swordplay

The Vanek Effect

Vanek*, Hodgson, Ott, Foligno. At this point, these are the only players I really care about being on the Sabres roster after this season.

Thomas Vanek gets an asterisk because, given his current trade value, he could probably command a first round pick, a top prospect, and a roster player from a top Cup contender at this year's trade deadline. So while I'd love to build around Vanek over the next five years, it would probably be stupid not to trade him now, especially when you have to believe he'll be leaving as a UFA after next season.

If Darcy Regier has already offered Vanek an extension based on this year's performance and he's turned it down, Regier in no uncertain terms should trade him at the deadline. Therefore, given the fact that Vanek hasn't signed an extension, I would think it logical to conclude that either a) Regier hasn't offered one (which is grounds for dismissal), or b) Vanek has refused it (which is grounds for a trade).

So here's the real deal: If I'm GM of the Sabres and Thomas Vanek is no longer on my team, I'm almost by definition in full rebuild mode. Therefore, considering Regier told The Buffalo News just last week that he's "not in a blow-it-up mind-set," I think this is all you need to know to realize he really has to be the next guy out the door. As in, prior to free agency.

I don't arrive at this conclusion lightly. Click on the "Darcy Regier" category on the right sidebar, and you'll find that I've been plenty conciliatory towards the GM over the past year or so. Critical? Of course. But because, for example, it's largely pointless to complain about a GM's inability to retain players who decide to leave via free agency, it's instead better to judge him by the acquisitions he makes. 

Remember, in one calendar year Regier added Christian Ehrhoff, Ville Leino, Robyn Regehr, and Cody Hodgson. In hindsight it might be easy to find fault with at least some of these moves, but it would be disingenuous to argue that they didn't look attractive at the time. He followed this by unloading everybody's favorite whipping boy, Derek Roy, in order to acquire Steve Ott. Considering Ott is one of the only players on the entire team willing to lay it on the line every game, g'head and argue that this was a bad move.

So like any other GM in the history of sports, Darcy Regier has made bad moves and good moves. Over the years my biggest critique of his has always been his absolute loyalty to Lindy Ruff. I believe this unwillingness even to consider making a coaching change no matter what flies in the face of what it takes to be a GM in the first place. I think it prevented him from recognizing his team's generally soft play and what at least seemed to be the players' propensity to tune out its coach for extended stretches over multiple seasons.

Indeed, I thought Regier and Lindy Ruff both should've been fired five years ago, but because it became clear that this just wasn't going to happen, I guess I just began to accept reality and make the best of the situation. Still, while Regier obviously took responsibility for firing Ruff last month, I highly doubt this decision was made in isolation. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if ownership initiated the decision and gave Regier his marching orders.

And herein lies the rub. Despite Regier's efforts the past couple seasons to put together a talented roster -- it's hard to argue this team shouldn't be performing much better than it is -- the Buffalo Sabres organization has been exposed as hopelessly reactive, one lacking a vision of what it takes to be a winner. This became plainly evident in the release of Lindy Ruff, who was in no uncertain terms fired by the fans, not by a proactive management group.

In short, if leadership truly believed Ruff had overstayed his welcome, he would've been fired well before the team finally feared that fans would stop showing up for games. (Alternatively, if Pegula and Co. actually believed Ruff was their guy, the right move would've been to retain him and attempt to improve in other areas.)

If the Sabres former coach had been almost anyone other than Lindy Ruff, this little sop to the fans probably would've passed without much fanfare. But when you're talking about a guy who coached the team for 16 years, you're left wondering why the ownership team, now in its third season with the club, retained him as long as it did if it didn't believe he was the best man for the job.

I reiterate, I was not disappointed in the least that the Sabres organization decided to make a coaching change. Sometimes the best coaches lose their teams, and it appeared this was the case in Buffalo. However, this move looked less like a team reluctantly doing what it had to do and more like a flailing organization making a desperate attempt to do something -- anything -- to effect positive change.

But reality eventually catches up to you. And it appears that the reality in the Sabres front office is that, despite the lofty rhetoric about bringing Stanley Cups to Buffalo, management doesn't have a very effective game plan for winning.

Right now it almost seems that the Sabres are not just failing to make the right decisions, but they're doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing.

You can't blame a professional sports franchise for playing its best players, even sometimes to a fault, when it becomes clear that wins are less important than seeing what your team's made of. But that doesn't necessarily mean the team's making the right decision. We saw this very thing begin to unfold last week when Mikhail Grigorenko was sent back to his junior squad and T.J. Brennan was given away for almost nothing (a fifth round pick).

