Sabres need to do better in Portland as deadline approaches
Published on: 3rd March, 2009 by Chris Roy
Portland, ME – The natives are getting restless with the Portland Pirates and some of the blame has to be placed squarely on the shoulders of the Pirates’ NHL parent club, the Buffalo Sabres.
The Pirates are heading into the final full month of the regular season and while they’d like be making a strong push up the standings, they’ve been a sinking ship for the better part of two months and the playoffs are no longer a sure a thing as they might have looked at the beginning of the season.
No one can fault the effort of the Pirates nor should they as they have given their all in every game, even games that have been complete stinkers. However, that said, it’s perfectly ok and expect to evaluate the team from a talent prospective and the question does have to be asked.
Does this team have enough talent to compete on a night in, night out basis in the American Hockey League?
When the puck dropped in October, it would have been a resounding yes. The Pirates are a team stocked with talent and no one in the AHL could compete with them. If you asked that same question now, the answer wouldn’t be so resounding.
The Pirates have skated with five defensemen for a large part of the season and the Sabres have done nary a thing that about it.
To be fair, who could have seen the Pirates go without the services of Mike Card, Mike Funk and now Mike Weber, but that doesn’t change the fact that Buffalo recalled Chris Butler and have had eight healthy defensemen, while the Pirates have to scrap the ECHL barrel for warm bodies.
How does that benefit Mike Kostka or Marc-Andre Gragnani when they are forced to play significantly more minutes, in a schedule that often see the Pirates play four games in five nights or three games in three days?
It doesn’t help. It wears them out to the point where they make mistakes, not learning the Sabres way of doing things and it creates a potential hazard for injury because players are not aware of their surroundings.
It’s ok to admit that Chris Butler has earned a spot on the Sabres blueline. No one will argue that he shouldn’t be playing in the NHL, but not at the expense of Nathan Paetsch or Teppo Numminen because Sabres’ GM Darcy Regier’s inability to make to a trade or roster move because he doesn’t want to play X or Y.
That’s just the fact of business. Ask the Los Angeles Kings how they feel about losing Matt Ellis in October.
While the Pirates current role is to develop players for the Sabres, it’s not their sole purpose.
The Pirates are in the entertainment business. They exist to provide entertainment for the residents of the Greater Portland area and Southern Maine and while many in Buffalo land may not like to hear this, developing player’s is secondary in the minds of those who sit in the stands.
As the paying customer, they are the one’s who matter.
The trade deadline is Wednesday and Regier has indicated that they are looking at making moves. This will be good first step, as he will have an opportunity to extend a sign of goodwill to the fan base in Portland.
A defenseman would be a good place to start.
This is only a shot over the bow of the Sabres, as many Pirates’ fans will remember last season when the Pirates were struggling under the Anaheim Ducks banner.
Ducks’ GM Brian Burke knew he needed to do something so he struck a deal with the Norfolk Admirals to bring veteran defenseman Jay Leach in exchange for Brandon Segal.
At the time, the trade was questioned, but it may have been the best trade made by Burke that season because it turned the Pirates fortunes around. It settled a young defensive squad that was in over their head. Just getting Leach into the lineup help settle down Brendan Mikkelson, Brett Festerling and Brian Salcido – all who have gone on to the NHL at times this season. It gave the Pirates what they needed as they’d make a late May run into the playoffs missing the Calder Cup Finals by one game – some would say by one period of play.
It would be nice to see the Pirates get back into that position with a chance to finish what they started regardless if it was the Anaheim Ducks or Buffalo Sabres. It will be interesting to see if Regier has the same willingness to help out the Portland Pirates as Brian Burke did as GM of the Anaheim Ducks.
Only time will tell, but Pirates fans will be watching.
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Been an Amerks season ticket holder for 20 yrs. Was also a Sabres fan until new ownership took over a few years ago. Its kind of funny about the article at the top, a very similar article could have been in our paper a few years back.All I can say is you better hope you have better luck with them then we did. I’m not real impressed with Florida. We started out horrifically but have continued to improve and although we wont make the playoffs this year. Our relationship with Florida is improving continually and so is our team. I feel good about the direction we are going now. If Buffalo treats you like they treated us the last few years all I can say is GOOD LUCK.
