The great Ted Nolan debate

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


I've said it before and I'll say it again, the 2014-15 season for the Buffalo Sabres is a throw away season. It doesn't mean things can't be accomplished (however minute these accomplishments might be) but on the whole, this team was destined to test the depths of the league standings from the get-go.

At the beginning of the season I was of the opinion that a bottom-three finish was in the offing for the Sabres and it looks as if my expectations were a bit high. At the beginning of the season, surely expectations varied throughout Sabreland, including the management team and coaches, about where they would end up. But after a 14-game losing streak, it's safe to say that nearly everyone's on the same page now.

That being said, the great debate has shifted slightly from the value of Tyler Myers and of Cody Hodgson's worth, to the future of head coach, Ted Nolan.


Based upon Nolan's coaching history, a team like the one he's icing this year is the antithesis of what he's all about. In a nutshell, his teams from the past did everything within their power to get the puck and once they got it they took it straight to the net. They were hard working teams that displayed intestinal fortitude and what they lacked in skill they more than made up for in hard work.

But that's not the case this season, save for a stretch where the Sabres went 10-3. Even then their lack of skill was being tested as they were clearly overmatched, but there was a belief that they would somehow manage to get the win. And they did.

The 2014-15 edition of the Buffalo Sabres is lacking in talent, plain and simple, with most of the talent they have wrapped up in the inconsistencies of youth. Players like Zemgus Girgensons, Rasmus Ristolainen, Nikita Zadorov and Nicolas Deslauriers are all a part of a new core rising, but are still very, very young. GM Tim Murray brought in some vets in the off season to balance things out, but none were of the superstar, or even star, variety. And those in the middle like Myers, Tyler Ennis, Hodgson and Marcus Foligno are all 25 yrs. old or younger. They're are still learning the game while the coaching staff is still learning what they're all about.

Nolan, a prideful man with roots steeped in tradition, took what he had been given this season and has done what he could with it. But if he originally planned on getting an upgrade at any point in the season, it looks as if he was mistaken. This is a team being steered towards the future, a future that starts after this season. Some call it tanking, some call it maneuvering, some call it a disgrace.

I say it is what it is.

It's noble to take the high road proclaiming that good fruit can't come from a bad tree. But just look at the Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots. They raised the Vince Lombardi Trophy despite their second "Gate"--"Deflategate." In their first bout with cheating, the Patriots were accused and convicted of spying on the opposition, aka, "Spygate.". When players from the Pittsburgh Steelers mentioned that the Patriots always seemed a step ahead in the 2004 AFC Championship Game, we found out why. Lord knows what else coach Bill Belichick has been up to in the last decade-plus, but like the old saying goes, "when you see one roach, there's a hundred more that you can't see."

Fact is, Belichick will go down in history as coaching a dynasty, and the "gates" will be mostly forgotten. That's not to say that cheating is a noble trait on the road to victory. It's not. But bending the rules or using loopholes to your advantage is simply the way the sports world works. When Sam Pollock was allowed to horde the top talent from Canada in the Original-Six era, there was no rule against it. He even laid out the expansion rules to keep his dynasty intact. He's legendary. And when Peter Pocklington and Wayne Gretzky maneuvered themselves around the 1979 draft, a dynasty was born, but rarely is that brought up.

What the Buffalo Sabres are doing right now is not cheating. There's nothing in the rule book that says a GM must go after a star player during a hot stretch to improve his team while they're in the depths of a rebuild. There's nothing that says a GM must waive an underachiever to make room for somebody the coach may want. There may be weaknesses on the team that could be fixed by a move or two but the GM decides what's best for the future of the team. If those moves are not in the best interests of the franchise going forward then no moves are made.

Sabres beat writer Paul Hamilton was on WGR today and the subject of Nolan came up. Hamilton was there during Nolan's first stint in Buffalo and he's been on the scene this season as well so he has a pretty good insight as to what Nolan is all about. Morning Show host Howard Simon mentioned a change in Nolan saying that the coach is, "is more at ease (these days,) not bristling as much with what's going on [with the Sabres]."

Hamilton replied, "There's nothing he can do about it. He's got to live with it because it's not going to change."

As his team struggled early on, