Buffalo Sabres Players: Jordan Nolan Is Not The Enforcer

The Buffalo Sabres have been using Jordan Nolan in strange ways this season, and it is time to stop and rethink his role with the team.

At the start of this season, the Buffalo Sabres picked up winger Jordan Nolan off of waivers from the Los Angeles Kings, and subsequently traded Nicolas Deslauriers to the Montreal Canadiens. With Deslauriers out and Nolan in, it seemed like the Sabres had chosen their new enforcer. While early preseason signs pointed towards Nolan doing well in this role, he has not stepped up in any way to put this on display for the fans or his teammates.

The role of any enforcer/grinder type player in today’s NHL is to be a pest to the opposing team, throw hits to keep opposing players honest, and ultimately to protect your teammates, especially the stars of the team (i.e Jack Eichel, Ryan O’Reilly, Rasmus Ristolainen). Jordan Nolan has been and has done none of these things, and it is something that is being sorely missed on the ice each night.

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Nolan has made his career as a grinder/enforcer type player in the NHL. He has never scored more than 10 points in a season, and he has never played a full NHL season. This season however, he has been a staple in the lineup each night, and he has been used in a power forward, scoring role on the Buffalo Sabres third line.

The third line is a place for secondary scoring to be found when the top two lines are not quite cutting it; the fourth line is for the underperforming players, and the heavy hitting players. Not only is Nolan being over utilized in a role he is not used to playing, he just is not very good at it.

Last night, I was at the Sabres game at Key Bank Center and for the entirety of the third period, Jordan Nolan was found playing on the SECOND LINE alongside Ryan O’Reilly and Kyle Okposo. Jordan Nolan, the career fourth line player without much scoring touch at all was playing top end minutes with two of the Sabres better forwards. Not only that, but I was baffled when I saw the Sabres had pulled the goalie, and even with around two minutes left in the game, the players on the ice were Eichel, O’Reilly, Kane, Okposo, Ristolainen, and Jordan Nolan himself.

In a situation where scoring was needed desperately, coach Phil Housley turned to Jordan Nolan to be on the ice to make some offense happen.

This display alone has forced me over the edge, and I needed to say something about Nolan and his seemingly new role.

Do not get me wrong now, I do not dislike Jordan Nolan. I loved watching him in the preseason throwing his body around and making opposing players make quick decisions, and sometimes mistakes. He was playing his role well and it was promising going into the season. Right now, he is being used in a role that does not fit him. He looks uncomfortable, and his play style is not what it needs to be.

The Buffalo Sabres are in need of some dynamic character, and are in need of a player that can spurn a fire in them when it is needed. It has been shown by Evander Kane all season in his scoring touch, and many times with his hits he is throwing. Kane is a talented forward with different dimensions to his game, but he should not be the one throwing big hits and getting into fights to get this team going. Right now he is far too much of an offensive threat to be doing any of that.

Beyond Kane, the only other player that noticeably shows any fire or grit on a game by game basis is Rasmus Ristolainen. Once again, it is great to see him do these things, and that is exactly what you need from a defenseman like him, but with the amount of ice time he logs per game, he cannot be throwing punches and be sitting in the box to kick start the team. There needs to be an energy player, a grinder, an enforcer to get this team going game in and game out. It was supposed to be Jordan Nolan, but he has not been used as such.

So there are a few easy solutions to this problem that is being presented here.

1. Put nolan where he belongs; on the fourth line.
2. Play Nolan with players that will compliment his play style (i.e Zemgus Girgensons).
3. Have Nolan throw more hits on a nightly basis and keep him away from playing with the likes of the scoring talents (and yes that includes Sam Reinhart).
4. Bring in another grinder/enforcer style player and make Nolan and the new player compete each night for the right to play. The competition will make them both more effective.

The line combination of Nolan and O’Reilly is ridiculous, and that situation needs to be nixed as soon as possible. It seems already that coach Housley is going to try it for the next game against the Penguins, but it will not be something that works well. Nolan needs to go back to his roots and play the role he was meant to. The pest player with a chip on his shoulder.

Next: Eichel And Reinhart Need To Play Together

Jordan Nolan is not a useless player, but he is not being utilized correctly. Putting him in a proper role will make him succeed, and will allow the skill players above him to succeed as well.