Well now that I have had time to absorb what occurred in the confines of the First Niagara Center, I think I can evaluate, think being the operative word…

As was expected the Sabres came out of the gate flying, scoring 2 quick goals right at the beginning of the first period.  If history were to repeat itself, the Sabres would have gone on to bury the Lightning after chasing one or both of the goalies through the course of the game.  However, there was a different story line that would be playing out on Tuesday night.

After a dominating 10 minutes, someone turned off the “lets play hockey” switch and Tampa, along with excessive assistance from the referees, followed suit with very strong play.  I’m not going to take anything away from the Lightning here, they played a pretty solid game and their goaltending was nothing short of superb.  Mathieu Garon stopped a flurry of shots throughout the game, including 17 in the third period, and prevent the Sabres from getting their first win at home this season.

Now I know I just said I wasn’t going to take anything away from Tampa, BUT, they had a lot of assistance from the ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS officiating.  Seriously, this was by for the worst officiating I have ever seen at a Sabres game, ever. If anyone can offer up a logical explanation as to why Thomas Vanek was not awarded a penalty shot on a breakaway in the second period, by all means go for it.  Vanek was hooked from behind right before he was about to shoot the puck over a down and out Garon, and Victor Hedman was called for the penalty.  I’m sorry, but that is just ridiculous on every single level, that should have been a penalty shot, no questions asked.

Another ridiculous call was made in the third period against Cody McCormick for goaltender interference.  Really, would you like to explain to me exactly how he interfered with the goaltender, when he, himself, was interfered with?  Honestly, if you really think about it, it makes perfect sense! (But really ref’s, open your bleeping eyes!)

This is not to say the Sabres played spectacularly, because they really didn’t, but had some of those calls gone their way and they didn’t take their foot off the gas after the first 10 minutes, there was a very good chance of them winning that game.  Yes, I am even comfortable saying that with Miller playing the way he did, Myers struggling mightily and Derek Roy being, well Derek Roy.

One of my personal favorite events from the evening came after the game while driving home with my dad listening to the post game show.  Someone called in and basically ripped the Sabres for signing Tyler Myers, saying he was not worth the money they paid for him.  Wait… WHAT!?!?! Thats a joke correct (I know thats what you are all thinking), but no it is not a joke.  Tyler Myers is our franchise defenseman, he is worth every single penny they gave him and its absolutely laughable because if they wouldn’t have signed him, that same guy would have been calling saying “I can’t believe they didn’t sign him.”

Does he have a bad game every once in a while?  Yes.  Will he continue to have those games?  Yes.  People, he’s 21 years old, playing as the #1 or # defenseman on a team that many people expect to contend for the Cup, cut the kid a little slack.  We have a very solid d-corps,if one of them is playing poorly, its the responsibility of the other 5 to step up and help out.

Now, onto tonight’s game.  Oh, the Columbus Blue Jackets, what to say about them.  Well they won the first game of their season on Tuesday against the then undefeated Detroit Red Wings.  They made some big offseason acquisitions (see Carter and Wisniewski) and hope to pull themselves out of the rut they have fallen into after their only playoff appearance 3 seasons ago.

The Sabres have played the Jackets 13 times since they came into the league in 2000 and have a 4-5-1 record against them in the last ten.  I personally find this record interesting because the Sabres normally fare pretty well against Western Conference teams, but not COlumbus for some reason.

Enroth is expected to start in goal tonight and Ryan Miller will be given a chance to clear his head from two embarrassing losses where his play was not exactly strong.  Tyler Ennis will miss tonights game as he is still recovering from his “lower body” injury, as will Jochen Hecht, who is making progress towards a return.  I also feel its about time to get Mike Weber into the line-up, especially with Wisniewski returning from his suspension tonight, added grit will be a plus.

Many say the third time is the charm, well hopefully all those people are right.  A home win will do wonders for this team right now, as well as all the fans who are starting to get restless.  And I’ll leave you all with this thought, it’s 8 games into the season, the world is not crashing down around this team, take a step back and calm down.

