Moore had a busted wrist

[spndnchz]

Anyone catch this?

 

Toronto Star http://www.thestar.com/article/636694

Moore suffered a fracture of the trapezium bone in his right wrist shortly after he was traded from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Buffalo Sabres at the March 9 deadline.

 

He didn't know it was fractured until he saw his Dr. after the season ended.

[wonderbread]

No wonder he was mediocre at best. To bad cause he really affected his potential for a raise in this upcoming year. maybe this was his way of saying "hey I sucked, but here's why"

[nobody]

Maybe the team can keep him for a lower value now.

[wonderbread]

Maybe the team can keep him for a lower value now.

 

 

Jeez don't we have enought mid range floaters.

[X. Benedict]

Jeez don't we have enought mid range floaters.

 

I really liked him playing on a line with Mair, and Gaustad.

They seemed to give everybody trouble and had tons of puck possession.

 

He is what he is. A decent 2 way player with some scoring touch, good draws, and flexible enough to

move up and down lines. Very good depth player. I'm not against having him at a good price.

[nobody]

Jeez don't we have enought mid range floaters.

 

He is a very good face off guy.

[Stoner]

I really liked him playing on a line with Mair, and Gaustad.

They seemed to give everybody trouble and had tons of puck possession.

 

He is what he is. A decent 2 way player with some scoring touch, good draws, and flexible enough to

move up and down lines. Very good depth player. I'm not against having him at a good price.

 

I think it takes a very refined hockey eye such as yours to find that much good to say about his time in Buffalo. I don't doubt a word of it. But a less refined eye such as mine saw a player who didn't have that "jump" that traded players often (usually?) have. He just immediately blended right into the crowd of pedestrian Sabres. I don't think he did much to jolt the Sabres in the playoff race. Dominic Moore, acquired taste.

[X. Benedict]

I don't think he did much to jolt the Sabres in the playoff race. Dominic Moore, acquired taste.

 

He didn't. I think his 20 some games were a disappointment especially in terms of numbers.

 

But I also think it gave them enough depth to compete for that playoff spot.

It wasn't going to happen double shifting Roy every game.

 

Incidently, right off the bat with the Sabres, late in the first period at home against the Coyotes i thought Moore was slashed by Doan in the first periiod and it wasn't called.

 

I wasn't far behind the Sabres bench and everybody in my section said they thought it might be a break. But he came back later in the second.

[nobody]

I think it takes a very refined hockey eye such as yours to find that much good to say about his time in Buffalo. I don't doubt a word of it. But a less refined eye such as mine saw a player who didn't have that "jump" that traded players often (usually?) have. He just immediately blended right into the crowd of pedestrian Sabres. I don't think he did much to jolt the Sabres in the playoff race. Dominic Moore, acquired taste.

 

 

A guy with a fractured wrist fit in with the rest of the players in the middle of the pack on the team. So which of those two needs to go?

[carpandean]

A guy with a fractured wrist fit in with the rest of the players in the middle of the pack on the team. So which of those two needs to go?

Yeah. I wouldn't advocate adding Moore to our current selection of third/fourth liners, but I wouldn't be disappointed if he replaced one of them. Heck, if they could find someone to take Hecht and then signed Moore in his place (as third in the depth-chart for scoring-line center), I would be fine with that. Certainly, that shouldn't be looked upon as the "big" signing of the Summer, but wouldn't be bad as a secondary move.

[wonderbread]

Yeah. I wouldn't advocate adding Moore to our current selection of third/fourth liners, but I wouldn't be disappointed if he replaced one of them. Heck, if they could find someone to take Hecht and then signed Moore in his place (as third in the depth-chart for scoring-line center), I would be fine with that. Certainly, that shouldn't be looked upon as the "big" signing of the Summer, but wouldn't be bad as a secondary move.

 

 

I fear that DR will try to sign him and promote this as our big off season FA acquisition. However I have not given up on Hecht yet I think he will rebound this year.

