SB Nation - Toni Lydman

Devils 3 Sabres 0: Sabres Embarrassed at Home as Brodeur Ties Record

David Oleksy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:42:37 -0000

More photos » by David Duprey - AP

9 days ago: Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller reaches for the puck under pressure from New Jersey Devils' Zach Parise (9) during the second period of the NHL hockey game in Buffalo, N.Y., Monday, Dec. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/ David Duprey)

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On a night when the sporting options were plentiful, I hope you had the sense to change the channel and watch something that was more entertaining. Unfortunately I didn't and I watched until the bitter end of the disgusting effort put forth by the Sabres. There are losses like Saturday night against the Rangers and the loss to Washington before Thanksgiving when the team played well and things didn't go their way, tonight was not one of those games. Tonight was a night when the Sabres looked like they were the Niagara Purple Eagles NCAA hockey team instead of a NHL team.

The Devils deserve a lot of credit for their outstanding play tonight. They outplayed Buffalo in every aspect of the game because they outworked them. They were willing to dig in the corners and to go in front of the net, while the Sabres were content to play the game on the perimeter and wait for the perfect opportunity.

I thought the Sabres had some jump in their game for the first 10 minutes but when they failed to get any scoring chances the Devils took over. It was a Toni Lydman hooking penalty that seemed to be the turning point. The Devils started to put some pressure on the Sabres during the man advantage and it snowballed from their.

Still the Sabres remained in the game until the Devils scored two late first period goals, the first coming on a deflection off of Henrik Tallinder and the second on a long shot that Ryan Miller stops more often than not.

There is obviously disappointment and frustration after watching a game of this nature. If you are interested in reading what the winners have to say, visit In Lou We Trust for full analysis. (I am not a Devils fan but In Lou We Trust is my favorite non-Sabres blog on the internet).

Final - 12.7.2009	1	2	3	Total
New Jersey Devils	2	1	0	3
Buffalo Sabres	0	0	0	0

Complete Coverage >

Miller Was Not Miller

I did not see the post game comments by the players or coaches but I'm sure that Ryan Miller would be the first to tell you that he was not very good tonight. The first goal was questionable as to whether it should have been stopped but the last two were shots that Miller normally stops.

There is no way the loss can be blamed on Miller who allowed three goals on 37 shots on goal. Miller would like to have a couple of those goals back but his defense was not very good in front of him. Steve Montador had his worst game since joining the Sabres as a free agent in the summer. Toni Lydman had a couple of his typical giveaways as well.

Playing Without Grier

There were plenty of comments about how this is a different team without Mike Grier. Grier has missed a total of six games this season and the Sabres record is now 2-3-1 in those games. The Sabres won the first two games they played without Grier but they have earned only one point in the last four games played without him.

Now that we established the team does not fare well when he is out of the lineup we need to figure out why. Is Mike Grier that valuable to the team? I came up with two reasons why the team struggles when Grier is not in the lineup. He is a guy that is not afraid to get dirty in the corners and he leads by example. He is not going to fight too often but his presence in the lineup makes the Sabres a tougher team.

The biggest issue when Grier is not laying is the lineup without him. Patrick Kaleta was forced to play on the third line and he is not a good enough player to play the third line role. In addition to Kaleta moving up a line, they are forced to play Nathan Paetsch on the fourth line and he is useless in that position. They are going to have to raid the Portland Pirates roster to bring in reinforcements when Grier is out of the lineup.

Sending a Message

Lindy Ruff was clearly sending a message to his top scorers by sitting them on the bench in the third period. Derek Roy played less than any other forward in the third period and Drew Stafford was right in the same area. Here is a look at the Ice Time for the forwards in the third period.

