BuffaloMusic

Hey guys, GoodsOnSabres just checking in. I wanted to let people know that I just started up a new music based blog, BuffaloMusic. The link is here: http://buffalonymusic.blogspot.com/ . I have a new post up about the two concerts I am going to see this weekend. Check it out!

Season Rerun: Jochen Hecht/Andrej Sekera

Today we'll look at both Andrej Sekera and Jochen Hecht.

Jochen Hecht stayed consistent and had a solid 2010-11 campaign with 12-17-29 in scoring.(goals-assists-points). He was also a +4 and had 4 game winning goals. Hecht gives you a full effort every time he plays, which earns him respect in my book. The highlight of his year was probably his shootout winning goal in Montreal in the "Epic Shootout game". He is a good fixture for Buffalo.

 

Andrej Sekera had a successful year as well, collecting 3 goals, 26 assists, and 29 points. He was a +11 as well. The only thing that i don't like about Sekera is that he can be very stupid with the puck sometimes. He makes me nervous every time he touches the puck. I hope he will work on that over the summer.

Goodnight and thanks for reading! Up next: Jhonas Enroth

Jets get new logos

In the next chapter of the return of hockey to Winnipeg, a logo had to be announced. A few days ago a logo leaked onto the internet. It was on the front of a t-shirt, which had many people questioning its authenticity. Today, we learned it was a leak. True North and Entertainment announced the logo on the team's website, as well as the secondary and wordmark logos. The logos here are obviously the one's they decided on.

Since being unveiled, there has been an interesting reception from fans. Some like the classic look to it, but many seem very critical. Some say it looks like it belongs on the cap of a beer. Others say it looks too much like the air force logo, that it is unoriginal and boring. Many people really wanted them to just go back to the same logo they had when they left for the desert.

What do I think? Even though I have been so happy about almost everything that has gone on during the return to Winnipeg campaign, I'm not with them on this one. It looks very bland to me. Its another circular logo on a blue jersey, the real fad of the past few years. Let me tell you the teams that have this: Buffalo, St. Louis (Alternate), Florida (Alternate), and Columbus (Alternate). That's a lot. I understand why they wanted to go for a new look, they want to sell more merchandise. I just think they could have done something better. Even some concepts I've seen have been more interesting. There are some rumors they may have an alternate next season that looks very similar to the old uniforms. I hope they do. Even though I may not be crazy about the logos, I'll still be supporting the Jets big time. Now we just have to wait for the jersey unveiling which we probably will have to wait a while for. GO JETS GO!

Season Re-run: Drew Stafford

Now we'll take a look at the Season that saw Drew Stafford record a career year. In SNM's NHL preview, they predicted Stafford to be the Sabres lead breakout candidate, and boy did he have just that season. Stafford had a career high 31 goals, 21 assists, 52 points (also a CH) and was a +13. He also tied for the NHL lead with 4 hat-tricks, scoring all of them within 60 days of one another. He finally became the 30 goal, 50 point man that the Sabres need him to be. And if he plays like this for the rest of his career, then the Sabres are bound to succeed. It seemed if there was ever a game this year where the Sabres needed a big goal, Stafford was always the go to guy. Here are the videos of his 4 hatters.

12/15 vs Boston(I was at that game.)

1/1/11 vs Boston

2/8/11 @ Tampa Bay

And 2/13/11 vs Islanders

Stafford certainly did prove himself to be a great player this year.


Good morning and thanks for reading!
Up Next: Jochen Hecht

Season Rerun: Cody McCormick

Today we'll look over the year that was Cody McCormick first as a full time Sabre.
Cody was signed as a free agent in 2009. When the Sabres announced the move, I thought to myself "Oh, well, that's nice". I didn't really know who he was. He played all of the first year of his contract in Portland. When he was called up in the playoffs, he instantly made an impact on the team.

When it was announced that Cody was going to play as a regular on Buffalo, I praised the move. I believe that one area that Buffalo highly lacks in is toughness. And Cody adds to that perfectly. He is a hard nosed forward who instantly brings attitude, willingness to take one to give one, and great team play. Cody is one of the best team players on the Sabres, if he ever saw someone get knocked down, cheap shot, or any other conduct that isn't acceptable, he would be the first to go after that person and teach them a lesson. He also played very well for a guy who makes 650,000$ for 2 years. Cody had 8 goals, 12 assists, 20 points, and a +2, while leading the Sabres with 142 PIM. In my opinion, of Cody's many fights this year, this one Vs Mike Komisarek was undoubtedly the best. He is definitely a valued member of this team.

