Danny Briere 2 goals last night

[tom webster]

He just can't seem to deal with teams that have size, play physical AND force him to play in his own end consistently. Two years ago against Philly in the playoff, they tried to play physical but they didn't have the horses to skate with the Sabres and force Briere to backcheck and fight through the neutral zone. He can still be a good PP weapon, but ... he's just limited by his size. i bring this up not to rip the guy (since I have defended him overall on this thread) but to point out that perhaps one reason the Sabres made no effort to bring him back was because they figured they would have Roy around a while, and you can only get away with so many little guys. (Which is also one of the reasons I am skeptical about Gerbe ... might be a good player someday but I don't think you can win big with mutiple Briere/Roy/Gerbe types on the same team ... )

 

 

I think this is the one thing this series is showing us. As long as Pittsburgh can ride with Crosby and Malkin, you need more size to deal with them if you want to compete. You in essence need two checking lines or one checking line and one very responsible second line.

As I have said countless times in this post, I feel Briere is an elite offensive player who can be a very valuable weapon if you have the right mix around him. It is disturbing, still, to hear him belittled and under appreciated for what he brought to Buffalo for the time he was here. That being said, I am prepared for the ripping from those who feel I said otherwise but the proof is in the posts.

[deluca67]

I think this is the one thing this series is showing us. As long as Pittsburgh can ride with Crosby and Malkin, you need more size to deal with them if you want to compete. You in essence need two checking lines or one checking line and one very responsible second line.

As I have said countless times in this post, I feel Briere is an elite offensive player who can be a very valuable weapon if you have the right mix around him. It is disturbing, still, to hear him belittled and under appreciated for what he brought to Buffalo for the time he was here. That being said, I am prepared for the ripping from those who feel I said otherwise but the proof is in the posts.

Crosby & Malkin vs Zetterberg & Datsyuk should make for a great Finals. I hope both goaltenders can hold up.

 

The most shocking thing about the Pens at this point is how good they have been defensively. 5 goals allowed in three games and I think that Philly is 1-9 on the power play.

 

We will never agree on using the word "elite" when it comes to Briere. To me he is a power play specialist. To be "elite" you need to do more.

 

I was looking up Gretzky's stats and was shocked to find that out of his 894 goals only 204 came on the power play. I would have guess at least 300.

[tom webster]

Crosby & Malkin vs Zetterberg & Datsyuk should make for a great Finals. I hope both goaltenders can hold up.

 

The most shocking thing about the Pens at this point is how good they have been defensively. 5 goals allowed in three games and I think that Philly is 1-9 on the power play.

 

We will never agree on using the word "elite" when it comes to Briere. To me he is a power play specialist. To be "elite" you need to do more.

 

I was looking up Gretzky's stats and was shocked to find that out of his 894 goals only 204 came on the power play. I would have guess at least 300.

 

The power play stats are a mostly post-Gretzky phenomenon. Power play goals now take up a far greater percentage of scoring then they did during his era. It is why +/- figures that you take so seriously are so different from his era.

[BetweenThePipes00]

Crosby & Malkin vs Zetterberg & Datsyuk should make for a great Finals. I hope both goaltenders can hold up.

 

The most shocking thing about the Pens at this point is how good they have been defensively. 5 goals allowed in three games and I think that Philly is 1-9 on the power play.

 

We will never agree on using the word "elite" when it comes to Briere. To me he is a power play specialist. To be "elite" you need to do more.

 

I was looking up Gretzky's stats and was shocked to find that out of his 894 goals only 204 came on the power play. I would have guess at least 300.

They have been good, and Fleury has been a big part of it ... but it's also tough to score when you are playing most of the game in your own end ... they have Philly on their heels big time. half the time they are happy to dump it in and change lines because it's a struggle to get out of their own end.

Against Detroit it will be interesting ... I am not sure Pittsburgh's defensemen can hold up against that team for a seven game series ... I have to believe if they win the Cup with Rob Scuderi and Kris Letang playing 18 minutes a night like they are now, Malkin and Crosby will have been amazing and Fleury will have stood on his head.

