LabattBlue Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 I know Sekera(3rd round) is with the team and progressing and Enroth(2nd round) has shown promise, but... - Max(3rd round) was up and down with the Sabres for his entire career before being sent packing - Ditto for Kalinin(1st round) - Gogulla(2nd round) spent one year in Portland, and then packed his bags and went home. - Schutz(4th round) spent a couple of years in the AHL, and also went back to Germany. - Leino(big money UFA signing) is heading to the press box any day now. - Persson(1st round) is in Rochester, but my guess is that he heads back to Europe when his entry level contract is over. - Armia(1st round), the Sabres prized pick from last year, has two goals in 17 games, and was benched as a healthy scratch in his teams most recent game. Kryukov(1st round),Zagrapan(1st round), Fabry(2nd round), Hejda(4th round), Novotny(1st round), Noronen(1st round)...the list goes on and on and on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastPommerFan Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 I know Sekera(3rd round) is with the team and progressing and Enroth(2nd round) has shown promise, but... - Max(3rd round) was up and down with the Sabres for his entire career before being sent packing - Ditto for Kalinin(1st round) - Gogulla(2nd round) spent one year in Portland, and then packed his bags and went home. - Schutz(4th round) spent a couple of years in the AHL, and also went back to Germany. - Leino(big money UFA signing) is heading to the press box any day now. - Persson(1st round) is in Rochester, but my guess is that he heads back to Europe when his entry level contract is over. - Armia(1st round), the Sabres prized pick from last year, has two goals in 17 games, and was benched as a healthy scratch in his teams most recent game. Kryukov(1st round),Zagrapan(1st round), Fabry(2nd round), Hejda(4th round), Novotny(1st round), Noronen(1st round)...the list goes on and on and on. Hasek's Curse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkman Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 Blue, I'm not sure if it's scouting, developing, or something else but the Sabres and European players don't often mix well. The drafting has been near putrid. How can they be so wrong on so many players? The free agents, well there were red flags all over the place. Leino and Ehrhoff benefitted from playing with elite players on elite teams. I wont be surprised if both these guys flame out here and end there ridiculous contracts with someone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DumbPuck Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 Maybe none of these guys understand Ruff's Canadian accent. Leino: "So when he says 'Shoot the puck, eh!' what does that 'eh' mean?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvelo Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 French Canadians have usually been successful on the Sabres. I don't know why they don't get more of those. Euros don't seem to take well to the blue collar mentality...and Ruff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfreeman Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 How 'bout Dominik? Mogilny? Tallinder? Lydman? Kotalik? Spacek? I agree that the drafting of Europeans has missed a number of times, but I doubt their percentages are much different than the NHL average. And it's way too soon to give up on Leino or Armia. Also, while I agree that Ehrhoff was lousy last night, I think he's played well and been a very good acquisition for the Sabres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 No one has mentioned Vanek? I wonder if the hit-to-miss ratio is significantly different than that for North American players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastPommerFan Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 No one has mentioned Vanek? Drafted out of Minnesota. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted October 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 How 'bout Dominik? Mogilny? Tallinder? Lydman? Kotalik? Spacek? I agree that the drafting of Europeans has missed a number of times, but I doubt their percentages are much different than the NHL average. And it's way too soon to give up on Leino or Armia. Also, while I agree that Ehrhoff was lousy last night, I think he's played well and been a very good acquisition for the Sabres. I missed on Vanek. I'll give you Tallinder & Lydman. I'm guessing that on picks used in the top 2 rounds, that the Sabres missed on more Euro's than most NHL teams. Kotalik was another Lindy whipping boy who was up and down throughout his Sabre career(see Max and Kotalik). Mogily & Hasek were 10+ years ago. I tried to focus on 2000 and beyond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robviously Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 - Armia(1st round), the Sabres prized pick from last year, has two goals in 17 games, and was benched as a healthy scratch in his teams most recent game. Armia is playing in a league that is above the AHL in terms of skill level. It's not crazy that he'd be struggling right now as an 18 or 19 year old. If he were in the CHL with most of our North American prospects, he'd probably be averaging close to 2 points a game. My guess is European players are riskier for EVERY team. 1. They're playing a different brand of hockey over there. 2. They're not as easy to scout as kids in the CHL who play 60 games a year, many easily within driving distance of Buffalo (if they're in the OHL). The Sabres knew they were taking a risk in drafting these guys. When it works, it really works: Vanek (our best player), Afinogenov (our top scorer in 2005-2006), Enroth (nearly as good as Miller when he plays), Sekera (still getting better), Tallinder (one of the best in the NHL in 2005-2006 before the injuries destroyed him), etc. When it doesn't, it's hard to remember these guys were ever in the organization at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 Drafted out of Minnesota. I know. He's still Austrian, ain't he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfreeman Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 I missed on Vanek. I'll give you Tallinder & Lydman. I'm guessing that on picks used in the top 2 rounds, that the Sabres missed on more Euro's than most NHL teams. Kotalik was another Lindy whipping boy who was up and down throughout his Sabre career(see Max and Kotalik). Mogily & Hasek were 10+ years ago. I tried to focus on 2000 and beyond. Big Al may have been up and down but he was also a 6th rounder that they got 3 20-goal years out of (not to mention great shootout production). And I know you have no desire to do the research, but without doing so, it's not possible to make a respectable argument that the sabres' hit rate on drafting euros is worse than average. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deluca67 Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 I think it's time to get over the entire Euro thing. Some of the greatest players of all-time have been Euros. Detroit never seemed to have any issues with Euros nor did the mighty Olier Dynasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted October 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 I think it's time to get over the entire Euro thing. Some of the greatest players of all-time have been Euros. Detroit never seemed to have any issues with Euros nor did the mighty Olier Dynasty. Who cares about the greatest Euro's of all time. All I care about is why there seems to be a high failure rate of Euro's drafted and/or played for the Sabres over the last decade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkman Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 I think it's time to get over the entire Euro thing. Some of the greatest players of all-time have been Euros. Detroit never seemed to have any issues with Euros nor did the mighty Olier Dynasty. No arguing that, I thunk LB point is that they aren't working out too well with this current Sabres organ-eye-zation. Maybe this changes under Ted Black & TPegs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastPommerFan Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 I know. He's still Austrian, ain't he? As Austrian as Regher is Brazilian. Or Myers is Texan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robviously Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 As Austrian as Regher is Brazilian. Or Myers is Texan. He moved when he was 14 and lived there long enough to have an accent. I'd say he's considerably more "from Austria" than the other guys are "from Brazil" or "from Texas". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deluca67 Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Who cares about the greatest Euro's of all time. All I care about is why there seems to be a high failure rate of players drafted and/or played for the Sabres over the last decade. Fixed it for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 He moved when he was 14 and lived there long enough to have an accent. I'd say he's considerably more "from Austria" than the other guys are "from Brazil" or "from Texas". Yeah, sorry, LPF, but Vanek is as Austrian as...well, let's not use that example. How about Mozart, maybe. Or Schwarzenegger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastPommerFan Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Yeah, sorry, LPF, but Vanek is as Austrian as...well, let's not use that example. How about Mozart, maybe. Or Schwarzenegger. Godwin-ed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Godwin-ed! Because of Aaahnold? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastPommerFan Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Quasi-Godwined! Better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted December 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 Not that they are ever coming back to North America to play hockey, but are Gogulla and Zagrapan still Sabres property? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.