The reeling Buffalo Sabres this morning assigned defenseman Henri Jokiharju to the taxi squad and recalled forward Casey Mittelstadt and defenseman Brandon Davidson from the practice group.
The Sabres, who have lost six straight games, play a road contest this afternoon against the New York Islanders.
Jokiharju, 21, was perhaps the Sabres’ biggest surprise last season, playing all 69 games. But the Finn has struggled to regain that form this year. He sat out Saturday afternoon’s 5-2 loss to the Islanders as a healthy scratch.
Mittelstadt, 22, has shuttled between the active roster and taxi squad all season, recording one goal and three points in seven games.
Davidson, 29, has recorded zero points in three games this season.
I’m not big stats person, but it seems odd Mittelstadt has been shuffled back and forth. Maybe he’s a defensive liability, I don’t know. But a player producing 0.5 points a game seems to me to be good enough to play more games in view of the fact there are regulars that aren’t producing any scoring at all. I’ve seen a few criticize the coach for scratching Skinner and playing him on the lower lines. I think it’s criticism without merit -Skinner did not produce at a level his salary would indicate he should be last season, and he’s done nothing this season either. If you consistly don’t produce when you are getting paid plenty to do that, you are not worthy of getting substantial ice time. It’s time for the Sabres and fans to grow up. Put in a full games work, quit acting like you are baffled. Get some personal pride and start playing like you are paid for, regardless of the results. 99% of the Sabres need to get an unwavering work ethic no matter how the game and win-loss column look. Forget about who you are letting down. You are letting yourself down. If you don’t like what the coach is doing, tough. Each player needs to do his personal best. That only seems to happen once every 10 or more games. Nobody (except Reinhart) goes to the front of the net, nobody consistently puts hits on the opposition, there’s very little grit or passion on the team. It’s getting nauseating to watch. It’s fine to admit you stink, it’s not acceptable to repeatedly be giving up part way through the game because you are too lazy to change. It takes work to win, and it’s obvious many of the players aren’t willing to continue to put in the effort when adversity crops up.