Roy looking to build on breakout year
Sabres’ preseason begins tonight
In the first year after getting his long-term contract, Derek Roy went from a 63-point third-liner to the Buffalo Sabres’ leading scorer.
Roy had career highs in goals (32), assists (49) and points (81) last season and was one of the surprises for Team Canada in the world championships, getting himself on the radar for the 2010 Olympic team. A good year on a personal level. A big step up in status among the league’s centers.
But Roy isn’t satisfied. For starters, of course, the Sabres didn’t make the playoffs. They open the preseason at 7:30 tonight in Toronto in the Air Canada Centre (Radio 550 AM) and the seven-game slate is the first chance for this group to start its quest for redemption.
“If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse and I really believe that,” Roy said. “That’s what I live by and how I try to improve. Your game is always a work in progress. You’re never perfect.”
Roy battled shoulder problems over the second half of the season, and his four-game absence in January was among the key reasons for the team’s 10-game winless streak that ultimately derailed its playoff hopes. Roy said his shoulder is a non-issue heading into this year.
“I feel fine,” he said. “It’s always tough when you have key players go down but we definitely have a lot of weapons and it’s just a matter of us staying healthy.”
Coach Lindy Ruff said he was certainly pleased with Roy’s big year, which keyed an offense that was fourth in the NHL in scoring and tops among non-playoff teams.
“We feel there’s more of an upside everybody in here can give and Derek is one of those guys,” Ruff said. “Derek had a really good year but there’s areas of his game he can better. There were areas defensively we didn’t like we can work on. And we think offensively he’s got even more to give.
“Our style of play has been geared [to offense] and we’ve had success but we’ve all got to be able to turn that defensive dial up a notch.”
Roy signed a six-year, $24 million contract prior to last season and will be making only $3.5 million this year in the second year of the deal. It’s a veritable bargain for a player whose next step might be to approach the 100-point mark.
Roy didn’t want to put out that number or any other one as a goal for the season but admitted he expects to produce even more than he did last year.
“You always want to get better as a player and person as your career develops,” he said. “As long as I’m doing my part on this team is all I want to do. You’ll achieve goals that way.”
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The preseason is opening with a quick two-game trip to Canada. After tonight’s game, the Sabres will play Montreal on Tuesday night in tiny Roberval, Quebec. The city of 11,000 is over 250 miles northeast of Montreal (Ruff joked the Sabres are getting there “by dog sled”), and was chosen in a Canada-wide contest held by Kraft as the winner of “Hockeyville 2008,” awarded to the city judged to have the most passion for the game. Prizes for the annual contest include a weekend of activities, including a visit from the Stanley Cup, and the grand prize is the NHL exhibition game. The city’s community arena seats just over 1,000 — but 8,000 or more are expected outside to watch the game on a video screen.
Ruff said the Sabres will take about 35 players to Toronto. Only about five or six will play in both games. Some will sit out the game in Toronto and some who play tonight will return to Buffalo for practice Tuesday. The others will fly on to Chicoutimi, Quebec, where the team will catch a bus to Roberval.
“The NHL wants us to take a couple more guys for PR purposes, maybe to visit a couple schools up there,” Ruff said, as a smile foreshadowed his punch line. “But I would imagine they would have to be French guys.”
