Sabres Season Preview

It's time for a new season and here is a brief preview of the roster the Sabres will take into the new season and my predictions for the 2007-2008 season.

Goaltenders:

Sabres:
Ryan Miller
Jocelyn Thibault

On the Farm:
Adam Dennis

No matter how you feel about the Sabres off-season losses. The hope for this campaign all begins and ends right here, with Ryan Miller. This team is undoubtedly Miller's now. He is the leader and seems poised for greatness and I fully expect him to fulfill that promise. I am looking for a Vezina-winning possible MVP season out of Ryan.

Thibault was shaky in the pre-season, but I am not overly concerned with that. I think he will prove to be a solid addition to the club and hold his own. Adam Dennis was hot and cold in Rochester. an unorthodox goalie he has some ability but i doubt he will amount to more than a solid backup at the NHL level. If the Sabres run into injuries they will have to pursue the trade route to fill the hole.

Defense:
Henrik Tallinder
Toni Lydman
Brian Campbell
Jaro Spacek
Dmitri Kalinin
Nathan Paetsch

On the farm:
Andrei Sekera
Mike Funk
Marc-Andre Gragnani
Mike Card

The Sabres bring back an extremely solid defensive corps. The loss of Teppo Numminen to heart surgery is a blow, but it does open a roster spot for Nathan Paetsch who was very good in extensive duty last year. Look to see lots of ice time for super shutdown tandem Lydman and Tallinder. Tallinder could be a darkhorse Norris Trophy candidate if he can avoid the big injury. Brian Campbell is in a contract year and is coming off an all-star campaign. I expect big things from him as well as a better showing on the power play. Dmitri Kalinin and Jaro Spacek struggled at times last year, but I feel that the loss of Numminen may actually help them as it will put them in more positions that suite their skills. I think Spacek will actually jump into Numminens role and be very sucessful. Kalinin will have a relatively short leash this year and may find his way off the roster if he struggles again. it appears Andrei Sekera will easily be the first call up and I would not be surprised if he was a regular by mid-season.

Funk, Gragnani, Card and Mike Weber lead an good group off youngsters that could make an impact in years to come. Funk has added significant muscle and looked far more comfortable in camp this year than last. Gragnani is an impressive talent and could earn a surprise call-up especially if the Sabres struggle offensively from the back end.

Forwards:

Max Afinigenov, Jason Pominville, Ales Kotalik, Andrew Peters
Derek Roy, Tim Connolly, Paul Gaustad, Clarke Macarthur
Thomas Vanek, Jochen Hecht, Adam Mair, Dan Paille, Mike Ryan

On The Farm:

Marek Zagrapan, Mark Mancari, Dylan Hunter, Pat Kaleta

No doubt about it, the Sabres took some serious hits with the losses of Danny Briere, Chris Drury and Danius Zubrus in the off-season. Fortunately, the Sabres might have been the one team that could afford to absorb those types off losses. Tim Connolly appears healthy and poised to make a big impact and Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek justified their new contracts with monster contracts. The only truly new faces in the lineup this season appear to be gritty winger Dan Paille, mike Ryan and Clarke Macarthur. This team should have little trouble scoring. The key will be whether or not the youngsters can step into the roles filled by Drury and Briere.

Marek Zagrapan and Pat Kaleta seem to be the only real forwards likely to see significant time in Buffalo this year. The overall depth in terms of NHL ready players took a hit with the losses, but the Sabres prospect pool is far from shallow.

Management:

All members of the coaching and management staff return so that is of some comfort. I fully expect Lindy Ruff to be a candidate for coach of the year. Darcy Regier has alot of flexibility this season and has the team poised to be able to swing a big deal if a player to their liking comes available.

Predicition: I will be in the firm minority here, but I believe the Sabres have all the tools for another cup run. I predict first in the Notheast and second overall behind Pittsburgh in the Conference. I see the Sabres playing San Jose for the cup and bringing Buffalo home its first Stanley Cup.

Candy for a baby...the day BBeR went gaga over tickets!

Alright, what you're about to read/see is only worth your time if you understand the fact that people here in Montreal feel great when they manage to net tickets for TEN Canadiens games for the upcoming season that fit into their budget; especially when these tickets sell out with 10 minutes.

So, think of this post as a storybook with lots of pictures.
(Some of my personal info as well as my ticket information has been blurred out -you have no idea how huge counterfeiting tickets are in this town-)

Home from a long day, BBeR opens up his mailbox and pulls this envelope out.

"Wow, this is Xpressmail", said the baffled BBeR, who was only used to getting bills, bills and hatred mail from (mainly CHEAP) Leafs fans around the country.
The bewildered Habanatic was being sarcastic, since he could tell pefectly well by the weight and odour what the envelope contained...

