Link: Buffalo News - Kalinin hopes to continue rebound.
Much spleen was vented last week over the Sabres not adding a bit of depth on the blueline, and to be honest, the lack of a capable right-hander in case of injury is this team's biggest weakness (thanks Chain...). Butt that said, the decision to do nothing with the defensive corps had as much to do with the healing of Dmitri Kalinin's head as his shoulder. By not making a move (and considering the price tags of some of the guys out there... a major one) for a Willie Mitchell or Eric Weinrich the Sabres sent a loud and thoughtful message to one of their own.
A lot has been made about the chemistry in the room with this team. It's been repeated by so many people so many times you have to wonder if they've memorized a script written by a member of Bush's speech-writing team... presumably without allt the lying, uh, I mean 'reality-making.' But, if you look at this decision from that point of view, it certainly fits.
Tri, no matter his struggles, is a member of this family and negative reinforcement hasn't really worked with him so far this year. It might have worked in the past, but not this year. So, Darth Regier and his not-so-young apprentice made the decision to stick by him by not moving him to a confirmed #7 on the depth chart.
By stating with confidence in public that he's more than capable of being a better player than anyone who was available has already paid dividends. He was strong in his own zone tonight and I like him paired with Marx Brother #5 a lot. He put a huge hit on the Mighty Ovechkin (what a other-worldly player he is... *sigh*) to separate him from the puck and negate a scoring chance late in the 3rd and the game in doubt. We hadn't seen that from Tri in a long time, and it brought a smile to my face.
At the beginning of the season I was convinced he'd be our team MVP. That's obivously not true so far, and I'll gladly admit error there. But, that said, he still has time left to become the team's Most Important Player when things matter most, the playoffs.
Ta,
p.s. If Ruff is able to bring Tri back to his 2003-04 form in 22 games, that's just another datapoint in his favor for the Curse of the Jack Adams Trophy.
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