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Sabres Pay Large for Zubrus!


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Posted

Dobbs is one of the best....pretty insightful stuff here.

 

Sabres Pay Large for Zubrus!

 

Written by Darryl Dobbs

Tuesday, 27 February 2007

 

 

The Buffalo Sabres made a couple of moves to solidify their defense and to cover off their slew of injuries. Ironically, they will get their injury help from a Band-aid Boy - Dainius Zubrus.

 

Buffalo: They had been suffering from a pile of injuries to their forward ranks and it is truly ironic that they turned to Dainius Zubrus for help. They paid a big price - Jiri Novotny and a first round pick. The Sabres also remember their struggles last season with injuries to the defense corps so they added Mikko Lehtonen from Nashville to be their No. 7 rearguard. Prospect Timo Heibling from Washington fills their pipeline on the blueline where they were weak.

 

Washington: Novotny can play center or right wing, which is right where they need a player. He will eventually settle in on the second line. A first-round pick doesn't hurt either.

 

Fantasy Players Impacted: Zubrus may have been moved to a high-scoring team but he is no longer on Ovechkin's line so his value plummets. He is an injury-prone 55-point player without Ovechkin. With Ovechkin, he could have had 70-75 points. Novotny has struck gold. He can see his full 65-point potential in Washington. He could never have done that in Buffalo.

Posted

Where's the great insight? Zubrus has played at least 60 games in every season but one, and the Sabres only need him healthy for a couple months. Novotny can't seem to shake an ankle injury, and he had a bunch of better prospects breathing down his neck. And picking up Philly's top pick in round 2 means they basically moved down few spots at most, and added much-needed healthy body who can score, for a guy who was leaving for nothing (Biron) and a guy who was about to get lapped by Stafford and Paille anyway (Novotny).

I guess the fantasy analysis is nice but ... whatever.

Posted

Let's summarize our deals from yesterday

 

We gave up Biron, Novotny and a first round pick (or 30th overall pick) and a 5th rounder (approx 150th overall)

 

In return we got a Philly's second round pick (31st overall pick) and Danius Zubrus.

 

If all players are gone in the summer we basically dealt the 150th pick in the draft on trade deadline day. Yea, that's terrible! Sarcasm here.

 

Of course I didn't include the 2 other minor deals but how can one say we didn't do well yesterday? Zubrus WILL play, Biron wouldn't have.

Posted

He also thinks Lehtonen will be our 7th defenseman, omitting Nathan Paetsch. He doesn't seem familiar with the Sabres (past and present) at all. Novotny a 65 point potential? He's a nice player but I don't see him ever showing up on the score sheet like this guy thinks he will.

Posted

I'm starting to get annoyed by this line of thought...no we do not have Ovechkin, BUT whoever we line Zubrus up with will be a pretty damn good offensive player, so his numbers should not drop off that significantly..plus, we got him for his size, strength and experience - not necessarily to be a go-to guy offensively.

Posted

I'm annoyed by the prevalent line of thinking among national folks that we overpaid for Zubrus. If Zubrus was Canadian they'd be calling it a steal.

Posted

So Zubrus played with Ovechkin? Nice, that means he was constantly matched up again the oppositions checking-line, and getting the majority of attention. Anyone think that'll ever happen now that he's with The Sabres?

 

Me neither.

 

The one thing that frustrates other teams more than anything about The Sabres is this - We don't have a scoring line, we have 3, sometimes 4.

Posted

Novotny has struck gold.

How is going from a contender to a pretender "striking gold". Even with Ovechkin, the Caps are eons away from a cup run. I would say Zuuuuuubrusss is the one who struck gold.

Posted

How is going from a contender to a pretender "striking gold". Even with Ovechkin, the Caps are eons away from a cup run. I would say Zuuuuuubrusss is the one who struck gold.

 

I actually think this is the best situation for Novotny. He'll get lot's of ice time in the

last 20 games as a skill player. I liken him to Pyatt a little. He may have the chance to

blossom.

Posted

I actually think this is the best situation for Novotny. He'll get lot's of ice time in the

last 20 games as a skill player. I liken him to Pyatt a little. He may have the chance to

blossom.

Call me a homer, but I'll take the legitimate shot at a Stanley Cup over personal stats anyday. Maybe he'll get a chance someday, but probably not in Washington.

Posted

Why do we care what Zubrus' Fantasy Value is? Not to state the obvious, but fantasy stats don't win hockey games.

 

Precisely. Darryl Dobbs is nothing but a chump fantasy hockey analyst for THN.

 

It's extraodinarily inciteful that a center playing next to a Richard contender will not have as many points in another team's third line.

 

Seriously, a monkey could figure that out.

Posted

Call me a homer, but I'll take the legitimate shot at a Stanley Cup over personal stats anyday. Maybe he'll get a chance someday, but probably not in Washington.

 

I'm not saying he is going to put up huge numbers, just with the emergence of Stafford

and Paille, I could see Novotny getting scratched out of any cup run if he had stayed.

Posted

So Zubrus played with Ovechkin? Nice, that means he was constantly matched up again the oppositions checking-line, and getting the majority of attention. Anyone think that'll ever happen now that he's with The Sabres?

 

Me neither.

 

The one thing that frustrates other teams more than anything about The Sabres is this - We don't have a scoring line, we have 3, sometimes 4.

 

Excellent observation.

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