McGuire: Sabres, Myers on the rebound

Pierre McGuire was on TSN 1050 Monday morning.

On where the Buffalo Sabres are in the process of gutting things and starting over:

“I know people are probably going to think this is heresy, but I think the Buffalo Sabres are on the rebound. I really do. I think they were really aggressive this past offseason. You bring in Josh Gorges. You bring in Brian Gionta. I know they’re older players. You bring in Matt Moulson. But these are players that bring leadership and character.

“I’ll use Jake McCabe – probably not a big name for a lot of people there, but ask Jake Gardiner what he thinks of Jake McCabe. Kid out of the University of Wisconsin. Was a captain of a U.S. world junior team. He’s a stay at home defenseman. He’s a leader by example. I think what they’ve done there is they’ve insulated Tyler Myers so that they can get him out of this funk that’s been part of him the last two or three years. Make him better.

“But you can see the direction they’re trying to go. They want to be more of a leadership kind of a team. They want to be a harder team to play against. They want to have players that grind and bump and really compete in the hard areas. So you totally understand what they’re trying to do. And I think they’re a little bit ahead of the curve.

“But one thing I will say – Jhonas Enroth is a goalie, I know he’s not overly large – he’s a lot better than people think. He is a lot better than people think. And that can give them some hope.

“But I think they’re in a situation where they’re probably competing for anywhere between 8 and 11, 8 and 12 in the East.”

On Tyler Myers’ funk and what the difficulty would be for him at this point in his career:

“I am not going to make excuses for him, but I am going to tell you some of the facts.

“One of the major facts is that... when he broke into camp, into the NHL, they had Henrik Tallinder in Buffalo. And Henrik Tallinder, the year that Tyler Myers was rookie of the year, was his partner. And you talk about a guy that’s a perfect partner to break another guy in – that’s him. That’s Henrik Tallinder. Especially at that time in his career. So he goes to New Jersey as an unrestricted free agent. So that’s part of the problem.

“Then all the pressure on Lindy Ruff and the coaching staff, and so he starts to try to do too much because he doesn’t want to lose those coaches. Especially James Patrick, who has really helped him along. Eventually James Patrick and Lindy Ruff move on to Dallas.

“So what’s Tim Murray done? He goes out and gets a guy from Kelowna, Josh Gorges, who Tyler Myers knows really well and Josh Gorges still has some hockey left in him. And so there’s a Kelowna set-up to try to help him.

“But I think part of it was when he was 18 and 19 coming into the league, he had a great babysitter in Henrik Tallinder. That guy moved along and all of the sudden you’ve got to carry the ball. Well, you’re not ready to carry the ball and that’s one of things I really think happened to him.”

Source: TSN 1050/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey