Sabres Bound to be a Championship Caliber Team

 Can you imagine the sabres being a championship caliber team? Or might I even slip the word dynasty into the argument? Mark my words, the Sabres are in a position that the team has never been in before when it comes to potential. A new era is developing right in front of our eyes, and I'm not sure that people truly realize what we have going on here. Lets take a look at what exactly I'm talking about to see if I actually know what I'm talking about or am just becoming delusional because the lockout is driving me crazy....

• Where does it all start? Ownership. Over the past 2 years the Sabres have witnessed an exchange of owners that will go down in history. Terry Pegula is the heartbeat of the organization. He was once a season ticket holder in the 70's when the team began. He's one of us, a fan. He is determined to bring a championship to Buffalo within his first 3 years (we would be going into year 2 if lockout were to end). That guarantee is a strong statement to tell a city that has not seen a professional sports championship other than what...the bandits?ehhh how about within the 4 core sports? NONE. Pegula, when taking over the team, mentioned that there will be no restraints on the organization money wise anymore, and that he is not simply here to "make a profit". This creates a huge message to the hockey world. Him spending the money on the team and the facilities draws other players to the city, and the NHL sees this. If you would have asked what opposing players have thought about Buffalo and how it is viewed around the league, they would have told you that there wasn't much there, there was no substance, why would someone go to Buffalo? But now you ask the same questions to those players and you get a 180 degree response. You hear them talk about how the dedication within the management starting with the owners is a rare occurrence. Buffalo has something special in Pegula.

•   From a managerial standpoint I feel the sabres are in great hands. Some people may cringe when I say this but Darcy Regier is one of the best general managers in the league. Think about it. Year in and year out he is often invited to go to "off season meetings" and league issue stuff where only a hand full of GM's are invited. Need more proof? I know I would. Many times I have said that Regier absolutely NEEDS TO GO. But thats when I re-evaluated his work in the past and present. We now know that Regier was under pressure from the previous owner, Golisano, not only to produce an elite hockey team that will sell out games, but to do it only with a minimum amount of cap. That opened my eyes a little bit when I heard that. I was always furious come the trade deadline or free agency when we would make trades for nonsense players like a Rafi Torres or a Dominick Moore. You cant base your opinion on Regier by looking into the Golisano years too deeply. With his case, stay in the present. With no cap restrictions (Thanks to Pegula), Regier is on an absolute rampage of what I believe to be great deals and signings. Lets look at the transactions since Pegula took over: 
• resigned on June/July 2011: Stafford, Sekera, Gerbe, Weber, Enroth
• New signings summer 2011: Ville Leino
• Acquired Robyn Regher, Ales Kotalik, 2nd round pick for Chris Butler, Paul Byron
• Signed Christian Erhoff to a 10 year deal
• 2011 contract extensions: Tyler Myers (7 year deal)
• Trade Deadline 2012: Acquired Cody Hodgson and Alexander Sulzer for Zack Kassian and Marc-Andre Gragnani
• Traded Paul Gaustad for a 1st round pick

•  Summer 2012: Acquire Steve Ott and Adam Pardy for Derek Roy
• Sign John Scott (Grizzly bear on skates)
• Sign Tarnasky (Smaller grizzly bear on skates)
• Didn't resign Jochen Hecht (getting old, concussion problems)
• Didn't resign Paul Gaustad (over priced)

• Resign Pat Kaleta and Tyler Ennis to multi year contract

Within one year of no restraints, Darcy has managed to lock up key players (Myers, Stafford, Ennis), but also sign other key free agents such as Ville Leino. Now I know he hasnt proved much rather than the ability to lose the puck, but Leino is a guy that you need to have chemistry with to know where he is going with the puck, which is why he did better later in the season and will have a bounce back year. Robyn Regher is a true leader in every sense of the word and a solid, tough, stay at home defensemen. Christian Erhoff and Tyler Myers controlling the blue line for the next 7 years is something that I am excited about. I still don't understand how Darcy pulled off these trades. I would have thought Paul Gaustad was MAYBE worth a late 2nd round pick, or even 3rd rounder. The fact that Darcy got a 1st round pick in that deal turned to be huge (keep reading to find out exactly why). In a time when the Bruins would just run all over us...literally...we needed to get bigger and harder to play against, we needed to gain grit, and I honestly would have taken a bag of pucks for Derek Roy, but Darcy gets one of the most hated players in the league in Steve Ott.

Steve Ott #29

Steve Ott not only brings his devious ways, but also a leadership role and a sense of protection for other players. I was freaking out when this trade went down because I knew that the Sabres were taking a turn toward making a tougher team to play against, and that's when the John Scott signing really took a hold of me.

John Scott #32

The man is an absolute MONSTER. I thought I'd never see the day when a 6'8'' 270lbs grizzly bear would be on an NHL hockey team. I salute Darcy...for now...and applaud his work. When the team cried to get bigger and tougher Darcy eliminated Chris Butler, Jochen Hecht, Paul Gaustad, Marc-Andre Gragnani, and added Robyn Regher, Steve Ott, John Scott, drafted Marcus Foligno and Zack Kassian (later traded for a #1 center player in Cody Hodgson), just to name a few. 


