Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres were a surprise this season, finishing in the Top 10 in FM's (40) despite not carrying anything close to a HW.
Leaders:
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Cody McCormick - 8 FM's
Opposition:
Travis Moen,
Cody Bass,
Tim Jackman,
Tanner Glass,
Zenon Konopka,
Mark Stuart,
Shawn Thornton and
Brad Staubitz
Record::3-1-5
Highlight:: A dandy T2T with
Tanner Glass
Grade:;
B. Too many short draws and only 1/2 as active as last season.
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Mike Weber - 6 FM's
Opposition::
Braydon Coburn,
Jason Chimera,
Shawn Thornton,
Matt Martin,Ryan Getzlaf,
Shawn Matthias
Record: 1-1-4
Lowlight: Took a beating at the hands of Thornton. Granted, that's to be expected, and Thornton did come off the bench and get the jump on him, but as a Sabres fan it was demoralizing.
Grade:
C. Weber played with more of an edge this season, but he really needs to work on his pugilistic skills in the off season if he's going to continue to drop the gloves.
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Paul Gaustad- 4 FM's
Opposition:
Tim Gleason,
Matt Bradley,
Milan Lucic,
Brandon Prust
Record: 2-2-0
Grade:
D-. Gaustad donned a visor this season and deservedly took some heat over it... as well as taking a ton of heat for not addressing the Lucic/Miller hit on the ice when it happened. A lot of hockey fans felt that having no repsonse started the skid that led to them missing the playoffs yet again, and caused a rift in the lockerroom. Be that as it may, he tried to man up and take on Lucic but it was too little too late. Grade would have been an
F had he not had decent showings against Gleason and Bradley. Can't say I'm sad to see him on another team.....
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Patrick Kaleta- 4 FM's
Opposition:
Steve Downie,
Cody Bass,
Matt Martin,
Milan Lucic
Record:2-2-0
Grade:C -. Kaleta had another injury plagued season and was suspended for questionable hitting. took a beating from Lucic . Injuries and being gun shy about hitting showed in his game. It's a shame because he has been known to have some decent fights, just not this season.
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Robyn Regher -4 FM's
Opposition:Raffi Torres,
Zdeno Chara,
Corey Perry and
Shawn Thornton
Record: 1-2-1
Grade:
F. probably the biggest disappointment for me this year. Certainly didn't live up to the rugged Dman rep he came in to town with. Barely fought, and when he did he looked like crap.
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Joe Finley - 2 FM's
Opposition: Matt Martin,
Ryan Reaves
Record:1-1-0
Grade: C. Finley was brought up to tray and add some toughness.... and proved that he wasn't really up to the task despite being 6'7" and 250 lbs. He handled a much smaller
Matt Martin, but the Finley experiment came to an end courtesy of RFOTY candidate
Ryan Reaves.
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Zack Kassian - 2 FM's
Opposition: Matt Martin,
Tom Sestito
Record: 1-0-1
Grade: C .Kassian never really developed into the Lucic-type power forward he was billed as here in Buffalo. I was not happy to see him go, but the reality is that the mgt here had beat the toughness out of him with their pussified system and philosophy. Good luck to him elsewhere.
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Corey Tropp- 2 FM's
Opposition: Zac Rinaldo, Matt Belesky
Record:1-0-1
Grade: B. Had a good win over Rinaldo. Wish he would have been called up more. Good little sparkplug.
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Christian Ehrhoff - 3 FM's
Opposition:
Colin Greening,
Troy Brouwer,
Kris Versteeg
Record: 1-0-2
Grade: B. Ehrhoff played with more of an edge than I tought. Not great fights, but at least he came with aome heart along with that HUGE contract.
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Rounding out the FM's with 1 apiece:
Matt Ellis
Marcus Foligno_ really like this kid. Beat the snot out of
Matt Frattin after a great hitting shift. This is the power forward the Sabres wanted KassiaN to be. looking forward to seeing him next season.
Brayden McNabb- another kid I really like, went with
Jay Rosehill. Didn't win, but didn't embarrass himself either against a damn good fighter.
Tyler Myers- Not a fighter, never will be.
Travis Turnbull- another spirited youngster that I hope sees some time with the big club next season.
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Overall- D
The non-response for the Lucic hit was inexcusable. The only thing keeping it from being an F was that they actually cracked the top 10.