Jordan Leopold Reaction
7/06/2010 | Posted by
Devin
The news on July 1st that the Sabres only signed Jordan Leopold was met with this type of reaction.
Sabres: "The Sabres have reached an agreement with Jordan Leopold"
Generic Fan A: "Who is that?"
Generic Fan B: "Some guy from Pittsburgh."
(Frantically Googling 'Jordan Leopold')
Generic Fan B: "He isn't a big name, I hate this."
Generic Fan A: "Wow, the Sabres are awful. How could they do this to me?"
Needless to say, it was an overreaction of epic proportions. Is Jordan Leopold the answer? Hardly. Is he a great signing? Not really. Was it that terrible? No, it wasn't. Combine this with the overreaction to losing Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder and what you're left with is a massive headache. Just to review a few things, Lydman and Tallinder are easily replaceable. Neither was overwhelming during their time in Buffalo. In fact, before last season, most of the Sabres fan base wanted Tallinder run out of town. You can put me in that crowd. In fact, I wrote numerous times last offseason that I wanted the Sabres to dish off both contracts before they expire, even if it resulted in them getting a bag of pucks in return.
Flash forward to this season and all of a sudden losing both guys is a bad thing. Just for the sake of argument, here are the numbers for all three players for the past two seasons. Numbers don't tell the whole story, but they help paint a picture.
2009-10
GP | Goals | Assists | Points | PP Points | +/- | |
| Leopold | 81 | 11 | 15 | 26 | 1 | -2 |
| Tallinder | 82 | 4 | 16 | 20 | 0 | +13 |
| Lydman | 67 | 4 | 16 | 20 | 0 | +10 |
2008-09
GP | Goals | Assists | Points | PP Points | +/- | |
| Leopold | 83* | 7 | 17 | 24 | 1 | -15 |
| Tallinder | 66 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 0 | -2 |
| Lydman | 80 | 3 | 20 | 23 | 0 | 0 |
*Traded at deadline which accounts for one extra game played.
Leopold got identical money as Lydman got from Anaheim. +/- is the only real stat that Lydman was better than Leopold in. Otherwise, they are basically the same. The real difference between the two is that Leopold scores more goals. Just throwing this out there, but the Sabres could use some more goal scoring from their blue line.
As for Tallinder, where do we start? I already mentioned how nobody wanted him around but what changed this past season? Well for one, he had a major bounce back season that must have brain washed the fans' minds into thinking he was good again. So why did he have a bounce back season? Contract year? Paired up with Tyler Myers? You decide. I'm no expert (obviously), but watch New Jersey regret his contract roughly halfway through its tenure.
Again, I'm not getting on my soap box and backing this decision 100%. In fact for the sake of argument, here is what I wrote about him just before free agency started. But I also realize that it's only July 6th and the Sabres don't lace up the skates for a number of weeks still.
In a solid and under the radar signing, the Sabres re-inked Cody McCormick to another one year deal. The big difference this season compared to last is that this year it's a one way deal, which would indicate that he'll be spending the entire season up with Buffalo as opposed to Portland.
I was extremely high on McCormick in my Sabres season preview, maybe even a little too high on him seeing that he didn't even make the roster. That being said, he was called up during the playoffs and played very well in the final three games. Apparently the Sabres front office agrees because it looks like he'll be replacing Adam Mair or Matt Ellis. Actually, both might not return with this move.
From what I know about McCormick, I'm pretty excited to see him in Buffalo all season long.
So what's the next move gonna be?
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