Maybe the Buffalo Sabres actually have found a way to turn back the clock this season.
Just a little would probably be enough. Say to those heady days right after the lockout.
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| 'We really don't have any superstars, but we have a lot talent up and down the lineup,' Mike Grier says. (Getty Images) |
Besides, parity does seem to reign largely supreme these days in the NHL. And the Sabres only fell short of the playoffs by two points last season and four the one before that. It isn’t that much of a stretch to consider them a threat when you think about it.
At least not if Sabres goalie Ryan Miller keeps playing like someone who is on a mission in this Olympic season, and if Buffalo keeps reminding people of their dangerous and hard-charging immediate post-lockout lineups the way it has in the early part of this season.
Miller, the frontrunner to start for Team USA in the Vancouver Olympics and the face of the franchise has been as dazzling as expected, but the more promising signs for Buffalo these days are the re-creations of the attack that led to a great first two seasons after the lockout. "A lot has to do with the system we play, but we’re closer to that now I think," said general manager Darcy Regier.
It has helped the Sabres to a fast 5-1-1 start. However the stat that jumps out right now is their 19 goals scored in their last four games, including six that came in a convincing win against the Detroit Red Wings. Two of those games were without 40-goal man Thomas Vanek and Buffalo leads the league in shots taken per game, which has made life miserable enough for three opposing starting goalies to be pulled thus far.
The latest was Florida’s Scott Clemmensen, who was victimized Wednesday by the firepower the Sabres were able to unleash. Buffalo scored twice before the game was two minutes old, had five different players find the back of the net and effectively put away the Panthers before the first period was half over.
"When we play our game, we can make things happen," said forward Mike Grier. "We really don’t have any superstars, but we have a lot of talent up and down the lineup and we’ve got four lines that can score." That was more or less the formula Buffalo used to catch the NHL by storm coming out of the lockout. The Sabres didn’t have marquee names in the lineup at the outset, and barely past bankruptcy they couldn’t even afford to bring back their best player, which meant that on the surface, the small market organization didn’t look much better off than the team that missed the three previous playoffs when play resumed.
But what Buffalo did have were quick, mobile players who could take full advantage of the league’s new offense-oriented rules and did right out of the gate. Even better, the payroll was among the NHL’s lowest.
The combination worked for a couple of years until the Sabres had to pay the price for success. Within eight months of the 2007 free agent market opening, Buffalo lost three key players who had become too expensive to keep around and the organization was forced to return to its roots even more, relying on players it brings through the system rather than free agency to fill in the gaps.
Buffalo had limited success that way for the past two seasons and it has made the Sabres a bit of enigma heading into this one because they made so few changes over the summer to a lineup that came off as middling at best.
Buffalo brought back the veteran Grier, added a couple of depth defensemen and opened up some spots for rookies during the offseason, but the top three lines and the overall roster remain largely the same as what missed last season’s playoffs. Which is the way Regier wanted it.
"We're not a young team but we are continuing to develop this group of players, pushing hard for them to grow together," Regier said. "If you lose players, you have to buy players, but our philosophy is that, when possible, we look to build this team from development.
"We’re still at the age as a team whether it’s a Thomas Vanek, or a Derek Roy or a Jason Pominville, these players still have upside to their game. They haven’t hit their plateaus yet and we think they’ll continue to get better."
Maybe enough to get the Sabres back to where they were not that long ago.
"It’s still early, but we’ll see," said Regier. "The nature of the game now with the salary cap is cyclical and with the competitiveness being so close, you have to take advantage of windows of opportunity.
"We had one that’s passed, but all that means is you have to create another one."
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