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2014-15 Team Stats--February |
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Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray has stated time and again that he wants to see the team progress and wants to see improvement in his players.
"Progress" and "improvement" are broad terms and their definitions can vary wildly, even within the organization. John Vogl of the Buffalo News writes that the schism between Murray and head coach Ted Nolan is widening perhaps because of disagreements concerning "progress" and "improvement."
"The philosophical differences between Tim Murray and Ted Nolan have raised questions about the coach’s future," wrote Vogl this morning. "Using football injury terms, Nolan ranges from questionable to doubtful. Some have already downgraded him to out." In layman's terms, Vogl says the coach went from having a 50% chance of getting canned to a 75% chance.
Although I'm of the opinion that for this season any progress from a team standpoint should be minute, perhaps others feel that this team should be much farther along and winning more games. There's confusion as to just what kind of job Nolan has done thus far. Has he done a great job with the limited talent he's been given? Did he loose his team at some point in December causing them to tumble to the bottom of the league? Are he and Murray on the same page?
There' also questions as to the role Murray played, and is playing, in all of this and what he will do personnel-wise within the next 28 hours. Will Murray "manipulate" his team's standing at the deadline by shipping out every last bit of talent he can by 3pm tomorrow?
And then there's the case of "philosophical differences" and what exactly Vogl is alluding to.
There are a ton of questions now and there will be even more as we head plow our way through the next 19 games. There will be salvo's thrown and fights waged, but the bottom line is that this edition of the Buffalo Sabres was destined to land at the bottom of the league. The word "tank" may not be in Nolan's vocabulary, or so we're lead to believe, and you certainly won't find it in the players. Nor is it something you'd want from those at ice-level.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Sabres head coach Ted Nolan has done an outstanding job this season. Back during their 10-3 run, he showed the players what can happen if they followed his lead. It was a classic Nolan-coached team where belief overcame lack of talent. From mid-December through January when the team took a nose-dive to the bottom of the league, he showed Murray and Co. that he can focus upon the future, most notably the upcoming 2015 draft.
And during these last few weeks of February with the trade deadline looming, he got his tradeable assets to buy into the notion that the better they play, the better their position will be for a trade to a contender. They played well, and unfortunately for tank-nation, that, coupled with some sleeping opponents gave the Sabres some wins.
That being said, he didn't leave players like Chris Stewart or Michal Neuvirth looking at desolation row in the rear-view mirror, he gave them a glimpse of what this team has as a foundation for the future. If either or both of them are traded and re-sign in the off season, Nolan should be given credit for how he handled the individual players caught up in this situation.
The team stats haven't changed much from January to February as the Buffalo Sabres rank last in every category save for a few. They're still 29th in wins and the penalty kill. Thanks to some pretty solid goaltending they've moved up to 29th in goals against average as well.
Other areas have shown negligible movement, but for the most part it's been status quo.
The Sabres head into the month of March with 13 games on tap, six of them versus teams presently in a playoff spot. They'll also be up against Arizona GM Don Maloney and his subordinate, Darcy "Erwin Rommel" Regier as the desert edition of tank-nation plays Buffalo twice later in the month.
As internet battles are being waged and the Whiner Line is at critical mass, here are some quotes from Murray in his first few days after being named GM of the Buffalo Sabres. They're words I've been using as the frame work of a manic 2014-15 season.
From his introductory presser:
--"You build a team through the draft. Good drafting [also] allows you to trade well. You may trade draft picks for established young players. And that's still a part of the rebuilding process they're young and fit the mold of what you're trying to do here."
--"This team's in last place right now, everyone can be traded."
And from WGR the day after he was named GM:
--"The plan is to improve and get better," he said. "You have to watch the team every day and you have to judge. Are you getting better and by how much? There will come a time next season where we might be five spots higher in the standings than we are now, but spinning our wheels long-term.
"The trade deadline comes around, and I don't want to say "manipulate" where you're going to finish, but you make decisions based upon looking a little farther ahead in the future."
The 2015 trade deadline has "come around."
Cheers!
