I think it's different. Neither Sekera nor Weber were asked to do much in those early games. Sekera did show some promise, but he was a puck-moving defenseman, of which they already had a lot of, and obtained even more over the years. He's an okay defenseman even now, but never turned into that special player we all hoped he'd be. Weber was always dumb as a rock, even when he looked "good" in 2008. The fact that he was "physical" simply enamored everybody so much, because the team needed a player of that mold, that everyone giddily decided it was okay to ignore the fact that he took himself out of position almost every time he went to lay a hit. McNabb is a hell of a lot more sound positionally than Weber ever was. - buffalofan19
Sekera was our best defenseman last year, by far. Better than Myers. Better than Ehrhoff. He was our best defenseman last year.
Location: Wonderful things can happen when you sow seeds of distrust in a garden full of (bum)holes Joined: 07.01.2007
Jul 17 @ 12:34 PM ET
sekera played an average of over 19 and a half minutes in 07-08
mcnabb played less then 18 minutes per game last year
(not trying to start a pissing contest) - homiedclown
Right, but it was very clear they simplified their system when they were in the lineup. The forwards seemed less intent on putting offensive pressure when they were out there. They logged long minutes, but they didn't really log hard minutes.
Location: I don't want to say Greztky was a dude when I was watching. Mentalorgasm5 , NY Joined: 07.16.2006
Jul 17 @ 12:35 PM ET
He is Zhitnik, 2.0. Except Alex was 10x stronger.
Grab the puck behind his net, weave in and out of traffic, enter the offensive zone, skate 100mph past the opposition's net and...cough up the puck. - Powerslave
Or lose it at the blueline and cross check the guy in the face.
I thought Sekera was more than okay this year given the fact that the forward group was mediocre to terrible for the majority of the year. That was the most underwhelming corps of forwards this team has had since before the 2003 trade deadline. The defense corps was both expected to keep pucks out of the zone, and compensate for the forwards' incompetency at the offensive end. You're never going to be successful with that, no matter how good or bad you are. If you get better forward play, you'll also get much, much better play from players like Andrej Sekera as well. - buffalofan19
agreed, sekera has been a tad bit better the last two years and the deer in the headlight look has been seen less often
I would still like to see him get more time on the second team pp to get more confidence
Location: "___________ stinks."-Sabres89, NY Joined: 07.26.2008
Jul 17 @ 12:35 PM ET
Sekera was our best defenseman last year, by far. Better than Myers. Better than Ehrhoff. He was our best defenseman last year. - theblueandgold
I disagree. I think minus the first month of the season, Ehrhoff was our best D man. When he was out of the lineup, we were a much different team. That says something.
I think it would be ok to not have to put every player under the Ryan Kessler litmus test before bringing them in, as well. There are guys in the league who are better at offense than they are at defense, even by a wide margin.
Thing is, you need offense to win as well. - nfph
this. not every player does everything amazingly. u build a line with 3 players who compliment each others strenths and cover each others weaknesses. ott-briere-pommer is a perfect mixture with each player bringing a neccesary element. just like the foligno-ennis-staff line has the potential to do if anyone of them can become deffensively responsible.
Location: Wonderful things can happen when you sow seeds of distrust in a garden full of (bum)holes Joined: 07.01.2007
Jul 17 @ 12:37 PM ET
agreed, sekera has been a tad bit better the last two years and the deer in the headlight look has been seen less often
I would still like to see him get more time on the second team pp to get more confidence - homiedclown
Now that Roy is gone, the idea of putting a forward at the point should go away. They have nobody that can really run that right now, except maybe Pominville, but he's better served down low.
Grab the puck behind his net, weave in and out of traffic, enter the offensive zone, skate 100mph past the opposition's net and...cough up the puck. - Powerslave
sekera does not make the refs duck when he shoots though
never saw a d man fire as many bombs 40 feet wide of the net as Z
Now that Roy is gone, the idea of putting a forward at the point should go away. They have nobody that can really run that right now, except maybe Pominville, but he's better served down low. - buffalofan19
Location: Arriving Somewhere But Not Here Joined: 02.10.2011
Jul 17 @ 12:39 PM ET
sekera does not make the refs duck when he shoots though
never saw a d man fire as many bombs 40 feet wide of the net as Z - homiedclown
Hilarious!
The one year my wife and I counted how many Sabres players, opposition players, on-ice officials and fans in the crowd he took out, and it was ridiculous. I think he put Satan out for a while.
He still had better aim than Gilles Hamel, though!
Location: Wonderful things can happen when you sow seeds of distrust in a garden full of (bum)holes Joined: 07.01.2007
Jul 17 @ 12:40 PM ET
agreed - homiedclown
While it can obviously always still improve, I have a hard time believing that any NHL coach wouldn't think he could be successful with Buffalo's defense corps, assuming that his forwards are on the right side of helpless.