He then proceeded to feverishly tear it open...

...revealing a small envelope emblazoned with the Bell Centre logo...

All it took was a little peek inside to get BBeR's heart rate going...

"TICKETS! TICKETS! TICKETS!"

10 minutes later, after a series of really weird behavior, your blogger returned to his lair, and amused himself by taking pictures of his tickets in various angles...

First, he set them flat on his desk

In the rocking words of Pink Floyd:
"Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash"

In this case...tickets.

Aerial view...

In his grasp...




What more needs to be said?
BBeR truly is a whacked out guy with nothing better to do than take pictures of his tickets.

Oh man, I can't wait to read the comments for this one! ;)

-BBeR

Anticipation: Philly Style

After easing my summertime hockey withdraw at rookie camp this morning, I felt it was about time my Philadelphia season preview was written. We have been called the most improved team in the NHL by Sports Illustrated, and unless you've been hiding under a rock this off-season, you know why. We weren't the team that got arguably the top 2 free agent centres (NY Rangers - Drury, Gomez) to bolster our offense, but we were the team that reconstructed it's roster, from top to bottom.

For those of you who haven't beeen enlightened, I'll give a brief synopsis.

Before season's end, the Flyers newly appointed GM, Paul Holmgren started the re-vamping of the roster. As the trade deadline approached, Holmgren decided it was in the best interest of the club to part ways with captain Peter Forsberg. Foppa was sent to Nashville in return for highly regarded defensive prospect Ryan Parent, a 1st round pick in the upcoming Entry Draft, and quick fan favorite Scottie Upshall. If that wasn't enough, he kept going. He acquired Buffalo goaltender Martin Biron for a 2nd round pick (T.J. Brennan), Atlanta defenseman Braydon Coburn, and Chicago defenseman Lasse Kukkonen. Not bad for only a few weeks of work.

Prior to one of the most anticipated free agency periods in recent memory, Holmgren showed the hockey world that he was here to stay by sending the Pred's 1st round pick (Jonathan Blum) back to them and acquiring offensive-defeseman Kimmo Timonen and budding power forward Scott Hartnell. Soon after shocking the hockey community with his bold move, he prepared for a free agency period that would truly change the face of the franchise, as if it wasn't different enough. Just hours into free agency, Holmgren signed star centre Daniel Briere to an 8 year, $52 million, front-loaded contract. Later in the day he continued to reassure fans by trading away frustrating defenseman Joni Pitkanen and talented, but over-the-hill forward Geoff Sanderson to Edmonton. In return the Flyers acquired locker room favorite Jason Smith and potential-driven winger Joffrey Lupul.

Whew...not-so-brief. Thanks for sticking with me. Almost done.

Many analysts are writing the Flyers off as not making the playoffs this upcoming season. What one needs to remember is that the Flyers, prior to last season, were riding a streak of 11 straight seasons making the playoffs. Another thing that people are seeming to forget is that the year prior to last season, the Flyers still had a lot of their leaders from previous years in the lineup, notably Keith Primeau (even injured, his presence was more than enough), Eric Desjardins, and Chris Therien, all of whom retired the following off-season. Point being, last year is not what people should be going by when they think of the Flyers. Even towards the end of last season, we were a competing opponent. Here is a fact that may be making you re-think our team at the end of last year: of our 19 games after the trade deadline, 13 of them were either losses by 1 goal or wins. That's 68%. That same stat before the trade deadline is 33 games out of 63, being 52%. You can't tell me that this year's team should be judged by last years overall measures after that fact.

The keys to success this season lie in chemistry, special teams, and depth. There is no doubt that the Flyers might be the best team on paper going into this season, but if there is no chemistry on the ice, the paper doesn't mean anything. Our powerplay last season was hard to watch. In fact, it felt like we had more scoring chances on our penalty kill - I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers are close. Now that we have powerplay specialist Timonen and penalty kill specialist Smith, we should have improved both areas significantly. Regarding depth, the Flyers need to prove that they can stay healthy, and if not, still succeed. 05-06 was a good year for the Flyers in that area; we set a season high for man days lost to injuries yet still made the playoffs. We had a lot of help from the minors, to say the least. What needs to happen this year is that youngsters like Ryan Potulny (a personal favorite), Steve Downie, Ryan Parent, Lars Jonsson, Stefan Ruzicka, and Ben Eager have to show that if their time comes, they are up to the task.

There aren't too many roster spots open going into training camp as of right now (0 centers, 1 wing, 0 defensemen), so look for the roster to look like it does now going into the regular season. It should be a good one Philadelphia fans. Let's just forget about last year and be excited about this one!

There were a few other points I wanted to touch on (division challenges, possible captainship, etc.), but for the sake of brevity, I'll hold off.

Otherwise, let's go Flyers!!