Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Chris Butler: Causing Problems, Good Problems
First, let's talk about Butler's background and play thus far. The rookie played at the University of Denver for 3 years, lacing them up with guys like Matt Carle and Paul Statsny. He was honored as an All-American in 2008, so naturally in April he signed his first pro contract with the Sabres. One of the final cuts at training camp, he stood out. He obviously didn't make the team obviously, but has been so impressive in Portland, he warranted a call up over top prospect Mike Weber (he who was a major asset at the end of last year's run). In 27 games at Portland he had 2 goals and 10 assists, and got quality ice time. Since the call up on December 19th, he has 1 point, but on a team full of mostly minus players, he sits at +4. His ice time has steadily been rising, averaging between 13-18 minutes of time, not bad for a rookie call up. He plays with a coolness and calm that you don't see out of many young kids under the big lights, and Lindy loves him for it.It's pretty common knowledge that the NHL learning curve for defensemen is much higher than for forwards. You rarely see guys like Luke Schenn, Drew Doughty, or Luca Sbisa immediately make an impact on the ice, but even then, they aren't putting up great numbers. Highly drafted guys like Karl Alzner (2007 draft), Jack Johnson (2005 ), and Marc Staal (2005) are just now coming into their own. While the budding stars on defense are all coming from the 2002 (Bouwmeester, Whitney), 2003 (Suter, Phaneuf, Brent Burns), and 2004 (Barker, Green) drafts. Those guys were all first round picks. Obviously there are anomalies, but you get my point, Chris Butler is a 4th rounder from the 2005 draft, making an impact on the Sabres blueline.
Well as of right now Lindy is rotating based on performance. Butler was inserted back into the line up and Hank Tallinder sat for Detroit on Saturday. Tonight, Teppo Numminen, the 40 year old wonder, will take the night off in Chicago. Are the Sabres, in their fiscal approach to hockey, really going to carry that extra salary in the press box? I don't think so. Will they simply wait for the injury bug to strike? Perhaps, but isn't that leaving a little bit too much to fate? A move needs to be made.
Waive Nathan Paestch, the de facto 8th man out and subject him to 29 other teams? I doubt it, his versatility (a poor man's Dustin Byflugien) makes him a commodity. A trade? The only valuable defensemen we have are Spacek (expiring contract, powerplay quarterback) and Sekera (young, puck-moving, top pair), but would undoubtably have to be paired with one of our extra forwards in a move.
Even though Butler is obviously cheap at $560,000 but in such a small market that is lost revenue, there will be a move made somewhere along the line. I just hope that it means we're buying and not selling.
UPDATE: Oddly enough, after the morning skate Chris Butler will now be relegated to the press box and Teppo will be dressing for the game. So now this muddles things even more. If you're going to sit the kid why not just shuttle him back to Portland to get his 20 minutes? Whatever.
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1 comments:
i read in the buffalo news if we send him back to portland he will ahve to clear waivers and we'd likely lose him.
Courtney
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