Next Year when the Sabres get elite goaltending

[Rabbit151]

I said before, average goalies make an average defense look like a brutal defense.

 

Elite goalies make an average defense look awesome. The Sabres have an average defense. Offensively, I'd say a bit above average, they do a good job of moving the puck up to the forwards.

 

I know a lot of you want to believe Miller is the next hot goalie. He isn't. He and Biron are capable of hot spells and that's it.

 

 

But, I'm sure Regier will stick with Miller far too long. Another team I watch a lot of over the past few years stuck with their guy too. Vancouver, with Cloutier. Cloutier is a second tier joke, but there were the Canucks, ready to win the cup, sticking with their guy. Cloutier stunk it up huge against the Wild in the play-offs. Now the Canucks are working their way back to mediocrity, their window of opportunity all but closed.

 

BOTTOM LINE: Say what you will about the defense, our goalies STINK!! Save the damn puck! It's like they give up a goal in the 1st 5 minutes of every game. Stop the freakin' puck!!! No more excuses.

[blugold43]

they've looked bad...no denying it.

[hopeleslyobvious]

I said before, average goalies make an average defense look like a brutal defense.

I know a lot of you want to believe Miller is the next hot goalie. He isn't.

 

Why not? Yes, he has been downright awful lately, but what about his play up until that point? That seems like too long of a period of time to be a fluke to me. Despite his awful March he is still tied for 14th in Save Percentage, and is currently 16th in GAA. I think we saw what he is capable of from December until February...now he just has to get himself to be able to maintain that level of play. Which will come with more maturity (Yes, he's 25, but since he is a rookie, I think he still has a lot of room to mature).

 

Maybe he got off his game a little early in the month, and due to the schedule he hasn't been able to really get the practice time he needs to work the kinks out.

[Eleven]

Why not? Yes, he has been downright awful lately, but what about his play up until that point? That seems like too long of a period of time to be a fluke to me. Despite his awful March he is still tied for 14th in Save Percentage, and is currently 16th in GAA. I think we saw what he is capable of from December until February...now he just has to get himself to be able to maintain that level of play. Which will come with more maturity (Yes, he's 25, but since he is a rookie, I think he still has a lot of room to mature).

 

Maybe he got off his game a little early in the month, and due to the schedule he hasn't been able to really get the practice time he needs to work the kinks out.

 

14th and 16th look like average numbers to me. That's about where Biron was last season, and we began this season with plenty of people calling for his head. (Which is why I posted this)

[hopeleslyobvious]

14th and 16th look like average numbers to me. That's about where Biron was last season, and we began this season with plenty of people calling for his head. (Which is why I posted this)

 

I'm not denying that they are average numbers right now. But there was a point this year when Miller was putting up numbers in the top 5. I see that as what he is capable of. He is not himself right now. Hopefully at some point he will get back there.

 

I was just trying to illustrate the fact that despite playing terrible for the last month, his numbers are average. I would imagine as he gets a little more experience when he hits slumps like these, it will be much easier for him to turn things around.

[zow2]

I pretty much agree with you. The goaltending over the last few weeks has been awful. The main problem i have is that (Miller especially) is very slow to react on re-directions. Some deflections you can't do anything about....but many others are stoppable. The Bruins (last 2 games) and Rangers scored on so many re-directs it was ridiculous. You would think at this level, Miller would have experience at anticipating these and squaring his body up to stop them. Biron has been shaky too but I can give him half a break since he hasn't played consistently in a couple months. He wasn't horrible against NJ....they just have our number always. Toronto was just a lose lose situation. The team gave up. Yes, the defense needs to get better but in order for Buffalo to play their effective style of being aggressive we need some good goaltending and Miller has sucked!! I'd give Biron 2 or 3 starts in a row to see what he does and hope he gets hot.

[Rabbit151]

In the most black and white terms: Stop the damn puck. Don't care how.

 

Throw too many interceptions, you're gone.

Give up too many home runs, you're gone.

give up too many goals, you're gone.

 

Pro athletics is glorious and gut-wrenching. I don't envy Miller. But how long is it a slump before you finally decide it's not a slump, it's the reality.

 

Tonight, someone stop the puck!!

 

 

By the way, on a positive, I saw the late stages of that Saturday night debacle. I was impressed again with Gaustad. He got his ass kicked in the fight, but I think he is quietly developing into a real force on the fore-check and with fighting for puck possession. Big Kudos to Gaustad, he needs more ice-time.

 

And, Grier blocking a shot fearlessly in the last 5 minutes caught my attention. It was like, oh I don't know, Pride! Grier just said enough, 7-0 but I'll throw my body in front of a point-slapper so it doesn't get to 8. Kudos.

