2009-2010 Regular Season Grades: Goaltenders

by Anne

Here is my assessment of both teams' goaltenders.

 #30 Ryan Miller

Buffalo Sabres

68 starts, 41W, 2.22, .929%, 5SO

I don't need to say much more about this loser. Who needs him?!

Grade: Vezina+

#31 Erik Ersberg

Los Angeles Kings

7 starts, 4W, 2.54, .906%

Ersberg's stats aren't as bad as they might seem when looking at how much he's played. He's an ok back-up.

Grade: B-

 #32 Jonathan Quick

Los Angeles Kings

72 starts, 39W, 2.52, .907%, 4SO

If it weren't for Quickie, the Kings would've been much worse off. However, his stats are not earth-shattering. He's a solid goaltender but he's not elite. He stole a few games, but not many. He also played way too many and it started to show at the end of the season.

Grade: B+

 #40 Patrick Lalime

 Buffalo Sabres

13 starts, 4W, 2.81, .907%

Yeah. Ok. He played better when put in as relief of Miller the three times it might've happened. He's ok. He and the team meshed better towards the end of the season but, meh.

Grade: B-

Also:

#45 Jonathan Bernier

Los Angeles Kings

3 starts, 3 W, 1.30, .957%, 1 SO

Look at the Kings goalies above stats and then look at these. I think the future is clear.

Grade: A+

Sabres goaltending: A-

Kings: (w/o Bernier): B

2009-2010 Regular Season Grades: Forwards (Kings)

by Anne

Both teams' goaltenders will be in a post together tomorrow because just writing a post about how great Ryan Miller is is a little overdone these days.

Today I bring you the Kings' forwards:

#11 Anze Kopitar

82gm, 34G, 47A, +6, 21:47

Kopi came out of the gates a-blazin' but quickly cooled off. For a brief time he lead the league in scoring but that didn't last once Ryan Smyth and/or Justin Williams were injured. He was still awesome most of the time.

Grade: A-

#14 Justin Williams

49gm, 10G, 19A, +3, 16:22

Big Willy Style was brought in for some veteran Cup-winning experience. When he was in the line-up, it was grand. When he wasn't, well, Kopi struggled without him and Smyttie. He only played half the season and has previously been far  more offensively productive.

Grade: B-

#15 Brad Richardson

81gm, 11G, 16A, +1, 12:50

RichardFail was not as bad as his nickname might suggest, I suppose. He was better than I anticipated he'd be. I was shocked to learn he played 81 games to be honest. He was AW-FUL for the first two months of the season, but the Christmas spirit clearly hit him and from December on, he was much better.

Grade: B+

#17 Wayne Simmonds

78gm, 16G, 24A, +22, 14:28

Wayne Simmonds rocks. Plain and simple. He does it all. He scores at a 3rd liner's rate, plays in a defensively responsible way, fights and all does it with a goofy look on his face. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the house he shares with Doughty

Grade: A

#23 Dustin Brown

82gm, 24G, 32A, -6, 19:15

A typical Brownie season but with slightly better +/-. He had his usual 3563098 hits and played decently over all. He's consistent and that's what you need from a captain.

Grade: B

 #24 Alexander Frolov

81gm, 19G, 32A, -1, 18:26

Someone recently referred to Fro as the player who invented streaky play. He was really bad at the beginning of the season but certainly turned things around as time went on. He has that typically Russian way of playing "teammates, what teammtes? Look how FAST I am!" that, I'm sure drove Terry Murray insane. Things could've been worse, but things have certainly been better (offensively anyway).

Grade:C+

 #26 Michal Handzus

81gm, 20G, 22A, +4, 18:18

Zus is a man of few words and much defensive responsibility. There are no frills to his game. He does his job and he does it well.

Grade: A-

 #28 Jarret Stoll

73gm, 16G, 31A, +13, 17:25

He and Simmer are fantastic linemates. This season Stolly's power play prowess showed more in his set-up ability for guys like Doughty and Kopitar. He had the highest % of faceoff wins of any player that took more than 20 faceoffs (he took over 1100 and 3 players took 10-20 and had higher %).

Grade: B+

#41 Raitis Ivanans

61gm, 0G, 0A, -8, 4:53

Hey, he had 136 PIM! And he gets to play in game one tonight. He's pretty much useless.

