Sabres Find A Cure in Medicine Hat

Marilyn Sarvis, Buffalo Sabres Correspondent

The Buffalo Sabres didn’t win at home against the Capitals, who visited for the Sabres opening preseason game last Thursday, but they saw flashes of what Tyler Ennis can bring to the line-up. Although held pointless, Ennis played a great game- he played on a line with Vanek and Pominville, skating well.

Ennis takes his first NHL face off (Photo: Marilyn Sarvis)

The Buffalo News ran a story about the challenges Ennis will face to make the NHL because “The sport is transitioning back to big bodies, guys who can bully their way to victory.” While I disagree with this sentiment in this context, there’s also some proof to refute the “big bodied” NHLer theory. The last three number one picks in the NHL draft were forwards, Tavares, Stamkos and Kane, and the tallest of the lot is Stamkos at 6’1”, and of the bulk of the League’s best forwards, plenty of them are 5’11” and shorter- Crosby, Datsyuk, Richards, Briere, St. Louis, Parise, Gionta and Gomez, among the bigger names in smaller bodies in the game.
Where I would not find fault in this theory is if Ennis was a defenseman, since there does seem to be a trend of bigger defenseman, however, he’s a forward, and saying it will be a challenge for Ennis to crack the NHL is a moot point: it’s a challenge for most players to make it into the NHL, regardless of size- most of them have trouble adjusting to the game’s speed.

Tyler Ennis (photo: Marilyn Sarvis)

For all the cities that have had their share of smaller sized players, it’s surprising that the media here in Buffalo would choose to write about the challenges a smaller player- those of us who sit in the HSBC arena to watch our Sabres have seen firsthand the skill that Danny Briere displayed for our team, and even now, we’re watching Nathan Gerbe progress into a full time NHLer, and his height and weight, 5’6” and 160 lbs is less than that of Ennis’ 5’9” and 163 lbs.

Ennis in the pre-game warm up (Photo: Marilyn Sarvis)

Ennis also has another factor going in his favor- he’s spent his junior career in the WHL- the CHL league that is described as “producing large hard-hitting defenseman”, defenseman that Ennis has spent his career finding his way around, finding the back of the net 115 times in his WHL career.
When both Buffalo and Portland’s head coaches take notice of Ennis’ drive to get to the next level, its almost unspoken, but assured that it will be up to Tyler Ennis whether or not he will suit up in a regular season game as a Sabre- but as it has been seen with every “smaller” player again and again, Ennis will be eager to prove that he has what it takes to make the NHL and make an impact.

And last Thursday, despite not having a point in the match, Tyler Ennis was voted the second star of the game. His effort and flare for making plays was noticed, and though he’ll most likely play most of, if not the entire season in Portland, Ennis has made sure that he isn’t going to be overlooked as the second 1st round pick for the Sabres 2008. He wants to be what the Sabres need, and with his effort and playmaking skills, he very well could be the cure for the Sabres in the future.