Has Ted Nolan lost his fire?

On the table, for Ted Nolan's review, is a contract extension given to him from Sabres GM Tim Murray.

The extension has been out there since before the 2014 trade deadline, but Nolan hasn't signed yet.

At first Nolan had mentioned that he would wait until the dust clears from the resignation of his good friend, Pat LaFontaine. LaFontaine, the man who hired Nolan to help turn things around, left the club rather abruptly after 109 days on the job to rejoin the NHL.

It's still unclear why LaFontaine and the Sabres parted ways.

Nolan now says that his attorney's are looking over the offer from Buffalo, and it would seem as if he's in no hurry to sign.


After watching the Sabres play at NY last night vs. the Islanders, I was left to wonder if indeed he'll remain on as coach after the season.

The performance last night by his club was eerily reminiscent of the Ron Rolston team that began the season. Not a lot of effort. Not a lot of bite. Not too much scoring either.

And this has been going on for a number of games now. It's the effort, or lack thereof, that is most troublesome. They seem to have just given up.

Nolan is a motivator. He uses positivity and energy to get his players going. Before the whole LaFontaine fiasco, and before Murray traded away the teams three best players, Nolan had the Sabres looking like a team that could compete with, and even beat, any team in the league on any given night.

The team won two in a row post-Olympics/pre-Ryan Miller and Steve Ott trade. They extended that to three in a row the night those two were traded, lost a tough one at Dallas before the trade deadline, then beat Tampa Bay on the road the day after the deadline.

But after that, the wheels have fallen off. They have not won in over a week.

Part of it has to do with injuries.

Forward Zemgus Girgensons was lost to injury in the first period of the Tampa Game. They have not won since while averaging a goal/game in the five straight losses. Newly acquired forwards Chris Stewart and Torrey Mitchell were lost in that game as well.

It's not that these guys were tearing up the league or anything like that, but they put forth a strong effort every game.

Girgensons in particular was really starting to pick up his game post-Olympics scoring a goal and adding two assists in a little over three games while going plus-five in the process. On as crappy a team as Buffalo is, "Gus" has the best plus/minus of any Sabre playing in over 35 games at minus-5 in 61 games played.

Nolan lost a lot of heart and soul when those three went down to injury and it seemed to affect the team as well. After their third loss in a row to Nashville, one of the team's worst games of the season, Nolan saw the team slacking in practice.

For the first time in 17 years, according to WGR's Paul Hamilton, a Sabres team was forced into a bag skate.

It didn't help.

The team gave up 55 shots to Carolina in a 4-2 loss giving up three unanswered goals with just over eight minutes remaining in the third. They spoiled a terrific performance by recently acquired goalie Michal Neuvirth. Last night they got thumped 4-1 by the 26th place NY Islanders.

And it was during last night's game that Nolan looked as if he was out of answers.

One would assume that he knows the real reason LaFontaine and the Sabres parted ways. And one would assume that Nolan and LaFontaine were on the same page when it came to the club's future--both immediate and long-term.

Perhaps their vision clashed with that of Murray and the other powers within the organization.

The powers being alluded to are those of President Ted Black and Senior Advisor Ken Sawyer, both of whom came over from Pittsburgh and were a part of the Penguins bottom-feeding rebuild that garnered the franchise Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and Jordan Staal. All of them top-two picks in consecutive years.

Maybe LaFontaine and Nolan were intent upon taking the shit sandwich they were given and turning it into Steak au poivre as soon as possible rather than hit the bottom two years running.

The trade of Miller, despite both Nolan and LaFontaine expressing their desire to keep him, was to be expected. It should have been done. And even if Ott was moved, that should have been expected as well.

We don't know what went on behind the scenes, but the trade of Matt Moulson was somewhat curious.

All along we were lead to believe that the three-time 30-goal scorer would either net a solid haul (including a first round pick) or that Murray would have an extension in hand should no team meet his demands. Moulson was traded for a bottom-six forward (Mitchell) and two second rounders (2014, 2016.) Those two picks, according to Murray, were in his pocket and allowed him to throw in two second rounders in the LA trade.

But it would seem as if the trade of Moulson was yet another dagger in the heart of Nolan.

It's no secret that Murray has strong ties to Binghamton Senators head coach Luke Richardson. Murray was Binghamton's GM when Calder Cup-winning coach  Kurt Kleinendorst left two years ago. Richardson was the hand-picked replacement.

On the Fan-590 in January, a day after he was announced as Sabres GM, Richardson's name was brought up (for access to a link, click here,) albeit light-heartedly.

Add it all up and Nolan has been hit countless times by circumstances beyond his control and it's beginning to take it's toll.

Has he lost his fire?

Sure.

Is it temporary?

That's to be determined, but there's only so much a guy can take. And with the team going full-bore rebuild, he, like LaFontaine, may have already accomplished what the organization has wanted them to.