[hopeleslyobvious]

In the most black and white terms: Stop the damn puck. Don't care how.

 

Throw too many interceptions, you're gone.

Give up too many home runs, you're gone.

give up too many goals, you're gone.

 

Pro athletics is glorious and gut-wrenching. I don't envy Miller. But how long is it a slump before you finally decide it's not a slump, it's the reality.

 

Tonight, someone stop the puck!!

By the way, on a positive, I saw the late stages of that Saturday night debacle. I was impressed again with Gaustad. He got his ass kicked in the fight, but I think he is quietly developing into a real force on the fore-check and with fighting for puck possession. Big Kudos to Gaustad, he needs more ice-time.

 

And, Grier blocking a shot fearlessly in the last 5 minutes caught my attention. It was like, oh I don't know, Pride! Grier just said enough, 7-0 but I'll throw my body in front of a point-slapper so it doesn't get to 8. Kudos.

 

I agree that it's an awfully long slump. But using the same logic on an earlier portion of the season, how long is it a hot streak before you finally decide it's not a hot streak, it's the reality. But I think it's compounded by the schedule. Miller seems to have some confidence issues. When he is confident in himself, he plays unbelievable. When he's not confident, he plays average to terrible. It seems that he was weak coming off the Olympic break, and there haven't really been enough off days for Corsi to really work with him on his mistakes and to build his confidence back up before he's got another start, and another shot at a rough outing. I hope he proves me wrong, because going by my logic, he might not really come out of this until next week when he has 3 days off, a game and then 2 days off.

 

At this point, I don't care what they need to do, but they better find a way to get Ryan playing with the confidence (and intensity) that he had coming off his injury.

[apuszczalowski]

I said before, average goalies make an average defense look like a brutal defense.

 

Elite goalies make an average defense look awesome. The Sabres have an average defense. Offensively, I'd say a bit above average, they do a good job of moving the puck up to the forwards.

 

I know a lot of you want to believe Miller is the next hot goalie. He isn't. He and Biron are capable of hot spells and that's it.

But, I'm sure Regier will stick with Miller far too long. Another team I watch a lot of over the past few years stuck with their guy too. Vancouver, with Cloutier. Cloutier is a second tier joke, but there were the Canucks, ready to win the cup, sticking with their guy. Cloutier stunk it up huge against the Wild in the play-offs. Now the Canucks are working their way back to mediocrity, their window of opportunity all but closed.

 

BOTTOM LINE: Say what you will about the defense, our goalies STINK!! Save the damn puck! It's like they give up a goal in the 1st 5 minutes of every game. Stop the freakin' puck!!! No more excuses.

 

Man this has to be one of the dumbest things I have read on this board.

 

Do you also realise a horrible Defence can make a good goalie look bad?

 

Buffalos Defence is BAD. they are not average or a bit above average, they are just bad. I watched the entire last game against the leafs and wondered if we even had a defencemen playing. I'm not saying Buffalos goalies are #1-2 in the league, but the are above average.

 

Biron picked up his game this year and Miller is a rookie who is playing real well (just not as of late) No one on this team is playing great as of late. It could possibly be because they are worn out, the refs are getting loose with their calls and not calling the same calls as the begining of the year and its going back to being the old NHL, or the rest of the league just got a little bit better at the trade deadline while we were happy with a 2nd round pick to take us into the playoffs.

 

I would have agreed with you if you had said their goalies weren't playing well right now and that it is making it hard on the rest of the team, but to say we have an average to above average Defence, you lost all credibility.

 

If you compare the stats from last season to this year, goals are up and shut outs are done (that was the goal of the rule changes cause Bettman believes goalie = fans = $$$$$)

[Rabbit151]

I stand by my comments. I watch a lot of hockey on center ice, and I see the Sabres D as fairly average. But even if I'm wrong, and the Sabres have THE worst defense in the NHL, it shouldn't matter this much. If we had Hasek, Roy, Brodeur, heck even Luongo, Huet, Turco, - there is no way we give up this many goals and losses.

 

Our goalies don't stop squat these days. All I'm pointing out is that they are not elite goalies. They are brown-hair average. I see too many people blame the defense. I say it's the goalies. Last line of defense, most important player on the team....they need to stop the puck and lift the teams spirits when they play poorly, instead of relaxing in the comfort of excuses about how bad the defense is.

[Bmwolf21]

I said before, average goalies make an average defense look like a brutal defense.

 

Elite goalies make an average defense look awesome. The Sabres have an average defense. Offensively, I'd say a bit above average, they do a good job of moving the puck up to the forwards.

 

I know a lot of you want to believe Miller is the next hot goalie. He isn't. He and Biron are capable of hot spells and that's it.

