Typically in year’s past, the Sabres third line would be a good place for a shutdown checking unit. This is where you like to place your Mike Griers, Rob Niedermayers, Paul Gaustads, Tim Kennedys & Jochen Hechts. Not that the plan always worked, but it was the perfect structure – 1st 2 lines have your scorers, 3rd line your checkers, and the 4th line your gritty guys. After pouring over the lineup for this season, I just couldn’t come up with 3 guys to perfectly fit that role. So the third line is a little untraditional here, more offense than usual, although we have one of the players mentioned previously.
The Sabres 2011-2012 3rd line will be Nathan Gerbe-Jochen Hecht-Brad Boyes.
Hecht – I really didn’t want to put Jochen back at center. He’s struggled there at times and is obviously more comfortable on the wing. But Paul Gaustad isn’t an option as his talent level issues haven’t allowed him to excel at anything but the 4th line. I came very close to slotting Luke Adam in this spot but I’m not positive he’ll be ready for a full-time job in the NHL yet. And if I made space for him, either Hecht or Boyes would be the odd man out. And I’m not at that place. So we’ll try Hecht here.
Jochen’s is one of those players that fans and media alike would have ridden out of town by now. It’s not that he’s a bad player: with the exception of his poor 2008-2009 season, he’s always been pretty solid. You’ll never confuse him with the likes of Derek Roy on the offensive side of things, but he usually pops in around 15 goals a season (his average for career is 16) and generally be your best defensive forward. His salary has been a sticking point with fans for awhile; a 3,525,000 million dollar cap hit is a bit high for a 2-way forward, but similar to Pominville the fact that the team offered him lots of money isn’t his fault. Yes he’s a boring player, but often times the unheralded ones are vital to a team’s success. After his solid turnaround in the 09-10 season, I felt we missed him dearly in the playoffs vs Boston. Maybe not as much as with the loss of Vanek, but Jochen’s style of lay is perfectly suited to the tight checking of the postseason. We could have used him this season vs the Flyers as well, when he suffered a concussion, since defensive play cost versus Philly.
As I typed the above paragraph, Jochen’s major issue pops up at you: injuries. As much as Timmy was criticized with being fragile, Hecht has had more problems in the last couple seasons. Not sure that will ever improve. Even when he was having his best seasons with Briere and Dumont, he still missed time with fluky injuries. Broken Jochen indeed.
Putting Hecht with two offensively-focused linemates will make his role quite clear. He just has to be good old Jochen. He will often be the trailer with Gerbe flying down the wing and Boyes pushing for chances as well. Hecht will provide stability and good sound hockey sense. He also plays the puck cycle game extremely well, which should allow for sustained pressure in the offensive zone. And of course, he’ll score his typical wacky carom goals and hopefully pounce on second and third opportunities.
Gerbe – I had high hopes for Nathan coming out of Boston College and was excited each time he was called up from Portland early on. When I watched his old BC highlights, he reminded me of Danny Briere due to his tiny size, skating style, feistiness, and confidence. But when given the chance with in the big leagues, he struggled. He was injured several times his first few callups and had trouble finishing when he was on the ice. The questions about his size and whether he could make it at this level due to the typical challenges and beatings he could take, were real concerns.
Luckily “Tenacious G” found his game in the latter half of the 2010-2011 seasons along with a regular spot in the lineup. And he found a huge fan in me – I officially adopted him as my new favorite player after his ultra-hustle, battling, empty net goal vs Montreal. I was going to link that awesome effort on here, but unfortunately Youtube just has a video of the whole game highlights which runs a bit long at 6:27. But I encourage everyone to check that play out again when you get a chance.
I’m not sure Nathan will ever be a superstar in the NHL but I think we can be quite pleased if he pitches in 20ish goals a year and continues to play the “in your face” pesty style that made his game work the last 40 games of last season. What Gerbe does exceedingly well is something other players on this team seem to have trouble with and that is shooting the puck. He’s certainly not afraid to put it on the net. This should create a myriad of opportunities around the crease for the third line. And getting output beyond the first 2 units is key. Remember 05-07? Tim Connolly, Al Kotalik, Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek and Max Afinogenov sure do.
One other aspect to Gerbe’s game that is quite impressive is his upper body strength and fearlessness in battling for the puck along the boards. I read once upon a time that he has the best upper body strength of any player on the team. I guess when you’re dealing with players much larger than you, it’s important to be able to leverage yourself in this manner. He really is a bull out there. Unlike Tyler Ennis, who I said needs to work on his strength in part one of this series, Gerbe has no issues with outmuscling opponents. He’s that stout.
Boyes – Seems like many people are ready to trade Brad and end his short Buffalo career. While I was disappointed with his last 20 games or so (especially his drought until garbage time in game 7 of the playoffs), I’m not quite at that point. I know his production tailed off overall the last two seasons, and I’m not predicting he’ll return to his 40 goal days, but Boyes does have good hands with a solid shot. He scored 5 goals in his first 10 games as a Sabre and never looked comfortable once injuries forced his move to center (much more out of place there than Hecht ever was).
I just don’t think you want to give up on a decent offensive player. He may not be a gamebreaker but his output is much more encouraging than the recently re-acquired Kotalik. I really want to see what he can do with a full season in the Sabres system. Darcy Regier did indicate that they were looking for an impact beyond the end of last year when they traded for Brad.
Some people, including WGR’s Paul Hamilton, call Boyes soft and a perimeter player. I can’t say that I’ve noticed this, but even if true, it doesn’t mean he can’t be effective. As maddening as Miro Satan was back in the day with his refusal to go to the net, he still provided the offense with a dangerous weapon due to his finesse. With Gerbe on the line scrapping away around the net, I’m more than OK with Boyes picking up the garbage. I’m not saying it’s ideal if he won’t go to the difficult spots on the ice, but not everyone can play that type of game. Let’s see what he can do and maybe he’ll prove some people wrong. If I remember correctly, most of his goals as a Sabre were scored around or near the net. So he does have a nose (and a big one too!) for opportunity.
Next up – the typical 4th line grinders.
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Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkBerm
Previous Forward Line Combo Articles:
Line 1A – Vanek-Leino-Pominville
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