How Will the Rotating D Corps Play Out?

Lindy Ruff has notoriously tinkered with his lines, but it’s usually among the forward corps, not the blueliners.  But after the over-documented (hell I broke down video, that’s over-documenting) poor play by Steve Montador, Chris Butler, and Toni Lydman; Nathan Paetsch and Andrej Sekera finally broke back into the lineup for the first time since 2009.

Earlier in the season, especially during the Sabres winning streak, Lindy was reluctant to change the lineup and break up a successful run.  It took Pat Kaleta, what, a half dozen games before he was able to crack the lineup again?  Will that occur again on the blueline?  How’s this going to shake out?

Well, first off, we know at least one of them is potential trade bait.   Most people hoped that would be Tallinder at the start of the season; but the Sky Scraper pairing of Henrik and Tyler Myers has been a defensive revelation. So that leaves UFA’s to be Toni Lydman and Nathan Paetsch as trade pieces during the upcoming trade deadline frenzy.

Truth be told, I am entirely for moving Lydman, since Sekera has played well when called upon, and at just 23 years of age, is still coming into his own as a defensemen.  Yes, even though Myers proves you can be dominant at 19, we all know he’s the outlier.

But as I pointed out in a prior post; if the Sabres are going to add a piece, one would assume it would be a true PP point man; perhaps a M-A Bergeron from Montreal, Joe Corvo from Carolina, Mathieu Schnieder from Vancouver, or *gasp* Sheldon Souray from Edmonton.  But that’s a whole other topic.

Right now the Sabres have 8 defensemen on the roster, 6 spots of ice time, and 4 of ‘em that are interchangeable.  In the playoffs, that’s a great kind of  problem to have, the 8 blueliners, not the 4 playing shitty.  Mike Harrington offered his take.

With veteran players usually, Ruff’s tendency is one or two games at most and then the player gets back in. It’s how he’s dealt with Drew Stafford in the past and how he dealt with Henrik Tallinder last year when he was struggling.

And he’s right, that’s usually how Lindy rolls.  But we all know that this team is different than last season’s, so we’ll certainly find out.  I wish I could offer some intelligent insight into what the lineup is going to look like tonight; but I can’t, how bout we just hope for a win, and some solid defensive play against an offensively retarded team.

Tags: Buffalo Sabres, Steve Montador, Toni Lydman