Sabres Forward Lines: 

Vanek (7-4) – Adam (3-4) – Pominville (2-8)

Leino (1-1) – Roy (1-3) – Stafford (3-2)

McCormick (0-1) - Ellis (0-1) - Boyes (1-2)

Kaleta (0-0) - Gaustad (1-1) - Gerbe (2-3)

Hecht (0-0) – Ennis (0-0)

Defense Pairings - 

Myers (0-2) - Regehr (0-0)

Leopold (1-1) - Ehrhoff (1-4)

Gragnani (0-3) - Sekera (0-2)

Weber (0-0)

Goaltending – Jhonas Enroth (1-0)

Ryan Miller (4-2)

After a 4 game road trip, the Sabres are going to be home for a while, playing their next 5 games at the First Niagara Center.  The four road games saw the Sabres come away with 6 of a posible 8 points, a 40 save win and a shutout for Ryan Miller, and an unfortunate injury to Tyler Ennis.

First lets talk points and standings.  The Sabres entered Pittsburgh with a 2-1 record after losing to Carolina at home.  Many poeple expected Miller to start that game, but Enroth was announced as the starter.  Enroth put on a spectacular show and made several key saves to lead the Sabres to a 3-2 victory and 2 points.  Goals came from Nathan Gerbe, Luke Adam and Drew Stafford in the win and Christian Ehrhoff added two assits in the win

After a lackluster effort from the team in front of him, Ryan Miller carried the team on his back and the Sabres came out of Montreal 3-1 winners.  The Sabres mustered a mere 3 shots on goal in the first period of that game and it looked as though it was going to be a long night for a team that was clearly not interested in playing.  The team didn’t kick it into gear until the middle of the second period when Jordan Leopold scored his first of the season tying the game at one.  At the end of the period, Thomas Vanek scored his 4th of the year on a beautiful play at the end of the period.  That goal turned out to be the game winner, and Christian Ehrhoff added his first as a Sabre on an empty netter at the end of the third.

Next came the Florida swing of the road trip, where the Sabres dominated a confused and disorganized Florida team.  Miller walked away with his first shut out of the year, Vanek added two more goals to up his total to 6 on the year, and Jason Pominville added a goal and assist.  The Panthers have been shut out for six periods dating back to a 7 goal outing against Tampa on October 17th.  In the fourth and final game of the trip the Sabres were shut out by a score of 3-0 against the Lightning.  Not a whole lot of good things to say about this game in regards to the Sabres.  Vanek saw his point streak end at 6 games and Tyler Ennis sustained an injury that limited him to one shift at the Beginning of the game.

Ennis was injured on a play early in the first period where he was driving to the net.  Ryan Malone of the Lightning gave him a shove from behind and Ennis slide into the goal, injuring his ankle.  After further evaluation in Buffalo following the teams return from the road trip, Ruff said Ennis was week-to-week with what many believe is a high ankle sprain.  Ennis has gone pointless in 7 games and seemed to be struggling overall with his game.  He is coming off of a successful rookie campaign that saw him net 20 goals.  The injury is not going to help him any, so at this point its a wait and see kind of thing.

As for tonight’s game against Tampa Bay at the First Niagara Center, Matt Ellis will see his first taste of action and will reportedly center a line with Brad Boyes and Cody McCormick.  Brad Boyes will be playing in his 500th consecutive game tonight and he will become the 20th player in NHL history to accomplish this.  Jason Pominville was the teams “iron-man” before sustaining a concussion last season on a vicious hit from behind administered by Nicklas Hjalmarsson of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Lindy Ruff also touched on goaltending during his pre-game press conference, saying Enroth will start one of the games this week (Thursday or Saturday) and seems to be sticking with the pattern he said he would follow after Enroth’s winning performance in Pittsburgh.  For those of you who don’t recall that pattern, allow me to elaborate… Ruff said he plans to start Enroth every third or fourth game.  In the past, Ruff has been notorious for overworking Miller and underworking whatever back-up goalie is on the team at the time.  This is something I really believe he will stick with this time around because Enroth is the first reliable back-up the Sabres have had since Marty Biron.  Other people have said they’ll believe it when the see it, so Lindy if you’re out there, please prove me right, since I just love being right (really, ask anyone that knows me).

Tampa is off to a pretty decent start, considering where they have been in previous seasons.  They are looking to extend their winning streak to 3 games and pull into a second place tie with Florida in the Southeast Division.  The Sabres are looking to get back to their winning ways and move into first place in the Northeast over Toronto (crazy, I know…).