Grade: D

#63 Scott Parse

59gm, 11G, 13A, +13, 10:31

In his rookie season, Scooter has been reliable. Parse-Stoll-Simmonds is a fun checking line. They play pretty well together, as is evidenced by their strong +/- and solid point production. I loves me some checking line players. Hopefully he'll stick with it and continue to be solid in years to come.

 Grade: B

 #94 Ryan Smyth

67gm 22G, 31A, +8, 19:40

Smyttie has been a great linemate for Kopitar. It was apparent in Kopi's game when he was not there. When he wasn't there, and when Williams wasn't there either, Kopi tried to do too much and accomplished much less than he did when those two, especially Smyth, were out there. He was the dynamic winger that the Kings had been looking for the past few seasons.

 Grade: B+

The rest:

#22 Jeff Halpern

16gm, 0G, 2A, -1, 10:40

Ummm... whatevs.

Grade: C

#33 Fredrik Modin

20gm, 3G, 2A, -2, 14:54

I was expecting more from Halpern and less from Modin. He wasn't a rockstar but he was better than I expected he would be.

Grade: C+

#56 Rich Clune

14gm, 0G, 2A, +1, 7:17

Oh Clunatic. He's alright. He's a slight upgrade from Ivanans. He could turn into a Neil or a Kaleta.

Grade: C+

They were pretty decent this season. Better than last season and certainly better defensively than in previous seasons. They weren't mindblowing but they weren't terrible. Their defensive game was the biggest improvement as well as the veteran presence added at the last two deadlines and over the summer with Smyth.

Forwards overall grade: B+

What a happy line

2009-2010 Regular Season Grades: Defensemen (Kings)

by Anne

Since I love both teams (almost equally), I have to grade the Kings' season as well. Here are the defensemen up first:

 #2 Matt Greene

75gm, 2G, 7A, +4, 17:28

Greener is a stay at home defenseman and he played as one. He and O'D were a consistent shut-down 3rd pairing. Greener dished out 238 hits and blocked 126 shots. And he's my favorite.

Grade: A+++  ok, FINE: B+

#3 Jack Johnson

80gm, 8G, 28A, -15, 22:36

Hey, if Jack Johnson was better at even strength hockey, he'd be real good. He contributes a great deal offensively and 13 of his points came on the power play. I know +/- is a nebulous stat but -15 is pretty rank. He can be amazing in the offensive zone but his neutral zone play leaves much to be desired still.

Grade: B

#5 Peter Harrold

39gm, 1G, 1A, -2, 9:14

He played 39 games?! Whatevs, Harry is somewhat useful because he's a magical wizard who can play fourth line winger AND defense. Magic, I tells ya. He was fine. He's good to have in a pinch. He's really good at picking up Ivanans gloves (as seen above).

Grade: C

 #6 Sean O'Donnell

78gm, 3G, 12A, +14, 18:44

O'D had a solid but typically O'D season. Although his three goals are three more than he had last season. One he had the courtesy of scoring while I was in the building. He may be 56 (age estimated) and look like the human embodiment of Launchpad McQuack but he was solid.

Grade: A-

 #7 Rob Scuderi

73gm, 0G, 11A, +16, 19:16

Scuds, like O'D, had a typically Scuds season. He wasn't brought in to ramp up the Kings' defensive goalscoring, he was brought in to be the responsible defensive defenseman he was in Pittsburgh. He was usually paired with Drew Doughty and look how his season turned out (below). 

Grade: A-

#8 Drew Doughty

82gm, 16G, 43A, +20, 24:58

Is there anything he can't do? Nope? Nothing? Yeah that's right. Drew Doughty is awesome and totally knocked it out of the park this season, to mix my sports analogies. His points were almost 50/50 special teams and even strength (31 PP, 28 5-on-5). He even dished out 157 hits, including several beautiful textbook hipchecks. I get a little scared thinking of him and Myers together on Team Canada a few years down the line. Amazing.

Grade: A+

#12 Randy Jones

48gm, 5G, 16, -3, 18:10

Umm, well, he's a 7th defensemen that had like four good games. Mostly he and Jack Johnson made me want to claw my eyes out and drink heavily. He was handy in a pinch when Scuds was hurt earlier in the season but mostly I wish they had left him in Philadelphia because he's creepy.

