One: “Here, they want the defence to go much further up ice. That doesn’t affect me as much … but I know I’ll have to cover for [partner Tyler Myers].” Two: “[Lindy Ruff] plays some different systems here, including a 1-3-1. I’ve never played that before. In Calgary, we always played a 1-2-2 … As the left defenceman, I’ll be the one [farthest back], but it will still be new for me.” Three: “They play an attacking collapse in the defensive zone … Everywhere I’ve been, there is always supposed to be one defenceman in the front of the net. Here, when the puck goes below the line, both defencemen and a forward pursue, with another forward going to the front.”

Based on what Regehr told Friedman, defensemen on the Flames were instructed to play a safe, traditional, style.

We know Lindy Ruff instructs his defenders to try and become part of the offensive attack. Active defense is what people always say about the Sabres. Its clear Ruff believes the potential scoring boost is enough to justify the risk involved with a poorly executed attack. Most of Regier’s recent personnel decisions pertaining to the defense have been suited to maximize the benefits of using this type of system.

Let’s quickly review some of the changes made to this defense over the past two summers. The Sabres have traded away or allowed the contracts to expire on Tallinder, Lydman, Rivet, Butler, and Montador. Of the departed, Montador was probably the only real threat to join the rush into the offensive zone. Meanwhile, in that same time frame, the Sabres have signed or extended Leopold, Myers, Sekera, Regehr, and Ehrhoff. Excluding Regehr, the defenders the Sabres have committed to are most effective when they’re skating up ice with control of the puck.

Let me put it another way. Of the five best skaters on the Sabres, are four of them defensemen? Of the five best shooters on the Sabres, are two of them defensemen? Total subjective questions, I know, but how many teams can be legitimately asked the same?

It’s a unique group, built to play a very specific type of defense. If Myers improves, they might even be elite. Myers is obviously the most important player to this unit — he’s the best all around player and is effective in all situations — but I’m most intrigued with Sekera heading into the new season. Aside from Myers, Sekera is probably the most balanced defender the Sabres have.  He certainly has plenty of NHL experience and he’s just now reaching the prime of his career. I think if Sekera can stay healthy, he can and should be a major difference maker.

I always have really high hopes for Sekera. I think he’s incredibly talented. It’s not only his fluid skating and his athleticism. Sekera can be patient and inventive with the puck on his stick in a way that’s quite uncommon, even at the NHL level. He’s deceptive. What makes him an especially gifted skater is not that he gets to pucks quickly, which he does, it’s how quickly he can turn and change direction. This makes him more effective than most away from the puck. He’s a perfect fit for Lindy Ruff’s defense. He can attack and recover.

The problem with Sekera has been his streaky nature. Sometimes he’s an extremely positive force, efficiently clearing pucks from the Sabres zone and joining the rush up ice. Then other times his scoring production flat-lines and he becomes something of a liability in the Sabres end. Sekera gets into trouble down low when the game slows and he has to battle for pucks or cover players away from he puck. He’s not a great stationary defender.

I don’t know enough to say exactly how he can improve other than to say he just needs to become a more reliable player.

I immediately thought of Sekera when I learned the Sabres had hired Teppo Numminen as an assistant/specialty coach. I think what Numminen provided as a defensemen is the exact element that’s missing from Sekera’s game. If Numminen can help Sekera be a bit steadier in certain areas of the ice and limit the turnovers, the sky is the limit. Every year I hope that Sekera will find a way to become a more consistent player, maybe Teppo can finally help him reach this level.

The Sabres clearly believe in Sekera’s upside. The simple fact that Butler was part of the package the Sabres sent to Calgary for Regehr is a positive acknowledgment for Sekera. For the past couple of years, Sekera has battled Butler for one of the final spots in the line-up. Now that Butler is gone, the Sabres have a lot riding on Sekera. He’s a veteran. He’s the most tenured blue-liner on the Sabers roster. They need Sekera to be a strong contributor every single night. He’s kind of a leader now.

I love the idea of pairing Myers and Sekera together. I know Regehr appears, on paper, to be an ideal fit with Myers and maybe he is but, I don’t know, Sekera and Myers seem like a pairing that would make both players so much better. They’re the future. Let them grow together. If Myers and Sekera play even-strength hockey together for something like 60 games this season, I predict their individual plus/minus ratings will finish somewhere around +25. I really believe in Myers but I believe in Sekera too.

My attention always seems to be drawn to Sekera. He’s deceptively flashy. When Sekera is playing his best, watching him can evoke the same emotion as when I watch Mike Vick run circles around a defense or see Floyd Mayweather dance around some unfortunate boxer. It’s partly an appreciation for his athleticism but it’s also partly about his style. I’m definitely overstating all of this now.

Anyway, I’m just not ready to assume Regehr is going to be a lock-down defender right away. I don’t trust Weber or Gragnani yet. I don’t think Leopold is totally reliable the Sabres end and I have no idea what to make of Ehrhoff in that part of the ice. Myers and Sekera are the guys I’m counting on, especially early in the season, to keep things settled until everyone adjusts to their new role.

Myers is not a concern. Sekera, I hope, will prove the same should be said of him.

• I haven’t seen much of Brian Elliott but I didn’t think he looked very good this game. I’m leaning towards just calling him a goaltender on a huge hot streak rather than a great goaltender playing at the level we should expect from him in the future.

• Sekera might be the best skater on the Sabres. He can look graceful out on the ice in a way that no other Sabres player can except for perhaps Connolly. Then again, sometimes he looks dreadful and can make you want to throw your phone into the television screen. He just looks like a young defensemen should – one that’s still adjusting to the NHL level. But he’s promising and I have no doubt he’ll eventually figure it out. That last goal, by the way, was not Sekera’s fault.

• It was Tim Kennedy’s. Alfredsson was his man and Kennedy was not in the right position. Honestly, the Sabres can live with that. He’s a young player too. The Sabres shouldn’t lose a game like this because a young player like Kennedy failed to tie up his man. They’re a better team than the Senators and this game shouldn’t have come down to that moment.

• The Sabres had the Senators on the ropes in the first period and failed to score. That’s what cost them the game. People can try to rationalize that period by saying things like they just didn’t get the bounces. Bull shit. The Sabres didn’t execute. When a football team loses a close game after missing a couple wide-open, long touchdown passes because either they were dropped or overthrown, what’s usually said after? Assuming the players we’re talking about are talented, the failure is always attributed to execution. The Sabres might have played better than the Senators in the first period by a wide margin but it doesn’t matter because the scoreboard says otherwise.

• I actually blame Adam Mair and Matt Ellis. The penalties they took in the first period were brutal. The Sabres had momentum, were pressing, and then it was taken away because they had to kill two stupid penalties. Mair and Ellis are not players that are ever relied upon to directly effect the outcome of games. They don’t score regularly and they are not defensive specialists. Their role is to set the pace, provide energy, and wear down opponents. Minor penalties are not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things but at those moments, they really hurt the Sabres. And for them to come from Mair and Ellis is not something I was not happy to see.

• I wasn’t upset that Phillips bumped into Miller. Phillips has a right to that puck too and Miller jumped right out in front of him. I liked seeing Myers get angry about it. It showed everyone that he considers himself a real part of this team. I didn’t like seeing Vanek, who was in a very nonthreatening scoring position, get unecessarily pushed from behind into the boards by Ruutu. When you do things like that, don’t expect justice from the referee in the form of a retaliation penalty if you happen to get punched in the face by the player you nearly injured.