(Pretty soon you're going to tell me the Sabres are going to hang onto Ryan Miller for another year and let him leave for nothing after throwing Pat Kaleta under the bus!)

The Sabres are finished for the year, if for no other reason than the fact that teams are playing only within their conference this season -- meaning that everyone above them in the standings (everyone but Florida at the moment) is going to continue to get points every night. So why not give Grigorenko the chance to play with the best forwards on the team and see what he can do in that role? Despite what Regier's trying to sell, he's not going to learn anything new in juniors.

Regier's rationale for trading Brennan was that he would be claimed off waivers, as evidenced by Florida's willingness to spend a pick for him. Fair enough, but as Bucky Gleason wrote the other day, he's only 23 -- though he played fairly poorly, he's very young for a defenseman and they often need a few years to develop, so he should've at least been playing out the remainder of this failed campaign so the Sabres really got the look at him both sides deserved.

On the other hand, I'm not the GM. If Regier isn't planning to re-sign Brennan next season, then you get what you can get for him now instead of getting nothing down the road. Just seems this kid has enough potential in his shot and skating ability that he could've at least been packaged as part of some bigger trades.

Which leads to my biggest concern. If things just aren't working as currently constructed, why even give Darcy the authority to make decisions on whether to rebuild or not as we run up to free agency? Why let him determine whether to trade Miller, Vanek, and/or Pominville in the first place? Why not just clean house, for better or worse, and start the heck over? After all, you can't get much worse than 29th.

Assuming the likelihood of Regier's departure prior to the trade deadline exceedingly slim, I think we can reliably judge Regier's competence by analyzing the rather simple Thomas Vanek Effect: If Vanek either does not sign an extension or depart via trade by the 2013 NHL free agent deadline, Darcy Regier should be fired immediately.

This would be one of those situations where the "management team" needs to know the deal in advance. Because if Darcy doesn't understand this very simple concept, he is the last person you need manning the phones on deadline day.

Sabres Should Trade Myers before It's Too Late

After starting the season 2-0, in large part due to finding themselves the beneficiary of some calls that usually tend to go against them, the Buffalo Sabres find themselves at 2-3 after five games.

I'm digging a season where every game matters, by the way.

By no means are the Sabres in panic mode after dropping three straight. But given this abbreviated campaign, wins and losses at least seem to carry more weight than usual -- even though I keep telling myself it's still all relative.

That said, this type of situation certainly makes me feel like I'm much more justified when overreacting to what's going on on the ice. So maybe you think I'm crazy when I suggest that the Sabres trade Tyler Myers as soon as possible.

There are three main reasons I say this: 1) The Sabres are in need of an elite center, 2) they desperately need more offensensive weapons than merely Thomas Vanek, and 3) Tyler Myers apparently is a 6-8 pussy.

Despite adding some much-needed grit to the lineup with the additions of Steve Ott, John Scott, and Marcus Foligno, I'm still convinced the Sabres are two bold moves away from being taken seriously. Assuming one of these bold moves isn't going to be a change behind the bench, the next best thing is to go after Ryan Getzlaf (which I wrote about last season and would link to right now if I weren't using a work computer with a Windows 1927 browser).

It seemed to be conventional wisdom last year that a trade for Getzlaf started and ended with Tyler Myers. Assuming this were even possible this year, I doubt Darcy Regier would move him (which is another issue unto itself, but I digress), but I think you at least offer him up.

Maybe this is what you should expect from a 22-year-old who throws a $10 million signing bonus in the bank, but if all you're going to get out of a 6-8 defenseman is a guy who can skate the puck out of the zone (when he's not putting the puck right on an opponent's tape), well, we've already got four other ones who can do that.

Put simply, if you're not going to use a 6-8 frame to bruise the opposition, you're not worth very much (and certainly not $5 million a year). Now that Grigorenko is up for the year, I can't off the top of my head think of any center in the league who'd be better than Getzlaf at showing the new kid the ropes on the job. To say nothing about the instant firepower you'd add to both regular shifts and the power play. And Getzlaf's also 6-4.

I'm not arguing the Myers can't or won't improve. After all, you'd have to count on the Ducks valuing him as highly as they value Getzlaf (maybe even a little less given that Getzlaf's in a contract year). This move would be risky because Getzlaf is a free agent at the end of the season, but I'd think Regier would be able to offer him several million good reasons to stick around in Buffalo, especially with Myers's salary off the books.

