Lack of firepower sinking Sabres

By Rick Anderson
December 27, 2008 

It's been almost a season and a half since Daniel Briere and Chris Drury departed the Sabres and the huge hole they left behind has yet to be filled. The Sabres have not replaced the firepower that they lost when those two left. Add to the mix the loss of Brian Campbell, who helped generate the attack with his rushes out of the Sabres zone.  With those three missing from the lineup, the Sabres are lacking enough scoring to propel them into the playoffs this season. It could be their second straight season of sitting out the playoffs.

The lack of firepower was evident in their 3-2 loss to the Washington Capitals Friday night. That was the Sabres third straight loss and they find themselves teetering on the edge of the last playoff position.

Thomas Vanek, who netted his 25th goal of the season, seems to be the only Sabre to be able to score on a consistent basis. Even Vanek had been blanked the previous 5 games.

The Sabres were down 3-1 after Alexander Ovechkin scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the third. He broke through the defense and pushed the puck past Sabres backup goalie Patrick Lalime while falling down. Maximum Afinogenov was able to make it a one-goal game when  the long shot from the point just happened to go off his leg and it got past Jose Theodore. It was only Maxim's second goal of the season.

Try as they might, the Sabres couldn't muster another goal after that and went down to their third consecutive defeat. The lack of a scoring punch is clearly evident right now.

Outside of Vanek, no one has stepped up to fill the void left by the departure of Briere and Drury. Derek Roy had a good season last year, but he isn't close to the pace he set last season. Two of the most disappointing players are Maxim Afinogenov and Jochen Hecht. Maxim only had his second goal of the season Friday night against the Capitals and Hecht has recorded just 3 goals.

The Sabres have a few players down in Portland who could one day become major contributors in the Sabres attack, but that day could be a few years down the road. Nathan Gerbe, Mark Mancari, and Tim Kennedy could someday be regular Sabres. They are doing well down with the AHL Pirates, but all 3 need a lot of maturing.

With that said, the Sabres may need to make a trade to get more firepower into the lineup. That is easier said than done as the Sabres would most likely have to give up a lot in order to acquire a veteran forward who could bring consistent scoring back into the lineup.

Lots of fans have been clamoring for the Sabres to deal Afinogenov, however the Sabres have been shopping him around since the summer with no takers. Even if they package a deal with say Ales Kotalik or Hecht, it would be difficult to acquire the type of player the Sabres so desperately need right now. They may have to include one of their young players, like the three mentioned above or defenseman Chris Butler, who is currently on  the active roster in order to sweeten any trade bid.

Many players in a slump

Too many Sabres are in horrible slumps this season. It goes up and down the Sabres bench. Derek Roy and Jason Pominville were in extended slumps for most of the season. Roy has finally broke out and scored a couple goals as of late. However, Pominville continues to struggle and is hoping to follow in Roy's skates and finally start lighting the lamp.

I have a list at work called "Players in a slump." Two players who have been on the list from the start are Jochen Heicht and Ales Kotalik. Heicht has completely disappeared this season, while Kotalik has gotten a few goals now and then.

Drew Stafford has been on the "S List" for most of the season also, but he too has finally gotten back on track. More Sabres who have not put enough points up this year are Daniel Paille (4 goals), the forever-injured Tim Connolly (2 goals), and Paul Gaustad (3 goals).

A couple defensemen that are not performing up to snuff this season are Jaroslav Spacek and Henrik Tallinder. Spacek hasn't been the force he was early last year when he was scoring a lot of powerplay goals and shots from the point. Also, his physical play has tailed off since last year when he gave a clinic on heavy checking. Tallinder, who isn't known much for scoring, but his defensive play has not been consistent.

Ryan Miller in goal has had good, bad and ugly nights. He needs to step it up and be more consistent if the Sabres hope to make the playoffs this season.

Pominville signed a new contract extension before training camp began. Pominville inked a new contract that brings him more than $5 million a year. The official numbers are a five-year, $26.5-million contract. Just like Thomas Vanek, who signed a new contract before last season and then was pulled down by the weight of heavy expectations, Pominville may be suffering the same effects, even though he claims otherwise.

"When you lose a game by a goal and you know you've missed opportunities, that's the tough part for me," admitted Pominville. "You want to help the team win and one way I do that is by putting the puck into the net."

"It's frustrating, extremely frustrating, but you still have to keep working at it and hope to get a bounce here or there."

The lucky bounces have not been going the Sabres way this year. Unless the likes of Pominville, Roy, Gaustad, Hecht, Kotalik, Stafford and Afinogenov have a good second half of the season and score on a regular basis, the Sabres may be on the outside looking in again this post season.

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