I saw the sun rise this morning

[Corp000085]

I was very depressed last night... Spacek out yet again, gaustad out for the season... The last time the sabres played consecutive games with their starting 12 forwards and 6 defensemen was the curtain call after the Trashers shootout loss, before halloween. But today, I feel much better. .. Lets look at this one at a time:

 

Spacek:

 

The guy basically sucks. he was a decent pickup by regier at the beginning of the season, but the price wasn't right for his production this year. Can't fault regier on that one... the guy was great last playoffs. With him out, it leaves 6 healthy defensemen and a bunch of amerks. Paetsch has to move back from forward to cover his loss, and we don't have insurance if teppo or kalinin need benching. Not that bad though guys! Spacek will be out till mid to late march, giving him about 5-6 games to prepare for hte playoffs... Barring any further injuries, the defense will be ready to go. Plus, paetsch has quietly become the Sabres best defenseman anyways! I'd be 1000x more worried if paetsch got injured at this point. He's a valuable asset who needs to play defense... Forget the offense for a moment... he's money in the bank at D. Again, barring any further injuries, the defense will be fine by playoff time. Then they can call up the rochester guys like funk, card and that other guy (sorry, i'm not that much into following the prospects like i used to be). Basically, the defense will be STRONGER with paetch in place of Spacek.

 

 

Gaustad:

 

 

This one hurts. It hurts bad. It's a snakebite type of injury that makes us question the ghosts of bobby clarke, john leclair, brett hull, oj simpson, william mckinley, etc. If you read between the lines, gaustad was not 100% ruled out for the stanley cup finals, but chances are we won't see him till we're doing radio only game threads for the september pre season games. Goose, you're a good guy and you'll be missed... BUT, the Sabres will be ok. Stafford played well with us when he was up earlier in the year... Remember his setup for the OT winner in the rangers game? I think the forwards will be fine... They can sacrafice a little size for more speed. The leadership and grit questions are just silly. This team is plenty gritty and full of leadership even without Goose. They just don't show it unless they have to. They did fine last night in the hardest hitting game of the year with 11 forwards after the spacek injury and no goose. They didn't lose a 30 goal scorer or a captain for the season... they lost a power forward with a knack for the corners.

 

 

 

 

The trades:

 

 

I still don't think regier can let go of biron, but if he has to package marty with a floater like kotalik (he's money in the shootout, but how many of those happen in the playoffs again?) or kalinin to get a Goose type of guy, then so be it... However, as i see things right now, they'll be fine... Remember, stafford can be replaced by another guy who's coming off of injury. To protect his annonymity, i'll just refer to him by his initials: TC. There's no NHL depth behind the defense right now, but there's plenty of AHL depth. If stafford is called up, the team still has 13 forwards, counting peters as the depth guy, with the 14th set to come off of LTIR sometime in the near future, and the 15th being an option if/when spacek returns.

 

 

 

The conclusion of my post:

 

 

It does suck to lose guys like Goose and spacek, however in the long run, this team will do just fine. Hell, if erik cole can break his neck and return to win the cup, nothing is out of the question with Goose, TC, spacek, or anyone else who WILL get injured before the end of the season and post season. If regier stands pat, i'll be the first guy to applaud him for not panicking, and the last guy to jump him if something freak happens to challenge the depth of the team like it did last year. It will be ok. Hell, there's plenty of two-a-day practices and WGR reports till the next game on thursday for you know who... Plenty of drama for the NHL points leader Buffalo Sabres.

[bob_sauve28]

it! Kotalik is not a floater!!!! He plays hard and makes things happen. :angry:

 

Ok, I'm all better now :D

 

And no, I don't think we can give Biron either. And Nathan P or best defenseman? Ya, maybe. Campbell has kinda disappeared of late and Talinder isn't playing as well as he did before his last injury.

[DR HOLLIDAY]

it! Kotalik is not a floater!!!! He plays hard and makes things happen. :angry:

 

Ok, I'm all better now :D

 

And no, I don't think we can give Biron either. And Nathan P or best defenseman? Ya, maybe. Campbell has kinda disappeared of late and Talinder isn't playing as well as he did before his last injury.

 

Campbell is still playing at a very high level, we just have raised expectations of him, who knows if he is playing with some sort of injury...............I would like to see some sort of trade, one veteran defenseman and one gritty forward.............If we can get someone even better by trading Biron and Kotalik then so be it.............Plus with Connelly coming back at some point before the playoffs that might be the best addition to our team, PP specialist and I am really getting itchy for the playoffs to start........... :beer:

[gilbert1175]

I think Kotalik is more valuable now - he's definitely someone we can look to to play a more physical game with his size.