I was happy to read today that Robyn Regehr and Alex Sulzer are going to be scratched in favor of Mike Weber and T.J. Brennan tonight. It shows that perhaps nothing is set in stone on the back end. But with eight NHL defenseman on the roster, you have to think there are some moves in the works.

Brennan, especially, needs to be playing every night now that he appears to have proven he's ready for a full time gig in the bigs. He can't be sent to Rochester because he'd almost certainly be claimed immediately. And if his AHL fight two weeks ago against Syracuse Crunch winger Richard Panik is any indication (Panik gave rookie Zemgus Girgensons a concussion with a cheap hit), he's already proven he's tougher than Myers too.

The biggest disappointment for me so far this year is the absence of Brayden McNabb, who last year looked like he was poised to give this team a much-needed physical upgrade on defense for years to come. At 6-4 himself and now a 2013 AHL all-star, he belongs with the parent club as well.

The Buffalo Sabres are stacked at D. It's time to utilize Myers's greatest asset -- his trade value -- to simultaneously add some more size and spark down the middle while making room for defensemen who are willing to clear the front of the net and make their opponents pay the price in the corners.

DVR-blogging: Oilers/Sabres

I almost never have time most nights to sit down and watch anything real time, but I managed to take some notes during Tuesday night's game while I was watching the tape. I figured I'd post my exact comments as I jotted them down and then elaborate now if necessary.

First Period

- T.J. Brennan is good and is going to be very good. Sweeps puck out of the crease less than three minutes into the game and saves what certainly would've been an easy tap-in for Edmonton.

(Buffalo is without Ehrhoff, Sekera, and Myers but I really don't see any gaping holes in the D that weren't there prior to the injuries. Sekera is tremendously average and Myers was hardly playing his best hockey when he broke his wrist, so that leaves Ehrhoff as the only loss that could noticeably impact the production of the defense. He logs huge minutes and is generally steady, but keep in mind that injury replacements aren't always the detriment they may appear to be on paper. Whereas teams key on Ehrhoff every game and keep him in check, guys like Brennan and McNabb aren't nearly as well-scouted yet, so good teams can take advantage of this, um, advantage.

- Good idea by Ruff to play Kassian with Vanek and utilize his talents as a top six forward

(Well, that didn't last long. Maybe two shifts.)

- There's a lot of talk about M.A. Gragnani's subpar performance. Yes, you'd rather have Ehrhoff and Myers, but if Grags isn't capable of filling in to the point where the team expects to win, he shouldn't have made the roster in the first place.

(Translation: I'm tired of listening to this club blame losses in part on injuries. If Ruff thought Gragnani was good enough to make the team, he should expect him to be good enough to play in this league, even if his ideal role at this point is to be used as an injury sub. I know, shocker.

- Injuries are not the problem. Buffalo is getting outplayed by a team on its sixth game of a roadie that got into town at 2 a.m. the day of the game.

(If anything, Buffalo has impressive depth that would render this rash of injuries essentially moot on many other teams, namely those that realized that body checks are a part of hockey. Not to mention, injuries really only impact specific parts of the game, like special teams or shootouts. If guys like Vanek are playing, you should be fine. Most other players are filler. That said, if Vanek goes down, the Sabres' season is all but over (if it isn't already).

- Speaking of injuries, we're into the part of the season where guys need to start playing with pain. I'd be interested to know how many guys on the shelf right now could play if they really wanted to.

(Tyler Ennis, I'm looking at you. High ankle sprains suck so I could be wrong. However, note to Christian Ehrhoff: If you can't fight without putting yourself out for "weeks," don't fucking fight! It's not like you can win anyway. Kudos, however, to Jason Pominville for sucking it up when he probably felt pretty shitty after having the flu. Very captainly.)

- Great goal allowed by Miller. WEAK!

(Hey, lots of goalies allow goals under their glove arm from bad angles. Just not ones making $6 million a year!)

- Zack Kassian's passing is not good in the first period. Then again, this has been a pretty shitty period by the Sabres in general.

Second Period

- Brennan loses the puck and turns it over in his own zone but recovers to make a nice shot block.

(I think Brennan's actually better than Gragnani already.)

- I seriously can't remember a single body check thrown by Buffalo.

(I think that's because there weren't any to that point.)

- Weak goalie interference call on Hemsky. Edmonton didn't protest too much, but that's probably because they're out of breath.

