Spacek Emerging from Numminen's Shadow

Jaro Spacek has started hot. He has three goals to start the season and has looked every bit the player the Sabres thought they were getting when they signed him as a free agent last year. The question is, why now?

I believe it is the simple fact that he is finally being allowed to play the role he was brought to Buffalo to fill. Lindy Ruff is a great coach, but even great coaches have their unique ways of doing things. One of Lindy's trademarks is leaning on his veterans and being generally uncomfortable with newcomers. Last year when Spacek struggled a bit early it seemed that Ruff quickly turned the page and went to his security blanket that was Teppo. Furthermore, the power play last year was dominated by shooters and the puck movement wasn't always crisp. Spacek, who is more of a shooter than a distributor seemed out of synch from the start. Unable to fill the role of PP QB he was a forgotten man on the unit by mid-season.

It is no coincidence that the powerplay is far better with Tim Connolly manning the left side halfwall. Teams genuinely fear Connolly's abilities. Though Briere and Drury are fine players neither is Connolly's equal on the power play when it comes to quarterbacking the play and distributing the puck. His reemergence has allowed Spacek and Brian Campbell to return to the roles of point man blasters that they both thrived in two seasons ago. Another bonus is the willingness of Thomas Vanek and Paul Gaustad to park in front of the net. Neither Drury or Briere seemed particularly comfortable in or were built for that area.

I expect you will continue to see Spacek thrive in his enhanced role and with the larger ice time. He is a horse and hopefully will add a larger physical presence defensively as well.

News and Notes:

- Sorry for the lag in posting. for some reason I cannot access the site at certain times of the day and that along with extended trips to Chicago and Atlanta have hampered me.

- Rumours abound that the Sabres may sign C Randy Robitaille. RDS is reporting that it is between Buffalo and Ottawa for the former Islander. It would seem he would be looked at to fill the 3rd or 4th center role in Buffalo if he signs.

- Jocelyn Thibault has yet to play for the Sabres. I expect he will get a start during one of the midweek games coming up.

Was The Loss of Scott Arniel the Biggest Loss of Last Offseason?

Much was made of the fact that the Sabres lost Jay Mckee, J.P. Dumont and Mike Grier in the last off season. Relatively little of any attention was paid to the loss of Assistant Coach Scott Arniel to the minor league Manitoba Moose where Arniel became head coach. Of course assistants change all of the time and it would seem hard pressed to say that the loss of an assistant coach damaged the President Cup winning Sabres.

That is until you look deeper. While losing Mckee, Dumont and Grier removed grit from the lineup losing Arniel seems to have cut deeper. Two years ago the Sabres had the #2 ranked Power Play and Penalty Kill units in the NHL. This year with the power play under the tutelage of Brian McCutcheon and the penalty kill under first year coach James Patrick each unit slipped dramatically. One could point to the loss of Grier on the penalty kill and Dumont on the power play, but the results seem to be bigger than that. It often appeared that the Sabres couldn't adjust quickly to strategy changes other teams initiated and it hurt them at critical times, especially in the playoffs. Unfortunately the failings of both units led directly to the downfall of the Sabres' Stanley Cup dreams this year.

I guess it just goes to show that in the fickle game of professional hockey even the most minor change can have resounding effects down the line. Ironically the Sabres' failings may have helped vault Arniel even higher in the eyes of prospective bosses around the NHL. One only need to see the negative effects his departure had on the Sabres to see the value he can bring to another NHL franchise. For the Sabres, who have shed old guard people like Arniel, Don Luce and Terry Martin, hopefully this isn't a harbinger of things to come.