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Are The Sabres Better Because They Are Tougher?
by PuckStopsHere on 10/18/08 at 07:18 AM ET
Comments (3)
Early in the 2008/09 season, the Buffalo Sabres have been one of the best teams in the league so far. They have played four games and won each one. They have scored 17 goals and allowed only 5 so far this season. At this point in the season, they are playing better than any other team in the league. There are several reasons for this. Thomas Vanek, Ales Kotalik and Ryan Miller are playing extremely well. All are probably playing the best hockey of their lives. Another clear difference between this year’s Sabres and last year’s Sabres is that this Sabres team has been a tougher team. The Sabres lead the NHL with 29.2 penalty minutes per game. Last year, they had the sixth least penalty minutes in the league (12.2 PIMs per game). Is this increased toughness one of the reasons for the Sabres improvement?
Defenceman Craig Rivet is tied for the NHL penalty minute lead with 29. He is a newcomer to the Sabres, having been traded to Buffalo from San Jose for draft picks this summer. Patrick Kaleta is another relative Sabre newcomer who has a lot of penalty minutes. He has 27 penalty minutes. Last year, he was a Sabre for half the season. He is playing a more significant role so far this season. Adam Mair and Andrew Peters also have reasonably significant penalty minutes totals.
Penalty minutes are a poor measure of toughness, but this big a swing is likely a sign of a tougher team. The addition of Craig Rivet does make the Buffalo defence tougher. It looks like Buffalo is a tougher team this year than they were last year and that is part of the reason they may improve.
There are many reasons Buffalo might improve. The biggest one so far is the way Ryan Miller has played. Ryan Miller is a very early MVP candidate. Add an MVP candidate to any team and they will make a huge jump in the standings. Their increase in toughness helps as well, although too many penalty minutes would be a problem. I think buffalo can be a tougher team without leading the league in penalties.
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Tags: Buffalo+Sabres,
Comments
Hey can anyone tell me what the top two lines for Buffalo are right now?
Posted by Hippy Dave from San Francisco by way of Detroit on 10/18/08 at 03:17 PM ET
I certainly can. You have Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek and Drew Stafford on the first time...Vanek you might know as the guy who has 110 goals in 3+ NHL years, had 4 hat tricks last year, and was second only to AO for power play performance. Roy had 81 points and was +13 replacing Danny Briere as a top center (Briere: 72 points, -22). The second line has Jochen Hecht (fantastic two way player), Jason Pominville (80 points, +16) and Dan Paille, entering his second full year after scoring 19 last year. He does stuff like this too.
Their toughness IS increased this year, thanks to Craig Rivet imposing his will on some guys early (and guys like Paille there playing bigger than they are). It’s infecting the team as a whole, and it shows. I doubt they will stay leading that category though, as the Kid’s day brawl with the Isles did indeed skew it a bit.
Posted by TheTick from Buffalo on 10/18/08 at 05:26 PM ET
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A few points:
Since when does PIM=toughness? Hooking and tripping the other team five times a game shows that you’re lazy and dumb, not tough. If you must forge a link between penalties and toughness (which in itself is a gross oversimplification imho), at least consider limiting the scope to fighting majors, roughing calls, etc.
Out of the Sabres’ 117 PIM, 50 of them are from misconducts. Of the eight teams with 95 or more PIM, nobody else has over 30 from misconducts. To me, this points to increased stupidity more so than increased toughness.
Lastly, the Sabres leading the league is just a statistical anomaly caused by the Islander donnybrook. If you toss out that game, the Sabres average under thirteen minutes per contest.
Posted by shep from california on 10/18/08 at 01:18 PM ET