Buffalo Sabres Brian Gionta Key To Marcus Foligno’s Breakthrough?
Will the Buffalo Sabres captain’s biggest contribution in 2016-17 show up in Marcus Foligno‘s stats?
To all you Brian Gionta haters out there: if you were hoping to hear the captain of the Buffalo Sabres say the words, “I retire,” you’re going to have to wait at least one more season.
That may sound like bad news to many of you, but there’s at least one player on the Sabres who is no hurry to see Gionta hang up his skates, and that is 24 year-old Marcus Foligno.
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Foligno is one of those players on the Buffalo Sabres who I have always expected more from – at 6’3″, 226 pounds, I have always hoped he would become that bruising power forward a la Wayne Simmonds, who by the way weighs a full 40 pounds less than Foligno but is almost impossible to get away from the net on the power play. Yet, while Simmonds is good for 50+ points and a good 2-3 bone-rattling hits per game, Foligno has never topped 30 points.
Foligno is still young, though, and he is actually coming off his best season so far, notching 10 goals and 23 points, both career highs. If the Buffalo Sabres want to make the playoffs in 2016-17, they could really use a break-out year from Foligno – and maybe Gionta is just the guy to help?
According to a piece written by Paul Hamilton at WGR550.c0m, Foligno attributes a lot of his success in 2015-16 to the calming presence of the veteran Gionta:
"He’s helped me a lot, just the way to prepare yourself for a game and he’s a smart player out there, he doesn’t cheat and he’s helped me a lot to just keep it simple out there with which plays to make and which plays not to make at certain times.His experience, his positive attitude, we get frustrated some games and he’s there telling up to keep it going and keep working hard.I remember one game when we had nothing going in the first period against Calgary and then we each had two or three points that game and he was there teaching me and Johan to keep it going and not get frustrated and the water started flowing and we started getting points."
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It’s hard to explain why certain people can exert such an influence on you, while others try and either fail or succeed to a lesser extent. When you have a team as young as the Buffalo Sabres, you clearly need experienced veterans on the roster who can help the young guns handle the stresses or playing hockey at the highest possible level. I wouldn’t say Matt Moulson exactly earned his paycheck this season, but his willingness to mentor Jack Eichel cannot be overlooked.
Wouldn’t it be something if one more year with Gionta propels Foligno to his first 30+ point season? I admit that I was hoping to see the Sabres buyout Moulson’s contract this summer, and to hear that Brian Gionta was announcing his retirement. Nothing personal – I just wanted the team to give itself more room under the salary cap to bring in some players who can provide more production. If Brian Gionta can somehow continue to help Marcus Foligno become more like the power forward I have always hoped he would become, though, I might cut the captain a good deal of slack.