Remember the TSN power ranking guy?

[Rabbit151]

Early in the year, as the Sabres were near the top of the standings, he still had them in the middle of the pack.

 

His reason was something like,"I have a problem with the 'Jason Pominville-led Sabres' ".

 

How many series-clinching goals did Kyle Wellwood score for Toronto this year?

[Wild Jay]

Seriously! Wellwood is enjoying the golf course I'm sure. The guy who does the TSN rankings is so arrogant. I remember when he wrote those comments regarding Pominville and saying to myself that this kid might have more talent than people realize. Thank god he cleared waviers! Well, the Flyers & the Senators certainly know his skill level now first hand!

[X. Benedict]

Good Point. He always insisted that Buffalo's lack of marquee talent was a liability.

 

Buffalo has seemed to prove you are only as good as your third and fourth lines in the new NHL.

 

I'll take the Jason Pommenville, and Paul Gaustad led Sabres over, hmmm, lets see, does Toronto have a fourth line?

[hopeleslyobvious]

Looking back I find this e-mail exchange about his rankings back in December a little entertaining. In response to his rankings, here is what I sent:

I found myself wondering even more than usual about your power rankings after your comment on the Buffalo Sabres this week:

 

"The Western New York faithful are going to point to a team with the third-most points in the league. Ever the critic that I am, I'll note that the last eight wins have all been by one goal (excluding the empy-netter in Colorado). These are things that weigh much better in the standings than as a reflection of power."

 

I have to disagree with you. I will admit that I am a die hard Sabres fan. How many of their games in the last month have you actually watched? There is something about this team, they have just been finding a way to win. A couple of games come to mind off the top of my head. The first game is the Anaheim game. Anaheim controlled the action most of the game. With the exception of the Afinigenov, Roy and Vanek line, the Sabres could not get much going in the way of offense. Yet they found a way to get a goal on a penalty shot, and found a way to rally again when Anaheim scored a soft goal. Eventually Afinigenov scored the winner in OT. If I remember right, it looked like Anaheim was playing a pretty tight trap that had the Sabres frustrated for most of the game, yet they found a way to win.

 

Another game (that I know wasn't considered in last weeks rankings) was the Philadelphia game last night. I thought the Philadelphia game was very similar to the Anaheim game. Philly stood the Sabres up at the blue line for most of the game, and with the exception of the Afinigenov, Roy and Vanek line (again) it was difficult to get much going offensively. But they kept plugging away and were eventually able to get the equalizer. At the other end of the rink Ryan Miller had a stellar performance on his first game back from an injury. While Miller gave up too many rebounds, he also made some spectacular saves to keep the Sabres in the game. Eventually the Sabres won in the shootout (which I will reserve my comments on, because I am pretty sure you're not a fan of the shootout).

 

I think winning one goal games shows how powerful this team is. In both of these games the team found themself frustrated offensively, and had a hard time opening things up, but they found a way to win. Isn't winning despite being thrown off your game the mark of a great team? I think one goal games are also a good indication of how the team performs in the clutch, which is essential come playoff time.

 

Something else I think you should take into consideration is the injuries the Sabres have faced. Co-Captain Daniel Briere has been in and out of the lineup, and J.P. Dumont is out until at least March. Briere and Dumont are two big offensive contributors, yet the rest of the team has stepped it up. Also, starting goalie Ryan Miller was out for over a month and a half with a broken thumb, and Marty Biron has been amazing filling in. The team's top players have gone down, and the team has found ways to win.

 

I know a lot of people don't give this team very much credit because of the lack of star power on the team, but I think that is one of the things that is leading to their success. They are playing like a team. Everyone is contributing.

 

Something else to consider is their success on the Powerplay. They have the third best powerplay in the league right now. This should definately have an effect on their rank.

 

It seems like you place a lot of stock into a team's starting goaltender. This is another reason why I think the Sabres should be ranked higher. With Miller showing that he hasn't missed a beat after his injury, and Biron continuing to win, I think it would be very difficult to argue that the Sabres aren't in great shape when it comes to goaltending.

 

A final thing to consider. Take a look back at overall team records from after the all star break in 2004 to present. You may be suprised at what you find. Also consider that the Sabres have had essentially the same team that entire time.

 

And in response:

 

 

I've watched the Sabres five times in December (Montreal, San Jose, Colorado, Dallas and Philadelphia). I have no problems with the Sabres effort or lack of big-name talent. In fact, I think that they actually have potential to have some fairly high-end scorers (Kotalik and Vanek come to mind).

 

We essentially disagree on the value of a one-goal win. To me, one-goal wins are much more easily turned into one-goal losses when the bounces don't go your way (ie. pucks hit the post etc.), whereas convincing three and four-goal wins leave little doubt as to which team is superior that night. "Finding a way to win" is not the mark of a powerhouse, in my opinion. It's the mark of overachievers and that's what the Sabres have been.

 

When it comes to injuries, I take injuries into account more than any other ranking system -- guaranteed -- because I actually try to quantify the contributions that each player makes. Thus, with Miller and Briere returning to the lineup, that has helped the Sabres climb in my rankings.

 

The goaltending in Buffalo is good, and it might even be great if they didn't get lit up by Ottawa like they did, but I'm using stats in order to be objective, so I can't decide which ones count and which ones don't.

 

I'll be quite happy to see how the Sabres do the rest of the way, and I'll keep moving 'em up if the numbers warrant it.

 

It seems to me that all those one goal games prepared the Sabres to win the close ones in the playoffs. But what do I know.

[PromoTheRobot]

Using the "one-goal-game" theory, The Senators won the series!

 

PTR

[Kristian]

Looking back I find this e-mail exchange about his rankings back in December a little entertaining. In response to his rankings, here is what I sent:

And in response:

It seems to me that all those one goal games prepared the Sabres to win the close ones in the playoffs. But what do I know.

 

According to this guy, they're probably still nothing more than overachievers.

[inkman]

His reason was something like,"I have a problem with the 'Jason Pominville-led Sabres' ".

 

WTF? Yeah, I guess guys like Drury, Greir, Mckee, and Briere aren't the real leaders for this team. It's Jason freaking Pominville. Stupid remarks like that tell me exactly how smart this a-hole is.