[SabresFan526]

I didn't think Moore did all that much in his 20 games, but I do kind of like him, and I think he's a good fit for Buffalo. If it were me as GM, I'd keep him to play as a checking line forward with Goose and Hecht on the third line. I'd play that line against every team's top line and have that be their sole focus. Any goals or points they add is fantastic. And then, like the TSN article said, I'd go after Eric Cole as the second line left winger. He's absolutely perfect for Buffalo. He's big, physical, and can score. He is the definition of a power forward and exactly what Buffalo needs. My lines would look like the following:

 

Vanek-Roy-Stafford

Cole-Connolly-Pominville

Hecht-Moore-Gaustad

Paille-Mair-Kaleta

 

If there is an injury on any of the top two lines, you can seamlessly insert Moore to replace likely Connolly. Doing this gives you a traditional lineup with two scoring lines, a checking line, and a true energy line. That would seem expensive, but I think you can make cuts in the way of Lydman and Tallinder and replace with Myers, Weber, and Paetsch, so long as they re-sign Spacek. My defense would look like:

 

Rivet-Butler

Spacek-Sekera

Myers-Weber/Paetsch

 

I know that that's a very young and inexperienced defense core with only two veterans back there, but it doesn't seem to be much of a problem for Chicago. Now, are Butler, Sekera, Myers, Weber, and Paetsch as good as Seabrook, Barker, and Keith? I don't know, but I think we've got some solid young defenseman and with enough veteran presence around them to hopefully protect them. That's what I'd do, but I am not the GM and I don't know how much this team would cost in terms of salary cap space. I'd imagine with 3 entry level contracts, and a cheap Sekera and Paetsch, you could probably fit this team within the salary cap, but I don't know for sure.

[K-9]

Elmer Fudd had a bwoken wist once. Wemember that people? It was simpwy twagic. But he was NEVER good on dwaws.

 

GO SABRES!!!

[nfreeman]

I really liked him playing on a line with Mair, and Gaustad.

They seemed to give everybody trouble and had tons of puck possession.

 

He is what he is. A decent 2 way player with some scoring touch, good draws, and flexible enough to

move up and down lines. Very good depth player. I'm not against having him at a good price.

 

I think it takes a very refined hockey eye such as yours to find that much good to say about his time in Buffalo. I don't doubt a word of it. But a less refined eye such as mine saw a player who didn't have that "jump" that traded players often (usually?) have. He just immediately blended right into the crowd of pedestrian Sabres. I don't think he did much to jolt the Sabres in the playoff race. Dominic Moore, acquired taste.

 

Yeah. I wouldn't advocate adding Moore to our current selection of third/fourth liners, but I wouldn't be disappointed if he replaced one of them. Heck, if they could find someone to take Hecht and then signed Moore in his place (as third in the depth-chart for scoring-line center), I would be fine with that. Certainly, that shouldn't be looked upon as the "big" signing of the Summer, but wouldn't be bad as a secondary move.

3 good posts. I started thinking that I'd be quite happy to have him instead of Hecht, but Carp beat me to it. I'd guess it will cost about $2.5MM per year to keep Moore, and I'm not interested in him at that number unless we unload Hecht.

[Calvin]

Vanek-Roy-Stafford

Cole-Connolly-Pominville

Hecht-Moore-Gaustad

Paille-Mair-Kaleta

i'm not so sure about keeping both Moore and Hecht.. Moore showed us he was pretty good on faceoffs, and was willing to go into the nooks and crannies to fight for the puck, which is more than can be said for the emotionless Hecht..

 

Roy & Connolly should be interchangeable depending on who's hot on those lines

 

Eric Cole seems more and more like a no-brainer - we need to go out and get him!

 

in place of Hecht i'd say a Chris Kunitz/Chad Larose should fit in well.. i know the Redwings have Mikael Samuelsson going to FA end of this season.. he could be a more than useful pickup too..

[red]

Jeez don't we have enought mid range floaters.

