Starting in Goal, #35 Jocelyn Thiebault

Who knew he was Bulgarian?

(Here's the real story if you're interested)

Filling that Empty Net

by Ryan

Unless Ryan Miller is horribly maimed by Maxim Girls because of his blogging, we will have a starting goaltender next year. God willing, he will be a goaltender that doesn't have to play every night while slowly breaking down, losing focus and intensity while battling the pressures of contract talks and a possible trade at the deadline so management can save face.

Ahem.

Insiders (read: everyone) say that Jocelyn Thibault will not be back next season. The good news is that we don't have to pay a half million dollars for an empty net next year, but the bad news is that we are obligated to fill that roster spot, so no hot tub in Sabretooth's House next year. (Don't worry Goose, Quinn would have made sure it was Energy Star compliant...)

That means that unless Bradley Eidsness doesn't want to play for the Sioux next season we will need a backup goaltender. Now I know what you're thinking: another chance to fail in free agency. While the prospect of overpaying for an over the hill has been is quite thrilling, there is another option.



Ray Emery.

Hear me out now. He obviously won't be playing in Ottawa next year, so what better way to heat up the rivalry then by having a former rebound machine manning the far door on the other team's bench? Mark Bellhorn thinks this would be downright diabolical.

Mirtle M.D has a solid post about the situation, and very clearly states the Sabres are a likely option for Emery, as well as highlights the upcoming UFA goaltender class. Do you see anyone on there that is a better option at this point? I doubt Conklin will come back for pennies based on the run he had earlier this year in Pittsburgh.

When you dig deep, Emery does have some redeeming qualities. He is at the very least interesting, and may or may not wear women's shoes. That's gotta be good for something, right? The guy has Mike Tyson on his mask, so you know he's willing to fight for this team. Or with this team. Or with this management. Whatever.

The fact of the matter is this: we have a need, and he needs a team. I think we should give him a serious look over the summer if things don't go so great with Captain Eyebrows. The least we can do is give him the benefit of the doubt, I'd imagine he would reciprocate.

"I'm not a big fan of Buffalo. There's not a lot to do on days off."

Sounds perfect to me.

The Five Biggest Mistakes of the Season

by Ryan

Because everyone loves post-season lists...

5) Jocelyn Thibault
He seems like a delightful person, but we saw a lot of this from TBO this year:



I'm not going to give you the hindsight-aided "should have kept Ty Conklin" argument because that's dumb, but you have to think Darcy could have done better in the UFA goaltender category. Let's hope he improves this summer.

4) Trading Brian Campbell
Actually, it's what didn't happen following shipping Soup to San Jose. Something I wrote about the deadline on 3/3:

I think this year’s deadline will once again show Darcy’s inability to make a distinct decision. Weakening the team with Campbell’s deal but not completely retooling is not advantageous in the long run. We would have been better off if Darcy decided to make another move, one that shows either this season is a lost cause or that we are going to make a playoff push. Doing neither is not doing both.

I think the results of the season don't change my thoughts much.

3) Andrew Peters
Do I really need to talk this one out? Peters was an embarrassment this year, especially when you consider who he kept out of the lineup.



Pat Kaleta is the future of "goon hockey", let's throw Peters under the bus and get it over with.

2) Not Eating at Caliente Corner
I went to over a dozen games this year and not once did I stop by the Mexican eatery on the 100 level. I've been eying that place all year and somehow didn't make a stop there when I was hungry. It just doesn't make sense. I love overpriced nachos, why not pay a few more bucks to get overpriced nachos with even more stuff on them? Totally dropped the ball here.

1) Captain by Committee
Say what you want about the alleged emergence of Jason Pominville(!?!) as captain, but this novel experiment, like Prohibition, failed miserably. No consistent leadership led to, get this, inconsistency in play. One captain, Mr. December, was traded to San Jose in the middle of the playoff push. Even Pominville, the player who supposedly took the biggest step with this system, was at the helm for the worst two losses of the year (Montreal and Ottawa in the same week!), completely killing their playoff push. My how the expectations of leadership has fallen.

If you have any other ideas I'm open to suggestions. I know I have to live my mistake down all summer...

Sweet

by Ryan

Those of you that have been reading the site for a while know that I am a bit of a collector. In fact, last week I was pretty pumped to pick up an O-Pee-Chee Patrick Kane rookie and haven't had an excuse to talk about until now.

With that in mind, it's pretty exciting to get a link like this tossed your way on a Friday afternoon.



