Sabres notebook
Butler forcing Ruff into a rotation
At least for the time being, coach Lindy Ruff is planning to stick with a seven- man rotation of defensemen because rookie Chris Butler has simply been too good to send back to the minor leagues.
Henrik Tallinder had a press box seat for Saturday’s loss in Detroit and, judging from Monday’s practice, Teppo Numminen might be the next veteran to sit and watch the other six play in the game Wednesday in Chicago.
Numminen skated Monday with Nathan Paetsch, who is clearly the eighth man in the seven-man scheme. Tallinder was back with Toni Lydman while Butler skated with captain Craig Rivet. The No. 1 pair of Jaroslav Spacek and Andrej Sekera remained intact.
“Butler has played well enough to warrant staying in the lineup,” Ruff said. “I don’t want to start this vicious circle of plucking too many guys in and out. . . . At the same time, if Butler is going to be here, he’s going to play.”
Numminen has no points and is minus-2 over the last eight games. For the season, he has one goal, 11 assists and a minus-4 rating. The 40-year-old has not missed a game all season after returning from heart surgery in September 2007 but his ice time has dropped the last four games to a range of 16-17 minutes; it had been at least 18 minutes in five of the previous six games.
“I don’t know what their plans are,” Numminen said. “You just go a day at a time and see what happens. Those are things that you can’t control. You just have to make sure you’re ready to go when you’re asked, stay focused, work hard and be in shape.”
Tallinder, who sat out as a healthy scratch in two other games earlier in the season, had been averaging more than 19 minutes a game in his previous 12 outings but got on the ice for just 13:54 of Friday’s shootout win over the New York Rangers.
“When you’re talking about rotating, you’re pulling somebody out that maybe isn’t playing that bad,” Ruff said. “Maybe somebody else is just playing a little better. Some of the puck battles are a key area for [Tallinder]. His battles along the wall are no different than other players.”
Rivet went through a seven-man rotation last year in San Jose and said it can work here.
“If guys have the right mind-set for us, it can work in our favor,” Rivet said. “It keeps guys fresh and hungry and it can work out. Last year [in San Jose], we were fresh all season. You’re always going to have injuries and sometimes it will take a defenseman a while to get back into the stride of things when he’s injured.”
•••
At Portland, Mike Weber can’t figure into the Sabres’ defensive rotation for now because he’s sidelined with an injured foot after being hit with a slap shot Wednesday.
South Buffalo’s Tim Kennedy returned to the Pirates’ lineup Sunday against Springfield after missing two games with a hip injury.
•••
Goaltender Ryan Miller said he’s looking forward to meeting ex-teammate Brian Campbell Wednesday in Chicago, especially since Campbell “likes to talk a lot.”
Miller said that the smooth-skating Campbell better come up with a new move if he brings the puck into the Buffalo zone.
“No one is getting fooled by the spin-o-rama,” said a grinning Miller. “We’ve all seen that one.”
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments