Sabres 'D' Is Now
Cause For Concern
Nov 20th, 2003 by
Dave Davis
Armchair GM’s and media pundits in
Buffalo have reached a pretty consistent set of conclusions as to
why the Sabres don’t have what it takes to make the playoffs this
season, as is standard operating procedure for fans and reporters of
any struggling team.
Head coach Lindy Ruff is too soft on the players, GM Darcy Regier
won’t make a trade, the team needs to settle on one goalie, Miro
Satan should be traded, Ruff is too hard on the players, Regier
makes bad trades, the team should stick to a goalie rotation, Satan
should be traded … you get the idea.
There’s another increasingly worrisome problem with this club, and
it’s starting to stick out worse than Chris Drury’s mouthguard.
The defensive corps, which was considered a strong point going into
this season, is suddenly looking like this teams’ biggest
weakness. After hearing from the front office about how much
of a luxury it would be to have eight quality defensemen, which
would supposedly keep guys on their toes, one has to wonder about
that claim now.
Let’s face it - Brian Campbell and Dmitri Kalinin look lost out
there. Last night against the New Jersey Devils they were a
combined -5 with one shot on goal. It wasn’t the first rough
game for either of them. The Andy Delmore deal just has not
worked out, as his power play presence has only produced an assist.
To make matters worse, Jay McKee suffered a sprained MCL in the game
last night and could be out until Christmas.
Granted, the news hasn’t been all bad. Alex Zhitnik, despite
consistently meeting his quota of one ill-timed penalty per game,
has been a 25 minute per game horse, and an improved player at the
point. Rory Fitzpatrick has been the biggest surprise on the
entire roster with his +4 rating and solid play.
Unfortunately, Zhitnik and Fitzpatrick can’t always be on the ice.
James Patrick has played well but is not an every night defenseman.
Henrik Tallinder, with zero points, is promising but still
inconsistent.
During training camp, Joel Bouchard, who is now a Rangers defenseman
but at the time was vying for a spot with the Sabres, made some
comments to the effect that there was no reason why he shouldn’t
be an every night defenseman with this team. After being taken
by the Rangers in the supplemental draft, in 10 games Bouchard has
amassed 4 points and a +4 rating, which would rank him second among
Sabres defensemen in both categories. Maybe he knew something
after all.
Truth be told, things need to change soon, or else Regier will have
to get on the phone. There are some possibilities out there,
none being earth shattering, but enough to get some much needed
attitude and physical presence. Wade Belak of Toronto and Eric
Cairns of the Islanders are two guys who would fit in well here, and
both only make 6 figures per season.
Regier should be wondering if he may have overestimated what he has
on the blue line. A finesse defense just won’t cut it
against good physical teams. It’s time for him to think
about some minor tinkering to help fix the problem.
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