1) Ryan Miller.

He’s the reigning Vezina trophy winner and he helped bring team USA 1 goal away from Olympic Gold. He had to settle for Silver, but he was named MVP of the tournament, and rightly so. Last year Miller set a career high in wins with 41, while posting a 2.22 goals against and .929 save percentage. Miller didn’t just come out of nowhere and put up these stats, he’s been a great goalie for years, so I don’t see any reason why he can’t keep playing like this.

2) Fresh Blood

The Sabre’s brought up two rookies to fill out their roster. First theirs Tyler Ennis. Ennis saw some ice time last year playing in 10 games and scoring 9 points. His hard work earned him a spot on the playoff roster where he added 4 points in 6 games. While not on the Sabre’s roster, Ennis the Menace tore up he AHL and won the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award for rookie of the year. Who won that award the year before him? His current rookie teammate Nathan Gerbe.  Gerbe is a tiny guy for NHL standards, standing at 5′ 6″. However, he makes up for his size with his speed and his skating ability. Oh yeah having a lazer for a shot doesn’t hurt either.  Gerbe also played 10 games last season and posted 5 points.

3) Tyler Myers

Tyler is the Sabres 2010 Calder Trophy winning defenseman. Tyler immediately made the jump from draft pick to rookie and played all of the 2010 season on the Sabres. Paired with the now departed Henrik Tallinder, Myers put up some good numbers scoring 11 goals and 37 assists in 82 games. In addition to providing key defense with his 6′ 8″ frame, Myers blesses the Sabres with quite impressive skating mobility for someone of his size.

4) Tougher and Wiser

During the off season the Sabres addressed their need for grit, something they lacked severely during last years playoffs against the bruins. The Sabre’s bring tough guy Cody McCormick to their roster this year who along with Mike Grier, Paul Gaustad, Patrick Kaleta, and Matt Ellis, should allow the Sabre’s to protect the puck a little better on both ends of the ice. Joining those players, is NHL veteran Rob Niedermayer who will help captain Craig Rivet with mentoring this young Sabre’s squad. Niedermayer won the cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007 and will bring his experience to the face off circle, showing them how hard work and dedication pays off.

5) The Stars Re-emerge

With confidence in Ryan Miller in net, more grit, leadership, and new offensive talents; expect big years from a few faded stars. So far in pre-season, Derek Roy has scored 10 points in 5 games. If he can carry this production over to the regular season, the Sabre’s offense will be that much scarier. Let’s not forget this team ranked 10th in the league in goals last year. Playing with the likes of Ennis, Gerbe, and maybe even a healthy Tim Connolly should help Roy achieve that goal no problem. The Sabre’s can also rely on a healthy Thomas Vanek this year, who was sorely missing  throughout most of the playoffs because of a slash to the leg. Vanek was in a bad scoring slump last year and managed to come around the last week of the season to bring his goal total to 28 for the year. Not a terrible number, but certainly not what you’re hoping for from a 2 time 40 goal scorer. Like Roy, Vanek should benefit from his new teammates and raise his goal total back where it should be.

I don't normally drink beer, but when I do.... It's Miller Time!

6) Lindy Ruff

Perhaps the best yearly asset for the Sabre’s organization is coach Lindy Ruff. Ruff is the longest tenured coach in the NHL, having coached 13 with the Sabres. He is one of the best coaches in the league and is almost constantly in the running for the Jack Adams award. Ruff gets the most out of his players, and he certainly has developed the talent on the Sabres for several years now.

I don’t want to put my foot in my mouth, but I would have to say the Sabres win the Northeast again. Hopefully they prove me right.

An actual Bruins player

As I sit here writing this, my Sabres are 1 game away from ending their very promising 2009- 2010 NHL season. A team that was never given a chance by most writers and analysts because their roster held no superstars or household names. Even the Sabres Vezina nominated Silver medal Olympic MVP, Ryan Miller, was unrecognized until his outstanding play in the Olympics amde him a US hero. For Sabre fans Miller has been their MVP for years and has always played that way, but with the teams non playoff seasons the last two years, no one else seemed to notice. So how is that my 3rd place Buffalo team finds it self fighting off elimination against a team that truthfully doesn’t belong in the playoffs?

