After missing the postseason in back-to-back seasons the Buffalo Sabres have spent almost the entire campaign atop the Speed Cat puma shoes Northeast Division thanks to outstanding play between the pipes from Ryan Miller. Buffalo appeared poised to return to the postseason tournament last year but a high-ankle sprain to Miller dealt a severe blow to those dreams and the Sabres barely missed qualifying by finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference with 91 points. The Sabres made back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005-06 and ’06-07 before the defections of Chris Drury, Danny Briere and Brian Campbell weakened their offense. They are right back near the top of the conference this season with 71 points through their first 53 games, which sits them at the top of the Northeast Division, five points ahead of the surging Ottawa Senators.
Stability at the top is one of the primary reasons why the Sabres have been able to remain a playoff contender year-after-year despite playing in a small market. General manager Darcy Regier and head coach Lindy Ruff have been in charge with running the ship since the 1997-98 season. In that time the Sabres have made one Stanley Cup Final appearance in ’98-99, taken three trips to the conference finals and won one Future Cat puma shoes Northeast Division title (’06-07). A rash of injuries in the 2006 Conference Finals that devastated the Sabres blue line heading into Game 7 was possibly the only thing that kept Buffalo from getting past the Carolina Hurricanes to a second Cup Final that year. Ruff won the Jack Adams Award following the ’05-06 season and holds the Sabres team record with 470 career victories through Monday.
As one of the smaller markets in the league and with much of their salary space tied into home-grown talent the Sabres do not venture into the free-agent market all too often and this offseason was no exception. Their only two moves this past summer were to bring grinder Mike Grier back for a second tour of duty along with the signing of defenseman Steve Montador away from the division-rival Boston Bruins.
Grier returns to Buffalo after spending the past three seasons with the San Jose Sharks. He spent a season and a half with the Sabres from ’03-04 to ’05-06, scoring eight goals and posting 31 points in 95 games. Grier has nine goals in 44 games and is one of the top penalty-killing forwards on Buffalo’s roster. Montador plays bigger than his 6-foot, 211-pound frame in the defensive zone and has underrated puck skills in puma tennis shoes the offensive end. While he won’t wow you with his offensive ability, Montador has picked up 14 points (3G-11A) in 52 games after registering 21 points (4G-17A) in 78 games last season split between the Bruins and the Anaheim Ducks.
Two rookies have stepped into the lineup and supplied production that has exceeded preseason projections. Defenseman Tyler Myers, a first-round selection in 2008, has more than replaced the offense lost due to the departures of Jaroslav Spacek and Teppo Numminen. The 19-year-old rearguard leads all rookie blueliners with 31 points (7G-24A) while his plus-8 rating ranks third on the Sabres. What Tim Kennedy lacks in size at 5-foot-9, 176 pounds, he more than makes up for in production. Kennedy has 17 points (5G-12A) in 50 games to complement a defensive game which is advanced for a 23-year-old rookie center.
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