With the All Star break just about over, the Sabres return
tomorrow night against Montreal… did you miss them? Did you even know they were
gone for a week? Things are not ideal in Pegulaville and I guess the more
important question is could the MSG/Time Warner Cable stalemate have come at a
better time than when it did? Watching Sabres games have become such a gamble
that if you aren’t currently able to see them, it’s simply not worth it to go a
local pub and drop a bit of cash for drinks and/or food only to be subjected to
something so awful that said food and drink could come right back up. The
Sabres only seem to play hard for 20 minutes a night, if that and that's
usually all the time the viewer needs to ascertain what will happen that night.
Will it be close? Will the Sabres give a fair effort? It’s a big difference
from a few seasons ago and even the end of last season when a 2-0 deficit had
us wondering if they could come back and win. We kept watching because more
often than not, they closed the gap to 1 goal, took it to OT and even stole a
few. Falling behind didn’t mean a sure loss. Now a 2-0 deficit has the viewer
wondering how bad the final score will actually be. Will we get shutout? Will
it go from respectable to downright embarrassing? It’s no way to watch a team
or a game and it seems less people want to watch this team. Even after last
Tuesday’s refreshing win over New Jersey, the Sabres are still fighting to
avoid being last place in the entire conference.
I’ve watched nearly every game since the MSG blackout and
one of the questions that cross my mind most nights is; are they trying to get
Lindy fired? The team hierarchy offers the large amount of injuries this year as
the primary reason for their dreadful performance so far and injuries certainly
play a role but more than that it’s terrible play and a lack of consistent effort.
Every athlete goes through little slumps here and there but for so many guys to
play so badly, for so long, at the same time? It’s highly improbable. It seems
like there’s more to it. The passing is horrendous and game by game we have to
watch the worst passes of the bunch end up in the Sabres’ net but even worse
than the lack of good fundamental play is the lack of a consistent effort from
this team. This is the part where I think some guys on this team are trying to
get Lindy fired or have simply tuned him out. Collectively the guys give little
effort most nights and routinely get beaten to loose pucks, lose the battles in
corners and refuse to block shots, hit and sacrifice for the greater good. In
fact, some of these guys should be charged with Grand Larceny because they are
stealing millions from owner Terry Pegula this season.
People are using terms like “lifeless”, “gutless”,
“stagnant”, “stale”, “underachieving”, “no heart” and that many of these guys
are doing nothing more than collecting a check. Isn't saying that a team has no
heart the worst thing you can say about one? It would be one thing if they
didn't have any talent. It would be different if these guys were busting their
butts and hustling all the ice but just didn't have enough talent to beat the
better teams but to give such a pedestrian effort most of the time against
competition both good and bad, to show no concern or even any anger that they
are regressing and to look like they don't give a crap about their coach, their
owner, each other and their fans is unforgiveable. Where's the pride? You’ve
fallen on hard times, we get it. Now fight your way back to your feet! Recently
in Chicago Paul Gaustad was run and knocked out of the game by tough guy Jamal
Mayers and no one lifted a finger. It was a cheap shot and while it was a dirty
hit to a lesser extent than the now infamous Milan Lucic hit on Ryan Miller in
November, it once again exposed the Sabres as a team that can be beaten up and
pushed around and they won’t push back. They won’t fight back. Do they even
care? It makes me sick to watch. I have a feeling I’m not alone.
Then there’s Ryan Miller. 2 years ago he was arguably the
best goalie on the planet and an Olympic hero… what happened? He’s
statistically one of the worst goalies in the whole league this year. Going
into that game where he was run the Sabres had a record of 10-5 on the season.
Miller was playing shaky but the team was going along well considering and
everyone was waiting for them to really get into gear. Then the thrashing at Boston happened and the
team has found themselves in a downward spiral that has seen them lose 24 out
of 34 games since that day. Miller went from being in a slump full on into the
abyss with more than a few people wondering if he will ever be that Vezina
trophy winning netminder again. The fact of the matter is Miller has always
been a fiery, sensitive, eccentric goalie. I know it seems silly when talking
about a rich, successful professional athlete but when the home crowds booed
him early this year and when none of his teammates would stick up for him that November
night in Boston, I think his feelings were deeply hurt and it's partially alienated him from this team. I don’t think he’s been
the same since and I feel like there’s a rift there. Combine that with the
nasty concussion he suffered that night and one has to wonder if he’s 100%
physically, psychologically and emotionally.