- Equally shitty charging call on Kaleta for what appeared to be a perfectly good smack on Ladislav Smid. Maybe I just missed the part where the refs outlawed hitting tonight. That would at least explain Buffalo's lethargic approach to the game.

- I'm so tired of Ryan Miller and his soft over-the-shoulder goals.

(Given Miller's salary and atrocious season, I honestly doubt he'd get picked up even if he were waived. No shit. So anyone thinking Regier would be able to trade him even if he wanted to may as well stop dreaming.

Third Period

- Buffalo looks like the team that got in at 2 a.m.

- These guys just refuse to hit and take control of an opponent that almost seems to be waiting to be steamrolled. The Oilers weren't even willing to kick Roy's ass after he shot a puck on Khabibulin well after the whistle at the start of the third.

- Against ANY other team not in Edmonton's situation, the Sabres would easily be down 5-2 at this point.

- Sabres used to play down to their competition's level. Now they just don't really seem to give a shit against anyone.

- Whee, "victory"

Injury Bugs and Underlying Diseases

Fifteen years ago I would be freaking out about the Sabres recent spate of injuries. But I guess there's just something about pushing 40 that makes you realize there's more important things in life than worrying about the respective fates of charmed 20-somethings.

Or maybe it's just that I can barely bring myself to care much about sports these days after realizing that I'm now too old to play pro hockey even if I were once good enough (which I wasn't).

Whatever the case, there's a certain amount of satisfaction that comes with my newfound sobriety towards the Buffalo Sabres (however depressing its genesis may be). Whereas I was unable to approach my Sabres analysis with little more than unbridled emotion back in the day, I now find myself capable of applying the same type of rationality that I bring to virtually any other situation. (Okay, most of the time.. fuck off.)

Like every other Sabres fan, I've had a long time to assess and digest the abilities of Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier. A looooong time. These guys are clearly two of the best in their field at what they do. They're both Grade A talents with A-Class character. I don't think that's ever really been in question. One thing that is in question, however, is whether these guys are the right men for the job in Buffalo.

After all these years together, Ruff and Regier might as well literally be joined at the hip. Regier is not going to fire Ruff. If Ruff ever goes, Regier will be going with him. Regier will never fire his best friend. Never. You just don't do that sort of thing, and as a man I can at least respect that.

I'd be willing to bet it's Ruff and Regier's relationship over the past dozen years that's been the primary cause of most of the good that's come to the Sabres organization during that span, nearly all of which probably goes unseen by the fans and in some cases even ownership. Building trust between employer and employee is crucial to performance; treating subordinates as peers often breeds respect. However, too much trust can lead to complacency. And if you're not careful, being too friendly with your players can extinguish respect for authority. You get the idea. Every benefit has a cost.

And so it is with the injury bug.

As I think we've all written a couple times, I don't like the team's reliance on all the injuries as the reason for its poor record the past few weeks. If anything, it's primarily the roster players who have made untimely decisions that have cost the Sabres wins. That said, Ruff has done a good job managing the lineup and lines during a stretch that no coach would ever want to endure. Although hardly tough decisions, he has rewarded Kassian for his outstanding play with increased ice time, and he's also made the right call in keeping Brayden McNabb in Buffalo despite Mike Weber's return to the lineup. Similarly, the fantastic play of guys like Kassian, McNabb, Tropp, and Brennan -- especially given their NHL inexperience -- is a testament to Regier's ability to draft and develop top talent. These two guys will have jobs in the NHL as long as they want them.

Ironically, however, we're nevertheless left to wonder why the Sabres play so inconsistently night in and night out. (This is not unique to the Sabres, but not every coach enjoys a 13-year tenure with one club either.) Why they refuse to finish checks unless they feel like it. Why Thomas Vanek, Cody McCormick, and Pat Kaleta have trouble finding teammates who will actually bust their asses every goddamned shift like they do. Why a system that has lost effectiveness after taking teams by surprise six years ago seemingly hasn't adapted even though the rest of the league has caught on to the secret. Why a power play has, on balance, buh-lown! for years. These are the responsibilities of the coach. Ruff has undeniably done very good things with subpar NHL talent over the years -- if we're to believe Regier's hands were tied under Golisano and Quinn, that is -- so I don't question his ability to coach; I question why he has not gotten better results considering he's had the luxury of knowing his team better than anyone save perhaps for Barry Trotz.

