The Buffalo Sabres rank 32nd in the NHL in hits. And while hits don’t tell the entire story regarding physicality, it tells a lot about this team’s youth.
For nearly a year, I’ve griped about the Buffalo Sabres lack of physicality, which is sad, because I should have known better. No, the Sabres aren’t a physical team and yes, their physicality needs to start at least pointing north sooner or later.
But again, someone with a Wellness & Fitness degree such as myself should have known better. I’m a guy who hits the gym often, sometimes twice a day since I can literally walk there, and now that I’m older than all but two players on the Sabres active roster and didn’t start seeing my muscles fully mature until roughly age 28, I’ll say it once again: Myself of all people should have explained why the Sabres aren’t physical.
Since they are such a young hockey team, their bodies just aren’t ready to give that kind of carnage. The good news? Since they are working with world class strength and conditioning coaches, nutritionists (dietitians, perhaps), and other professionals with decades if not a century of combined experience, they will grow into their frames faster than I ever grew into mine. Meaning they may eventually start laying the smackdown on opponents.
The Buffalo Sabres will start finishing checks and getting physical
The bad news is, they aren’t going to be a physical team this season. They probably won’t even be physical next season. But once the bulk of these players hit their mid-20s, they will get far more physical. Some, like Rasmus Dahlin (22) have gotten there earlier since he’d been with the roster since Day 1, and therefore, had more direct contact with these world-class coaches and trainers.
That always speeds up the process as opposed to someone like myself who had to figure it out on their own. But look at Tage Thompson, whose frame didn’t fill until he was 24. When you look at some of these players, they literally have that ‘teenager’ look to them, even if they are a few years older than 19.
Dylan Cozens is tenacious, but last season, he logged less than a half a hit per game. Now, he’s tallying, on average, one per game. His frame has also matured, allowing for more physical play. But he’s still 6’3, and just 188lb, meaning he’s got room to grow in the physicality department, something that will come with time.
That’s why you’re not seeing J.J. Peterka, Owen Power, or Jack Quinn displaying a physical presence. Their bodies just aren’t ready to take and simultaneously deliver carnage, even if they have all taken some blows in the recent past.
The Sabres have some physical chess pieces
While Cozens is a front-net forward whose tenacity has noticeably grown, especially this season, and Dahlin seems to be in the middle of every scuffle, both players are developing their respective physical roles and they are not done yet. General manager Kevyn Adams has also drafted some physical players, but most are still prospects or, like Peterka, don’t quite have the frame yet.
However, they signed physical puzzle pieces like Ilya Lyubushkin, who, when healthy, has landed devastating blows to opponents. One of the few physical players the Sabres do have despite their young age is Mattias Samuelsson, and when he (and Lyubushkin) went down with injuries, what little physicality the Sabres had evaporated.
And once again, as you see physiques mature, you will also see the team’s physical nature increase organically. Just as we’ve seen it occur with Dahlin, and how Cozens’ physicality has trended upward, and even Tage Thompson’s. That said, in two or three seasons, expect the same thing to occur with Peterka, Power, and if he’s still on the roster, the compact Jacob Bryson.
Don Granato’s system focuses on positioning
And finally, we must address head coach Don Granato’s system. His coaching philosophy is also not necessarily about aggression in the early going of this team’s fight to the top as much as it is about positioning. Therefore, players shouldn’t risk making the big hit at the potential expense of their on-ice positioning, which will lead to big plays.
It’s something we’ve seen often in the first 17 games, where a player who may have had a physical nature in the lower ranks try for a hit, only for an opponent to skate by them and enter the offensive zone with man advantages. This, of course, has led to easy goals.
Overall, the Buffalo Sabres do have physicality brewing. But the majority of their bodies just aren’t ready to deliver and take big hits game in and game out. Just as I stated in previous articles about this being a developmental year – the physicality department is no different.
Article Source: Sliding Sabres suffering from inexperience, injuries, 5-on-5 struggles by Lance Lysowski
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