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The Buffalo Sabres are playing well and have better, younger options at the blueline at their disposal. Time to say goodbye to no. 4.
Just last week I was writing about how the Buffalo Sabres need to do something in order to prove that they were serious about this here rebuild we have had our eyes on for some time.
I didn’t care much what the move was – fire Dan Bylsma? Make a personnel move, either vie trade or promotion within the organization? Commit to the tank? – as long as I saw Buffalo’s front office be willing to admit that the first three months of the 2016-17 were not a success. Don’t tell me that you plan on making the playoffs, then just stand there when it’s clear your team is in over is head most nights – do something about it!
Well now the Sabres are playing something that resembles competitive hockey (knock on wood) and head into Thursday’s game against the Dallas Stars just five points out of the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference. The Sabres are scoring goals and getting points from everywhere on their roster, including the defenders not named Rasmus Ristolainen: Buffalo’s defensemen have scored 9 points during the team’s three-game winning streak, as John Vogel of The Buffalo News broke down:
As the Sabres look for a fourth straight win Thursday in Dallas, they’re getting a well-rounded performance from the defense. There have been highlight-reel goals like Zach Bogosian’s overtime winner in Montreal. There have been smart plays like Franson purposely hitting the right pad so Jack Eichel could get a rebound on the left side.
There have even been easy assists, like Taylor Fedun’s helper when he was simply the last player to touch the puck before Eichel went coast-to-coast and beat Nashville in overtime Tuesday.
We all knew that Risto was going to get his points (3-25-28, 4th best on team), but Buffalo finally has two other blueliners, Jake McCabe and Cody Franson, who have topped 10 points, while Taylor Fedun has been a pleasant, puck-moving surprise this season.
Which brings me to the biggest non-surprise of the season, Josh Gorges. When healthy, Gorges is enjoying a friendly competition with Franson over who can be the slowest, most flat-footed defenseman on the Sabres. However, unlike Franson, who has 13 points, Gorges contributes nothing to the Sabres’ offense, almost literally: he has one point in 34 games this season.
If you’re curious as to how that is possible on a team with Kyle Okposo, Ryan O’Reilly, Jack Eichel, etc., here:
Let’s keep demonstrating how ineffective is when it comes to Buffalo’s offense, shall we?
The #Sabres goals per 60 minutes when
Jake McCabe is on the ice: 2.6
Josh Gorges is on the ice: 1.2
— Joe DiBiase (@DiBiaseWGR) January 9, 2017
Updated #Sabres With and Without Records:
– BUF now 6-2-1 with Cal O’Reilly in the lineup
– Without Gorges they are 8-4-1 pic.twitter.com/KZ6IskJ2Ja— Buffalo Sabres Stats (@SabresStats) January 25, 2017
Gorges is literally a hulking anchor dragging the Buffalo Sabres’ offense into the deep abyss whenever he is on the ice. Do a search for Josh Gorges on Twitter, and you will find numerous Toronto Maple Leafs fans who are STILL thanking him for saying no to a trade that would have sent him to Toronto in 2014. Nearly three years later, and Leafs fans still feel like they dodged a bullet – because thy did.
From everything I have read, it sounds like Gorges is a great guy. Media folks seem to love him, and he wears the ‘A’ on his sweater for a reason – but the Buffalo Sabres are better without Gorges on the ice. Yes, he helped shut Connor McDavid down the two times the Sabres faced the Edmonton Oilers this season, but more often than not, you hold your breath when he is on the ice, waiting for him to lose his man in coverage or find himself woefully out of position.
The Sabres cannot expect to get much of anything in return for Gorges, but at this point, who cares? When both he and Jake McCabe get healthy, there will be no room on the Sabres roster for Fedun, and I hate to lose Fedun for Gorges – that’s subtraction by addition. And we all know that we want to see Brendan Guhle back in the 716 next season; might as well start making room on the roster for him now.
(Notice I am not insane enough to begin talking about including Gorges in a blockbuster trade that brings a legitimate top-4 defenseman into Buffalo. Not. Gonna. Happen.)
The Buffalo Sabres are by no means a perfect team, but the reality is that this team is better when Josh Gorges is not on the ice. If GM Tim Murray can find a way to squeeze some value out of Gorges, more power to him. Right now, I don’t care what the Sabres get in return for his services, as long as they can find a way to make him someone else’s problem by the trade deadline.
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