 

Well, currently the Sabres have nobody (read: no one) who is good on faceoffs. He's also pretty good in the corners.

 

If this was really affecting his play, I wouldn't mind keeping him around for 1-2 years to see if he improves. His reputation coming from Minnesota was as a good faceoff man and rugged in the offensive zone.

 

I don't know why, but he kind of reminds me of a poor man's DuMont or Peca.

[carpandean]

Well, currently the Sabres have nobody (read: no one) who is good on faceoffs.

Gaustad has been over 54% for the past two seasons. Roy isn't too bad either, going over 50% for both of those seasons. Mair's not bad and doesn't take too many. The big problem is Connolly (and to a lesser extent Hecht.) Having a first-line center who's down around 42% (as Timmy was this year) really hurts. That's one big knock on Olli Jokinen (who, to me, really seems more like a winger than a center.)

 

That said, I would definitely like to have another guy, like Moore, who is capable of winning faceoffs on a regular basis.

[Stoner]

Gaustad has been over 54% for the past two seasons. Roy isn't too bad either, going over 50% for both of those seasons. Mair's not bad and doesn't take too many. The big problem is Connolly (and to a lesser extent Hecht.) Having a first-line center who's down around 42% (as Timmy was this year) really hurts. That's one big knock on Olli Jokinen (who, to me, really seems more like a winger than a center.)

 

That said, I would definitely like to have another guy, like Moore, who is capable of winning faceoffs on a regular basis.

 

Marv Levy was right when he said coaching is teaching. Or maybe John Wooden said it. The question here is why Lindy and his staff have never been able to teach faceoffs. 9th in 06-07 is the high water mark for Ruff teams over the years. They've been near the bottom the last two seasons and middle of the pack or a lower the rest of the years.

 

Is it emphasized in practice? Is there an assistant coach with expertise? Is the attitude of winning faceoffs preached? It's not always pure talent.

 

One more strike on Lindy.

[X. Benedict]

Marv Levy was right when he said coaching is teaching. Or maybe John Wooden said it. The question here is why Lindy and his staff have never been able to teach faceoffs. 9th in 06-07 is the high water mark for Ruff teams over the years. They've been near the bottom the last two seasons and middle of the pack or a lower the rest of the years.

 

Is it emphasized in practice? Is there an assistant coach with expertise? Is the attitude of winning faceoffs preached? It's not always pure talent.

 

One more strike on Lindy.

 

Interesting idea

 

I don't think you can say this is a teaching thing from a coaching standpoint as much as you can put blame on Ruff for not maximizing match-ups in the dot until the final minutes. He puts a much greater emphasis on ice time and balancing lines.

Whereas when Carolina won the cup, they went to Brindamore like he was Rainman counting cards.

[Stoner]

Asked about faceoffs after a game this season, Lindy mentioned that the stats are misleading because sometimes they have set plays designed to lose draws on purpose. I doubt it happens enough to skew the numbers.

 

Lindy doesn't have a Brind'Amour. Small detail.

[shrader]

Asked about faceoffs after a game this season, Lindy mentioned that the stats are misleading because sometimes they have set plays designed to lose draws on purpose. I doubt it happens enough to skew the numbers.

 

Lindy doesn't have a Brind'Amour. Small detail.

 

Connolly does it quite a bit. Who knows if it has a major impact on the numbers, but it was the first thing to come to mind the second I read carp's post.

[nobody]

Designed plays to lose the faceoff because they know they would lose it anyway.

[Stoner]

Designed plays to lose the faceoff because they know they would lose it anyway.

 

My left nipple just got hard.

[carpandean]

Connolly does it quite a bit. Who knows if it has a major impact on the numbers, but it was the first thing to come to mind the second I read carp's post.

Connolly does the push it forward and center to Pommer move that they used a lot last year (Gaustad to Pommer, then.) I don't know if that's what they mean by "losing on purpose." When Connolly was hurt in the last two games, they had Pommer taking faceoffs and they planned to lose those because he's not good at them.