Buffalo Sabres Welcome Steve Ott, Adam Pardy
By Tim Redinger
The Buffalo Sabres drew a lot of ire for their inability to defend themselves lately. Yesterday, inactivity by the management started to breed a little contentment among Sabres Nation. Today, Sabres Fans rejoice, not so much that we got Steve Ott on our hockey team, but that Derek Roy is no longer a member of the Buffalo Sabres.
Let me say that again.
DEREK ROY IS NO LONGER A MEMBER OF THE BUFFALO SABRES. I have never been happier to see a guy be off the roster than today. Despite being a point a game player – he was a cancer in the locker room, a lone wolf on a team needing their point guy to be a leader. The writing was on the wall plain as day two seasons ago when the Sabres got better when Roy went down with an injury.
Not only did the Buffalo Sabres get better by eliminating Derek Roy from the roster, they got tougher by adding Steve Ott to the lineup. This does not give the Buffalo Sabres that number one guy for the middle of the ice, but what it does do is give those potential number one guys out there some reassurance that there is some grit on the team now to protect them. Adding to the defensive logjam on the blue line, the Buffalo Sabres also acquired Adam Pardy in the trade.
Here is a little bit more about the newest members of the Buffalo Sabres.
Adam Pardy – a 2004 draft pick of the Calgary Flames, over the past seven years he has amassed 183 NHL contests, and only four goals and 29 points to show for his efforts. The Buffalo Sabres will be the defenseman’s third NHL team, and with the depth at defense, he may never seen blue and gold in a real game.
The 28 year old from Newfoundland, Canada might be use in a package deal that ships him right back out of Buffalo before he has a chance to get settled in, or he could be part of that depth if the Sabres have another deal in the pipe that will send one of their defensive prospects to another city.
Steve Ott – Just one season after winning the Stanley Cup, the Dallas Stars were back on the search for a winning combination of players. The 2000 Entry Draft yielded them Steve Ott with the 25th overall selection in the draft. While lightning has not struck in Texas again since that fate summer of 1999 – Steve Ott use those years in the NHL to make a name for himself. With 566 games under his belt, Ott has only one 20 goal season – although he has reached double digits in goals every season since the 2007-2008 campaign. With 1170 career penalty minutes – he is no stranger to the sin bin and will make guys think twice about taking liberties with the Buffalo Sabres anymore.
It is doubtful that the Buffalo Sabres are done with tweaking their roster as of right now. They could still be entertaining the idea of trading for Rick Nash or Bobby Ryan – but that might cost them Tyler Ennis or Luke Adam, but it would give this team a very different look and feel to it – something that we have been longing for.
There will be plenty of chances in the near future to see Steve Ott in action, so instead of plugging in a highlight film or some on ice fist fights, how about a song about how I feel about Derek Roy being gone.