HockeyRhetoric

I believe in the talent on the Sabres. I don’t have very many concerns when it comes to the present construction of the roster. I think Ville Leino will become a dependable scorer and that Nate Gerbe, Tyler Ennis, and Luke Adam can be relied upon to provide the secondary scoring this team needs in order to be successful. I think players like Christian Ehrhoff and MA Gragnani will score enough to justify the occasional mistake that leads to a goal against. I think Myers will be a difference maker, long term, and that Andrej Sekera will continue to quietly play very good hockey. I think Ryan Miller is a great goaltender and I think Jhonas Enroth is a very good goaltender. » Read the rest of this entry «

How many times were we told over the summer and in the weeks leading up to the regular season that Ville Leino would play center full-time? Weren’t you always a little skeptical? Every Sabres fan is familiar with Lindy Ruff’s tendency to shuffle his forward lines at the first sign of trouble.

Over the course of these past few weeks, it’s become unclear to me what the long term plan is for Leino. Are the Sabres committed to making him into a reliable center or is the priority instead to make him into a productive scorer, regardless of position? » Read the rest of this entry «

Sports Illustrated and SI.com hockey writer, Michael Farber, had this to say on a recent podcast, hosted by Richard Deitsch:

“You have teams in places where hockey is not the topic of conversation. It seems to me, [in accordance with] basic business principles, you want to put your product where people who like that product can sample it. It would be like putting a McDonald’s in an area where everybody is a vegetarian. Unfortunately, in the Southern United States — not to pick only on the Southern US — there a lot of hockey vegetarians.”

It should be noted that Farber made this comment in summation to a point he was making on the degree to which Canada has embraced the Jets. » Read the rest of this entry «

Watching this past weekend’s Sabres games, I was reminded of something I noticed during HBO’s 24/7 Penguins/Capitals: Road to the NHL Winter Classic.

Seeing the Penguins and Capitals documented helped me to fully realizing what those two particular organizations were all about. I consider the Pens and Caps to be something of model franchises for hockey in the post-lockout era. They play in the East, so they have an advantage over the Red Wings and maybe the Sharks or Canucks in terms of visibility but ultimately, the Pens and the Caps were, and still are, the envy of the league. They’re both loaded with elite level talent, smart executives, committed owners, and their facilities are off the charts. Because of these things, their fan support is strong and they get a large share of the national attention. » Read the rest of this entry «

Jason Pominville was recently named the new, full-time captain of the Buffalo Sabres. I have several unimportant, semi-related thoughts on this.

To start, count me amongst what was probably the majority of Sabres fans who, prior to the official announcement, had endorsed Thomas Vanek for the title of team captain. I think the strongest reason for this is also the simplest. Vanek is one of three elite level talents on the Sabres. Myers is probably too young for the captaincy and Miller is of course a goaltender. Vanek is the most talented scorer on the team and by a pretty wide margin too. At this point in his career, Vanek affects every game he is in the line-up for and in a very noticeable, if not measurable, way; but Vanek’s potential impact as captain goes beyond his ability to set up and finish scoring chances. » Read the rest of this entry «