Sabres to call up Dalpe and Varone?

[DetDannyWilliams]

Kevin Oklobzija @kevinoDandC · 37m37 minutes ago

Zac Dalpe's recall from the #Amerks to the #Sabres is well earned. He has scored 9 of his team-leading 16 goals in his past 13 games.

Kevin Oklobzija @kevinoDandC · 1h1 hour ago

Quite certain #Amerks RW Zac Dalpe and C Phil Varone will be joining the #Sabres for tomorrow's game against the Canucks.

[JATMtheJATM]

i was reading from an amerks season ticket holder that basically, if dalpe is a career minor leaguer, that would be very sad. i read that as he has a ton of skill, but never put it together. heres hoping?

[swiper]

For Dalpe, the promotion is his second of the season. He played in the Jan. 13 game against the Detroit Red Wings.

He very much earned this promotion. His goal in Wednesday's 4-3 victory over the Syracuse Crunch gave him a team-leading 16. Nine of those have come in his past 13 games.
"I think I'm kind of back to my old self," he said.

In other words, Dalpe is the player the organization expected him to be all along. He was signed as a free agent in July to spearhead the Amerks offense while at the same time providing depth for Sabres.

As an American Hockey League rookie in 2010-11, he was nearly a point-a-game player while scoring 23 goals for the Charlotte Checkers. In 2012-13, he found the net 21 times in only 54 games for Charlotte.

But for the first three months this season, Dalpe was a solid but not dominant player. Shots just missed the net. He wasn't always using his blazing speed to attack wide or to force defensemen into panic passes. Little things just didn't click often enough.

Which is why he produced only seven goals in his first 31 games.

Perhaps, however, scoring goals isn't like riding a bike. Maybe you can lose it, especially the feel and the timing. He spent last season playing 55 games for the Vancouver Canucks but averaged just over seven minutes of ice time per game.

Believe me, he's not complaining that he had the NHL gig. But playing in a fourth-line checking/energy role for coach John Tortorella isn't easy.

"You don't ever want to justify things," Dalpe said, "but sometimes you get programmed to do certain things in a role and you do it.

"You're in a fourth-line role sometimes and you get nervous to make plays and you're nervous to turn the puck over, and you kind of get away from it."

Thus, the next season, when your new team expects instant offense, and you're pressing to produce, you end up stuck in neutral.

"Sometimes we don't realize how hard it is when you only play six minutes a night and all you do is get it out of the zone and then go forecheck," Amerks coach Chadd Cassidy said.
"But we've really seen him develop into the player we wanted him to be from the start."

His goal was classic Dalpe speed. William Carrier fought through Tanner Richard on the left-wing to enter the Crunch zone and then passed to the goal mouth to connect with a sprinting Dalpe.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/...bres/24036737/