Grade: C+

#44 Davis Drewiske

42gm, 1G, 7A, -4, 15:14

Drew started the season strong while being paired with Greener but it didn't take long for him to slide into the doghouse. Then he got hurt and rarely made it back into the lineup. It was his first full season with the big club and it showed. I'm not optimistic for him to crack into the top 6 next season.

Grade: C

For the most part, the Kings defense group was solid. To compare, as a group, they were better overall than the Sabres. They're all better in their own zone than they were last season, except for Jack Johnson. They're reliable and confident and that's why we get players with confidence like Drew Doughty.

Overall Defense grade: B+

My preferred Kings defense corps.
Look how happy they all are to be together!

2009-2010 Regular Season Grades: Defensemen

by Anne

I did this last season and it was fun so I'm doing it again. They haven't taken the final exam yet, but here are my grades for the team thusfar, starting with the defense corps.

#4 Steve Montador

75gm, 5G, 18A, Even, 54 hits, 17:05

All-in-all Monty was not a huge factor on defense. His five goals was about two more than I expected he'd get this season. He fell victim to the pressbox on at least one occasion this season. He wasn't great but he wasn't awful. He's a 5/6 defenseman and he played as one. Whatevs.

Grade: C

#5 Toni Lydman

67gm, 4G, 16A, +10, 126 hits, 18:51

Toni's stats are surprisingly similar to his 2006-2007 stats. He's remained consistently average over the last few seasons. He did give us one of the season's most memorable goals, however:

Grade: B

#10 Henrik Tallinder

82gm, 4G, 16A, +13, 63 hits, 20:36

The stats might not be earth shattering, and he may not be up for the Norris anytime soon, but what a season he had. He was healthy and playing with the best rookie in the NHL. He silenced the critics from last season by returning to his earlier career form. Was he the best defensemen in the NHL or on this team? No, but his rebounding has been fantastic to watch.

Grade: A-

#34 Chris Butler

59gm, 1G, 20A, -15, 20:01

What an awful season for Sir Christopher. I'm hoping this is a sophomore slump and he'll be back in better form next season. If he sees ice time in the playoffs, maybe he'll re-focus? I also don't understand how he averaged 20 minutes a game. Were there that many injuries when he played?

Grade: D

#44 Andrej Sekera

49gm, 4G, 7A, -1, 43 hits, 17:26

Reggie didn't play much. He was hurt in October and didn't really find a regular spot again. He inhabited the pressbox a great deal and didn't get back into the line-up much until Paetsch was traded and Butler was rotated into his chair. He improved from last season but didn't exactly blow my hair back.

Grade: C

#52 Craig Rivet
78gm, 1G, 14A, -6, 100 PIM, 18:13

This was one of Craigory's poorest offensive seasons. He was ok. He's been better. He was pretty under the radar most of the season. He wasn't part of many moments of extreme emotion. That would be ok if I said that about, say, Butler or Sekera, but Rivs gets a little extra pressure because he's the captain.

Grade: C+

#57 Tyler Myers

82gm, 11G, 37A, +13, 23:44

He was the 2nd best player on the team all season, he's amazing, he's going to win the Calder and we'll all be super disappointed by his sophomore slump. Whatevs, he's the best thing to happen to this team since Ryan Miller became so Ryan Miller. Myers had a few awful giveaways but always redeemed himself the next shift or the next game. He plays really well with Lindy's philosophy of: "You get a chance to redeem yourself, but just one."

Grade: Is there something higher than A+?

All in all, the defense had a mediocre season, hiding behind our top tandem of Tallinder and Myers. It's been easy to ignore their shortcomings in our Tyler Myers love fest, but it won't be easy to ignore in the playoffs. We haven't seen this defense without Myers and Tallinder. I don't want to start, but the prospect of that scares the daylights out of me. 

Defense overall grade: B-

Grading the Sabres: Goaltending

by Anne

I've decided that I don't want to just bury the season and forget about it. Instead, I've decided to grade each player based solely on how I feel they performed this season.

Next up are the goaltenders, all three of them.

Keep in mind that these grades are grading how well the player filled their role as it seems to have been defined for them from this fan's perspective.

