While casual hockey fans have been swooning over Ryan Miller's Olympic performance, the Sabres have been hard at work quietly disintegrating. The team has lost 12 of their past 15 games and are 9-14 since January 1st. This, of course, is a mirror image of how they started the season as they stormed out of the game winning 9 of their first 12 games.
Despite this multi-month cold spell, management didn't make any dramatic moves at the trade deadline today to help bolster the team's ability to make a lengthy playoff run. Instead, Darcy Regier sent Clark MacArthur to Atlanta for a third and fourth round draft pick and acquired Raffi Torres from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Nathan Paetsch and a second round draft choice.
Torres, who you have probably never heard of unless you just moved here from Columbus, has 19 goals this season which will make him, sadly, the Sabres leading scorer. He's played in 26 NHL playoff games and registered 13 points in those games. Not exactly the kind of playoff experience many fans were hoping to see added to the locker room to help bolster a run for the Cup. Now, if you consider this a MacArthur for Torres swap, then it's fair to consider today a victory for the Sabres. MacArthur could go missing for weeks at a time while Torres is a physical presence (hence the photo) who has outscored MacArthur 19-13 this year. But you can't just consider the Sabres trade of a marginal forward for another marginal forward.
Since the Olympic break, the Sabres have lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals - two of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. Both the Pens and the Caps made significant acquisitions in advance of today's trade deadline making it clear both organizations think they have a chance to win the Cup this year. The Sabres trades, on the other hand, have to leave fans wondering - does Darcy think we have a chance to win it all this year? Do any of us?
Image courtesy of Talk-Sports.net
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Despite this multi-month cold spell, management didn't make any dramatic moves at the trade deadline today to help bolster the team's ability to make a lengthy playoff run. Instead, Darcy Regier sent Clark MacArthur to Atlanta for a third and fourth round draft pick and acquired Raffi Torres from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Nathan Paetsch and a second round draft choice.
Torres, who you have probably never heard of unless you just moved here from Columbus, has 19 goals this season which will make him, sadly, the Sabres leading scorer. He's played in 26 NHL playoff games and registered 13 points in those games. Not exactly the kind of playoff experience many fans were hoping to see added to the locker room to help bolster a run for the Cup. Now, if you consider this a MacArthur for Torres swap, then it's fair to consider today a victory for the Sabres. MacArthur could go missing for weeks at a time while Torres is a physical presence (hence the photo) who has outscored MacArthur 19-13 this year. But you can't just consider the Sabres trade of a marginal forward for another marginal forward.
Since the Olympic break, the Sabres have lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals - two of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. Both the Pens and the Caps made significant acquisitions in advance of today's trade deadline making it clear both organizations think they have a chance to win the Cup this year. The Sabres trades, on the other hand, have to leave fans wondering - does Darcy think we have a chance to win it all this year? Do any of us?
Image courtesy of Talk-Sports.net
are you kidding me? he was one of the top 5 picks in the draft earlier this decade. he scores around 20 goals a year and is known by most actual hockey fans. but people here only like hockey if it involves buffalonians or takes place in buffalo.
OMG, he was a top 5 pick in the NHL entry draft?
http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2010/01/19/the-success-rate-of-top-10-picks-is-surprisingly-low/
He's a marginal player who will a marginal impact (at best). Now you can go back to talking about how the Buffalo market is so ill-informed on all things hockey when, in fact, we are one of the few markets in the US where anyone actually cares about this marginal league.
The Penguins traded for a guy who has just as many goals as Torres does and a defenseman that the Florida Panthers didn't want, yes the Florida Panthers. The Awesome moves the Capitals made? They gave up a top prsspect, a draft pick and a player for a defenseman (someone the Sabres wanted but weren't about to give up that much for a rental) and then got a bunch of roleplayers. I don't think there is anything mind blowing about anything the Pens or Capitals picked up.
yes, it is one of the best hockey markets in the US. that does not make it a greatly-informed one however.
what i was implying was that there was much fanfare upon him being drafted, and became more popular after his great postseason with edmonton when they reached the cup. he is not an unkown-he's just not a star. he is buffalo's leading scorer however.
agreed, assuming he is a player "you've never heard of" is a joke.