COMMENTARY
Bucky Gleason: Roy giving the Sabres full value
Here’s a little pop quiz to challenge your hockey knowledge: Which player began the week leading the NHL in points this year? Why, it was Sabres center Derek Roy, of course, who has five goals and nine points in five games in 2009. He entered Tuesday night’s games tied with Pavel Datsyuk and Martin St. Louis for the league high in January.
OK, it was a trick question. We’ll try another: Which Sabres forward has averaged more than a point per game for the last 25 games going into tonight’s matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks? Why, it was Roy, who has recorded 14 goals and 30 points since starting the season with two goals and 10 points in his first 17 games.
Thomas Vanek is going to the NHL All-Star Game and rightfully so. He was tied for second in the NHL with 27 goals and has helped carry the Sabres all season. But certainly there’s an argument that Vanek hasn’t even been the best all-around player on his line, praise that could easily be directed toward his tireless center.
Roy’s bump in production and the Sabres’ recent success isn’t a coincidence. He has five goals in his past five games. He has five winners over the past eight games the Sabres have won in regulation. Over that span, he’s leading the Sabres with a plus-7 rating.
This isn’t a hot streak. Roy is the only Buffalo player who has averaged more than a point per game since the beginning of last season, when the Sabres were trying to overcome a vacuum at center that forced him and Vanek onto their top line. All told, Roy has 48 goals and 121 points in 120 games since signing a six-year deal worth $24 million.
In this league, that makes him a steal.
Roy has four years and $17.5 million remaining on his contract after this season, a bargain in a league facing a decrease in the salary cap and trickle-down effects of economic instability. Henrik Zetterberg is the only player in the league currently giving his team more bang for its buck, and that comes with an asterisk.
Zetterberg is making $2.9 million and is one of the NHL’s best players. Come July, assuming he hits the open market, the Red Wings star and Conn Smythe winner will look at Roy’s $3.5 million salary like change on his dresser. And to think 18 months ago Roy had his doubters — guilty! — about whether he could handle a bigger role.
Heck, he’s never been better.
Roy is leading all Buffalo forwards in ice time for the second straight season and has the same number of points on the road and at home. His penchant for diving has almost disappeared, his whining to officials no longer a constant. At 25, he has matured into a complete player the Sabres needed.
He was one of only 10 players who had 80 points last season and 40 points this year going into Tuesday night. The other nine are proven superstars who next season will pocket an average salary of $7.169 million, more than twice what Roy will collect in the third year of his contract with the Sabres.
By the way, Zetterberg, Vincent Lecavalier, Eric Staal, Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza are not among them. All six had fewer than 40 points so far this season. The five who are under contract for next season will average $8.2 million, a figure that could increase should Zetterberg blow up the market as an unrestricted free agent.
Of course, the point isn’t to compare Roy to the aforementioned players or to suggest he’s in the same class. In fact, he’s not. But when you add up the production and factor in the dollars, they are no more valuable to their teams than Roy has been to the Sabres.
Two weeks ago, Lindy Ruff called out Roy and questioned his commitment. It looks like he has the answer.
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