The Sabres offense is poised to bounce back from a lousy performance, especially considering they are playing against the same team that shut them out last game.  The defense will also stand up to the challenge of containing Tampa’s many scoring threats (see Steven Stamkos, Marty St. Louis, Vinny Lecavalier).  Miller has also has a few days to rest and should be back and ready to go.  I expect the Sabres to come out of this gam with another 2 points and continue their winning trend against the Bolts, my prediction 4-2.

Expected Line-up 

Sabres Forward Lines: 

Vanek (6-4) – Adam (3-3) – Pominville (2-7)

Leino (1-1) – Roy (1-3) – Stafford (3-2)

McCormick (0-0) - Ellis (0-0) - Boyes (0-1)

Kaleta (0-0) - Gaustad (1-0) - Gerbe (1-3)

Hecht (0-0) – Ennis (0-0)

Defense Pairings - 

Myers (0-2) - Regehr (0-0)

Leopold (1-1) - Ehrhoff (1-4)

Gragnani (0-3) - Sekera (0-2)

Weber (0-0)

Goaltending – Ryan Miller (4-2)

Enroth (1-0)

This little baby ruined the Sabres home opener at the newly named First Niagara Center.

Welp, I was bound to be wrong at some point, I mean its not like the new look Buffalo Sabres were really going to go 82-0 <slants eyes downward in sadness>. Ryan Miller and the Sabres suffered their first loss of this young season and Jeff Skinner specifically continued a stellar start to the season, helping the Hurricanes to their second win.  Were the Sabres badly outplayed, no.  Were they sloppy with the puck, yes.  They not only gave up two shorthanded goals, but also gave up more breakaway’s and odd man rushes than I, or anyone else really cares to count.

The first period was strong with Thomas Vanek opening the scoring and Derek Roy adding another 3 minutes later, but the pomp and circumstance that comes with the home opener was quickly distinguished when Jay Harrison and Brandon Sutter scored to leave the score tied at the end of the first.  The Sabres and Canes played a pretty even period all around considering each team took 13 shots, 2 penalties and scored 2 goals.

The second period brought about a lackluster effort from the home team, who gave up a second shorthanded goal to Tim Brent.  Even though the Sabres outshot Carolina 18-12, not many of the chances were quality.  If anything this was more a rough and tumble period than it was a skill period, meaning everyone seemed more interested in hitting each other (Bryan Allen) than doing anything else. <– That was a well deserved after the cheap shot, yes Carolina fans, that was a cheap shot, against Captain Pommer.

The third period did not prove to be interesting until the last 3 minutes, when it finally looked like the Sabres caught a break with Drew Stafford camped in front to tap home a rebound from a Tyler Myers “shot.”  Ok, so it wasn’t exactly a shot, but Myers did all the leg work on that play and Stafford was the benefactor of his hard work.  However, about 5 seconds after Stafford tied the game, Vanek took a stupid penalty and Carolina’s Jeff Skinner scored a beauty of a power play goal, which would be the game winner.

Overall, not a horrible game, just not enough of the right stuff.  There were too many odd man opportunities and both the forwards and defensemen weren’t protective enough of the puck.  There were also a few too many penalties for my liking and they did not capitalize of any of their 7 PP chances.  The few positives I feel it is very important to mention are:

1) They still managed to throw 42 shots at Cam Ward (remember, you can’t score if you don’t shoot).

2) Several players, Gaustad and McCormick specifically, made it very clear to Mr. Allen that his actions will no longer be tolerated.

3) The “big guns” are still scoring, which is a nice change of scenery, because normally when the Sabres lose, their prolific scorers are no where to be found.

3 Stars 

1st Star – Jeff Skinner

2nd Star – Drew Stafford

3rd Star – Cam Ward

Well ladies and gents, its finally here, the day we have all been waiting for, the home opener!  The Buffalo Sabres are pulling out all the stops to wow their fans and welcome the team back home.  The team will be holding a “Party in the Plaza” starting at 5:30 and will include live music, special guest appearances, food and drink and the game will be broadcast on large video screens outside.   No tickets necessary for this super fun, super awesome event.

Now onto the game.  Tonight the Sabres (2-0) take on the Hurricanes (1-2-1).  Its been quite the long break since the Sabres returned from their season opening trip to Europe, but now that they have had time to readjust, I expect an exceptional performance against a healthy Hurricane team.  Lets break it down even more.