Tim Kennedy - 7:33
Jochen Hecht - 6:58
Jason Pominville - 6:44
Thomas Vanek - 6:02
Adam Mair - 5:46
Tim Connolly - 5:43
Clarke MacArthur - 4:22
Matt Ellis - 4:07
Patrick Kaleta - 3:56
Drew Stafford - 3:12
Nathan Paetsch - 2:46
Derek Roy - 1:53

Think back to when the Sabres were dominating the Philadelphia Flyers earlier this season or last week against the Montreal Canadiens. When those teams tried to make a run at a comeback, it was their best players on the ice trying to make the comeback. Lindy Ruff has a habit of growing impatient with his top players when they were not playing well. I live by the motto of fighting to the finish...Adam Mair getting more ice time than most of the forwards is not putting up a fight.

Up Next

There is good news as the Sabres get ready to put this game behind them and move on to the next. They are 2-0 in games following a shutout and they went on a four game winning streak after getting shutout by Washington a couple of weeks ago.

Next Game

Washington Capitals
@ Buffalo Sabres

Wednesday, Dec 9, 2009, 7:00 PM EST
HSBC Arena

Complete Coverage >

Who Now Becomes The Seventh Defenseman?

Zachary Zielonka — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:00:28 -0000

More photos » by Rich Schultz - AP

about 1 month ago: New Jersey Devils' Matt Halischuk (16) takes a shot between Buffalo Sabres' Craig Rivet (52) and goalie Ryan Miller (30) during the second period in an NHL hockey game at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)

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I can imagine that the articles about Tyler Myers are starting to get old. Hence, why this one will be the last one. When Toni Lydman and Andrej Sekera come back from their injuries, the Sabres will face another conundrum on their defense. They will have seven defensemen and will have to sit one of them.

Must Plays

Tyler Myers

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Tyler Myers	9	2	3	5	8	2	0	0	0	0	10	20.0

This doesn't need to be said but we will anyways. The Sabres are keeping him up and therefore will be playing in most of the games this season. He is a rookie and he will hit a wall at some point this season. At that point, he should be a scratch so that he isn't burnt out at the end of the season and hopefully the playoffs. At this point in his career though, he should be playing. The Sabres are doing just that with him, he is averaging twenty minutes a game which is third on the team. He is seeing 2:43/game on the power play and 1:59/game shorthanded. He is a +8 which is second only to his linemate Henrik Tallinder and he is leading the defensemen in points.

Henrik Tallinder

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Henrik Tallinder	9	0	3	3	9	12	0	0	0	0	3	0.0

Many have derided Tallinder in the past two seasons as his play had really not lived up to the $2.65 million cap hit. Last year, Tallinder had twelve points and was -2 in 66 games. This year, Tallinder already has three assists and is a +9. His defensive game has been aided with Myers on the opposite side but he is playing to prove that he should live up to the contract he signed. It is also a contract year for Tallinder. Therefore, he is going to play out of his mind to try and earn the next big payday. Tallinder is playing well with Myers and should not come out of the lineup at this point

Craig Rivet

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Craig Rivet	9	0	4	4	2	2	0	0	0	0	14	0.0

Rivet is the captain and the lifeblood of the team. As long as he is wearing the C, he will be in the lineup. Rivet has had a quiet season thus far, which for a defenseman is not necessarily a bad thing. He is second on the team in time on ice/game at 21:39/game and has four assists on the season. Rivet has played with sophomore sensation Chris Butler this season and both have played a quiet shutdown type of game.

Chris Butler

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Chris Butler	9	0	4	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	14	0.0

As I said about Rivet, the same principle applies to Butler. Lost in the fray of all of the Tyler Myers coverage is the stellar play of Chris Butler this season. Butler leads the team in total time on ice and time on ice per game. He also leads the team in shorthanded time on ice and is second in powerplay time on ice. The coaching staff has placed faith in this kid's play and he is responding with four assists, three on the powerplay.

Steve Montador

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Steve Montador	9	0	3	3	1	10	0	0	0	0	15	0.0

Montador is not coming out of the lineup just due to the fact that he really has not played bad all season. He only has three assists on the season, but he wasn't acquired for his offensive prowess. He is teaching and playing a good game on the blueline and really is no doubt that he would come out of the lineup.