The Sabres were the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference finishing the season with 100 points. They did this with a balanced team of young players that have grown together through the farm system, and by rolling four lines all with the ability to score.  They were without a 30 goal scorer and a forward that scored over 70 points, but they did have 4 forwards net over 20 goals. Yet, they find themselves in a hole in these playoffs being outscored by the Boston Bruins, who ranked 30th in the league in scoring. What gives?

First, I have to aknoweledge the fact that historically the Sabres get screwed in the playoffs. I remember watching the Stanley Cup finals in 1999, fighting to stay up through three 20 minute overtime periods to see who would win the game. It was a must win game 6 for the Sabres, being that they were down 3-2 in the series. It was getting late and I was only in 7th grade and had school the next day, I had to call it a night. When I woke up next morning I was heartbroken to discover that the Dallas Stars were the Stanley Cup champions. Even worse was the game winning goal. Brett Hull was the hero, scoring on a controversial call that that many Sabre fans to this day believe should have not been awarded. Hull had his foot in the crease before gaining possession of the puck. Throughout the season, the NHL had consistantly ruled this as a no goal. However during the finals the NHL allowed the goal, and then changed the rule the next year.

Which brings me to the current Playoff series. I hate to use this as an excuse, but I have never seen such bad officiating determined the outcome of a game. Game 4 was atrocious. The Sabres were winning 2-0 going into the 3rd period, but the ref awarded Boston with a few questionable penalties. One of these powerplays resulted in a goal, and it completely took the Sabres out of the game. Once again, I really do not wan to use that as an excuse, but it does seem to me like the refs have been playing favorites.

What really needs to be adressed is the Defense. The Sabres have scored the first goal in all 4 games this series. They should not be throwing away games like they did last night, and I mostly blame the defense. The defense is a huge improvement from what it was last year and had an amazing regular season. They have even made some tremendous plays in the playoffs, but they seem to be too tired, and are guilty of giving the puck away far too often in their defensive zone. You can’t win hockey games like that.

Of course this could be overlooked if the Sabres Offense wasn’t having such a hard time lighting the lamp. I credit part of this to Bostons rookie netminder Tukka Rask, who has been outstanding. In addition to Rask, Boston plays a very defense oriented style of hockey and their players know how to shutdown opposing players.  Even so, the Sabres are not playing a full 60 minutes of hockey. They have started out flying in the first, establishing a great forecheck and winning the battles along the boards in the offensive zone. They seem to be having problems however with putting bodies in front of the net that can get to rebounds. The Sabres forwards, for the most part, are very light small skilled players, who utilize speed over strength. The worst part is, the big body they have to make a presence in front of the net is hurt. Thomas Vanek has had tons of success putting home rebounds by standing in front of the net, but he was injured in the first period of game two by a blatant hack to his knee. The penalty was called, but I thought such an action should have resulted in a suspension. Vanek also is the key to the Sabres power play, which when they do get the occassional call in their favor, has not been able to produce.

All of this just makes me frustrated, because if this team can’t win now, I’m not sure if they will within this decade. This team is run by an owner who bought the team to make a profit, and GM’s that fail to use what money they have, on big name players. Since the lockout, I have had to witness many of the Sabres stars leave the team due to free agency. Daniel Briere and Chris Drury went in the summer after they had brought the Sabre’s within one game of another Stanley Cup finals. The following summer I watched some of the Sabres better young defenseman leave. From that moment on, it was back to phase 1. Back to a GM whose confident in the talent of his farm system. While the Sabres truthfully do posess an impressive farm system, the players are either not yet NHL ready, or need a star player to guide and mentor them.

So if my Sabres lose tomorrow to the Bruins, what do I have to look forward too? The NHL draft, where one of the 2 prized skilled forwards will be picked 1st overall by the Bruins. Oh, the irony.

Essentially whats gonna happen at the draft