Why is the Population stagnant?

Be sure to check out my chat in Friday's paper with Jason Pominville, who is stuck in quite a rut with one goal in 16 games -- and that one was an empty-netter. For all the great things Thomas Vanek has done most of the season and Derek Roy has done this month, the Sabres need Pominville close to elite status if they want to get anywhere come April.

He had 34 goals two years ago, 27 goals and a career-high 80 points last year. This season, he's stuck on nine goals with 17 assists and don't forget that his big new contract kicks in next year.

What's the problem with Pominville? Too much attention to his line because Vanek is on it? Misses Tim Connolly? Needs to get off the point on the power play? Something else?

---Mike Harrington

Comments

[Tim]

Being on the point isn't necessarily his problem, but it might be something that helps him out. But I think the real problem is the guy playing between him and Vanek. Hecht is not a first-line center and the fact that he is playing that position has been bringing down Pominville's production. Hecht works well on Pominville's wing. But as his center, he's not producing.

[dcs]

I think Tim nailed it. Hecht does not work well as a center. It negatively affects the entire line. Also, Pomminville hasn't had anything near a consistent line all year. While we're talking about his play on the point, I have to ask if I'm the only one who cringes everytime he's back there on the PP. But that goes for anyone playing back there. Why, oh why, are the points on the PP so darn disappointing?

[Buffalo Bill]

The NHL game the last two years has not been about speed, but who can crash the net, get rebounds and score goals. Pominville, much like Maximum Afinigenov is mostly a player who plays on the perimeter. When was the last time you saw the "census counter" #29 go to the net with the will and determination he showed in the winning Ottawa playoff series in 2006? It has been a while. Sometimes success and a big contract can make players go soft and make them forget the hard work, sacrifice, bumps and bruises that got them to the big show. Anyway, what's with that big gold chain on his neck? Sure doesn't fit in a blue collar town like Buffalo.

[Don H]

All players go through dry periods when their scoring is down and everyone crys: "what's wrong?" Even Vanek is going through one now. They are not machines that produce the same way every game. Pominville may get hot in the next ten games and suddenely his projected season goal total jumps. I do agree that Hecht is not a natural center and that may be hindering Pominville some.

[Chad]

This is what I posted immediately after the Pens game. Here it is again in case it got lost in the shuffle:

Some good points made about Pominville. When he came up, he was a rip-your-heart-out, score-from-anywhere sniper. That's what he was in Rochester and that's what he was in his first two seasons in Buffalo. Then, I think he changed the type of player that he was, either on his own or because Ruff wanted him to change his style. Now, he plays like a skilled grinder. He wants to be this blue-collar, jack-of-all-trades but master of none sort of player. He's pretty good defensively, he's pretty good offensively, he battles pretty well, he tries hard, he's a pretty good leader, etc. Bottom line, he's pretty good. But at $5mil/season starting next year, the team needs him to excel in some areas and he's yet to do that.

Look, he clearly misses Connolly. He had 4 G's and 2 A's in Connolly's six game cameo. I think he's on a terrible line for him right now, caught between having a center (Hecht) who can't make plays to set him up and deferring to the team's big gun (Vanek). He needs to be "the guy" on his line to succeed, in my opinion. When Connolly decides to make another appearance before his next freak injury, I'm sure Pominville will start lighting it up again. Until then, we're going to get Pominville Light. And please take him off the point on the PP. Let him play down low, he can't be worse than Max, Hecht or Kotalik on the PP.

It hasn't been half a season, so I'm not going to throw him under the bus. This may just be another case of a guy putting too much pressure on himself to perform to the standards of his contract, the same way Vanek did last year. But please, go back to Sniper Pominville and stop this Skilled Grinder Pominville stuff.

I heard someone (I forgot who, so I apologize if it was someone on this board) sum up the Sabres offense pretty well: it's like a basketball team with a bunch of shooting guards and no point guards to create (besides Roy). That's pretty accurate. There are four guys in this organization who can create plays for others on their own: Roy, Connolly, Gerbe, and Kennedy. The obvious problem is that they refuse to call up Kennedy, Gerbe is hurt, and Connolly is made of paper mache.

And can someone please win a freaking draw?!?

Posted by: Chad | December 22, 2008 at 11:29 PM

[michael]

Please refer to the numerous articles I wrote dateing back to the summer of 2008. Let me be perfectly clear he is a good player, not worth the money we gave him. He is over rated, but to be fair he does not have the cast needed to suceed.

[Tim]

He's a heart-throb. Ladies Love Pominville. That's why we spent the money on him. He puts fans in the stands and without him, the fanbase would have blown HSBC up. Literally.

He's talented, yes. But his contract is more about his popularity than his ability.

[dcs]

Those of you who thinks he's overpaid, please stop and think a minute. If the Sabres allowed him to be a UFA then you'd see what the market will pay for a player of Pominville's caliber. Remember, he had 80 points last year. So if he became a UFA and the Sabres lost him, every fan would be up in arms and crying foul on these boards. And for the record, I love the kid...he hooked me, like most fans, in that Game 5 in Ottawa (I was in the building that night. two things brought tears to my eyes; Pommy's goal, and Canadian's singing their national anthem)

As fans we should ask what's up with the bigger picture. Why is the 5-4 PP no good for two years now? Why don't our points play a better PP overall? Why does Peters still get dressed (Read ESPN's John Buccigross; "Most boring NHL enforcer" ever!) while he takes up roster space a younger more effective player could fill? When will we win a draw? What does Max think about when he skates in circles? Why can't they win a dump&chase? Why can't a lot of the players make an effective pass to clear the zone?

