jvaccaro6 wrote:
I was told by a departed member of the forums that he was a more skilled Matthew Barnaby...I told that member he was on crack...which is completely false; but so is saying Kaleta is as skilled as Barnaby.
Kaleta is great for what he is, and what he is, is a pest. He's got great speed, blocks shots, and does all the fundamental hockey things right, but he's not a hands guy, he's an energy guy. Notice most of his goals are drive hard to the net, and put in a deflected puck, or a rebound. Thats his game. And it's great to have a guy like that on your team.
I also don't get the argument of whether he is a dirty player or not. He's our player, so we as fans tend to love those kinda guys and make excuses for them. He hits hard, and he gets under other teams skin and draws penalties. You can't tell me that shoving people after the whistle, calling people fucking geeks, and absolutely crushing people along the boards isn't clean. It may not be the worst things done on the ice, but it's also not the most honest thing in the world either. He finishes his check, and thats solid hockey, but he also hits behind the play, leaves his feet on the occasion, and he tries to line people up, defenseless or not. It's how he plays, on the edge of out of control and on the fine print in the rule book.
He is what he is, I dont think anybody who is a Sabres fan dislikes having that type of player, but I also know several people on the forum who hate Avery, Rutuu, Clutterbuck, etc, and they are the exact same type of player. If we had those guys on our roster, we'd love em; but since we have to play against them, we love to hate them.
Yes, good post. And if I may elaborate, which I am going to, who cares how he scores them? 10 goals is GREAT production from a player in that role, and if he manages to score 15 or even more who is going to ask how? Nobody cares, he got the pucks in the net, and a lot of them.
I still feel kind of bad for him that he's going to be under paid by 3-4k for two years. Especially since they aren't even going to come close to spending to the cap ceiling this season.