Offense 

The line of Thomas Vanek, Luke Adam and Jason Pominville have powered the offense with Vanek leading the team in scoring with 5 points (2G, 3A).  Pommer (1G, 3A) and Adam (2G, 2A) follow closely behind with 4 points each.   The other forward lines played strong during the 2 game European road trip and are poised to start putting up numbers in the near future.

The line combinations, as of this mornings practice, have not changed since the teams return from Europe.  Jochen Hecht has been ruled out, as he is till suffering from a minor head injury.  Derek Roy has also been progressing after suffering an injury in the second period of the game against the Kings.

Defense/Goaltending

What can you really say about the defense that isn’t positive at this point.  They have all played exceptional, including Miller and have limited opponents to 3 goals in the two games they have played.  With Miller, many expect him to play well every single night, which we all know isn’t always possible, but now with such a sound defense corp playing in front of him, as well as a juiced up offense, expect Miller to return to his Vezina Trophy winning form.

The additions of Ehrhoff and Regehr have pay instant dividends.  Regehr has already provided the “fear” element our defenses have lacked for a long time and Ehrhoff is not only a sound defensive player, but also has a scoring touch and is a nice addition to what had been a very dry power play.  Myers has shaken whatever was bothering him last year and is playing like the monster he is and he has found a little mean streak or maybe he just realized he’s a lot bigger than everyone else.

The logjam at defense continues to be an issue (not the worst one ever), but I expect Gragnani to stay in the line-up for a while.  He brings a nice offensive touch that Mike Weber just doesn’t have.  However, I would much rather see the grittiness Weber brings than whatever it may be Sekera chooses to bring to any specific game.

Special Teams 

Vanek has taken his leadership role very seriously, first by leading the team in scoring and second by pacing the power play (2G) and making his presence known in front of the net.  Vanek is a big body and has proven his ability to play in front, hopefully this continues though out the season, since right now the PP is clicking at 37.5% (good for second in the league).

Another nice addition to the PP is the cannon shots we have coming from the point (see Ehrhoff, Myers, Gragnani).  I am not normally one of those fans that constantly scream “SHOOT!” during a powerplay, but in the past Myers has seemed hesitant to take a shot, but not this year.  Between Myers and Ehrhoff, there is a very good chance the pucks are going to find their way to Vanek (or Goose) camped out in front of the net and provide scoring opportunities, which is a nice change from the past when they just couldn’t seem to get those shots through.

The penalty killers have also put up a wall of sorts, allowing 1 goal (to Anze Kopitar) in 7 opportunities through two games.  The Sabres have normally been a strong penalty killing team, and now with a healthy Derek Roy and Jason Pomminville, as well as the bolstered defense and strong play of Ryan Miller, I expect them to continue that trend.

The Skinny 

The Canes are coming off their first win of the season against the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins, but they might be without their biggest asset in sophomore sensation Jeff Skinner, who left the game against and did not return.  The Sabres hold the edge over the Hurricanes since the 2006 playoffs, where the Canes beat the Sabres in 7 games en route to their first Stanley Cup, 12-4-4.

With the craziness of the fans and the atmosphere surrounding this game and the fact the Hurricanes have not fared well in Buffalo since ’06, I expect another W for the Sabres tonight.

Expected Line-up 

Sabres Forward Lines: 

Vanek (2-3) – Adam (2-2) – Pominville (1-3)

Gerbe (0-2) – Roy (0-1) – Stafford (1-0)

Ennis (0-0) - Leino (1-0) - Boyes (0-1)

Kaleta (0-0) - Gaustad (1-0) - McCormick (0-0)

Hecht (0-0) – Ellis (0-0)

Defense Pairings - 

Myers (0-0) - Regehr (0-0)

Leopold (0-0) - Ehrhoff (0-1)

Gragnani (0-1) - Sekera (0-1)

Weber (0-0)

Goaltending – Ryan Miller (2-0)

Enroth (0-0)

The Sabres are coming off of a fairly easy and well played win against the Ducks, the Kings are coming off of an overtime win against the Rangers.  Both teams are most likely pretty tired, between the time difference/jet lag, playing the night before and traveling yesterday from Helsinki and Stockholm respectively.  The Sabres specifically had a flight delay because of a luggage problem and did not arrive in Berlin until almost 3am local time.

