Why the hatred for certain players?

[Judge]

Why do Sabres fans have a penchant for trying to run players out of town, and ignoring what worth they provide to the Sabres?

A name from the past is Dave Andreychuk- he got run out of here at the prime of his game and we missed out on 250+ goals as a result. We've been lacking a scorer like him ever since.

Currently, players on the "most hated" list seem to be guys like Zhitnik, Gratton, Tim Connelly, while guys like Rob Ray are worshipped. What's wrong with these fans?

They're crazy- Zhitnik his over his career been a steady 25-minute per game blueliner. Invaluable play for the team.

Gratton is the closest thing to Keith Tkachuk the Sabres can afford. He isn't supposed to be a checker- he's supposed to produce offense, and is at an 80+ point pace now that he has the minutes. Who can we get for him who's better? nobody. Who on this team can replace him? Nobody!

Tim Connelly- he may be a Rob Johnson-esque bust over the long haul, but can the Sabres really afford to give up on him already? He never was, is not now, never will be, and never should be a grind-it-out of the corner player. He's a puck-handler. Who else on this team approaches him in talent? Nobody. Who can we get for him that matches his potential? Nobody. He needs to stay here to see if he can turn into the kind of player the Islanders thought he'd be when they made him a #5 overall draft pick.

[Novacane]

Connelly is hated because of who he was traded for. We got robbed in that trade. We keep hearing about all his and Pyatts potential. I'll believe it when I see it.




Zhitnik is just overpaid and can't hit the net if his life depended on it. I can't understand why they were willing to give him money they would not give to Peca. STUPID!


I agree with you on Gratton. He was misused last year by Ruff.

[Judge]

Originally posted by BledsoeTOreedfor6
Connelly is hated because of who he was traded for. We got robbed in that trade. We keep hearing about all his and Pyatts potential. I'll believe it when I see it.




Zhitnik is just overpaid and can't hit the net if his life depended on it. I can't understand why they were willing to give him money they would not give to Peca. STUPID!


I agree with you on Gratton. He was misused last year by Ruff.

We hated Peca at first because we thought we got robbed by Vancouver in the deal for Mogilny. The jury's still out on Connelly and Pyatt. We could be laughing in celebration of that trade in another year or so.

Why is Zhitnik overpaid if he's a workhorse who plays tough D 25 minutes a night? Who else does/can do that?

Thanks for agreeing on Gratton. I was starting to think I was alone out there in seeing what a presence he can have here.

[Novacane]

I have more hope for Pyatt becomming something that I do for Conally! I think he is a (another word for Kitty) I still have hope on that trade but I am not going to hold my breath or anything.

Zhitnik.is one of the few players we could get anything for. We should trade him for some Offense.

[Earthquake Enyart]

People have the perception that Gratton and Zhitnik have more ability than they show. You don't see the same effort from them game in and game out. I think most fans would rather watch less skilled players give maximum effort (Peca, Schoenfeld for example) than highly skilled players only show flashes of ability.

Connelly is easy. The other team scores every time he is on the ice.

[SABURZFAN]

zhitnik's an overpaid deadbeat.we pay over $3 million for a guy who can't score,let alone an assist.how many stupid penalties does this guy take??TOO MANY!!!!

i don't have a problem with gratton.i think he's been misused.i'll blame ruff for that.

as for connelly and pyatt,these are young kids who hover around the drinking age.you can't expect them to come in and set the NHL on fire overnight.we could have gotten more for the "pouting" peca but regier just wanted to get this clown out of town.peca's best days are behind him.in a couple years,he'll be another barnaby.


as for andreychuk,i never wanted this guy to go PERIOD!!!he's an offensive force who used his big body and reach to make us a threat on the power play.i couldn't believe that regier wouldn't bring him back after his 20 goal season,with 8 being PPG's,and limited ice time.that was a big mistake on regier's part.

[Judge]

Saburzfan-

In all seriousness, how can you discount the 25+ minutes Zhitnik plays game in and gam out?

Glad you agree on Gratton.

[BironsGirl43]

Judge I totally agree.. Connolly gets chastised after every single game.. but I really like him.. I love the way he skates.. his stick handling.. his high quality scoring chances that he needs to capitalize on more often.. but he's really great and IMO will only get better.. and if you want to talk about him being not good defensively.. look at guys like Kovalchuk.. who is a -50 or something.. lol.. Connolly consistently works hard and is putting in solid efforts.. and so he makes mistakes.. who doesn't?

[Dozerdog]

That's why I dropped Kovalchuck off my FHL team... he was -17 or something like that. And thats WITH 7 goals of his own.


I love that guy, but he was single handedly suckig the life out of my team....

[BironsGirl43]

LOL.. yeah I was exaggerating about the -50 but it's pretty bad regardless!

Speaking of FHL teams... I'm in 3rd place and that's without Allison, Yzerman and Brent Johnson who are all injured.....woohoo.. lol.. ;)

[SABURZFAN]

Originally posted by Judge
Saburzfan-

In all seriousness, how can you discount the 25+ minutes Zhitnik plays game in and gam out?

Glad you agree on Gratton.



regardless of how much ice time that he has,he has shown nothing except a steady decline over the last couple years.we're overpaying this chump for 25 minutes of ice time and no production????he's CONSTANTLY taking stupid penalties and he's not as good as most people portray him to be.we sure as hell don't see too many teams inquiring about him,do we?

[sabresfan18]

Thank you! Finally, someone else sees this! Connolly is my favorite player, he has a lot of talent! He's a good skater, great at stick handling and a good play maker! The guys of hockey hotline and the fans that call up the show are terrible! Tim Connolly is a good player and what happens when they do trade him...absolutly nothing! The game where he was at the point on the power play, yeah he did make a mistake where he tried to glove the pass in, but hey like lindy ruff said guys like zhitnik or patrick never did that..of course they did. I'm tired and sick of hearing the Buffalo News and the fans ragging about Tim Connolly! He's a good player!

[MissBuffalo]

My problem with Zhitnik is that he never, ever has been able to shot the puck on net. It's always way too high or wide right/left. It's great that he can clock 25 + minutes a game, but he's getting paid way too much to be just a big body in the way.