Forecheck and Backcheck...

[ColdBlueNorth]

Haven't posted much at all this year, but I have watched the agonizing slide. I should not have bought into the hype and the open wallet of Pegula early on, but I did. My Bills were winning and I had bought more gear right after the Euro-trip show our Sabres put on and told my wife that this was the year. She thinks I am crazy - probably has a good argument.

 

Well, we all know money cannot buy heart and this team just does not have any. I track the chemistry problem turning point back to the Bruins game where Ryan got run over. As a team they lifted their collective skirts and ran for the lockers. They became the laughing stock of the league, and post Bruin-game efforts to earn back some of that lost respect have not been enough - like a kid yelling back from the safety of his porch "my dad can beat up your dad" after getting pummeled on the playground.

 

Something broke during, and right after, that game and it has never been right since.

 

The most telling thing I have seen is guys pulling up on the forecheck, and on the backchecks. Players consistently getting out-hustled to loose pucks. Defensemen cough up the puck in the corners, make passes to no one, and turn it over when pressured. No one outside of our few grinders want to pay a price to win for this team or for the fans this year and there are enough players like that on each of the lines to make it a collective team issue. Remember the days that we had guys like "Captain Crunch"?

 

Combine that with Ryan having one, if not the worst year of his career letting in softies and we are now cellar dwellers.

 

I agree with all of you that a house-cleaning is needed and it should start with the GM. We all wanted to see what Regier would do with a solid financial backer and we saw that he had the same tendancy he always had of locking up below average players to long-term high-priced deals that should never be made. Stafford only really plays a few games a year, the rest of the time he is out there skating figure 8's waiting for a loose puck to hit him right on the tape, Roy gets rubbed out whenever he comes up the wall, and there are a few other finese players that I would trade for a power forward and bonified center. I like Ennis and Gerbe, but the mighty smurfs do not strike fear into anyone when they are lining them up for a check. One shifty guy like that on a team I can see, two is a luxury we cannot afford.

 

I could go on and on, but we have all seen the same things - looking forward to and hoping for a house cleaning this offseason.

[Robviously]

Pretty solid assessment.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Excellent post!

[Eleven]

I have to agree with most of this. Thing is, there have been times where the forechecking has been absolutely excellent. It tends to depend upon who is on the ice. That's what's so damned frustrating about this team. Gerbe, for example, might not strike fear in anyone when lining them up for a check (I can't agree w/ you more, there), but he stays after that puck and does a good job of keeping it in the offensive zone. Then you have Stafford, who does a good job of skating near the puck, to give the impression that he's trying to forecheck, without actually really doing anything at all. All the talent in the world, but he's not going to get closer than six feet to an opposing skater with the puck, and he's not going to extend his stick to receive an imperfect pass. So, so frustrating.

 

I think the same thing about the backchecking. There are some guys who just are unwilling to hustle back down the ice and get a stick on the puck to mess up the puck carrier. And there are others who are great at it (I think Pominville, Hecht, Boyes are underrated here).

 

Get rid of the floaters.

[SwampD]

Let's not forget that stretch where they were over-forechecking.