[carpandean]

He just can't seem to deal with teams that have size, play physical AND force him to play in his own end consistently. Two years ago against Philly in the playoff, they tried to play physical but they didn't have the horses to skate with the Sabres and force Briere to backcheck and fight through the neutral zone. He can still be a good PP weapon, but ... he's just limited by his size. i bring this up not to rip the guy (since I have defended him overall on this thread) but to point out that perhaps one reason the Sabres made no effort to bring him back was because they figured they would have Roy around a while, and you can only get away with so many little guys. (Which is also one of the reasons I am skeptical about Gerbe ... might be a good player someday but I don't think you can win big with mutiple Briere/Roy/Gerbe types on the same team ... )

I tend to agree. You can have one or two small guys if the rest of the team has the size to make up for it, but with Drury and Briere, our three top centers were 5' 10" or less.

 

The difference between Danny verses Chris and Derek is that they play bigger than he does. Maybe, it's the extra 10 lbs of mass that each has on him, despite his workouts with Hugo Girard (World's Strongest Man competitor), or maybe it's that their game is not as purely finesse-based as his is. Whatever the reason, they seem to be less shaken by physical play (especially with Derek's body armor that he got after his shoulder injury this year). From what I've seen, Gerbe seems more of that type of player. In watching him play, I saw him risk his body to go to the net and to block shots. While he probably shouldn't be on the same line as Roy, we might be fine with him in the same line-up.

 

Can't wait to see Gerbe play against Chara, since he is even smaller than St. Louis (and Roy):

[GoatheadInCT]

 

What is this, you may ask???

 

 

 

It is....

 

 

 

 

 

A list of some 40 goal scorers of Sabres past in honor of 40 pages!!!!

[apuszczalowski]

So.............., in otherwords you couldn't find a #40 to use?

[carpandean]

So.............., in otherwords you couldn't find a #40 to use?

That's my job! Actually, #40 is on the last page.

 

 

 

1 .. 2 .. 3 .. 4 .. 5 .. 6 .. 7 .. 8 .. 9 .. 10 .. 11 .. 12 .. 13 .. 14 .. 15 .. 16 .. 17 .. 18 .. 19 .. 20 .. 21 .. 22 .. 23 .. 24 .. 25 .. 26 .. 27 .. 28 .. 29 .. 30 .. 31 .. 32 .. 33 .. 34 .. 35 .. 36 .. 37 .. 38 .. 39 .. 40 ..

WE WANT 41!!!!!

 

 

and, no, not these guys:

[carpandean]

A list of some 40 goal scorers of Sabres past in honor of 40 pages!!!!

Missed one:

 

Though, I suppose that you could argue that he is of "Sabres present" not "Sabres past".

[Mike Oxhurtz]

That's my job! Actually, #40 is on the last page.

1 .. 2 .. 3 .. 4 .. 5 .. 6 .. 7 .. 8 .. 9 .. 10 .. 11 .. 12 .. 13 .. 14 .. 15 .. 16 .. 17 .. 18 .. 19 .. 20 .. 21 .. 22 .. 23 .. 24 .. 25 .. 26 .. 27 .. 28 .. 29 .. 30 .. 31 .. 32 .. 33 .. 34 .. 35 .. 36 .. 37 .. 38 .. 39 .. 40 ..

WE WANT 41!!!!!

and, no, not this guy:

 

What's wrong with good ol' Stewy?

[carpandean]

What's wrong with good ol' Stewy?

Nothing; he just had the right number. Added one more #41.

[Mike Oxhurtz]

Looks like The Flyers are nearing the end of the road for their season. I'm not a Flyers fan, but I'd say they did a great job of turning their team around. To go from last place to Eastern Conference finals in 1 year is amazing. Looks like Danny will go 0-3 in EC finals, but at least he got to go again and Biron got a great taste of the playoffs.

 

Hopefully the Bills will have a lot of success and will make it to the playoffs. As for the Sabres, I'm still disgusted with management for how things turned out last off-season, and for missing the playoffs. I hope management can turn things around and make the right moves so we can return to the playoffs.

[carpandean]

Looks like The Flyers are nearing the end of the road for their season. I'm not a Flyers fan, but I'd say they did a great job of turning their team around. To go from last place to Eastern Conference finals in 1 year is amazing. Looks like Danny will go 0-3 in EC finals, but at least he got to go again and Biron got a great taste of the playoffs.

Yeah, despite what I might think about Danny's worth, I must applaud their FO for making some significant moves to completely change their "loser" team. Danny helped, especially later in the season, but Timonen was a big pick-up (look what he happened when he went down), as were guys like Smith, Prospal, Lupel, Upshall, etc.. Even Marty had moments of brilliance in this post-season for them. With these new parts, the young bones that they did keep (guys like Richards, Carter, Umberger, ...) have really stepped up.