But, I'm sure Regier will stick with Miller far too long. Another team I watch a lot of over the past few years stuck with their guy too. Vancouver, with Cloutier. Cloutier is a second tier joke, but there were the Canucks, ready to win the cup, sticking with their guy. Cloutier stunk it up huge against the Wild in the play-offs. Now the Canucks are working their way back to mediocrity, their window of opportunity all but closed.

 

BOTTOM LINE: Say what you will about the defense, our goalies STINK!! Save the damn puck! It's like they give up a goal in the 1st 5 minutes of every game. Stop the freakin' puck!!! No more excuses.

I am as frustrated as the next fan in regards to Miller's play, but I am not ready to give up on him yet. It would help this team tremendously if Biron were doing the very thing that kept him on the roster at the trade deadline - giving the team another solid golatender to come in and give Miller a couple, three nights off and still giving the team a solid performace. He hasn't - period.

 

I can agree that the Sabres have an average D corps that has shown flashes of being above average, but over the last 10+ games they have struggled (and that includes the forwards) with bad turnovers, blown coverages, dumb penalties etc that they (a) weren't doing earlier in the season and/or (b) got away with when the O was firing on all cylinders.

 

Couple questions - I am wondering if you spent some time on TSW reading about Losman, and you have already decided Miller's fate, just like some of the guys over there have decided that Losman isn't worth a crap after half a season?

 

Second - the title of this thread is "Next Year when the Sabres get elite goaltending" - where is next year's elite goaltending coming from? Are we trading for someone in the offseason? Is there some stud in Rochester that we can't hold off anymore?

 

I'm not attacking you or flaming you or anything like that, just wondering how many fans are willing to write off Miller as an average goalie and start looking for someone else.

[rickshaw]

The thing that gets me with Miller these days are his comments.

He doesn't seem to give a rats ass in terms of his play. It always seems he's talking about the team's play and not owning up to the fact that he's been shyte!

 

I wanna hear and see some urgency. Smart ass comments about sacrificing animals is just a way to deflect the obvious. He has stunk!

 

This team needs 2.50 gaa not 4.03 gaa. No team can win with the latter numbers.

 

Miller needs to stop sounding so full of himself and start stopping the puck. He's got nothing to feel good about right now. The past is the past. He needs to get his head out of his ass and play the way he can.

 

The 6th goal the other night, which meant nothing, summed up his play for me of late. Puck in the corner, he's hugging the post. Puck gets centered to the high slot, he basically turns sideways without advancing. Result: Top shelf. He looked like he had an anchor tied to his ass. Get out of the crease.

 

Tonight will tell a lot about this team.

[Eleven]

I'm not denying that they are average numbers right now. But there was a point this year when Miller was putting up numbers in the top 5. I see that as what he is capable of. He is not himself right now. Hopefully at some point he will get back there.

 

I was just trying to illustrate the fact that despite playing terrible for the last month, his numbers are average. I would imagine as he gets a little more experience when he hits slumps like these, it will be much easier for him to turn things around.

 

Looking at it the other way, despite playing incredibly well during December and January, his numbers are average. Can't use either streak as a sample without the other.

[Rabbit151]

I don't know anything about Losman, I'm not really a Bills fan, don't mind them either though. As a total outsider to Bills football, I'll tell you my impression is that Losman is not going to have a career that's anything to write home about.

 

i'll grant that I may be hard on Miller, but as i watched this guy all year, even when winning, my gut tells me this is not the guy. He won't get to that level a lot of Sabres fans think ( or hope ) he will.

 

Through the years the Sabres have had some real good keepers come through their system, perhaps he can get there. I give it about a 3% chance that Miller gets to elite goalie status one day.

[Bmwolf21]

I think the jury is still out on him - he's not elite right now, but this is his first full season in the NHL. I'd like to think the goalie we will see on a regular basis is the Miller that kept the Sabres in the Ottawa game two+ weeks ago - when he stopped 45 of 48 against one of the top teams in the league.

 

IMO, the difference between being a good goalie and a great goalie is the great ones learn how to fight through their slumps, which is what Ryan is experiencing first hand right now. If Marty continues to play like he did tonight, Ryan can have a couple games off to get his head and game straight before "tuning up" for the playoffs. If he isn't ready then, Marty gets the call, and that's a big part of why we kept Biron on the roster. I wouldn't be excited about Marty leading us into the playoffs, but you never know what can happen if either goalie gets on an extended hot streak.

[hopeleslyobvious]

If we had Hasek, Roy, Brodeur, heck even Luongo, Huet, Turco, - there is no way we give up this many goals and losses.