Between the concussion and the disrespect he might feel from his peers I’m
speculating that his heart is not entirely in it with this team. Look at the 2nd
time he was run by Nashville’s
Jordin Tootoo in early December. He immediately dove upon Tootoo himself! Would
a goalie normally be so quick to attack his attacker like that? Or did he do
what he did because he thought no one would have his back? I think there’s
something to that with Miller, and I think it’s beyond a simple apology from
everyone involved. I don’t think he trusts his teammates in tough spots and with
good reason. They let him down with alarming frequency and several times a game Miller finds himself staring down a 2 on 1 or worse after another poor pass or lackluster effort leads to a
costly turnover. It’s been the Sabres’ recipe for doom lately and in the old days when it did happen;
Miller would usually bail out his teammates with big saves. Is he letting in
goals on purpose? Of course not, but like the guys in front of him, his heart
may not be in it right now. If you want to call my theory conspiracy that's fine, but if I'm right, it’s not a
situation beyond repair and as we know in sports, winning cures all. Perhaps if
this team can play a team game and get it together, they could go on a little winning
streak and maybe things could be what they were at the end of last season. Until
then, we are left to wonder what’s wrong with Ryan.
Behind all of this turmoil on the ice I feel really bad for
Terry Pegula, Ted Black and everyone who came in with so much positive energy
and good intentions. These guys have come in and especially in Terry's case are
living a dream that has become a nightmare. Terry, Ted and the rest have done
a wonderful job with the organization, the community and have done nearly
everything right... except the actual hockey stuff. I’m talking about General
Manager Darcy Regier and Coach Lindy Ruff.
I wouldn’t be heartbroken if either were fired but I am more
partial towards Lindy staying because I do think he’s a good coach. With Darcy I feel
like there is definitely a place for him in a team’s front office I just don’t
want him doing all the drafting, trading, signing and decision making, i.e. the
main responsibilities of a general manger. As a GM Darcy is best from a
position of strength, where he can methodically plot his course and take all
the time he wants to make moves. It fits right in with his deliberate decision making and carefully slow action. In this case, in times of weakness where quick
thinking, quick strikes and adaptable vision are needed he fails. Darcy is
simply not a war-time consigliere.
He missed his chance to help the team for this season about
a month ago. Prior to Christmas all the cracks in the foundation were showing
and this team desperately needed help to make a playoff run. Nearly everyone (fans, media)
was agreed on that assessment. The rumors were that Darcy was asking too much
for his guys, once again overvaluing the players he drafted and acquired that
comprised the core of the wounded bunch. He probably didn’t think he’d get fair
value for his guys. Guess what? The ship was sinking faster than the Titanic
and with so many players having bad years of course he wasn’t going to get what
he perceived as fair value for his guys. He is dealing from a position of
weakness. When a team is struggling as bad as the Sabres have been it obviously
isn’t the best time to deal but you cannot help the team in the short term by
doing nothing. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet for the greater good. Some
of these guys had to be sent packing in order to change the lethargic feeling
that’s been growing in the locker room and spreading onto the ice. If the
Sabres wanted to make a charge for the postseason like they did last year, the
time to have made moves was at least a month ago. Instead of a spark we got
excuses from the top down, even Pegula himself was citing the injuries as the
primary factor for the unexpectedly bad results. Meanwhile, this team fell from
battling for the last playoff spot to the bottom of the conference in the last
month. Now, they are 10 points back and in a dogfight with 8 other teams for
that last spot. It's too big of a mountain to climb.
With most of the team returning from injury the team shows little
signs of improvement, especially after a 6 game road trip where they lost the
first 5 games, some in gruesome fashion and barely won on the last stop on the
trip due to a phenomenal performance by Miller. At least it was a win going
into the break… Sabres fans were happy for that break by the way. With only 33
games left, it not unrealistic to think they need to win more than two thirds
of those remaining games. That means they’d have to win possibly 24 of 33 games
when they haven’t won more than 20 in the first 49 games. If they won 24 and
lost 9 of the last 33 (with no OT or shootout losses), they’d have 93 points
for the year which is what the N.Y. Rangers had last year to earn the last
playoff spot in the East. Now that you know how long the odds are to make a
playoff run this season, do you actually think the Sabres will do it? I have no
reason to think they will and with that in mind, this is what I would do:
My philosophy for the rest of this season could be summed up
in one word: future. I want to blow this team up, sell off the stale and underachieving
parts for what we can get, whether its draft picks, prospects or character guys
and get some of the kids up from Rochester
to get valuable NHL experience. Now when I say blow it up I don’t mean a
complete rebuild. I'm talking retooling. There are some parts here that can be used going forward to
build our winner. I would keep high priced guys like Vanek, Pominville and Ehrhoff,
plus keeping Myers is a no-brainer. I would also keep more reasonably priced
guys like Gerbe, Ennis and Weber who are useful 3rd liners and depth.
