|
Displaying pretext
For two days, the Buffalo Sabres sat in limbo waiting for Calgary Flames defenseman Robyn Regehr to decide whether to waive his no-move clause and accept a trade to Buffalo. In the process, Sabres fans built excitement like the team had just acquired Nicklas Lidstrom rather than the beat-up, mediocre blue liner Regehr actually is. He became the missing piece, the one to fill the gap between the Sabres losing in the first round and competing for the Stanley Cup. Before setting foot in Buffalo, he became Tyler Myers' new mentor and the locker room presence the team has lacked since Michael Peca wore a "C" on his sweater.
One blogger wrote: "He will take Myers by the ear and teach him how to be a pro." The Buffalo News said, "He's a physical presence on the blue line and a veteran leader, one who will help tutor a defense corps that has four players aged 25 or younger."
Leader or no, the reality is the Sabres just spent essentially $7 million on what will be their fifth-best defenseman. Regehr will make $4 million, but as part of the deal, Buffalo was forced to take replacement-level forward Ales Kotalik for $3 million. Last year, by Goals Versus Threshold (GVT), Steve Montador (9.8), Mike Weber (6.7), Jordan Leopold (8.7) and Tyler Myers (9.0) all ranked higher than Regehr (6.3). Four of those d-men will return in 2011-12. Rookie Marc Gragnani, who scored seven points in seven playoff games this year, is also expected to be in next year's lineup.
The old, "he'll make young players better" fallacy is running wild with the acquisition of Regehr. By that logic, shouldn't Shaone Morrisonn have made others better? What about Craig Rivet? There's something to be said for veteran leadership, but if the Sabres plan on putting Regehr on the front line with Myers, he'll be hurt more than helped. Myers had a difficult stretch to begin last season, but was elite during the second half and playoffs. The 6-foot-8 Calder Trophy winner makes other players better (See: Tallinder, Henrik), not the other way around.
|
The Blue Line (06/16)
1 comment has been left for this article. 
Nice post Matthew.
One thing I would say about Regehr (I live in Calgary and have watched him for years) is that the players you're comparing him to possess completely different skillsets. Ian White played side-by-side with Regehr in Calgary and any Flames fan would take Regehr in a heartbeat. A similar comparison to offensive players like Enstrom, Wisniewski and Kaberle is also non-equitable.
GVT can under-rate purely defensive blue liners. Regehr is one of these cases. He will not be challenging for the Norris any time soon, but should be a Top 4 d-man easily. He is used to being matched up against Top Comp on a nightly basis and generally plays to a draw possession-wise. Pairing him with a guy like Myers would be ideal as he could free up Myers to play more offensively.
For years he had the ability to erase the opposition's best offensive threat, but isn't quite as effective now. However, he's still very good. I would liken the acquisition to that of Vancouver getting Malhotra last summer. He will make other players better by taking a huge load of the "dirty work" off the rest of the defensive corps.