That said, even more interesting amid all these injuries is the Darcy Regier situation. Will GMDR finally move assets before they've overstayed their welcome now that we almost unquestionably know that the kids on the farm can play and perform? The silver lining to the injury bug is that Regier now knows (or should know) he has the luxury of dumping salary to gain cap space while simultaneously improving the team. (I know, right!!) Does anyone even remember Brad Boyes? Zack Kassian not only outperforms him right now, he costs over three million a year less. (Oh, and he kind of resembles that nasty Milan Lucic guy, who I would love to have on my team.) Corey Tropp is going to be awesome, so Regier could likely shop Kaleta right now before his propensity for injuries renders him damaged goods. Finally, even though Jochen Hecht brings intangibles and leadership, you can't tell me Szczechura isn't an even swap offensively if Hecht and his four million could be packaged to land one more big gun up front. By the way, we've still got Marcus Foligno in Rochester.

And I know Buffalo can never seem to have enough defensemen, but right now we have Ehrhoff, Myers, Leopold, Sekera, Gragnani, Regehr, Weber, and McNabb with Brennan, Finley, and Schiestel in the immediate pipeline. Seriously, there is no reason teams even score on us, much less any reason our D can't put the puck in the net every effing game. We have an imbalance of offensive defensemen already with more ready for promotion, so there's at least two that can be moved tomorrow. Myers-McNabb can be Niedermayer-Pronger in a few years, but anyone else is fair game. I think Sekera would look good in Ranger blue.

The tragic irony here is whether you actually want Darcy Regier at the controls when it comes to making decisions that will impact the team for years ahead. Ted Black should have his hands full right now, but if there's one thing that has to change for Regier to keep his job, he has to learn to cut his homegrown players loose. He won't fire Ruff, but if he refuses to acknowledge the opportunities before him and act now, we will have substantive proof that our addiction to untimely injuries is nothing compared to our deep-seated disease that is a complacent GM.

You Don't Play Games on Paper

I'd be tempted to think I'm actually a psychic if the Sabres weren't so easy to read. As I suspected, Buffalo was flat-out absent last night against Columbus. The only problem was, no one bothered to tell the Blue Jackets they were supposed to take the night off too.

The Sabres, coming off an impressive showing against the Bruins two nights prior, apparently figured they'd already put in their work for the week. For all you guys out there wondering why Sabres fans seem to be growing increasingly impatient with a team that can undoubtedly skate with anyone in the league, last night's no-show was as good a reason as any.

I had to watch the game on about an hour delay because Christmas trees apparently can't set themselves up yet -- Hello? 2011! Can somebody figure this out already? -- so a live blog was out of the question. But I did jot down some notes as the game went along. In no particular order:

- Kevin Sylvester is not a good play by play man. I consider myself a fairly nice person, so I won't say anything more. I know he's got some impossible shoes to fill, but still.

- Lindy Ruff seriously does not know when to pull a goalie. He demonstrated this in Philly when he waited one goal too long to pull Miller. Enroth was the only reason it wasn't 5-0 after the first period, but once Buffalo went down 3-0 last night in the second, that was the right time for a wake-up call. This would have given the Sabres a sporting chance to win a game that was clearly all Columbus up to that point, but it was all over once Enroth let a little squibber go between his legs to make it 4-0.

But that's basically all you could fault Ruff for last night. Even though I often wish you could pull a coach, he can't skate for his team, and it was clear the Sabres figured they could just show up and that would be sufficient to beat the last place team in the league. Even though I literally can't remember the last time they won in Columbus.

- In yesterday's post I naively let my optimistic side show when I commented that we might actually see some jump out of Buffalo because they have quite a few kids up now for the injured regulars. But then during the game I said to myself, "Apparently there's not enough injuries yet."

You're welcome. I take full responsibility for jinxing Robyn Regehr, who left the game at some point during the second period. Just for the record, though, the Buffalo Sabres are honestly the only team in the NHL that can lose players without anything noticeable happening. I was pretty bourboned up by the third period, but I couldn't see anything happen to Regehr that would've caused him to leave the game.

- Yes, the injuries are starting to pile up for Buffalo, but there's not a team in the league that wouldn't make room overnight to add Vanek, Pominville, Leino, Stafford, Ehrhoff, or Leopold. They're all still healthy (yes, I know I just jinxed someone else tonight). Great teams really only need an effective system, two great forwards, two great defensemen, and a great goalie (or a good goalie who's playing great). Everyone else essentially is filler, and as long as everyone plays with tenacity a Cup is within reach. On paper Buffalo was still a better team last night; Columbus won because they wanted it more. Much more, as it turned out.