 

I think your argument is a little flawed. Buffalo plays a much more wide open system than NJ, hanging the goalie out to try a lot more often, and Miller and Brodeur have exactly the same save percentage. Turco has below a .900 (.897) Save percentage.

 

Turco and Brodeur have better GAA's, but I think SV% is a better statistic when comparing goaltenders.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/stats/bycatego...ce=NHL&sort=112

[ThePolishSabre]

OMG, i can deal with The Official Regier STILL needs to go thread, but this... come on. The team goes on a slump and now we want to get rid of Miller and Biron. Why don't we get rid of Max, Drury, Briere and even Kotalik. While were at it, let's have a fire sale and buy brand new players, hell we should even fire the coach.

 

TB hit a slump 2 years ago right before the playoffs and still won the cup.

The White Sox hit a huge slump and almost missed the MLB playoffs and somehow bounced back and won the title.

 

We have a young team, we need to stick with it. They will only get better.

 

Let's get rid of Miller :lol: what a joke, nice one Rabbit... btw, 8 mile is calling :rolleyes:

[mrjsbu96]

OMG, i can deal with The Official Regier STILL needs to go thread, but this... come on. The team goes on a slump and now we want to get rid of Miller and Biron. Why don't we get rid of Max, Drury, Briere and even Kotalik. While were at it, let's have a fire sale and buy brand new players, hell we should even fire the coach.

 

TB hit a slump 2 years ago right before the playoffs and still won the cup.

The White Sox hit a huge slump and almost missed the MLB playoffs and somehow bounced back and won the title.

 

We have a young team, we need to stick with it. They will only get better.

 

Let's get rid of Miller :lol: what a joke, nice one Rabbit... btw, 8 mile is calling :rolleyes:

 

Thank God, Polish Sabre finally says what I've been saying all along. Ryan Miller has still not completed his first NHL season and fans want to dump this guy? Are you fuggin' kidding me?

 

Firt off, aside from Broduer and Turco, your argument using Huet and Luongo is just bad. You could say that Huet is in the midst of the same stretch that Miller and/or Biron had earlier this year. As for Luongo, what place is Florida in?

 

You just don't give up on a guy this quickly. That sort of organization goes nowhere quick. Hasek's, Roy's, and Brodeur's do not grow on trees. I still believe this community does nto realize how lucky we were to watch Hasek for all of those years - we will NOT see another Hasek for a long time, so get over it. But, we do have the "potential" for something great in our net right now. To cast him aside after a 3 week slide is just bad. Confidence is a big part of goaltending, as is adjusting to the everyday schedule of the NHL, which I remind you again, Miller is in only his first NHL season. Hasek did not become superman overnight. He was a second-stringer for a few years and it took a while to develop - which is another word for experience which is what Miller is getting right now.

[hopeleslyobvious]

Thank God, Polish Sabre finally says what I've been saying all along. Ryan Miller has still not completed his first NHL season and fans want to dump this guy? Are you fuggin' kidding me?

 

Firt off, aside from Broduer and Turco, your argument using Huet and Luongo is just bad. You could say that Huet is in the midst of the same stretch that Miller and/or Biron had earlier this year. As for Luongo, what place is Florida in?

 

You just don't give up on a guy this quickly. That sort of organization goes nowhere quick. Hasek's, Roy's, and Brodeur's do not grow on trees. I still believe this community does nto realize how lucky we were to watch Hasek for all of those years - we will NOT see another Hasek for a long time, so get over it. But, we do have the "potential" for something great in our net right now. To cast him aside after a 3 week slide is just bad. Confidence is a big part of goaltending, as is adjusting to the everyday schedule of the NHL, which I remind you again, Miller is in only his first NHL season. Hasek did not become superman overnight. He was a second-stringer for a few years and it took a while to develop - which is another word for experience which is what Miller is getting right now.

 

Agreed. As I have said before, when he gets more experience his slumps will be shorter.

[Rabbit151]

Look, all I'm saying is that I think Miller is not going to develop into the elite goalie many Sabres fans think he is based on a few months of play.

 

To say it's the stupidest post ever, well, we'll see. The fact is that the guy usually gives up at least one bad goal a game. Good defense, bad defense...pish-posh. Great goalies go a month at a time giving up just one bad goal, good or bad defense.

 

You guys are too hard on the defense, too forgiving of the goalie.

 

If it makes you feel better, I hope I'm wrong and that the Sabres have found a perennial all-star. I'm not going anywhere, you Miller supporters can all tell me you told me so down the road sometime. If the Sabres win the cup, I'll gladly eat crow...well, maybe just fried chicken.

 

I think the Sabres gotta go with Marty til he screws up though, after the Leaf game.

[Eleven]

Who said they wanted to get rid of anybody?