The team faces off in Berlin, Germany today at 1pm EST in the only meeting of the season.  Last year the Sabres won the only matchup by a score of 4-2.  This is the final game of the NHL Compuware Premiere Series, with the Ducks and Rangers closing out the other match-up in Stockholm.

Much like the Sabres, the Kings underwent a major overhaul during the offseason, picking up the likes of Mike Richards from Philly and trading away Wayne Simmonds and prospect Brayden Schenn.  The Kings finally locked up defenseman Drew Doughty after a long contract negotiation.  Many have picked the Kings to compete for the western conference championship as well as the Stanley Cup.  The Kings have a very solid defense and added some scoring depth when they acquired Richards, but I’m not sure its enough for them to win the whole thing just yet.

This matchup will be a great one to watch and will be a test for a tired Sabres team.  Even though the team arrived late into Germany last night, Miller will again get the start in net.  The Sabres offensive fire power was at the forefront of their dominating win against the Ducks and I expect the same in tonights matchup.  The defense was also very strong in their first outing and newcomers Regehr and Ehrhoff showed exactly why they were brought in.  Regehr’s grit shown through on several occasions and Ehrhoff provided solid play in the defensive zone and added an assit on Vanek’s second powerplay goal.  I personally expect Ehrhoff to really shine in front of his hometown friends, family and country.

Line combinations for the Sabres are expected to stay the same, as are the defensive pairings.  Mike Weber will again be the odd man out, Ellis and Hecht will also sit.  Hecht’s condition is improving, but he is still listed as day-to-day with a minor head injury.  Unfortunately for him, he may very well miss an opportunity to play in his home country, an opportunity he may not get again.

Sabres Forward Lines: 

Vanek (2-1) – Adam (0-2) – Pominville (1-2)

Gerbe (0-0) – Roy (0-0) – Stafford (0-0)

Ennis (0-0) - Leino (1-0) - Boyes (0-1)

Kaleta (0-0) - Gaustad (0-0) - McCormick (0-0)

Hecht (0-0) – Ellis (0-0)

Defense Pairings - 

Myers (0-0) - Regehr (0-0)

Leopold (0-0) - Ehrhoff (0-1)

Gragnani (0-0) - Sekera (0-1)

Weber (0-0)

Goaltending – Ryan Miller (1-0)

Enroth (0-0)

A dominating effort was rewarded with 2 Thomas Vanek goals and a game winning goal from newcomer Ville Leino in the season opener for a Sabres win.  It was clear from very early on the Sabres were very much so in control of the game.  After a quick flurry of shots to open the game, the Ducks seemed to be lost and confused for the remainder of the game.

Ruff juggled lines a little from what most people were expecting, but the top line of Vanek – Adam/Roy – Pominville provided most of the offense and put on a lot of pressure when they were on the ice.  Vanek, the games first star, scored twice, including the first Sabres goal of the 2011-2012 campaign, Pominville, the second star, scored once and added 2 assists and Luke Adam, the young center who only played 9:47 added 2 assists.  Leino scored the eventual game winner in the middle of the first period on a nifty shot after a nice pass from Sekera.

Miller, the third star, played stellar and relied on the bolstered defense playing in front of him.  He stopped 29-30 shot thrown at him, with the lone Ducks goal coming on a strange shot off the face-off in the second period.  The goal was scored by Nate Guenin, his first in the NHL.

The defensive pairing of Leopold and Ehrhoff led the team in ice time, playing 24:45 and 24:35 respectively.  Thomas Vanek led the team in shots on goal, taking 9 during the course of the first two periods, and points (2G, 1).  Miller improved his season opener record to 5-1-1 in the last 7 years.

The Sabres opened and closed the scoring with powerplay goals, both from Thomas Vanek.  This was my personal bright stat of the game simply because, in the past, PP goals are few and far between for this team.  Now we have, what appears to be, two very well put together powerplay units that will hopefully improve as the season progresses.

The Sabres dominated the second period, scoring twice and taking 16 shots to Anaheim’s 13, but they were badly outshot in the third 11-0.  At that point in the game, it didn’t really matter as they were already ahead by 3 goals on a team that just never really got their legs underneath them.  If this was a different game, we would be having a different conversation…

Overall, a solid and expected win.  The defense contained the Ducks top line of Perry – Getzlaf – Ryan, limiting them to a combined 7 shots.  The penalty killers handled the Ducks powerplay with ease and the forward lines rolled.  All in all, a solid game and a solid win.  Up next, the LA Kings in Germany.