- Gerbe was invisible.

- I think T.J. Brennan could be fo' real.

- I've essentially given up hope that Leino will ever hit someone. Thankfully all his points earn him a pass.

- No intensity, no desperation, no finishing checks.

- So, Sabre dudes ... after six hours working in the yard yesterday, could you really do no better than to give me a game that was over in the first period? I mean, yeah yeah .. I obviously expected and predicted your fate, but do I have to be right all the friggin' time? All I wanted to do was lie on the couch with my drinks and watch some good hockey, and it turns out your performance was even more painful than my aching ass body.

What's with people's fascination with trees? They're like cats that continually shit all over your carpet.

Boyes Night Out

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

It was nice to see (well, hear... I stone-aged it and listened to the radio feed) the Sabres actually come out of the gate swinging for once. They've lost about twenty starters over the past eight days and now need to rely heavily on minor-league talent, yet they still seem to be able to stand up to a defending champion that has finally found themselves. The Bruins are no joke, the hangover is in the past now. They've won their last ten games after a slow start, but you saw what a little bit of hard work and determination did to the defending champs. Even the bruised and battered Sabres almost beat them. All you have to do is want it.

It makes you wonder what kind of team this would be if only they would do this on a nightly basis. They may not find themselves in the infirmary as often either... just sayin'. If you're effort and awareness is pointed in the right direction, you're able to protect yourself better against someone trying to take your head off in the corners or neutral zone.

Overall, I was impressed last night. Goose finally regained some of the manhood that he lost the last time these two teams met. It wasn't the best scrap I've ever seen, but like a crappy Christmas present, it was the thought that counted (I would also like to quickly thank Zdeno Chara for taking it easy on Regehr. God knows we can't lose another blue liner). Then there was Nathan Gerbe acting like a gnat that flies around your kitchen and drives you insane because you can never find a way to kill it. And once again Jhonas Enroth looked like he's quite comfortable (and capable) as the starting goaltender. Even though he was beaten three times in regulation, he still boasted a better SV% last night than the reigning Vezina trophy holder. And when Chara cannoned a 50-footer in which Enroth had no chance on, the fact that he waited until the shot was actually past him to drop to his knees excited me a little bit. For the most part, this team played the entire game, not just a period or two, the whole damn thing. So for that I applaud them, they better realize that they need to keep it up. And while I'm at it I might as well say congratulations to T.J. Brennan on his first NHL goal. Good job buddy. Shave the porn stache.

On a low note, it appeared that Brad Boyes sustained an injury with some significance. At the best it looked like a high ankle sprain, at it's worst it could be a torn up knee. So you're looking at a month and a half minimum. Not that I'm upset about his presence being lost on the ice (.38 points per game, BOOOOO!!!), I'm afraid that his trade value will plummet farther than it likely already has.

Hopefully they can keep up the good play though. They gave a rather valiant effort last night, and even in the wake of this loss I can still see some promise around the corner. Sure, you'd rather have an overtime or shootout loss on the road, but under the current circumstances I consider the 1 point a win.

We're also going to get a good look-see at some (possibly a lot) of the young talent that's been developing over the past few years. And these young guys have something to prove, so expect them to set a fire under the rest of the boys' asses. Maybe even Hecht will show up and play some good hockey. Hell, the last time he did was in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Hurricanes... everyone was hurt then too.

Myers out 4-6 Weeks with Broken Wrist

So you think you have the luxury of making Mike Weber and Tyler Myers healthy scratches, huh? Apparently the hockey gods were a bunch of talented young defensemen who at times found themselves at odds with their coach.

"We give you two perfectly healthy physical defensemen," you can practically hear them scolding, "and this is how you repay us!"

No longer. Weber has already been placed on injured reserved, out for "weeks" with an undisclosed upper body injury. Now we find that Tyler Myers will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken wrist suffered during the second period of Saturday's 4-2 loss to the Coyotes.

The Sabres have summoned T.J. Brennan from the Rochester Americans to fill in for Myers Wednesday against Boston. Given that this will be Brennan's first gig in the NHL, we'll obviously have to see how he plays before we know how long he'll be able to stick around.

For a team that started the season with seven healthy, capable defensemen, the D's looking pretty thin now. We'll just have to hope Brennan can at least hold his own. We knew Shaone Morrisonn sucked, but it's pretty bad when a former NHL regular with some size isn't even the first in line to be recalled from the minor league club in an emergency.