Questionables

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Toni Lydman	4	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	6	0.0

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Andrej Sekera	3	0	0	0	-1	2	0	0	0	0	3	0.0

This leaves two players left where one of them will have to sit. Toni Lydman has played four out of a possible nine games this season, he missed the first three due to a hand injury and the last two due to a groin injury. In those four games, Lydman is a +1 and has no points. Andrej Sekera has only played three games this season and has struggled slightly this season. While his play has not dropped off, it really does not bump another player out of the lineup and it won't bump Lydman to the press box just due to the fact that Lydman would be another veteran presence in the lineup.

Game 9: Sabres vs. Devils Preview

Zachary Zielonka — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:15:18 -0000

More photos » by Lynne Sladky - AP

about 1 month ago: Buffalo Sabres center Derek Roy (9) and right wing Mike Grier (25) skates off the ice after the Sabres defeated the Florida Panthers 5-2 during an NHL hockey game in Sunrise, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

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Game nine is decision time for the Sabres. Decisions will be need to made about their rookie phenomenon Tyler Myers. Myers has impressed Sabres fans and players alike. Henrik Tallinder had this to say about Myers' play this season:

"He should play here," Tallinder said after practice Tuesday. "I'm really amazed with his poise with the puck. It's unbelievable for his age, 19. You don't see veteran guys have that."

The Sabres are going to be without Toni Lydman again as he suffered a setback with his groin injury. Nathan Paetsch will fill in for Lydman. In Paetsch's first game, he played 13:09 and was a -1 with five shots on goal. The team as a whole played well against the Lightning and was able to sweep the points out of the Florida road trip. The main difference between this season and last season is that last season's team doesn't score that goal in the last six seconds to tie the game up.

The Devils are going to be without Paul Martin and Jay Pandolfo both of who suffered injuries this weekend. Martin Brodeur will be in net for the Devils as their last game was on Saturday.

Keys To The Game

Sabres: Continue to play well in front of Miller. Ryan Miller has been playing really well this season and the defense that has been playing in front of him has been a large part of that. If the defense continues to play as well as it has, Miller should continue to play well and the team should be able compete for a win.

New Jersey: Try to stymie the Sabres offense. If the Devils can get the Sabres to panic, they should be able to get the win. Getting the Sabres to panic is going to be the difficult part because the Sabres as a team keeps composed even if they are down by two goals.

Tallinder Earning Playing Time

David Oleksy — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:00:54 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

2 months ago: Nashville Predators center Steve Sullivan (26) and Buffalo Sabres defenseman Henrik Tallinder (10), of Sweden, chase down the puck in the third period of an NHL hockey game in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009. The Sabres won 1-0. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

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The Sabres don't have to make a decision right away on their top six defensenen because of an injury to Andrej Sekera, but a decision will have to come soon enough. It will be difficult to decide who sits but it won't be "Big Hank".

Over the last couple of seasons we have seen the rise and fall of Henrik Tallinder. With the way he is playing this year, we might see him rise again.

During the 2005-2006 season, the pairing of Henrik Tallinder and Toni Lydman became the Sabres shutdown pair. They played against the other team's top line and helped the Sabres advance to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Tallinder suffered a broken arm in that series after being hit awkwardly into the boards by then Hurricanes forward Mark Recchi. The Sabres went on to lose that series in seven games and the Canes beat the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup.

Those days seem really far away after watching this team the last two seasons. The team regressed dramatically, mainly because of the regression of some key players. Tallinder was at the top of the list of disappointing players.

Tallinder had regressed so far that it was painful to watch his struggles. He was often out position, he was slow to react, he made awful decisions with the puck and just played with no confidence. At first his struggles were surprising but by the end of last season, you expected him to make a mistake every time he was on the ice.

This past off-season speculation about his future reached a fever pitch. Fans and media wanted to see changes after the team missed the playoffs two seasons in a row and Tallinder was one of the first to go in many people's mind. Darcy Regier promised changes and many of us thought it were a foregone conclusion the Sabres would start the season without Hank on the roster.