 

It will be interesting to see how they do next year. They have some key guys locked up, but they also have many RFA/UFAs to sign or replace, and a lot of cap space already locked up. Depending on what happens with Gagne (concussion issues) and Mike Rathje (back), they are pushing $50 million in cap hit for next year without Smith, Umberger, Carter, Prospal, Dowd, Cote or Modry. Their two LTIRs combine for $8.75 million, so that could be some room if they stay out, but if they come back, they could have to let some of those guys walk.

[SwampD]

Yeah, despite what I might think about Danny's worth, I must applaud their FO for making some significant moves to completely change their "loser" team. Danny helped, especially later in the season, but Timonen was a big pick-up (look what he happened when he went down), as were guys like Smith, Prospal, Lupel, Upshall, etc.. Even Marty had moments of brilliance in this post-season for them. With these new parts, the young bones that they did keep (guys like Richards, Carter, Umberger, ...) have really stepped up.

 

It will be interesting to see how they do next year. They have some key guys locked up, but they also have many RFA/UFAs to sign or replace, and a lot of cap space already locked up. Depending on what happens with Gagne (concussion issues) and Mike Rathje (back), they are pushing $50 million in cap hit for next year without Smith, Umberger, Carter, Prospal, Dowd, Cote or Modry. Their two LTIRs combine for $8.75 million, so that could be some room if they stay out, but if they come back, they could have to let some of those guys walk.

I'm just wondering...(and maybe just because I want this to go to 6o)...say the FO made all the right moves last off-season, according to some people here. Like signing Drury early, and signing Briere early, and keeping Soupy and everything was happy in Sabreland. And then, say, the Sabres went as far into the playoffs as the farthest one of those three(Briere-ECF"s). How many of those same people would be complaining that the FO is horrible, and didn't do enough in the off season, kept the same guys that ONLY got us to the ECF's, and were too small, etc,etc...

 

Just wonderin'...

[nucci]

I'm just wondering...(and maybe just because I want this to go to 6o)...say the FO made all the right moves last off-season, according to some people here. Like signing Drury early, and signing Briere early, and keeping Soupy and everything was happy in Sabreland. And then, say, the Sabres went as far into the playoffs as the farthest one of those three(Briere-ECF"s). How many of those same people would be complaining that the FO is horrible, and didn't do enough in the off season, kept the same guys that ONLY got us to the ECF's, and were too small, etc,etc...

 

Just wonderin'...

Everyone. :lol:

[tom webster]

I'm just wondering...(and maybe just because I want this to go to 6o)...say the FO made all the right moves last off-season, according to some people here. Like signing Drury early, and signing Briere early, and keeping Soupy and everything was happy in Sabreland. And then, say, the Sabres went as far into the playoffs as the farthest one of those three(Briere-ECF"s). How many of those same people would be complaining that the FO is horrible, and didn't do enough in the off season, kept the same guys that ONLY got us to the ECF's, and were too small, etc,etc...

 

Just wonderin'...

 

First off, no rational fan expects them to be perfect and thus be able to always make the right moves. That being said;

All the "right" moves would have included tweaking the roster, which in my opinion would have been dumping Ales, Max and upgrading the defense. If they did that, then it wouldn't have been the front office taking the heat, it would have been the players.

Another point, most rational fans understand that getting ot the finals is not easy and you can do everything right and still not get there. All we want to believe is that winning it all is as important to ownership as it is to us. There is no doubt that some people will rip them no matter what, just as some will defend them no matter what. As is usually the case in most everything in life, there's a little truth and happiness on both sides of the equation.

[carpandean]

As is usually the case in most everything in life, there's a little truth and happiness on both sides of the equation.

QFT*

 

Now, if we could just get the Republicans and the Democrats to admit this. I'm sick of having two lists of candidates that I agree with on half the issues and disagree with on the other half. But that's a 40 page OT thread in the making.

 

 

 

 

(* Quoted for Truth for those not familiar with net-speak.)

[X. Benedict]

Looks like The Flyers are nearing the end of the road for their season. I'm not a Flyers fan, but I'd say they did a great job of turning their team around. To go from last place to Eastern Conference finals in 1 year is amazing. Looks like Danny will go 0-3 in EC finals, but at least he got to go again and Biron got a great taste of the playoffs.

Altogether, I still think they are an average team that had one overachieving series. (Montreal).

[SwampD]

Now, if we could just get the Republicans and the Democrats to admit this. I'm sick of having two lists of candidates that I agree with on half the issues and disagree with on the other half. But that's a 40 page OT thread in the making.

