out of character

how many times over the last 3+ seasons has the term "out of character" been used by head coach lindy ruff?...during his weekly radio appearance on wgr today, he mentioned it once again...his players have used that term throughout the past 3+ seasons as well...and so has gm darcy regier...

"out of character"...

before his players begin to play "out of character," one would think that the character of this team would need to be defined...and, according to captain craig rivet recently, the team is still "trying to find the style of play that we want to play,"...the operative word being, "still"...

this has been an ongoing problem for the sabres since january '07...the core of this team was built for the "new nhl"...the powers that be were intent upon opening up the game to make it more offensive friendly, placing a high price on speed and skill over brute force and thuggery...and it worked for a year and a half...

during that period the league was wide open and in the early part of the '06/7 season the sabres were the embodiment of the "new nhl," where "speed kills"...compared to the rest of the league the sabres were, as ny rangers forward jaromir jagr described it, "a ferrari"...but, a funny thing happened along the way...the nhl was changing once again...

"I don't think the game is being called as tight as it was," ruff said at the time. "Before, as soon as you put a stick on someone, it was a penalty, he said. "Now you're getting a free tug at times. You're getting a free paw at times...I think there's games where the whistle has been put away."

at the time, lindy ruff was being chided as a whiner, using an excuse...but the league was changing, as evidenced the cup going to anaheim with a mix of size, skill, grit and old-school attitude...the ducks that season took liberties until they found the boundaries as to what the refs would call penalty-wise, and what they were allowed was a far cry from the "hands-off/post-lockout/new nhl"...had the sabres managed to get past the ottawa senators for a birth in the finals that season, it's safe to say that they'd have been steam-rolled even worse than the sens...

the sabres are no longer a ferrari...july 1, 2007 was the end...even before that the nhl was no longer the "new-nhl," having begun to subside in january, 2007...and...

"the core" of the present buffalo sabres team, which was geared towards offense in the "new-nhl," has remained intact since..................2007

what style do they want play?...if you're a player coming into the nhl post-lockout, you were afforded the ability to use your speed and skill...if you're a team, like the buffalo sabres that was built for the "new-nhl," a "run-and-gun" approach is the preferred style...

what style can you play?...in the post "new-nhl" world, the ice is smaller, the gaps are tighter, the shooting lanes are narrower and the defense is allowed to slow you down through obstruction (although not nearly as much as the pre-lockout days)...scoring does come off the rush many times, but it seems as if goals with meaning are mostly scored by going to the net in the bloody-nose areas, especially during the playoffs...lindy ruff, during the 2010 end of season press conference said that "the ability to get, to really get inside, in the playoffs is tough. You see that in all of these series. That those types of goals are more prominent in the playoffs."...

why did the sabres top-two centers combine for zero goals vs. the boston bruins in the first round?...because it's not in their character to go inside...they are not accustomed to the beat-down in that area, not accustomed to that style of play, to the point that when they are in that area, like during a power-play, they miss opportunities...

it's not in their character...nor is it in their character to play "out of character," which would entail doing things for the team instead of themselves...the last three-season experiment has proven that, as witnessed by missing the playoffs for two seasons and the first-round exit last year...

"the core," the top-six on the sabres, are all of the same ilk, built for the "new-nhl"...still...yet, there's a different blend that's necessary up-top..."You need a blend of size," ruff said at the same press conference...and you need some grit as well...in the playoffs vs. the bruins, fourth-liner cody mccormick was brought up for that exact purpose and responded well...during this season, we've seen mccormick and third-line pest, patrick kaleta, skating with the top-six, just like former sabres-grinder adam mair did in the previous two seasons...

buffalo sabres fans know the character of gm darcy regier...they've seen it over the past 3+ seasons...he's a gm that's methodical, slow to change and will change only when he's forced to...he is patient to a fault, and has a firm belief that his "core" will grow into their roles as top-six performers and leaders...come hell or high water, this is a group that will get the franchise to the promised land...he believes that his skill players, if given the chance to use their skills unobstructed, can win as well as provide an exciting product for the fans, just like they did in '06/7...

problem is, it's not working...nor has it worked consistently over the last three-plus seasons...he doesn't have the horses and the "new-nhl" has come and gone...nostalgia is not what's needed in sabreland...

maybe it's time for darcy regier to manage "out of character" and add top-six players who's character will allow them to play in the nhl during any era...his "core" is an era-specific group built for the "new-nhl"...this group would have done little during the 70's when thuggery ruled...they would not have had the skill to run with the edmonton oilers of the 80's...would look even worse during the "trap-era" of the 90's than they do now...and they do not have the intestinal fortitude to do what's necessary in the present, post "new-nhl" era...

unfortunately regier holds firm to his belief in the status-quo and i really don't think it's in his character to manage "out of character"