Keeping some of the high priced, higher talent guys helps to potentially make
this only a 1-year turnaround whereas a complete rebuild would mean moving all the high priced core guys and that could take a few
seasons before you have a good team. We want this to be a lot better by next
October.
Then I would move Derek Roy, Drew Stafford, Jochen Hecht, Paul
Gaustad, Brad Boyes, Jordan Leopold and I would listen to offers for Andrej Sekera
and Ryan Miller although not actively shop them. If someone blows me away with an offer for Miller, I take it. Leopold still has another year
on his deal but he is a solid veteran defenseman who can contribute offense.
Teams are always looking for those at the deadline. Sometimes you can even
squeeze a first round draft pick out of one. Also I just heard that Tim Gleason
re-signed in Carolina
for 4 years and he was one of the hottest Defensemen available on the trade market.
Guys like Leopold and Sekera could now fetch a nice bounty at the deadline as
desperate teams compete against each other to acquire them.
Guys like Derek Roy and Drew Stafford have undeniable talent
and through underachieving or just being undisciplined on the ice have drawn
the ire of Sabres fans, including this one. Both guys seem overpaid right now
with each making $4 million per year but if they play to their potential, they
are fairly priced. If you have a guy with talent who isn’t a complete head case
or someone who gets into trouble off the ice but is just struggling, you’ll
always find a team or many of them who want to gamble and see if they can bring
that talent back out. With the trade market becoming clearer by the day and
with the lack of many superstars and top level talent available, both these guys
could be highly sought after by playoff bound teams who feel they need one more
piece to their Stanley
cup puzzle.
Hecht, Gaustad and Boyes are making about $10 million in
combined salary that was coming off the books after the season and they were
most likely guys that wouldn’t have been re-signed anyway. They do us no good
now that we are planning for next year. Why not try to get something for them
before they depart for free? Between the 3 of them we can perhaps get a few
draft picks and/or mid-level prospects to help restock Rochester.
Why do need to restock Rochester?
I’m glad you asked. We need depth there because I plan to call up Zack Kassian,
Corey Tropp, Marcus Foligno, Derek Whitmore, Jacob Legace and perhaps a few
more to replace the departed while expanding the current roles of Luke Adam and
Brayden McNabb to see what all these kids can bring to the table in the near
future.
This is what I’d do if I were in charge. The reality I
subscribe to says it’s too late for this year to be salvaged and for that I
blame Darcy Regier and think he should be fired for it. I keep Lindy for now
with the hope that the newly reformed club will respond to him as previous
Sabres teams did. Underachievers, upcoming free agents and easily replaceable
players should be traded away to load up for the draft and this summer’s free
agency and trade period.
Will the Sabres follow a similar blueprint? Who knows?
They’ll either make some moves this week to try to make a run for the playoffs
now or they’ll sell off parts in February leading up to the trade deadline and
raise the white flag. If they decide our season is over I would hope they’d
bring in a new GM. I don’t want the man who put us in this mess and failed to
respond when needed overseeing the retooling. The new GM could make the
necessary moves by this year’s trade deadline and then spend the rest of this
season evaluating the remaining "talent" to see who is part of the
solution and who is part of the problem. Then when the season is over you make
the moves needed to turn this around. A name that’s been brought up a lot is Rick
Dudley, a passionate and accomplished hockey man with Buffalo ties. He’d be an easy sell to the
fanbase not only as a former Sabres’ player and coach but also as a front
office man who had something to do with building Tampa’s
2004 cup winning team as well as Chicago’s
recent cup winner in 2010.
As for now, until this team does something, anything to change
the dreadful climate they’ve created, all of us fans remain hostages caught in
the middle of a brutal financial dispute between our cable provider and the
television home of the Sabres and even worse held hostage by the Sabres themselves who refuse
to acknowledge what all of us have seen for months… that this team as it is now
is unwatchable and something needs to change. Perhaps MSG did us a favor after
all.
