Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
After Friday night’s awful 8-4 loss to the New York Rangers, the Buffalo Sabres saw their playoff hopes disintegrate. While it is sad to basically see the Sabres’ season end, it is never too soon to look forward to the future.
Much of the Sabres’ roster is in flux, but they still have many good young players and prospects that can contribute to rebuilding the Sabres. One such player is Tyler Ennis.
Ennis exploded onto the scene in 2010-11, scoring 20 goals and 29 assists in his rookie season. He was beat out for the Calder Trophy by fellow teammate Tyler Myers but was clearly an exciting young player that the Sabres were hoping to build around.
His follow up season was less than impressive, however. Ennis only played in 48 games in 2011-12 due to a lingering ankle injury. He still racked up some stats when he played (15 goals and 19 assists), but the injury really hampered is progression.
This year, Ennis saw nearly a two minute per game increase in ice time, but was far from consistent. His goal scoring took a dip and more disappointingly, his line was atrocious on defense, netting a minus-11 thus far in the season. While he will finish better in the assist column with at least 20, it will be hard for Ennis to match his 2011-12 total in goals as he currently only has 10.
But will Ennis be on the roster next year? He is energy in a bottle most times, but can also be reckless in his decisions offensively. The fact that he has not shown any great improvement since his rookie season is also troubling. Ennis still has a long way to go, but he is also young as he will turn 24 this year. Whether the Sabres keep him as part of their rebuilding efforts under what will presumably be a new GM is another matter.
Ennis could fetch a nice price in a trade but on a Sabres team that currently has little offensive talent, he may prove more valuable on the team. If he can improve his game and become a strong second-line player, he could give the Sabres some nice scoring punch away from their Thomas Vanek (assuming he remains on the team) and Cody Hodgson line.
Either way, Ennis still has some nice value.