Good night and thanks for reading! Up next: Drew Stafford.

Season Rerun: Ryan Miller/Patrick LaLime

thanks to Jack for filling in for me on the Myers' Post. Today We'll look at Ryan Miller's 10-11 campaign. After coming off a career year in 2009-10, highlighted by an Olympic Silver Medal/MVP award and the Vezina trophy, Miller got off to a slow start this year, as did the whole team. But he stayed consistent throughout the whole year. He finished the year with a 34-22-8 record with 5 Shutouts and  .916 Save Percentage.He also notched his 200th career NHL win on December 28th against the Oilers. He was  very strong in the 2nd half of the regular season. And in my opinion, there was no better goaltender than Miller in the 1st round of the playoffs. Miller had 2 shutouts of the Flyers keen offense. His highlight of the playoffs was with no question his ROB on ex-captain Briere in game 4.

It was unfortunate that Miller couldn't have had help from Patrick LaLime, whom Lindy Ruff completely shut the door on this season. LaLime had no wins this year. But it largely wasn't his fault. I think that LaLime isn't given enough credit at all. Every person in Buffalo thinks that LaLime is terrible. He isn't terrible when he plays, it's the team in front of him that is!! Every game LaLime played in last year, it seemed as if he was playing with a bunch of cardboard cutouts for teammates. He never got any help at all. I feel bad that he had to go through all that.

Good Morning and thanks for reading! Next time we will look at Cody McCormick.

Season Re-run: Tyler Myers

I'm filling in for Matt with today's Season Re-Run. Today we focus on young Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers. This season was his sophmore season after an incredible rookie season that ended with a Calder Trophy.

This year did not start out great for the former Kelowna Rocket. His +/- was not great, and he just didn't seem to have the offensive flair that he had shown in his rookie season. But, as the season progressed, he grew up. By the end of the year he scored 10 goals, one off of his total last season. Most importantly his physical play developed. I expect him to develop into more of a shutdown defenseman in the next few years. The video below is from the Flyers series, where Myers hit then Flyer now Panther Chris Versteeg



One of the highlights of the season for Myers came against Versteeg's current team, the Florida Panthers. Myers ripped a shot from the point with only 4.5 seconds left in overtime to pull of the victory for the Sabres.

Free Agent and Trade Extravaganza.

Sorry that I haven't posted in like 2 weeks, I've been away. But the Season reruns will have to be on hold for the time being in order to address all these moves the Sabres have made. We'll start by their first move. A block-buster trade that saw the Promising Paul Byron and Chris Butler get shipped off to Calgary, and an all star defense-man and an old friend came in return. Buffalo received Robyn Regehr and Ales Kotalik in return. When Buffalo traded Kotalik to Edmonton 2 years ago, I always had a feeling that he would come back someday. Well, that prophesy came true. Regehr is a great addition. He is a strong, physical, defensive defense-man. This gives Buffalo a tank on their Blue line. The only problem i have with the move is I think that Paul Byron showed promise for the future. Butler on the other hand...He was good, but he'll do better in Calgary. Calgary is my 2nd Favorite NHL team, so seeing Butler and Byron there will be nice.

Buffalo wasn't done with their Blue line bolstering yet, however. Less than a week after trading for Regehr, Buffalo put another tank right next to him named Christian Ehrhoff. Adding Ehrhoff is an awesome move in my opinion. It gives Buffalo another defense-man that can be physical, has a hard slap shot from the point, and can skate well. Ehrhoff helped Vancouver get to the Stanley cup this year(not going to get into that.) Christian collected 50 points last year, including 36 assists. Ehrhoff has played with Jochen Hecht on team Germany, which gives the team a new chemistry.

Even after all this,Buffalo still had one last move up their sleeve. The Sabres signed Philadelphia Forward Ville Leino. It is ironic how Buffalo has added 2 players that helped their team to one of the last 2 Stanley Cups. Both lost unfortunately but it still gives you great veteran experience. Leino was a key part to the Flyers reaching the Stanley Cup in 2010. His 21 points in 19 games in the 2010 playoffs were a key reason the Flyers pulled an '04 Red Sox, and reached the Cup. He is a hard nosed forward who can DRIVE TO THE NET!! I think many Buffalo players need to take a class on how to do that! His toughness and hard nose attitude will most certainly bolster the Sabres forward lines next year.

That's all for now, but with July just beginning, I think Buffalo has a lot more in store. Be sure to keep up with the Free agent tracking. Good Morning and thanks for the read!