In the past, Golisano had eliminated certain portions of the organization. One major group was the scouting system for the Sabres, forcing the organization only to use video to scout the players. Terry Pegula, the savior he is, re-established the scouting system, making it possible to physically go see the prospects. The first draft under the Pegula Era might go down as the most successful draft in the Sabres 41 year history next to drafting Gilbert Perreault.

 With our first pick in the 2012 NHL draft, the Sabres selected the Russian centerman Mikhail Grigorenko.With only weeks till the draft he was projected to go in the top 3 picks, but fell to Buffalo with the 12th pick. Why the downfall? Scouts questioned Grigo's work ethic when he performed less than stellar in the playoffs for the Quebec Ramparts. I believe this is completely false, for it came out in the news later that Grigo was infact suffering from Mononucleosis (or Mono), and tried to play through it...still almost posting a point per game stat sheet (3 goals, 7 assists, 10 points in 11 games). Although it is not his normal stats from the regular season (40 goals, 45 assists, 85 points, in 59 games...and he was a plus 35), I feel that he performed impressively while battling the illness, making this pick an absolute STEAL for the Buffalo Sabres. A player like Grigorenko is rare to come by. He has an elite set of skills which enables him to turn defensemen inside out, a hockey IQ that has never been questioned, the size of a top line centerman (6'3'' 200lbs) and some scouts have even compared him to Evgeni Malkin. The Sabres found their #1 center.

At this point in the draft I was already satisfied. But then the Sabres through a curve ball into the mix and traded their other 1st round pick and their later second round pick for the 14th pick in the draft. With that pick, I believe the Sabres chose a player that they want to represent the future of the organization, the Latvian center Zemgus Girgensons. I call him the next Ryan Kesler. Other comparables might be Ryan Callahan, and Dustin Brown. At 6'2'' 194lbs, the kid is a wrecking machine. Scouts say he has the skill set to dance around defensemen but chooses to go through them. He is a prototype team player. In the playoffs for his junior team, he broke his jaw in the first period, only to come out the next period and play through it. Later, with his team in the lead late in the third period he decided to call it a night when he claimed that he felt dizzy and grogy. The man never quits, never gives up. His national Latvian team was down by a score of about 14-1 to Canada. You would think the players would just be playing out the rest of the game half heatedly. But not Zemgus. You could see him still laying out to block shots and tossing his body around to make the opponent lose the puck. Though he definitely plays a physical style of game, he has shown that he can put the puck in the back of the net (24 goals, 31 assists, 55 points in 49 games with a plus 17), which is another reason why I compare him to Ryan Kesler.



With our second round pick, we then selected Jake McCabe, a solid defensemen who takes care of his own end at first, but he does not shy away from carrying the puck and using his great skating ability to get up the ice. As there were many great two-way defensemen in this years draft, McCabe's skill set is ranked very high. He had 3 goals and 12 assists with the Wisconsin Badgers last season, serving time on the #1 power play unit as a true college freshman. He does have the necessary skills and body to shutdown opposing offenses as well, which is why I believe he can become at least a top 4 defensemen.

The Sabres selected a better skating Paul Gaustad in round three with the centerman Justin Kea . At 6'4'' 212 lbs, the kid is intimidating. Although he may not be a huge scoring threat, as like Paul Gaustad, he will take the body, win faceoffs, and be the grit of a team, a true team player.

So what does this all mean? It means there is a bright future for the Buffalo Sabres. The stars are aligning if you ask me. You have an owner who is not only building a team that will be a powerhouse in the near future, but is also rebuilding the city of Buffalo with his current projects that will create a 2 rink facility complete with a hotel, parking space, and a large Buffalo Sabres themed sports bar and grill all right in front of the First Niagara Center and on the nearby harbor.You have great management that for the first time has no restrictions money wise (as we now know the sabres offered Zack Parise and Ryan Suter both long term $100 million contracts, and a 4 year $30 million deal to Shane Doan this past summer which didn't turn in our favor, yet still shows that we were part of the discussion), and has already made the necessary changes for this team to become tougher and more competitive. You have the management and scouting team that has drafted what could be the next all stars of the NHL in Grigorenko and Girgensons. You have already young players that are ready to take on the leadership role. You have an excess of cap to work with in the future for trades and free agency. You have an elaborate surplus of NHL caliber defensemen which are great trade bait for the future. But most of all you have leadership from veteran players in the locker room. All of this is why I used the word dynasty and the Sabres in the same sentence, I feel that they have finally figured out the system. Yeah you can look at last season and say, "Wellllllll they didn't even make the playoffs, and they are soft...blah blah blah". Well if you actually look at last years Sabres team, when HEALTHY, and a CONSISTENT lineup was present, they were one of the top teams in the league. Don't believe me? Look at their record towards the end of the season. They are soft? Yeah, they were, I agree. But we now have players like Marcus Foligno, Robyn Regher, Steve Ott, John Scott, and Nick Tarnasky to deal with the "big bad bruins" and to make our compete level so much higher. Its a great time to be a Buffalo Sabres fan, because I feel that within the next 3ish seasons, we will be attending that parade downtown to celebrate Lord Stanley's Cup.

Feel free to comment and ask questions. If you disagree, tell me why. And please, go ahead and fact check me. If you want me to write on anything in particular, let me know.

I plan on writing next about the next era of core players coming through the system like Marcus Foligno, Cody Hodgson, Tyler Ennis, Brayden McNab, Joel Armia, Mark Pysyk, that will have a huge impact in the near future.