Here they are, in numerical order:

Ryan Miller


59 games 34-18-6, .918 SV%, 2.53 GAA
5 shutouts

Miller had 34 wins in 59 games. Last season he had 36 in 76 games. If that isn't an indication of his stronger play behind a weaker defense, I'm not sure what is. He was our best player by far this season, he was consistent, he was reliable. Of course he let in a few softies, but it happens to the best of them. The team played for Miller and Miller played for them it would seem. We missed the playoffs because he was hurt, plain and simple. If he hadn't been hurt, what are the odds we wouldn't have had at least two or three more wins, enough to make the playoffs? I really can't think of anything bad that Miller did this season. He demanded a lot from his teammates. He spoke up a lot last season and this season. The biggest difference was, Miller was playing like an elite goaltender this season and he had the swagger to back up his calling out of his teammates. He signed a big contract and played to it. If he hadn't been hurt, I'm guessing he would've played around 70 games this season and based on the number of possible points he got out of the 58 games he took the win or loss in, that alone would've given us 89 points. Toss in Lalime's five wins and thee OT losses and...well... that's all I have to say about that.

Anne's Grade: A

Mikael Tellqvist


(all stats as a Sabre)
6 games 2-1 .928 sv % 2.35 GAA

Ummm... I know he only played in 6 games but his stats in Phoenix were about the same. I don't really have much to say about his play except his rebound control didn't seem phenomenal. We didn't have a huge sampling to choose from for his Sabres stats so I'm probably not thinking rationally when I ask my next question. He's been reported to be a good guy around the locker room as well. You can never have too may Swedish goaltenders in an organization, right Jhonas? So, can we keep him, Darcy? Can we?

Grade (as a Sabre): A-

Patrick Lalime

24 games 5-13-3, .900 sv%, 3.10 GAA

We needed Patty to be better. We also needed the team in front of him to score more. Its hard to place all of his sixteen losses on him, but he can't be completely let off the hook. He plays a more athletic and frantic style of goaltending and that didn't really seem to help his teammates when they're used to Mr. Calm in net. If I had to choose between keeping Lalime and Telly Monster, I'd definitely take Telly Monster. Does this mean that Lalime is bad? No, but maybe he isn't a good fit. That being said, he's still worlds better than T-Bone was.

Grade: C+

Our goalies average out to a B+. That seems about right. They allowed fewer goals than last season and if Miller can continue to play the way he did before AND after his injury and if we can have a reliable back-up (TELLY MONSTER?) for the entire season, this team will definitely make the playoffs.

These are just my grades, what are your grades? Think I'm dead on? Way off the mark? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Grading the Sabres: Defensemen

by Anne

I've decided that I don't want to just bury the season and forget about it. Instead, I've decided to grade each player based solely on how I feel they performed this season.

Next up are the defensemen. I'm grading all the defenseman that played in at least 40 games meaning Gragnani and Weber are excluded.

Keep in mind that these grades are grading how well the player filled their role as it seems to have been defined for them from this fan's perspective.

Here they are, in numerical order:

Toni Lydman

80 games, 3-20-23, 70 PIM, Even
Hits: 165
Blocked shots: 166
#1 on the team in both above categories
Average TOI: 21:46

Lydman played a lot of minutes for the Sabres and turned in an OK season. He took a lot of untimely penalties, the majority of which were not the types of penalties that one takes to stop a player on a breakaway, they were mostly sloppy hooking and holding penalties. He redeemed himself slightly with his ridiculous shootout game-winning goal against Montreal. He was fine, he wasn't our best defenseman, but he wasn't the worst. He played a pretty physical game, throwing a lot of hits and blocking a lot of shots and played the most short handed time of any defenseman and our PK had some swagger for most of the season.

Anne's Grade: B

Jaroslav Spacek


80 games, 8-37-45, 38 PIM, +2
Blocked shots: 126
Average TOI: 22:16
#1 on team in icetime
#1 scoring defenseman

Spacek had a strong season without too many obvious problems. He lead the defense in offensive output by a lot. He had 21 points more than the next highest defenseman. He manned the point on the power play decently with Pommer and was one of the best Sabres in his own zone. He's a UFA this summer and I hope desperately that we'll re-sign him. That and he's just about the only player who wore an "A" this season that I think should wear it next season (assuming Teppo retires). Also, he brought us the pigeon. What more does one need to know? He tied a career high in points and set a new career high in assists.