The off-season came and went with Tallinder still on the roster. That only made speculation increase that much more "surely he won't actually play" or "This team doesn't want to win if they play Tallinder" were common phrases for Sabres fans. There was a general certainty that he was on the roster because of his contract but he would never see the ice.

Just days before the seasons started, Toni Lydman suffered an injury that opened up a spot for Tallinder to play. The first couple of games passed by and the Sabres played good team defense. Immediately the defense gained some positive energy.

Now the season is eight games old and Tallinder leads the team as a plus-9. He has been good in both ends of the ice and even had two assists against Florida on Wednesday night.

Henrik Tallinder

#10 / Defenseman / Buffalo Sabres

Height: 6-3

Weight: 214

Born: Jan 10, 1979

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Henrik Tallinder	8	0	3	3	9	12	0	0	0	0	3	0.0

Maybe it was clearing his head in the off-season, maybe it is being rejuvenated by playing alongside 19 year-old rookie Tyler Myers, maybe it is the play of the entire defense or it might even be luck. Whatever it is, it's working. Tallinder is playing his best hockey since the 2005-2006 season.

The pairing of Myers and Tallinder has been a pleasant surprise for the Sabres. We all knew that Tallinder could play at an elite level in the NHL and we all knew that Myers had the potential to become an elite player in the league but none of us knew it would happen so quickly. Tallinder is quickly erasing the memories of the last two seasons and him and Myers have us thinking of the future.

Are Giveaways and Takeaways Accurate Statistics?

David Oleksy — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:10:33 -0000

More photos » by David Duprey - AP

2 months ago: Detroit Red Wings' Darren Helm (43) passes the puck under pressure from Buffalo Sabres' Jochen Hecht (55) of Germany during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Buffalo, N.Y., Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009. (AP Photo/ David Duprey)

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By now I think you have noticed that we are committed to bringing you more Buffalo Sabres statistical analysis than we have in the past. It's just another thing that is made possible because of the great tools that SB Nation gives us as well as the quality hockey blogs that are part of the SB Nation family helping us out. We will give you as much statistical information as we can but if you are a stat geek like I am, make sure to visit Behind the Net for your fix.

One of the NHL stats that I have been wondering about lately is the giveaway/takeaway stats. Many of you already know that we nicknamed Toni Lydman "Toni Turnover" (original huh?) last season. The funny thing is that the raw numbers don't really back that up the way I thought they would. Sure he was third on the team with turnovers but I would have thought he averaged more than one per game.

In actuality, these stats are very difficult to track because they vary from rink to rink. Unlike goals and assists, giveaways and takeaways are not a clear cut stat. Unfortunately different people will see things differently and therefore the numbers won't be accurate.

The first thing we need to do when determining a giveaway or a takeaway, is to know what we are looking for. Surely the NHL must have a definition of what is a giveaway and a takeaway.

Takeaway - By definition a takeaway occurs when pressure from the defending team results in a defending player gaining possession of the puck.
Giveaway - A giveaway is when a players own actions result in a loss of possession to the opposing team.

Now that we know the definition of a giveaway and takeaway we can take a loo at the Sabres stats through four games. Keep in mind the Sabres have played three games at home and one game on the road so far.

Opponent		Takeaways	Giveaways
vs	Montreal	9	9
vs	Phoenix	2	7
@	Nashville	10	5
vs	Detroit	4	13

It's only been four games so it's difficult to find a trend developing but isn't it odd that the Sabres have more giveaways than takeaways in two out of their three home games? As the numbers show the Sabres have 34 giveaways and 25 takeaways through four games. At home it is 29 giveaways to 15 takeaways. I have no idea if these numbers are anywhere near accurate and I'm guessing you don't either. I would definitely like to know.

For argument sake I have added the individual stats for giveaways and takeaways...

