BoondckCL Posted April 5, 2008 Posted April 5, 2008 Max needs to move on. Period. He is as inconsistent as anyone in a Sabres' uniform, turns over the puck like it's his job, his linemates never seem to know where the heck he is going or what he doing with the puck, is a defensive liability, and has all of 10 - 10! - goals this year. Max Afinogenov actually has a better points/game percentage this season than Jochen Hecht. It doesn't make sense that you guys talk about these veteran leaders and how we need their leadership, how solid of a player Hecht is and he should be our solid guy on the second line, when Afinogenov is our most veteran leader on our current roster and has better statistics on offense than Hecht. Now, I have to admit originally I thought that Hecht was a free agent at the end of the year and that we were discussing paying him a chunk of change (Must have been the exhaustion). If it were up to me, our lines would look something like this... Centers: Roy Connolly Hecht/Free Agent Hecht/Free Agent/ Mair Left Wing: Pominville Vanek Paille Kaletta Right Wing: Bernier Afinogenov Kotalik Stafford Defensive Pairings: Weber, Sekera Spacek, Kalinin Tallinder, Grandpa Teppo Goal Tender: Ryan Miller (and for the love of christ cut Jocelyn Thibault)
deep2evans Posted April 5, 2008 Posted April 5, 2008 Max Afinogenov actually has a better points/game percentage this season than Jochen Hecht. It doesn't make sense that you guys talk about these veteran leaders and how we need their leadership, how solid of a player Hecht is and he should be our solid guy on the second line, when Afinogenov is our most veteran leader on our current roster and has better statistics on offense than Hecht. Now, I have to admit originally I thought that Hecht was a free agent at the end of the year and that we were discussing paying him a chunk of change (Must have been the exhaustion). If it were up to me, our lines would look something like this... Centers: Roy Connolly Hecht/Free Agent Hecht/Free Agent/ Mair Left Wing: Pominville Vanek Paille Kaletta Right Wing: Bernier Afinogenov Kotalik Stafford Defensive Pairings: Weber, Sekera Spacek, Kalinin Tallinder, Grandpa Teppo Goal Tender: Ryan Miller (and for the love of christ cut Jocelyn Thibault) This is the same damn team, plus a 3rd line center, as the one that sucked all year and missed the playoffs. The defense is brutal and needs a complete overhaul. Who knows why you would bring back Teppo, and not suggest Pratt as a 3rd pair guy. Let me break it down for you about Max. Like I said earlier, I'm as big a fan of his as there is. To compare him to Jochen Hecht and then use points per game as a determining factor is ridiculous. If Max doesn't lead Hecht by a fair margin in points, then there is a major problem. 75% of Hecht's role is defense. He's one of our top PK guys as a defensive specialist, yet he was able to pitch in with 20+ goals and center a line where Jason Pominville, whom many figured would be sh-- without Briere, went on to score 80 points. Hecht's role is absolutely essential to any team looking to make it in the playoffs, where Afinogenov, who may be speedy and dynamic, seemed to skate around and do nothing all year. I do think we'll Max a lot when he's gone, but just don't say Max > Hecht because he has more points. JP Dumont has more points than Chris Drury this year. Who would you rather have?
Bmwolf21 Posted April 5, 2008 Posted April 5, 2008 Max Afinogenov actually has a better points/game percentage this season than Jochen Hecht. Wrong. Max has 28 points in 55 games, for .51 points per game. Hecht has 48 points in 74 games, or .65 points per game. That's pretty funny, because Max is paid for offense. And he has 12 fewer goals than Hecht (who is "mediocre") and fewer goals that our resident "snipers" in Paille (19 goals in 76 games) and Stafford (who has played nine more games but has 6 more goals.) So to recap - defensive liability, horrible turnovers, a team-worst -16, and not scoring. Why is he still here? It doesn't make sense that you guys talk about these veteran leaders and how we need their leadership, how solid of a player Hecht is and he should be our solid guy on the second line, when Afinogenov is our most veteran leader on our current roster and has better statistics on offense than Hecht. Well we've already shown that Hecht is outscoring Max in almost every cateogry - more G's, more A's, more PPG, a +/- that is light-years ahead of Max's, so I'll just close with the fact that being in the league a long time does not make one a veteran leader. Lindy's got a system of rotating captains - when did Max get the "C?" Heck, when did he get an "A?" He's as much a leader as the beer vendor.
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