Anne's Grade: A-

Henrik Tallinder


66 games, 1-11-12, 36 PIM, -2
Average TOI: 18:46

Tallinder had a forgettable season that consisted of a few too many horrifying turnovers and earned him some time in the press box. He was fairly sloppy this season. However, he played a lot of minutes on the penalty kill which was pretty good throughout most of the season, so for that he slightly redeems some of his not so good 5 on 5 play. Offense is obviously not his game but he only registered 35 shots throughout his entire 66 games. Just put it on net and see what happens, Hank! He doesn't play a very physical game. When he's paired with Toni, who does play a physical game, it would be nice if Hank could try to be little better with getting the puck into the other team's zone without turning it over at the blueline and allowing point blank shots on Ryan Miller that he isn't prepared for at all. He was better in the previous three seasons.

Anne's Grade: C

Teppo Numminen


57 games, 2-15-17, 22 PIM, -4
Average TOI: 17:30

Teppo Numminen is 40 years old, had open heart surgery and has played in more NHL games than any other European trained player. He is above my petty grades and observations. He will probably retire and I think its probably for the best. Even if he does retire, he's made it perfectly clear that Buffalo is his home, whether he is a Buffalo Sabre of the present or the past. But, I shall grade him nonetheless

Anne's Grade: B-

Chris Butler


47 games, 2-4-6, 18 PIM +11
Average TOI: 16:43
#1 in defensemen in +/-

Butts turned a three game December call-up into a great rookie campaign. There were a few terrifyingly bad rookie mistakes that drew the ire of Sabres fans and writers alike, but he more than redeemed himself down the stretch. Being paired with Rivet and sometimes with Numminen has probably done wonders for his career. You could tell Rivs was rubbing off on Butler because, at times, Butler the rookie was the one in the crease making sure that the opposing team didn't sneak in any extra whacks with their sticks on Miller. He was one of precious few Sabres that exceeded expectations and he impressed coaching and management so much that his three game call-up became 47 games as a top 6 defenseman. I look forward to what he has to offer in the future.

Anne's Grade: A-

Andrej Sekera


69 games, 3-16-19, 22 PIM -11
Average TOI: 20:42

Reggie went through some seriously terrifyingly bad stretches this season and never really went through any stretches of brilliance. He had the usual sophomore growing pains of his first full season in the big show and it showed. He was touted early on in the season as our top puck moving defenseman but never came close to living up to that expectation. He pinched a few more times than he should have and he was a healthy scratch a few times in the hopes of shaking the cobwebs out. We needed and expected him to be better this season.

Anne's Grade: C

Craig Rivet


64 games 2-22-24, 125 PIM, +4
Average TOI: 20:14
#1 on team in PIM

Rivs brought a phyiscal presence whenever he was on the ice, which unfortunately he was not for 18 games this season. For many of the games he was playing before having knee surgery, he was playing hurt, and not many players play their best physical game when they're playing hurt. Also, when he and Paul Gaustad and Adam Mair weren't on the ice, and some times even Chris Butler, there was pretty much no one standing up for people creeping up on Miller's crease. I mean, every team clusters around the goal crease, but there wasn't really anyone else who took serious exception to it. By his personal standards, Rivs didn't have the best season offensively and, as a right handed shot, one of the precious few we have on our team, we could've used a little more offense from him. He lead the team in penalty minutes and won most of his fights handily. I'm not grading him as a captain, I'm grading him as a defenseman, keep that in mind.

Anne's Grade: B+

I didn't grade Nathan Paetsch because he only played in 23 games. If I were to grade him, he would be an incomplete.

Overall, this averages to a B-. The defense allowed more shots per game this season. Last year it was 28.4, this year, 31.4. That's a lot of shots. Fortunately most of the time our goaltender was on his game... when he wasn't hurt... and we managed to actually have a lower total goals against... no thanks to our defense. There weren't as many injuries to our blueline this season which makes this season even sadder. With the exception of a brief stretch in late 2008, we had at least 6 healthy defensemen for most of the season... and we still ended the season in exactly the same spot. The grade of B- seems oddly generous.

Fun Fact: We are waayyy better against our own division than against other divisions. Problem with scouting? Not getting prepared enough for these out of division and out of conference games? Coaching issue? I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

These are just my grades, what are your grades? Think I'm dead on? Way off the mark? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Next Up: Goaltending

Grading the Sabres: Forwards

by Anne

I've decided that I don't want to just bury the season and forget about it. Instead, I've decided to grade each player based solely on how I feel they performed this season.