Buffalo Sabres Team Stats:
Wins
--October: 2 (29th)...(NHL Leader--ANA, 9)
--November: 8 (27th)...(NYI, 17)
--December: 14 (T-24th)...(CHI, 25)
--January: 14 (29th)...(ANA, 32)
--February: 19 (29th)...(NSH, 41)
Points
--October: 5 (29th)...(ANA, 18)
--November: 18 (27th)...(NYI, 34)
--December: 31 (28th)...(ANA, 54)
--January: 31 (30th)...(ANA, 70)
--February: 43 (30th)...(NSH, 89)
Points Percentage
--October: .227 (29th)...(MTL, .773)
--November: .375 (27th)...(PIT, .739)
--December: .408 (28th)...(NSH, .708)
--January: .310 (30th)...(NSH, .708)
--February: .341 (30th)...(NSH, .706)
Atlantic Division Standing
--October: 8th...(MTL)
--November: 8th...(TBL)
--December: 8th...(TBL)
--January: 8th...(TBL)
--February: 8th...(MTL)
Eastern Conference Standing
--October: 16th...(MTL)
--November: 14th (PIT)
--December: 14th (TBL)
--January: 16th (TBL)
--February: 16th (MTL)
League Standing
--October: 29th...(ANA)
--November: 27th..(PIT)
--December: 28th...(ANA)
--January: 30th...(ANA)
--February: 30th (NSH)
Goal Differential
--October: -24
--November: -33...(PIT, +26)
--December: -52...(CHI, +39)
--January: -85...(CHI, +40)
--February: -89...(TBL, +40)
Goals/Game
--October: 1.09 (30th)...(PIT, 4.00)
--November: 1.67 (30th)...(TBL, 3.50)
--December: 1.84 (30th)...(TOR, 3.29)
--January: 1.76 (30th)...(TBL, 3.22)
--February: 1.84 (30th)...(TBL, 3.25)
Shots/Game
--October: 21.2 (30th)...(CHI, 38.1)
--November: 22.3 (30th)...(CHI, 36.1)
--December: 23.2 (30th)...(CHI, 35.4)
--January: 22.9 (30th)...(CHI, 35.1)
--February: 22.9 (30th)...(CHI, 34.3)
Goals against/Game
--October: 3.27 (21st)...(ANA, 1.83)
--November: 3.12 (27th)...(NSH, 1.96)
--December: 3.34 (29th)...(CHI, 2.08)
--January: 3.56 (30th)...(MTL, 2.23)
--February: 3.32 (29th)...(MTL, 2.14)
Shots against/Game
--October: 36.7 (30th)...(MIN, 23.2)
--November: 36.5 (30th)...(MIN, 25.8)
--December: 35.4 (30th)...(MIN, 26.5)
--January: 35.0 (30th)...(MIN, 26.9)
--February: 35.3 (30th)...(MIN, 26.8)
Powerplay
--October: 2.9% (29th)...(PIT, 39.5)
--November: 7.2 (30th)...(PIT, 31.6)
--December: 9.4 (30th)...(CLB, 24.4)
--January: 11.4 (30th)...(DET, 25.6)
--February: 11.5 (30th)...(DET, 25.0)
Penalty Kill
--October: 85.4% (9th)...(DET, 94.1)
--November: 77.0 (25th)...(CHI, 91.3)
--December: 76.7 (27th)...(CHI, 90.5)
--January: 73.7 (29th)...(CHI, 87.6)
--February: 75.1 (29th)...(CAR, 88.2)
Faceoff Percentage
--October: 41.4 (30th)...(CAR, 54.4)
--November: 41.0 (30th)...(MTL, 55.9)
--December: 44.5 (30th)...(DET, 55.1)
--January: 45.2 (30th)...(STL, 54.0)
--February: 45.5 (30th)...(BOS, 53.8)
--Bottom five teams in the league, their point total and their records for the previous month.
January:
26. Columbus Blue Jackets, 45 points; 5-8-0
27. Carolina Hurricanes, 40; 7-3-2
28. Arizona Coyotes, 40; 3-7-2
29. Edmonton Oilers, 35; 5-6-1
30. Buffalo Sabres, 31; 0-12-0
Of note. The Toronto Maple Leafs are in 24th place with 48 points. They finished the month of January with a 1-11-1 record. After beating Columbus for their lone win of the month on January 9th, the Leafs proceeded to finish the month with an 0-8-1 record
February:
26. Carolina, 55 points; 7-4-1
27. Toronto, 55, 3-7-1
28. Arizona, 47, 3-10-1
29. Edmonton, 46, 5-7-1
30. Buffalo, 43, 5-6-2
Of Note. The Arizona Coyotes are barreling to the bottom of the league thanks to a nine game, and counting, losing streak. Last night they just traded Antoine Vermette to Chicago for futures. Edmonton lost Taylor Hall on Feb. 9 and he'll be out for at least another two weeks. In his absence ht Oilers are 3-6-0. The "Center of the Hockey Universe" is all-in on a rebuild and "Leafs Nation" is now in full-fledged tank mode having gone 4-18-2 for 2015, easily the worst record of any team in the league.
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