#	Player	Pos	Giveaway	Takeaway
4	Steve Montador	D	2	0
5	Toni Lydman	D	1	0
9	Derek Roy	C	2	1
10	Henrik Tallinder	D	1	1
13	Tim Kennedy	C	0	3
19	Tim Connolly	C	3	2
21	Drew Stafford	RW	1	2
25	Mike Grier	RW	0	1
26	Thomas Vanek	LW	2	2
28	Paul Gaustad	C	1	0
29	Jason Pominville	RW	2	2
34	Chris Butler	D	3	0
36	Patrick Kaleta	RW	2	0
37	Matt Ellis	C	2	0
41	Clarke MacArthur	LW	0	3
44	Andrej Sekera	D	4	2
52	Craig Rivet	D	1	2
55	Jochen Hecht	LW	1	4
57	Tyler Myers	D	5	0

Once again, I have no idea if these are accurate stats but they are what is listed as official by the NHL. I may be the only one that is curious but I want to know how accurate these statistics really are. If you are as interested as I am, I could use your help. I need you to count giveaways and takeaways in the next coming games and I will do the same. I will post our findings and compare those numbers to the NHL official statistics and see how things work out.

Game 4 Preview: Red Wings vs. Sabres

Zachary Zielonka — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:00:29 -0000

More photos » by Don Heupel - AP

8 months ago: Detroit Red Wings left winger Tomas Holmstrom, of Sweden, right, tries to re-direct the puck in front of Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller and Sabres defenseman Toni Lydman, of Finland, left, during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Buffalo, N.Y. on Monday, April 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Don Heupel)

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For a team that has only scored four goals in three games, this team is inspiring many a fan. The inspiration has come from a defensive minded team that has allowed three goals in those three games. Ryan Miller has been red hot in goal where in three games Miller has a .98 GAA and .955 SV%. The offense also has had their fair share of chances in the first three games, they lead the league in shots/game with 38.7. This team is inspiring the fanbase and giving hope for a possibly good season by taking five out of a possible six points.

In terms of the team, the Sabres still will not face roster issues with Andrej Sekera leaving Saturday's game with a rib injury that looks to keep him out of the lineup for a few weeks. Replacing Sekera in the lineup will be Toni Lydman who makes his first start of the season. Sekera had struggled a little in his first three games and Lydman should be able to easily replace him in the lineup.

The Red Wings are suffering their fair share of issues to start the season as well. After dropping their first two games in Sweden, the Wings came back and won their next two. In the process, they lost one of their top players in Johan Franzen for four months with a torn ACL. They are also injuring themselves in practice with Kirk Maltby and Justin Abdelkader running into each other with Maltby suffering a deep thigh bruise.

This game should be a true test for the Sabres. The Red Wings are high class team that can create chances at any moment and are fair more dangerous than the last three teams the Sabres have played. If this team cannot find the back of the net, they will run into serious trouble against this high powered offense.

Keys To The Game

Sabres: Keep creating chances. While the Red Wings are good at creating chances and can find the back of the net, if this Sabres team keeps taking shots at the net they eventually have to find the back of the net more than once right?

Red Wings: Outchance the Sabres. The Sabres still can't be this hot on defense and forechecking and backchecking. They will have to falter at some point and the Red Wings have to capitalize on those chances if they are going to be able to win this game.

Open-Ice Hits

Hawerchuk — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:45:56 -0000

More photos » by FRED CHARTRAND - AP

2 months ago: Ottawa Senators' Daniel Alfredsson, of Sweden, is hit by Atlanta Thrashers' Zack Bogosian (4) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)

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Most hits occur along the boards. No big surprise there. But how many hits is "most"? I classified any hit inside the red area below as an open-ice hit:

Approximately 75% of all hits occur within 10 feet of the net or the boards, while less than 5% happen in "open-ice." After the jump, the league leaders in open-ice hits...

This table includes both 2007-08 and 2008-09. There isn't much overlap between the two lists - the hitters are big defensemen and aggressive forwards; the guys who get hit include a lot more playmakers and scorers. I was surprised to see both Darcy Tucker and Sean Avery in the top 12 for taking hits - perhaps there are a lot of players in the league who are gunning for them in open ice.