[bob_sauve28]

Campbell is still playing at a very high level, we just have raised expectations of him, who knows if he is playing with some sort of injury...............I would like to see some sort of trade, one veteran defenseman and one gritty forward.............If we can get someone even better by trading Biron and Kotalik then so be it.............Plus with Connelly coming back at some point before the playoffs that might be the best addition to our team, PP specialist and I am really getting itchy for the playoffs to start........... :beer:

No doubt we need to make a trade, but do you go without a backup goalie into the playoffs? I really think that would be a mistake

[Samson's Flow]

for some reason i seem to think that the sabres depth will fill these holes left by goose (you will be missed :cry: ) and spacek, who seems to have hit a case of injurites and should be shipped *fragile*. I hold out that goose's physical play will be replaced by a paille or novotny, or someone else for that matter.

 

Im more worried about our defense and how its been a couple of months since everyone was healthy on the blueline. given im a little paranoid from last years epidemic of playoff injuries, somehow i think we need to bring in someone to bolster the defense. this doesnt have to be via trade, im merely suggesting we find out what our d prospects can do and get them some nhl time so they dont end up playing their first NHL game in game 7 of the ecf.

 

it! Kotalik is not a floater!!!! He plays hard and makes things happen. :angry:

 

i agree with what bob says too, kotalik is not what we should be worried about, he hit a slump, but now hes playing with grit and making things work. many of drurys latest goals have been a result of kotalik winning battles or setting him up. plus hes relatively young and has a favorable cap contract in terms of years. so why would we want to get rid of that??

[drnkirishone]

I'm no fan of Kotalik................... but he has stepped up his game this past month month and a half. Also I competly agree that Kotalik is a player that can step up and play a more physical game for us to makeup for the loss of goose. I just hope he doesn't go and turn back into the bad Kotalik, cause we need him more then ever now. Another guy that can step it up and needs to is Hecht, He can be a force downlow and throw the body around.

[thesportsbuff]

no trade needed, end of story. trading prospects is just stupid at this time. this team was built by scouting good players and sticking with them. they are the future of the sabres. don't trade them away, we're golden right now.

 

the goose injury hurts, but it's not going to break our season. Paille has already proved he's more than ready to stay in the NHL, and he can hit just as well as gaustad... but i feel Paille has a little more playmaking capability. nothing against paul.

 

spacek... at this point who cares? we've played most of the season without him anyway. the only reason this injury bothers me is because Paetsch has to play defense, where I liked him as forward.

[DR HOLLIDAY]

no trade needed, end of story. trading prospects is just stupid at this time. this team was built by scouting good players and sticking with them. they are the future of the sabres. don't trade them away, we're golden right now.

 

the goose injury hurts, but it's not going to break our season. Paille has already proved he's more than ready to stay in the NHL, and he can hit just as well as gaustad... but i feel Paille has a little more playmaking capability. nothing against paul.

 

spacek... at this point who cares? we've played most of the season without him anyway. the only reason this injury bothers me is because Paetsch has to play defense, where I liked him as forward.

 

Sometimes it is more important to call your shot and go for the Cup, this is the last year we will have both Briere and Drury in the Lineup.............Gotta take advantage of that......... :beer:

[shrader]

Wow, labeling Spacek as fragile becuase he breaks his hand blocking a shot. It's not like he broke his arm in the same spot twice after barely crashing into the boards.

 

Another thing to remember about Jaro is the performance he had in the playoffs last year. This guy has stepped up big time when everything was on the line (and hopefully will again).

[hopeleslyobvious]

for some reason i seem to think that the sabres depth will fill these holes left by goose (you will be missed :cry: ) and spacek, who seems to have hit a case of injurites and should be shipped *fragile*. I hold out that goose's physical play will be replaced by a paille or novotny, or someone else for that matter.

 

Im more worried about our defense and how its been a couple of months since everyone was healthy on the blueline. given im a little paranoid from last years epidemic of playoff injuries, somehow i think we need to bring in someone to bolster the defense. this doesnt have to be via trade, im merely suggesting we find out what our d prospects can do and get them some nhl time so they dont end up playing their first NHL game in game 7 of the ecf.

i agree with what bob says too, kotalik is not what we should be worried about, he hit a slump, but now hes playing with grit and making things work. many of drurys latest goals have been a result of kotalik winning battles or setting him up. plus hes relatively young and has a favorable cap contract in terms of years. so why would we want to get rid of that??

 

For the record, no one played their first NHL game in game 7 of the ECF. It was Paetsch's 2nd NHL game.

[drnkirishone]

I thought Paetsch had 1 or 2 regular season games last season. Plus the couple in the playoffs