Buffalo Sabres Daily: Analytics And Economics

Good morning, Buffalo Sabres fans! As the team prepares to hit the ice tonight at the First Niagara Center for its first home preseason game of the year, there’s quite a bit of news around the hockey community.

A hotbed in the hockey world as of late has been the topic of analytics. Many writers and bloggers are very much into the analytics and statistics; Buffalo Sabres head coach Ted Nolan, however, is not.

In an article posted by The Buffalo News, Nolan discusses his dislike of analytics and says he puts more faith in the “human aspect” of the game, depending more on what he sees on the ice than any analytical information. What do you guys think? Is Nolan’s attitude a good one for an NHL coach, or should he be more concerned with the analytics that some media members seem to focus heavily on?

For me, I think it’s got to be somewhere in between. A play or a team can look great on paper, but it’s what you do out on the ice that matters most. Nolan’s attitude about the “human aspect” of the game and his judgments based on what he sees playing actually doing (or not doing) on the ice is actually refreshing to me, so we’ll see how that transitions over to the regular season.

In other Buffalo Sabres news, the team prepares for its second preseason game of the year. After tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs will come to town for a game on Friday. That game will be a little bit of a special occasion, as players with walk the “blue and gold carpet” prior to the game, as announced by the team on Monday.

The event will begin at 5 p.m., two hours prior to puck drop. Players will walk the carpet, sign autographs and do interviews before entering the arena for the game. This year’s event will be hosted by Brian Duff and Danny Gare, so it’s sure to be a good time — and it’s free, no game ticket required.

Some Buffalo Sabres roster news this morning regarding Mikhail Grigorenko and Patrick Kaleta.

Grigorenko, 20, may or may not be headed to the Rochester Americans this season. Though many pegged him as an AHLer for this year, Nolan says that Grigorenko’s spot in Rochester isn’t a sure thing — he could fight for a spot in the NHL club instead.

Nolan’s attitude that there’s room for players to still move around is great, in my eyes. Grigorenko came into training camp not knowing for sure whether he’d be in Buffalo or Rochester; it’s given him something to work even harder for, knowing that he has a chance to crack the Sabres lineup immediately this season. It sounds like so far, Nolan’s been impressed with Grigorenko, so it’ll be interesting to see if he does get a chance in Buffalo on opening night in just a few weeks.

From Two In The Box comes an article this morning about Patrick Kaleta and his hopeful return to the NHL.

I think at this point, the question is leaning more towards whether there’s actually a roster spot on the Buffalo Sabres for Kaleta, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Finally this morning, an article from Global News (CA) about the impact of the return of NHL hockey on the Canadian economy.

To me, the most astounding line of that article – published Monday morning – was discussing the price of preseason tickets for the Leafs/Flyers game. At the time of publishing, tickets were going for upwards of $85 each. To me, that is just….. wow. I can’t imagine paying that much for a preseason game, but we truly have been spoiled with the Buffalo Sabres. Many other NHL teams charge near- or full-price for preseason tickets.

Speaking of which – there’s still some tickets available for tonight’s Buffalo Sabres vs. Carolina Hurricanes preseason game at the First Niagara Center. Tickets are going for between $15 and $35, and the puck drops at 7 p.m.