Its finally here, the first game of the season for the Buffalo Sabres.  Granted they are 4,143 miles away, that hasn’t stopped anyone from being excited and taking an optimistic stance about this season.  For many of us, this season is extremely promising and gives us as fans a chance to really experience what living in Pegulaville is going to be like.   Now, onto this match-up.

The Sabres face off against the Anaheim Ducks in Helsinki, Finland at 1pm EST.  This is one of two meetings this season between these teams, with the other and final meeting coming on Feb. 29, 2012 (woot for a leap year game!).  Last year the Sabres won the only game with a score of 5-2, with Tyler Ennis scoring two goals including the game winner.

The Sabres will technically be the home team for this match-up, but with Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu returning to the home, I would expect it to feel as though they are they road team.  However, the Sabres lead the all time series 13-8-3.

This time around, the new look Sabres are going up against a very physical and skilled Anaheim team.  The Ducks finally have a healthy goaltender in Hiller, a slew of scoring machines and, rough and tumble guys like George Parros to round out what could be a very complete team.

The difference this time around, is that the Sabres are part of this conversation as well.  They added western conference grit by acquiring Robyn Regehr and Christian Ehrhoff, they have a healthy Paul Gaustad and Derek Roy is ready to return after a season ending injury.  Miller is looking for a bounce back season and they Tyler’s are poised to pick up right where they left off last season.

This will also be the first game the team plays with Jason Pominville as the full-time captain.  While many felt Vanek was more deserving of the ‘C’, Pommer is clearly the quiet leader of this team and has been for several season.  Until his injury last season, he was the team’s iron man, playing in 335 consecutive games, he may not be the consistent scorer the Vanek is, but the team plays superbly under his leadership (57 goals in 17 games at the end of the 2007-2008 season).  Vanek received an ‘A’ along with Stafford, Roy and Gaustad.  As Lindy touched on yesterday, this group came up to the NHL together through the Rochester/Buffalo system and will provide consist leadership through out the season.

Overall, I expect the Sabres to start the season off with a ‘W.’  The defense corps runs very deep and all should be able to contain scoring threats like Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Teemu Selanne.  With the bolstered defense, Miller should be even better than he normally is, so I expect him to win this goal tending battle.  The scoring lines also have the potential to just keep rolling, as all 4 lines pose a  threat (similar to the 2006-2007 season).

Scratches for the Sabres include Matt Ellis, Jochen Hecht and Mike Weber.  Toni Lydman is still rehabbing a shoulder injury for the Ducks, as is Matt Smaby (hand) and both will not play.  Matt Beleskey (shoulder) and Kurtis Foster (thigh) are both listed as day-to-day for the Ducks and Jason Pominville (leg) is also day-to-day but will most likely play.

Sabres Forward Lines: 

Vanek (0-0) – Adam (0-0) – Pominville (0-0)

Gerbe (0-0) – Roy (0-0) – Stafford (0-0)

Ennis (0-0) - Leino (0-0) - Boyes (0-0)

Kaleta (0-0) - Gaustad (0-0) - McCormick (0-0)

Defense Pairings - 

Myers (0-0) - Regehr (0-0)

Leopold (0-0) - Ehrhoff (0-0)

Gragnani (0-0) - Sekera (0-0)

Goaltending – Ryan Miller (0-0)

Well its official Sabres fans, we finally have a full time captain, Mr. Jason Pominville!!  The team announced today at their team dinner in Helsinki, Finland that Pominville will serve as the captian for the 2011-2012 season.  Paul Gaustad, Drew Stafford, Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek will serve as the assistants.

This may come as a surprise to some, considering many thought Vanek would be our next captain, but I personally felt Pominville should have been the captain forever and a year ago (then we could have avoided the Rivet debacle).  When Pommer wore the ‘C’ for the last few months of the 2007-2008 season, the team was successful in terms of that season posting an 8-6-3 record and scoring 57 goals in 17 games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEpr8moQBPs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnwUYahu3Bc

What are your thoughts on this decision?  Give me the good, the bad, the AWESOME!  Clearly you can all see where my stance is, now tell me yours!