I'm starting with the forwards just because. I'm only going to be grading the forwards that played at least 40 games meaning Peters, Gerbe, Kennedy, Kotalik, and Mancari are all exempt.

Keep in mind that these grades are grading how well the player filled their role as it seems to have been defined for them from this fan's perspective.

Here they are, in numerical order:

Derek Roy

82 games, 28-42-70, 38 PIM, -5
Faceoff win %: 50.7
9 PPG 2nd on team
Average TOI: 21:11

Royzie once again lead the team in points but was 11 off from his total last season, yet played in more games. He, like most of the forwards seemed to have trouble finding chemistry with his linemates, but more than once connected with Dan Paille for some amazing goals. Had his usual flashes of brilliance, interspersed with moments of defensive irresponsibility. He's certainly had better seasons but he was #9 in the league in faceoffs taken, so that's pretty impressive. Although, like many other centers, he's not very good at short-handed faceoffs. However, in one of the last games he won like 85% of his total faceoffs. Dang.

Anne's Grade: B

Dominic Moore


18 games, 1-3-4, 23 PIM, -1
Faceoff win %: 54.1
Average TOI: 16:50

Eh. He won some faceoffs but unless we played Toronto he seemed mostly emotionless and not physical at all. I don't want to re-sign him. He had a crazy high number of missed shots, like more than double most of his teammates. He set a career high in goals but not while he was in Buffalo. He didn't do much that was memorable, is basically what I'm saying about Dominic. He had a great season up in Toronto but I don't think he really added much to the team. Basically we gave up someone that was clutch in shootouts and got someone who was clutch in faceoffs but weren't all that helpful in many other situations.

Anne's Grade: C+

Tim Connolly


48 Games, 18-29-47, 22 PIM, +12
Lead team in +/-
Faceoff Win %: 42.1
Average TOI: 19:07

The same things we always say still hold true for Timmy, he's a magician on the ice... if he can just stay healthy. He apparently battled a slight wrist sprain at the end of the season but played through it. He signed a contract extension that makes many people in Buffalo light-headed but has still produced at almost a point per game pace (check out THAT alliteration). When he plays his game, he makes other players around him better and that's what we need. His faceoff % is not very impressive but he's good and for the games he was in he played that way.

Anne's Grade: A-

Dan Paille


73 games, 12-15-27, 20 PIM, Even
Average TOI: 11:54

It was unreasonable to expect Dan Paille to score 19 goals again. That was kind of a fluke last season. However, he had lengthy stretches this season where he just seemed to disappear altogether. He was scratched several times but in the end had a decent third liner season. He didn't take a lot of penalties and set up at least two shorthanded goals by Thomas Vanek. He filled his role. He was starting to really go into the corners with more enthusiasm as the season went on. He could use his body more, because when he does, he makes an impact.

Anne's Grade: B

Drew Stafford


79 games, 20-25-45, 29 PIM, +3
9 PPG - 2nd on team
Average TOI: 15:37

After a painfully slow start to the season, Staffy ended up setting new highs in goals and assists. When Vanek and Gaustad were down, Lindy tapped Staffy to be one of the guys in front of the net on the powerplay and after a terrifyingly bad first game with him at the front, he picked it up and really improved his ability to tip the puck in. As the season wore on, he started to show signs of becoming the player the Sabres drafted 13th overall in 2004. Fun fact: Staffy has never finished below +3 since turning pro in 2006.

Anne's Grade: B+

Adam Mair


75 Games, 8-11-19, 95 PIM, +4
Face off win % 48.3
Average TOI: 10:34

Mairsy set a career high in goals and +/-. I really don't have much to add about Mairsy other than he had a great fourth liner season. We could've done without the theatrics in October but those were hilarious and entertaining anyway. Like his other fellow centers, he could bulk up his face off numbers. The brief time of the line of Mair-Moore-Gaustad was a little strange but they were a good combination. I don't know that they would be a good line for the future but what they did while they were together was create a lot of pressure. Mairsy's good at that.

