With the offseason quietly winding down and summer transactions mostly behind us, it seems like the perfect time to contemplate the moves made by Montreal and its various division rivals। Over five parts, we will take a look at each team and venture a guess at where they will finish in 2011-12. It is now time to look at one of the busiest teams in the off-season, the Buffalo Sabres.
Last season: 43-29-10, 96 points (3rd in Northeast, 7th in East)
Additions: Christian Erhoff, D; Ales Kotalik, W; Ville Leino, W; Drew MacIntyre, G; Michael Ryan F; Robyn Regehr, D; Paul Szczechura, F
Subtractions: Chris Butler, D; Paul Byron, C; Tim Conboy, D; Tim Connolly, C; Patrick Lalime, G; Mark Mancari, RW; Steve Montador, D; Rob Niedermayer RW; Mark Parrish, RW
Backed by the deep pockets of new owner Terry Pegula, Darcy Regier was a very busy man this off-season. After losing Henrik Tallinder and Toni Lydman last summer, the General Manager shored up his backend in a big way. He sent two promising youngsters, Chris Butler and Paul Byron, to Calgary in exchange for Robyn Regehr and acquired the rights to the offensive-minded Christian Erhoff, who was signed to a 10 year, 40-million dollar deal. While the team lost plus-minus leader Steve Montador, the new acquisitions along with the development of Tyler Myers and Marc-André Gargani, who led the team in playoff scoring, should greatly boost the team’s defensive unit.
On offense, Buffalo lost the talented but oft-injured Tim Connolly to Toronto but swiftly replaced him with Ville Leino. The Finnish speedster has emerged as an offensive threat over the past two seasons, but concerns remain about his viability as a top-six forward. In his North American career, the winger has never scored 20 goals and has only reached the 50 point mark once. Nonetheless, with the deadline acquisition Brad Boyes and a cast including Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, Drew Stafford, the richly paid Ales Kotalik and leading scorer Thomas Vanek, the Sabres should provide one of the most balanced attacks in the East. In goal, Ryan Miller can again be expected to put up another Vezina-type season while Jhonas Enroth has proven to be a talented, young netminder as well.
Nonetheless, the many positives on Buffalo hardly guarantee them top-spot in the Northeast. After all, with rivals such as Montreal and Boston, strong bluelines and exceptional goaltending are common currency. Adding Regehr and Erhoff only allows Buffalo to keep pace with defencemen such as Andrei Markov, P.K Subban, Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg and others already present in the division.
In the end, Buffalo should easily qualify for the playoffs and has the potential to make the Northeast division a tight, three-way battle. However, Boston deserves the benefit of the doubt as they are the defending champions and have barely lost any pieces from their impressive lineup. Meanwhile, Montreal has bolstered its forward group with the addition of Erik Cole and has many key players returning to health. It is nearly impossible to imagine the Habs being as ridiculously decimated by injuries as they were last year. And, even should injuries arise, both the Canadiens and Bruins have ample cap space to find replacement players or, ideally, make improvements as the year wears on. This is a luxury the Sabres, already more than 3.5 million dollars over the cap, do not have.
Prediction: 3rd in the North East
What do you think? Where will the Sabres finish next season? Will they win the Division?
---
Louis is an editor at HabsWorld.net and has been writing about Canadiens and NHL hockey since 2009. Louis was born in Chicago but grew up in Quebec City where he earned Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Université Laval. He currently lives in Ottawa and works for the Coaching Association of Canada. He can be reached at l.moustakas@habsworld.net.
Last season: 43-29-10, 96 points (3rd in Northeast, 7th in East)
Additions: Christian Erhoff, D; Ales Kotalik, W; Ville Leino, W; Drew MacIntyre, G; Michael Ryan F; Robyn Regehr, D; Paul Szczechura, F
Subtractions: Chris Butler, D; Paul Byron, C; Tim Conboy, D; Tim Connolly, C; Patrick Lalime, G; Mark Mancari, RW; Steve Montador, D; Rob Niedermayer RW; Mark Parrish, RW
Backed by the deep pockets of new owner Terry Pegula, Darcy Regier was a very busy man this off-season. After losing Henrik Tallinder and Toni Lydman last summer, the General Manager shored up his backend in a big way. He sent two promising youngsters, Chris Butler and Paul Byron, to Calgary in exchange for Robyn Regehr and acquired the rights to the offensive-minded Christian Erhoff, who was signed to a 10 year, 40-million dollar deal. While the team lost plus-minus leader Steve Montador, the new acquisitions along with the development of Tyler Myers and Marc-André Gargani, who led the team in playoff scoring, should greatly boost the team’s defensive unit.
On offense, Buffalo lost the talented but oft-injured Tim Connolly to Toronto but swiftly replaced him with Ville Leino. The Finnish speedster has emerged as an offensive threat over the past two seasons, but concerns remain about his viability as a top-six forward. In his North American career, the winger has never scored 20 goals and has only reached the 50 point mark once. Nonetheless, with the deadline acquisition Brad Boyes and a cast including Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, Drew Stafford, the richly paid Ales Kotalik and leading scorer Thomas Vanek, the Sabres should provide one of the most balanced attacks in the East. In goal, Ryan Miller can again be expected to put up another Vezina-type season while Jhonas Enroth has proven to be a talented, young netminder as well.
Nonetheless, the many positives on Buffalo hardly guarantee them top-spot in the Northeast. After all, with rivals such as Montreal and Boston, strong bluelines and exceptional goaltending are common currency. Adding Regehr and Erhoff only allows Buffalo to keep pace with defencemen such as Andrei Markov, P.K Subban, Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg and others already present in the division.
In the end, Buffalo should easily qualify for the playoffs and has the potential to make the Northeast division a tight, three-way battle. However, Boston deserves the benefit of the doubt as they are the defending champions and have barely lost any pieces from their impressive lineup. Meanwhile, Montreal has bolstered its forward group with the addition of Erik Cole and has many key players returning to health. It is nearly impossible to imagine the Habs being as ridiculously decimated by injuries as they were last year. And, even should injuries arise, both the Canadiens and Bruins have ample cap space to find replacement players or, ideally, make improvements as the year wears on. This is a luxury the Sabres, already more than 3.5 million dollars over the cap, do not have.
Prediction: 3rd in the North East
What do you think? Where will the Sabres finish next season? Will they win the Division?
---
Louis is an editor at HabsWorld.net and has been writing about Canadiens and NHL hockey since 2009. Louis was born in Chicago but grew up in Quebec City where he earned Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Université Laval. He currently lives in Ottawa and works for the Coaching Association of Canada. He can be reached at l.moustakas@habsworld.net.
0 comments:
Post a Comment