Quote of the week :thumbsup:

[Mike Oxhurtz]

I'm just wondering...(and maybe just because I want this to go to 6o)...say the FO made all the right moves last off-season, according to some people here. Like signing Drury early, and signing Briere early, and keeping Soupy and everything was happy in Sabreland. And then, say, the Sabres went as far into the playoffs as the farthest one of those three(Briere-ECF"s). How many of those same people would be complaining that the FO is horrible, and didn't do enough in the off season, kept the same guys that ONLY got us to the ECF's, and were too small, etc,etc...

 

Just wonderin'...

 

If that happened, in my opinion I would be on management's case, I would be on the players cases. I'm sure there are people that will complain regardless of the situation. Unless we win a Stanley Cup/Super Bowl, we will always point out what's wrong with our teams, and if we did this or if we did that we would have made it further...etc.

[apuszczalowski]

If that happened, in my opinion I would be on management's case, I would be on the players cases. I'm sure there are people that will complain regardless of the situation. Unless we win a Stanley Cup/Super Bowl, we will always point out what's wrong with our teams, and if we did this or if we did that we would have made it further...etc.

Have you met some of the fans? There are some that would complain even if they won those games because they didn't win by a large enough margin, or didn't do something that they expected of them.

 

Now i have never been a fan of the current management, I think they are a bit overrated, but if they came back with pretty much the same team, or even losing the players they did, but atleast made some moves to improve the team, i.e. bringing in a top tier player to replace the guys they lost, and upgrade some of the weaknesses from previous seasons, my anger wouldn't be directed towards management, it would be on the players or coaching. Management can only do so much, just like the players/coaching can only do so much. But it all starts at the top with management, they have to supply the coaches with talented players, when that happens,the fault/success lies with players and coaches. For example, I would say that the Flyers FO did a great job bringing in talent this year to improve their team, while SJ's management did a good job bringing in talent, but the players/coaching did a poor job of making it work

[Mike Oxhurtz]

Have you met some of the fans? There are some that would complain even if they won those games because they didn't win by a large enough margin, or didn't do something that they expected of them.

 

Now i have never been a fan of the current management, I think they are a bit overrated, but if they came back with pretty much the same team, or even losing the players they did, but atleast made some moves to improve the team, i.e. bringing in a top tier player to replace the guys they lost, and upgrade some of the weaknesses from previous seasons, my anger wouldn't be directed towards management, it would be on the players or coaching. Management can only do so much, just like the players/coaching can only do so much. But it all starts at the top with management, they have to supply the coaches with talented players, when that happens,the fault/success lies with players and coaches. For example, I would say that the Flyers FO did a great job bringing in talent this year to improve their team, while SJ's management did a good job bringing in talent, but the players/coaching did a poor job of making it work

 

Yes, I remember fans were complaining about how we won our games last year in the playoffs. What's the difference if you win by 1 or 10, it's a win regardless.

 

Good comments, and I agree with your views on our management.

[carpandean]

Yes, I remember fans were complaining about how we won our games last year in the playoffs. What's the difference if you win by 1 or 10, it's a win regardless.

It was more of a "if we're having this much trouble beating the Islanders and Rangers, how are we going to beat the Sens or Ducks?!" thing. Guess those concerns weren't that far off.

[Mike Oxhurtz]

It was more of a "if we're having this much trouble beating the Islanders and Rangers, how are we going to beat the Sens or Ducks?!" thing. Guess those concerns weren't that far off.

 

Unfortunately, the losses of McKee, Dumont & Grier showed in the playoffs last year. The losses of Drury, Briere & Teppo showed this year.

[Bmwolf21]

Have you met some of the fans? There are some that would complain even if they won those games because they didn't win by a large enough margin, or didn't do something that they expected of them.

BS. Anyone who complains about ANYTHING after winning our first Cup or Super Bowl deserves a punch in the throat. You can act spoiled like that if you are part of an on-going dynasty who is looking for their 3rd, 4th, 5th in a short period of time, but the first? Then that person is a complete jackass and warrants a beating.

 

It was more of a "if we're having this much trouble beating the Islanders and Rangers, how are we going to beat the Sens or Ducks?!" thing. Guess those concerns weren't that far off.

BINGO.

 

Anyone that can honestly say they watched the way they played all regular season and in the first two rounds of the playoffs and didn't wonder what kind of play/effort the team was going to bring in the CF and potentially the SCF didn't watch the same team most of us did.