Hit For	#	Hit Against	#
Dustin Brown	47	Alexander Ovechkin	46
Douglas Murray	39	Evgeni Malkin	37
Keith Ballard	33	Sidney Crosby	31
Alexander Ovechkin	30	Dustin Brown	26
Garnet Exelby	28	Derek Roy	22
Brooks Orpik	27	Ales Hemsky	21
Dion Phaneuf	27	Ryan Kesler	21
Cory Sarich	26	Tuomo Ruutu	21
James Wisniewski	25	Alexander Semin	20
David Backes	25	Valtteri Filppula	20
Toni Lydman	24	Darcy Tucker	19
Ed Jovanovski	23	Sean Avery	19
Niklas Kronwall	23	Scottie Upshall	19
Ruslan Salei	22	Matt Stajan	19
Chris Phillips	21	Brooks Laich	19
Dan Girardi	21	Loui Eriksson	19
Martin Hanzal	21	Chad LaRose	18
Dan Hamhuis	20	Mike Richards	18
Freddy Meyer	20	Devin Setoguchi	18
Ryan Malone	20	Alex Kovalev	17
Brent Seabrook	20	Corey Perry	17
Anton Volchenkov	19	Mikhail Grabovski	17
Shane Doan	18	Mike Ribeiro	16
Hal Gill	18	Erik Cole	16
Brendan Witt	18	Patrick O'Sullivan	16
Andreas Lilja	18	Maxime Talbot	16
Colton Orr	18
Steve Ott	18
Tuomo Ruutu	18

McCormick Sent Down, Stafford and Lydman Injured

David Oleksy — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:10:11 -0000

Since the beginning of camp I have been against the promotion of Nathan Gerbe and Tim Kennedy to Buffalo Sabres to begin the season. With the events that took place today, I think I was wrong. Cody McCormick was sent to Portland and Drew Stafford and Toni Lydman are bot injured. Stafford is suffering from a concussion and has not been ruled out for Saturday. Toni Lydman might have a more serious injury to deal with.

The injury to Stafford and the demotion of McCormick will open the door for Tim Kennedy and Nathan Gerbe to step into the lineup. If the injury to Lydman is serious, there is no doubt that Myers will remain on the roster and that might open the door for Mike Weber. There is still a chance the Sabres might try to move a player to make room for the four youngsters.

The Sabres have 26 players currently in camp and have to get to 23 by Wednesday at 2pm. If the injuries are serious enough, they can put Lydman, Stafford and Mair on the injured list and keep everyone. We will know by tomorrow what will happen and Saturday we get started. Go ahead and share your thoughts in the comments. What players will stay and what players will go.

Forwards	Forwards	Defense	Defense	Goalies
~~Cody McCormick~~	Derek Roy	~~Joe Dipenta~~	Steve Montador	~~Jhonas Enroth~~
~~Felix Schutz~~	Tim Connolly	Toni Lydman	Mike Weber	Ryan Miller
Daniel Paille	Drew Stafford	Henrik Tallinder	~~Marc-Andre Gragnani~~	~~J. P. Lamoureaux~~
Adam Mair	~~Zack Kassian~~	~~Mike Kostka~~	~~TJ Brennan~~	Patrick Lalime
~~Jeff Cowan~~	Jochen Hecht	Chris Butler	Nathan Paetsch
~~Paul Byron~~	Tim Kennedy	Andrej Sekera	Craig Rivet
Mike Grier	~~Tyler Ennis~~	~~Matt Generous~~	Tyler Myers
Thomas Vanek	~~Travis Turnbull~~	~~Nick Crawford~~	~~Dennis Persson~~
Paul Gaustad	~~Maxime Legault~~	~~Brayden McNabb~~	~~Drew Schiestel~~
Jason Pominville	~~Derek Whitmore~~
Patrick Kaleta	~~Luke Adam~~
Matt Ellis	~~Kyle Rank~~
Clarke MacArthur	~~Marcus Foligno~~
Nathan Gerbe	J~~acob Lagace~~
~~Philip Gogulla~~	~~Mark McCutcheon~~
~~Mark Mancari~~

Toni Lydman: 2008-2009 Report Card

David Oleksy — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:00:17 -0000

It's time to put the finishing touches on the 2008-2009 season for the Buffalo Sabres. Here is a complete report card of every single player that played a significant amount of time with the Sabres this season. Thanks to Japers Rink and Mile High Hockey for the inspiration.