That is a very, very cool figure.

I've been really happy with McFarlane's work in the sports market since Starting Lineup stopped making those skinny little action figures so long ago. The life-like quality of the work is just downright stunning. The bodies, expressions, and even stick models match to the letter, something that just isn't there with other brands. I have a Jonathan Papelbon figure that would scare A-Rod into a weak check swing all by itself.

The price is pretty good as well. You'd be hard pressed to get one of these in your local Target, and any other shop I've seen has these in the $20+ price range. I haven't been to D&A in a little while, but it looks like I'll have to stop by soon.

Also, looks like McFarlane makes Jocelyn Thibault figurines as well:

Out of the Van, Marty

by Ryan

Man, sometimes you just have to love snow.

After enduring the past few weeks of sloppy, messy rain in January it's just nice to go outside and see fresh powder. I'm done with green for a few months now, I'd take a foot of snow over 1/8th of January rain any day.

Today it snowed while the sun was shining bright. Awesome.

On that note, let's go to Dallas to play some hockey.

---

The Dallas Stars are a really good hockey team. Actually, it's been very rare to find a terrible Stars team since their move from the Hockey State. We all know about their Stanley Cup in 1999, and they have been a perennial playoff team in the West with "Captian America" Modano leading the way.

(A Brief Aside: Since the '99 Finals I've seen and heard countless Stars fans, writers, and players say we should "get over it"; "it" being the overtime winner in Game 6. To be honest, I think that is a ridiculously stupid thing to say. We will never get over the fact that we lost that game, and there is nothing you can do to make it happen. You won your Cup, yes, but Mets fans don't tell Sox fans to get over the '86 World Series, so don't you dare tell me to get over No Goal. I don't scream from the high heavens about it's injustice, I don't have a bumper sticker on my car, but it still pisses me off.

You deal with that.)

Anyways, the Stars are really good, and even the optimist in me says this game is an L in the standings. They have two solid goaltenders in Marty Turco and Mike Smith, and we have a wavering Ryan Miller and a corpse with a girl's name.



"What's that? I can't hear you because I suck out loud."


I would call this game a test because Dallas is a good team, but to be honest this is a survival game. Play 60 minutes and get out alive. If we get points, huzzah!

It is sad that this team has degraded a hockey game to this level, but things are pretty bleak around here. So, let's finish with a quick story about Marty Turco.



I had Marty Turco on my fantasy team last year. Because of this commercial, after every shutout my Yahoo avatar would scream "GET BACK IN THE VAN, MARTY!" Good times.

I drafted him again this year. Because of Mike Smith that hasn't happened as much this year. The lesson is: Mike Smith kills everything that is good.

Let's see if I agree with that statement in a few hours...

Thibault Time

By Chris

Ottawa again?

It's going to be a relief next season when the Senators aren't going to be on the schedule eight times a year, but for now we're all just going to have to live with it. But tonight we might end up dying with it.

Jocelyn Thibault is expected to get the start for the Buffalo Sabres tonight. The same Jocelyn Thibault of a 2-3 record, a 3.64 goals against average and a .857 save percentage. When he came in for relief of Ryan Miller last Friday against these same Senators, he allowed two goals on 11 shots in 27:09.

He's going to need all the help he can get from his defense. Teppo Numminen, however, won't be skating anytime soon. The Sabres doctors have not cleared him to play and it puts the 39-year old defenseman's season in jeopardy.

I know the heart complication was unexpected at the start of training camp, but in hindsight, it looks like $2.6 million just thrown away. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.

The Sabres, winless in their last seven, face off against the Sens, the beasts of the Eaast, at 7:30 in Kanata. Here's hoping for the best...and expecting the worst.

They got that swagger back

3-0 win against the Habs tonight. The Sabres actually hit, too, which was refreshing to see. A hard-fought, physical, up tempo hockey game. And a four game winning streak. Sure, TBO looks super-unorthodox between the pipes, but he got the job done tonight. Sabres vs. Capitals Monday on Vs., hopefully I won't have to van Gogh myself while watching the game.

Finally....

Finally, we have some movement on the home-front. Apparently, Jocelyn Thibault was the veteran that Darcy mentioned in his press conference.

Also in the news, we have signed a key part of our two-time Eastern Conference runner up teams in Andrew Peters, and made sure that 26-year-old "prospect" Michael Ryan doesn't get away.

Stanley Cup, here we come!


(If you can't tell that this was dripping with sarcasm, please jump off of the bandwagon)