Anne's Grade: A-

Thomas Vanek


73 games, 40-24-64, 44 PIM, -1
20 PPG #1 on team, #1 in the league
2 SHG #1 on team
Average TOI: 17:11

Vanek broke out of the starting gates on fire and then cooled off. Then he was hurt and didn't really regain his form after coming back from his jaw injury. Like Royzie, he seemed to struggle with chemistry with linemates. I personally would enjoy a line of Pie - Royzie - Vanek but that's just me. Remember when Vanek was a +47? He needs to improve his 5 on 5 game and continue to improve his defensive game. He was clutch...sometimes... but not often enough. Much has been made of his time missed but he only missed nine games throughout the season. Imagine how different that time would've been if we'd had a healthy Tim Connolly earlier in the season. How many more goals would have been scored?

Anne's Grade: B+

Paul Gaustad


62 games, 12-17-29, 108 PIM, +4
141 hits
Faceoff win %: 52.7
Average TOI: 16:06

The Goose has always been a player about intangibles. We all know about his locker room comments after that repulsive game against the Caps in December. He set a career high in goals this season and scored his first NHL short-handed goal. He's just about the only player in recent memory to actually improve after signing a long contract. He definitely should be wearing an A next season. Take away Hecht's and give it to Goose.

Anne's Grade: A-

Jason Pominville


82 games, 20-46-66, 18 PIM, -4
Average TOI: 19:45

Jason had a pretty weak season. As did the rest of our "top 6" players, except for maybe Timmy, and he only played for 48 games. Pommer played every game but definitely struggled more than last season. Where was our kick-ass captain and his defensively responsible play? I don't think anyone would've believed he was nominated for the Selke based on this season's play. He ate up a lot of ice time and somewhat successfully manned the point on the power play. We needed more from him. It took him until the very last game to get the 20 goal mark.

Anne's Grade: C

Pat Kaleta


51 Games, 4-5-9, 89 PIM, +1
137 hits

Patty had a lot of neck/head injuries which hampered his season. He didn't make much of an impact this season and there really isn't a whole lot to say about it. He played an ok season by 3rd/4th line standards, but mostly it was overshadowed by his injuries. 137 hits in 51 games is nothing to sneeze at. Patty knows his role and played it well. Unfortunately he suffered a lot of damage because of it.

Anne's Grade: B

Matt Ellis


45 games, 7-5-12, 12 PIM, +4
Average TOI: 8:49

Matt Ellis was a healthy scratch or in Portland for most of the season but when he did play he made way more of an offensive impact than I think any Sabres fan expected him to. He was one of precious few Sabres that actually exceeded expectations this season. A solid fourth line player with a great attitude and a great work ethic. Ellis came to play every night, he never took a shift off and never quit. He filled his role as it was asked of him and then some including his first multi-goal NHL game and came amazingly close to scoring a hat trick. He actually took 239 faceoffs and won 46.9% of them, in spite being a natural winger.

Anne's Grade: A

Clarke MacArthur


71 games, 17-14-31, 56 PIM, -4
Average TOI: 13:50

MacArthur was scratched for several games this season to jumpstart his game and he managed to produce a decent first full season in the big leagues. He produced more goals than expected, and at the beginning of the season he was our #2 goal scorer. Most of the season he was pretty under the radar... mostly because he wasn't doing all that much.

Anne's Grade: B-

Jochen Hecht


70 games, 12-15-27, 33 PIM, -9
Faceoff win %: 43.7
Average TOI: 17:23

Punch me in the, face Jochen Hecht was awful this season. Aw. ful. Get the letter off that man's sweater. He was, in my opinion, the biggest disappointment of the season. Last year he took 229 shots. This year? 173. I don't think its a coincidence that both he and Pommer, former perma-linemates, had pretty lame seasons. Ugh.

Grade: D

Maxim Afinogenov


48 games, 6-14-20, 20 PIM, -7
Average TOI: 12:36

There is nothing to say about Max that hasn't already been said.

Grade: D-

Overall this averages out to a B-. The team scored a few more goals than last season and our top three goal scorers were the same. Last year Pommer, Royzie and Vanek combined for 95 goals. This year? 88. Not so bad when you combine the three. Two of our top five goal scorers last year were Kotalik (23) and Hecht (22) This year? Kotalik is gone and Hecht scored 12.

This year the forwards were a combined -4. Last year the forwards that played 40+ games were a combined +5.

I could go on, but I won't because it takes too long to compare all these stats. Basically the grinders were good and the scorers were mostly average.

How would you grade the forwards? Think I'm totally off the mark? Dead on? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Next up: Defensemen