When I ask myself these questions I constantly think of the coach. Now, I've asked this question here before: Is Lindy unfireable? And is it good for the team to have such a tenured coach? Most teams facing the situation of a disappointing season would eventually pull the bad plug behind the bench and name a new coach (see how Bruce Boudreau invigorated the Caps at this time last year!) I love Lindy, so it hurts to think these things. Is that bad?

[michael]

DCS,

You bring up a lot of great points. Great comment about Peters. I have no idea why he dresses, and I agree he is the most boring fighter in the game today. I also agree Pominville stats were pretty impressive a few years ago. However, I keep going back to that 05 team and thinking about what we had, and why it worked. I keep trying to disect what is wrong with the last few years and how to fix it. This is my opinion, I would love to hear you yours as you made several great points in your earlier post.

1) Miller is not the answer. His best year was the 05 year when he swept in and stole Birons starting job. He was a noname at that point, teams were stuggling to figure him out and I think he was hungry to prove his value. Ever since that year, teams have him pegged. They dump the puck deep, cycle it around, kick it out to the blue line and take a wrister with a lot of screens. We have a good goalie, not a great one. Not one that can shut down a game, not one that can win a one point game late in the third. I believe, one of the main reasons this team can not hold a lead is the goalie. We over paid for him. He may have left for more money, but would that have been that bad? At this point I think not. Look who Detroit has in net, there not doing so bad.

2) A lot of over paid or soon to be over paid players. I would include guys like Pomminville, I've already spoke about Miller, Obviously Max, Connolly, Hecht all making over or at 3 mil. Chad wrote in a while ago and stated how he thought the lack of scoring was due to the lack of production from the second and third line guys. I agree to some point that the second tier guys are not scoring however I think more of the problem rests on Sabres management for thinking these guys are good enough to be 1st line players. In 05 Pomminvile looked great, difference was he played with one of the better centers in the league that made him look great. There is no doubt Pommer is a good player, he is just not great, and he is not worth 5 mil per year. I would throw Roy into that mix as well. Good player, not great. Not the go to guy, not even close to Briere. Sabres managemnt has way too much faith in these guys to lead this team. In 05 our centers were Biere, Drury, Healthy Tim Connollly, Roy, Mair/Gausted. Today we have Roy, Mair, Gausted, banged up Tim Connolly. We are missing the go to guys. The guys that will get it done when it's needed the most. I don't think we have good enough first line players.

3) Poor management/unwilling to spend to the cap.

After Reiger and crew screwed up the Briere/Drury thing, Quinn and Reiger came out and had the press conference. In that conference Quin actually said "the sky is not falling, we still have a alot of great players." He went on to mention Max, Miller Connolly etc. He also said we had one of the best defenses int he league. I couldn't believe it. This was the same defense that got crushed by Ottawa in the playoffs that year we looked like children compared to that team. This year we had enough room to get another defensman at least instead we went into this year with the good enough approach. I think its clear how that is paning out.

[PGR88]

Pominville needs to get away from the perimeter. He skates down the right wing, get checked, dumps the puck in the corner, none of his line-mates goes to get it and the opposing team picks it up every time. Same thing each night.

[Hank Hill]

The problem with Pominville is that there is no supporting cast on this Sabres team. Without any real superstars, Vanek, Roy and Pominville are just good players. There is nobody to set them up, no Thornton's or Drury's. No clutch players, just a club full of "Buffalo bred rookies." Good thing the Sabres breed all their players because they sure don't breed stanley cups here.

I'm not surprised and neither should any Buffalo sports fan, this is the typical quality I have become acustomed to over the years. Regier and the upper management only care about putting a team out there, just to play, never to win. But the sky isn't falling so why is there even any question to Pominville's sorry performance? Darcy should be left for dead on the outskirts of town for the good of the entire NHL.

[dcs]

Michael -

You too make some solid points. On the overpaid side, start with the easy ones like Make and Timmy. (Connolly is still on the roster? really?! The guy is like Haley's comet, consider yourself lucky if you see his brilliance just once.) Jochen...sigh, what happened to our solid two-way forward? And did you see how many faceoffs that guy lost last night? (I mentioned the painful dfraw situation earlier, it continued against the Caps).

As for Miller...as we know, all goalies are a bit mental, and he will also let softies in. We know this about Ryan, but he's still a darn good goalie. Not great, just really good. He needs a good puck controlling D in front of him. (In regards to Detroit... does Osgood go to the Hall? although he's always had Lidstrom & co. in front of him... he's silently been a dominant goalie). As for our D... how about Tallinder being turned inside out by Ovie? HAnk has fallen in the overall rankings of our D, and he used to be a solid player.

What this whole team lacks is a mentality they had during the 05 year. Maybe Drury brought it to the game, or Danny, or even JP. Back then they were very pesky b*thches. Their forcheck was better, they attacked puck-carriers constantly, they buzzed around the cage and got into the heads of opposing goalies. Now opn the PP they toss the puck around the perimeter and hope for a shot to open up regardless of the fact they aren't moving their feet one bit.

At any rate, I think we agree, there's something inherently lacking from this team in the past two years

[michael]

All great point DCS. I couldn't agree with you more.

[mt]

Sabres blow.
I love(d) them, until the major choke two years ago when they had their best season ever, then fell asleep in the playoffs.

PLUS, they have the ugliest uniforms in any sport, ever.

Toronto wants a 2nd NHL team, they should move there along with the hapless bills.