Toni Lydman

#5 / Defenseman / Buffalo Sabres

Height: 6-1

Weight: 204

Born: Sep 25, 1977

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2008 - Toni Lydman	80	3	20	23	0	70	0	0	0	0	99	3.0

Key Stat: Toni Lydman is not the perfect player but he led the Sabres with a total of 166 blocked shots.

Interesting Stat: Lydman is counted on by Lindy Ruff to shut down the opponents top lines. He had the highest quality of competition of all Sabres defensemen with a 0.05.

Fun Fact: Toni Lydman plays guitar and is a member of a Finnish Heavy Metal Band called Mononen.

The Good: Lydman is probably the best Sabres defenseman when he doesn't have the puck. He led the team in blocked shots with 166 and he also led the team with a total of 165 hits. His physical play is very underrated.

Despite laying against opponents top lines he managed to be only a minus two on a team that missed the playoffs. The Sabres allowed almost an identical amount of goals/60 minutes when he was off the ice as they did while he was on but the quality of competition was much less.

Lydman was o the ice a total of 21:47 a game which was the second highest on the team behind only Jaro Spacek.

The Bad: The Sabres should develop plays that don't require Lydman to touch the puck. He was a -47 in the takeaway/giveaway ratio. He turned the puck over a total of 67 times which was the third most on the team.

Lydman also takes too many penalties. He was one of te worst in the entire league as a -27 penalty plus/minus. He took a total of 36 penalties and only drew a total of nine miors on his opponents.

2008-2009 Salary: $3.150,000

2009-2010 Status: $3,150,000

Vote: It's time to grade Lydman for his play in the 2008-2009 season. Every player has expectations so vote based on those expectations. If a player played to their potential they should receive a "C" if they exceeded expectations they would receive a "B" or an "A".

Discuss: Statistically Lydman is really good in some areas and very bad in others. What is the one thing that comes to mind when you think about Toni Lydman? Will Lydman be one of the players the Sabres decide are expendable if their young defensemen develop?

Up Next: Clarke MacArthur

Poll

It's time to grade Toni Lydman

A

3 votes

B

45 votes

C

79 votes

D

25 votes

F

5 votes

157 votes | Poll has closed

No Habs No: Lydman, Ponikarovsky, Drury, Rolston, and Okposo

PeterR — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:00:09 -0000

It's a No Habs No! bonanza! I'd fallen behind a bit in writing letters, so I figured I'd just post them all in one giant NHN post to give everyone an overdose on anti-Habs goodness. Featuring Cyrillic characters, more Canadian Tire money, Finnish metalheads, and the other crap you've come to expect from my letters.

Since the campaign began, the Montréal Canadiens have compiled a record of 27-22-8, and fallen to their current position of eighth in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of the ninth-place Florida Panthers.

Without further adieu, let's get to letters, starting with the most recent: To above-mentioned Finnish metalhead Toni Lydman of the Buffalo Sabres:

Below the fold are letters to Toronto Maple Leafs Alexei Ponikarovsky (and nine Canadian Tire bills), New York Ranger Chris Drury, New Jersey Devil Brian Rolston, and New York Islander Kyle Okposo. Take the jump (i.e. click "Continue reading this post" below), and it'll be like nothing you've ever seen before. Probably.

Next up is the second Toronto Maple Leaf to receive a No Habs No! letter, Alexei Ponikarovsky. Because he's a dirty Leaf (no offence, Alex), he receives Canadian Tire money (and because I could only find small bills, he barely receives a full dollar):

Third is Chris Drury of the New York Rangers:

And then Brian Rolston of the New Jersey Devils, a team that is awesome in No Habs No!-ing:

Finally, rookie Kyle Okposo of the New York Islanders:

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