Taro T Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Due to the roads being an absolute disaster currently, I have no intention of making the typically 1:30 drive. I've heard the storm is easing in Buffalo, so if I was starting from near Buffalo, I'd be going. I have a pair of seats in the 300's inside the blue line on the Sabres' bench side. For a donation of $40 to this site, I will have them left at will call. (Face value for the pair is $152.) Send me a PM if interested. (Yes, the offer is legit, and no, Scott did not put me up to it. Sorry for the short notice, but I just got back a few minutes ago.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Hope somebody took them! One of those rare home wins that was pleasureable form start to finish! 5-Zip Slugs sans the hideous jersey! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SageAgainstTheMachine Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Hope somebody took them! One of those rare home wins that was pleasureable form start to finish! 5-Zip Slugs sans the hideous jersey! 40 shots for the Kings, 22 shots for the Sabres...all in all, the difference was goaltending. I'm going to keep my eye on the Kings and see what they're capable of in the next couple seasons if they can get their hands on a real goaltender. As a Sabres fan though, you have to be excited by what you saw from Chris Butler. It makes me wonder why we wasted any time with Nathan Paetsch this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmwolf21 Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 As a Sabres fan though, you have to be excited by what you saw from Chris Butler. It makes me wonder why we wasted any time with Nathan Paetsch this season. Because Paetsch is what Butler is not - a usually solid, unspectacular 7th defenseman. He has struggled lately, but for the most part he does a pretty good job in his role. Butler, OTOH, is a top-6 guy, so if he's not going to crack the top-6 in Buffalo then he needs to be in Portland playing regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SageAgainstTheMachine Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Because Paetsch is what Butler is not - a usually solid, unspectacular 7th defenseman. He has struggled lately, but for the most part he does a pretty good job in his role. Butler, OTOH, is a top-6 guy, so if he's not going to crack the top-6 in Buffalo then he needs to be in Portland playing regularly. I remember Paetsch playing well two years ago, but his game was incredibly sloppy this season. In just 11 games, he's racked up a negative 5 in the plus/minus. A lot of that was the direct result of bad giveaways in the defensive zone, a couple of times right in front of the net. And I agree, Butler shouldn't be up in Buffalo if our defense is at full strength. Once Rivet returns, he'll be headed back to the Pirates. But in terms of being a stop-gap defenseman, I just wonder why it took us 32 games to decide to give him a shot, as I've heard he's been considered NHL-ready for quite a bit now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmwolf21 Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 I remember Paetsch playing well two years ago, but his game was incredibly sloppy this season. In just 11 games, he's racked up a negative 5 in the plus/minus. A lot of that was the direct result of bad giveaways in the defensive zone, a couple of times right in front of the net. And I agree, Butler shouldn't be up in Buffalo if our defense is at full strength. Once Rivet returns, he'll be headed back to the Pirates. But in terms of being a stop-gap defenseman, I just wonder why it took us 32 games to decide to give him a shot, as I've heard he's been considered NHL-ready for quite a bit now. The Sabres have pretty good depth at defenseman, plus the cap limits who they can bring up and when. In addition defensemen tend to take longer to develop than forwards or goalies, and Butler was just 27 games into his pro career at the time of his recall. Paetsch has struggled this year, but +/- is not the best indicator of that. Four of the Sabres top-6 defensemen have negative +/- ratings - Spacek (-3) Teppo (-6) Rivet (-6) and Sekera (-8). FWIW I think that Teppo and Tallinder have been the most inconsistent Sabres' defenders this year, and Tallinder leads the Sabres' blueliners with a whopping +3 (and is one of only two with a positive +/- rating). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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