so the boys can get in a couple of days of rest. Some randome thoughts:

- All the kudos in the world to the Islanders. I think Buffalo was clearly the more talented team, but I have no problem saying that the Islanders played more desperately and with more heart for most of the series. It would've been awfully easy for them to pack it in after the second period last night and instead they came dangerously close to forcing a game 6.

- It's never been more clear that Buffalo starts to look very average very quickly when they're skating and moving around. Use those feet, guys. That's what God gave 'em to you for.

- Buffalo definitely didn't play up to the level they're capable of. While it's a little concerning to see efforts like last night's third period and game 2's first period in the postseason, I'm not super, super worried yet. Playing down to less talented teams and tanking games that should be won has been an unfortunate trend with this team all season. On the flip side they've almost always been able to get up for big games against tough opponents. And hopefully they did learn a little something about underestimating the guys on the other side of the ice.

- As poorly as we played at times, I'm not ready to say Ottawa and the Rangers played light years better than us. The Islanders played tougher, smarter hockey than the Penguins or the Thrashers did and I think they would've given Ottawa and NY some scares just like they did us.

- The defensive game of the Afinogenov-Roy-Vanek line was absolutely frightening at times. They all need to show more hustle in our end but especially Roy who is capable of being one of the best two-way players on the ice. He needs to be the one carrying the defensive responsibility on that line.

- I hate to say it because I love him so, but Henrik Tallinder had an average series overall and "average" might be generous at times. He looked very good in the first game but unlike himself during other stretches. He and Lydman do put in the most time against the opposition's top line along with the most short-handed time, but I'd have to agree with those who think Hank is playing like he's scared of getting hurt again. That's worrisome because it seems like when guys play tense and tentative like that they're actually more likely to get hurt. That said, the penalty kill was very strong in the series. I'd just like to see Hank play a little more consistently and use that size every once in a while. Brian Campbell and Dmitri Kalinin had a very strong series.

- The powerplay remains an enigma. Some nights it looks very good, some nights it looks like they're not moving the puck and scared to shoot.

- Tim Connolly has looked better every game. He had the stick handling skills pretty much from the second he stepped on the ice (geez, that penalty kill last night), but his legs are coming back slowly but surely as well. Words cannot express how happy I am to see him out there again.

- Ryan Miller had a strong sereis. Overall he outplayed DiPietro and that made the difference in the series. Ryan may never have great individual numbers (though some of that is playing for a team that prefers to play run-and-gun and gives up a lot of odd man rushes), but he's going to win a lot of games. He almost always seems to be able to do just enough to pull out the victory.

- Jason Pominville, Daniel Briere, and Jochen Hecht make up the worst line of postseason beards in the entire playoffs. These three look like 14-year-olds trying desperately to grow enough facial hair to shave. I love it.

Not a tremendous effort but an effective one and at this point I supposed that's all that matters. I'd prefer to see Tampa Bay over the Rangers because their defense/goal tending is very suspect and St. Louis and Lecavalier are playing a ridiculous amount of minutes and almost sure to start feeling that... But I think we can beat either team for sure.

I'm off to curl up on the couch with my box of Puffs Plus and a bag of cough drops and the Calgary/Detroit game on the TV. Flame on, Flames! Man, I love playoff hockey.