"If Miller was not injured" is BS

[PotentPowerPlay22]

I am really tired of hearing that the Sabres are failing because Miller sprained his ankle. If you assume he was playing and the Sabres managed to squeak into the playoffs as the eighth team, then you are missing the point.

 

The point is that the Sabres have too much dead weight on the team and they are not good enough to be Cup contenders even with Miller playing.

 

Look at some of the dead weight:

 

Afinogenov, Hecht, Pominville,Paille, Connolly, MacArthur, Mair, Ellis,Paetsch, Peters

 

Not only is that way too much under-production, but way too much is really soft (Afinogenov, Hecht, Pominville, Connolly, MacArthur)

 

The Sabres need to bulk up and get tougher. The only excuse for soft players is that they over-produce on the scoreboard. It is a deadly combination when these soft players under-produce as they have done this year. $9 million for two years of useless Connolly? It's nuts!

 

P.S. When are the Sabres going to give up on the Rent-A-Player concept? It is just stupid to give away draft picks for rentals.

[Stoner]

I am really tired of hearing that the Sabres are failing because Miller sprained his ankle. If you assume he was playing and the Sabres managed to squeak into the playoffs as the eighth team, then you are missing the point.

 

The point is that the Sabres have too much dead weight on the team and they are not good enough to be Cup contenders even with Miller playing.

 

Look at some of the dead weight:

 

Afinogenov, Hecht, Pominville,Paille, Connolly, MacArthur, Mair, Ellis,Paetsch, Peters

 

Not only is that way too much under-production, but way too much is really soft (Afinogenov, Hecht, Pominville, Connolly, MacArthur)

 

The Sabres need to bulk up and get tougher. The only excuse for soft players is that they over-produce on the scoreboard. It is a deadly combination when these soft players under-produce as they have done this year. $9 million for two years of useless Connolly? It's nuts!

 

P.S. When are the Sabres going to give up on the Rent-A-Player concept? It is just stupid to give away draft picks for rentals.

 

Darcy vowed before the deadline he wasn't going to rent a player, that he was looking to the future. Alas, Dominic Moore.

[carpandean]

Afinogenov, Hecht, Pominville,Paille, Connolly, MacArthur, Mair, Ellis,Paetsch, Peters

Why does everyone include Mair in discussions like this? For $758k/$775 cap/salary, he is a solid role-player who provides energy and wins fights on the 4th line and, when needed due to injury, has the skill to contribute on the 3rd line. For his price, I wouldn't call him dead weight.

[billsrcursed]

Why does everyone include Mair in discussions like this? For $758k/$775 cap/salary, he is a solid role-player who provides energy and wins fights on the 4th line and, when needed due to injury, has the skill to contribute on the 3rd line. For his price, I wouldn't call him dead weight.

 

Exactly. We need more guys with heart like him. For the price, I'd say it's a perfect fit. He performs as he should, a 4th liner with 3rd line potential.

[spndnchz]

I am really tired of hearing that the Sabres are failing because Miller sprained his ankle. If you assume he was playing and the Sabres managed to squeak into the playoffs as the eighth team, then you are missing the point.

 

The point is that the Sabres have too much dead weight on the team and they are not good enough to be Cup contenders even with Miller playing.

 

Look at some of the dead weight:

 

Afinogenov, Hecht, Pominville,Paille, Connolly, MacArthur, Mair, Ellis,Paetsch, Peters

 

Not only is that way too much under-production, but way too much is really soft (Afinogenov, Hecht, Pominville, Connolly, MacArthur)

 

The Sabres need to bulk up and get tougher. The only excuse for soft players is that they over-produce on the scoreboard. It is a deadly combination when these soft players under-produce as they have done this year. $9 million for two years of useless Connolly? It's nuts!

 

P.S. When are the Sabres going to give up on the Rent-A-Player concept? It is just stupid to give away draft picks for rentals.

I'd rather have a player like Moore than Kotes. Yeah, he hasn't done much, although seems to be coming around with 3 points in his last 2 games. We didn't rent him or lose any picks, we basically traded Kotes for Moore.

[PotentPowerPlay22]

Why does everyone include Mair in discussions like this? For $758k/$775 cap/salary, he is a solid role-player who provides energy and wins fights on the 4th line and, when needed due to injury, has the skill to contribute on the 3rd line. For his price, I wouldn't call him dead weight.

 

 

I like Mair's grit and effort, but he's dead weight if he is sitting on the bench the whole game. It is possible to get his energy into the lineup and still get a contribution on the scoreboard. There are guys all over the league who have his energy and they even score goals. Unfortunately, Buffalo doesn't have any of them. This is one reason why the Sabres are currently on the outside of the playoffs.

 

How about half of the top six forwards who are collecting huge checks and producing very little? Hecht, Pominville,Connolly?

 

The Sabres are currently 20th in the league and could be as low as 24th in a day or two. This is totally unacceptable.

 

Big changes in personnel are necessary. It is comforting to know that Regier has "locked up" this dead weight for years to come.

[carpandean]

I like Mair's grit and effort, but he's dead weight if he is sitting on the bench the whole game. It is possible to get his energy into the lineup and still get a contribution on the scoreboard. There are guys all over the league who have his energy and they even score goals. Unfortunately, Buffalo doesn't have any of them. This is one reason why the Sabres are currently on the outside of the playoffs.

I haven't looked around to check this and don't pay enough attention to other teams' fourth liners to know off-hand, but I would guess that anyone who plays with Mair's energy and puts up more points (typically is in the 5-7 goal and 15-20 point range), they aren't on the fourth line and/or get paid more money. Again, not confirmed, just my gut feeling. Goals from your fourth/energy-line guys are typically considered bonuses. So called "depth scoring" mostly comes from third-liners. Now, by all means should we look to add higher-line players with that kind of energy (e.g., Shane Doan), but they are hard to acquire.