Buffalo Sabres Players Year In Review: Josh Gorges

Back nearly a year ago, the Buffalo Sabres made a few offseason acquisitions that were supposed to help the rebuilding process. One of these key pickups was defenseman Josh Gorges.

Related – Players Year In Review: Zach Bogosian

With a pedigree for solid defensive play, and blocking shots, Gorges was initially brought in to be that stable defensive partner for (at the time) Tyler Myers. Buffalo was looking to maximize the potential of the large defender and finally get him back on track from his rookie year, but after the trade that goal was irrelevant.

Gorges went through the year as best as he could, but it was obvious how frustrated he was with the losing. He was the guy after every game to say that the team needed to do better and that the attitude needed to change drastically.

From a player with such a desire to win, this year definitely took its toll on Gorges. He was sidelined for almost half of the season due to constant injuries, and those injuries were caused by his dedication to playing hard for this team.

Gorges was at the top of the league in blocked shot for nearly the entire year he was active. He was always more than willing to throw his body in front of shots from opponents, and it eventually got him injured numerous times. After taking so many lumps, it took a toll on Gorges emotionally.

Being injured for most of the season, having a team that was unmotivated, and having fans that were rooting against him, Gorges was frustrated to his capacity. His play suffered in the area where he usually excelled. Gorges found himself on the bad end of statistics for the year.

He managed to tally a total of 6 points which were all assists, and he did so in 46 games played. Now, Gorges is not expected to play an offensive game, so the 6 assists were not bad for him, but the plus-minus section was where it stands out. Gorges was a dismal -28 which was tied for third worst with Cody Hodgson on the team behind Tyson Strachen and Mike Weber.

He was on the ice for nearly every situation, and it ended up being the worst possible thing for him. His frustration was evident as he played each game, and he was growing even further fed up with the whole situation. After it took the great word of Brian Gionta to get Gorges to waive his no trade clause to come to Buffalo, he was greeted with the worst season of his career and fans that were cheering against him most nights.

The whole tanking mentality (I never thought I’d even bring that word up ever again) was the hardest on Gorges because he seems like the most dedicated player on the team in every situation. Not only that, but he has tasted a lot of winning while in Montreal and still wants to keep that going.

As for his future, I would love to see what Gorges can do to teach Rasmus Ristolainen. As a top level defender, he can help round out Risto’s game in the defensive end and then let his natural playing ability keep him two way game up to par.

He would make a great mentor for Ristolainen if he played enough minutes with him all year.

What do you guys think?

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