Its impossible to prove, but many fans from other teams disagree that your division is the toughest…quite the opposite.
Christopher,
This is a site that is focused on hockey in Maine, but anybody has the right to read and post their thoughts on what think.
It is not for you, me or anybody else to tell them what they should think.
Please remember that in the future if you wish to post comments on this site.
hey bob
Portland is 3rd and has been challenging for the DIV, more than Rochester has, despite the roster turnover and these injuries, to Funk, Card, and Weber
the 8 goalies we’ve used due to the loss of Dennis and we’re still challenging in what is probably the toughest division consistently
sorry, bob but I have no sympathy for Rochester and their fanbase we dont or have never have had issues w/ players like MANCARI, afaik, Kaleta is a non-issue, the issue is why does BUF Have 8 D and we have 4, now w/ Weber done
did you forget this is primarily a POR site, we’ll defend all past, current or future Pirates.
Uh, Eric, we easily could’ve stayed w/ ANA, IF THEY HAD CHOSEN TO, Name one other organization that has at least made a conference Final 2 of the last 3, what has ROC done, EASILY COULD’VE FOLDED 2 years ago
Christopher – the ownership situation is all settled now. The Amerks lead the WORLD in man-games lost to injuries (8 last game alone)…so please don’t whine to me about that. We’ve lost 2 players to waivers, 2 to Europe and a million to injuries. Florida has been very reasonable with callups though. Been a tough year for sure, but at least we have a team with some heart this season.
Buffalo did get you Darche and Ellis to try and prove a point.. those 2 would never have been signed if Rochester were still their farm club. Buffalo thinks development ONLY is the way to go. We both live in cities that take pride in their AHL teams winning in the playoffs…you’ll see you won’t have that with the current Buffalo regime.
Also, Florida has had sole possession of the Amerks for 60 games….so kinda a dumb question you ask…no? Neither Portland nor Rochester will win many if any playoff games this year.
The bottom line is Buffalo is only 75 miles away from Rochester and when they struggled a few years back a great local businessman swooped in and saved them. He aggressively started to market in Rochester and we basically have had our hockey fans stolen. When Rochester averaged 8k and Buffalo 12k that was not good for Buffalo. Buffalo does not want the Amerks to be successful…its bad business for them. Would you like to be in that situation Christopher? Where bumper stickers and hats around town now say Buffalo instead of Rochester IN Rochester?
1996….SCOREBOARD
Look Christopher, Eric isn’t trying to pick a fight with you. I’m firmly with him. This is the 10th Amerk season I’ve been in Rochester for and its the first time I’m a devoted fan. Why? Because of ass-clowns like Mancari and Kaleta. Because the only player willing to stand up for anybody two years ago was Craig Anderson, the goalie. Eric and I can be proud of these guys when they do win (which is more often than Portland since thanksgiving).
no it’s not FLA cannot even run a professional organization to save its life, Eric, when no one stepped in to deal w/ them, they were essentially assigned to ROC, YOUR local ownership has won what since Florida’s taken sole possession of the Americans, last I saw POR’s at least competing for a playoff spot despite everything’s happening loss of players to season ending injuries, the rotation of recalls and we’re still competing for a playoff berth while it’s another long non playoff season for ROC… WE DON’T HAVE OWNERSHIP TURMOIL either
Thats my point Christopher……despite what you say I STILL don’t miss Buffalo. Florida at least has a physical group of character guys…not the finesse european type that Buffalo likes to draft. Buffalo hasn’t done well by us since 1993. We did well for years because we bought a core of our own vets. Local ownership stretched itself too thin and could no longer buy enough players……thus the dual affiliation. Next year, we’ll be back to buying our own core, which will complement this hungry group we have here nicely.
what, Florida has way worse organizational capacity than Buffalo has, Eric, why do you think San Antonio ownership got sick of them controlling the shots which incidently they have since joining Rochester even when BUF was the primary
Lets put it this way: I’m a big Amerk fan and despite our bad start this season, I’m happy that Buffalo is gonzo. I feel bad for you, and I doubt that the likes of Mark Mancari have given their “all”…unless “all” means avoiding corners.
then why is BUF here to begin with,Derek, answer that for this market??????
And it’s Numminen.
I’m 95% sure that Darcy won’t be helping Portland much come Wednesday.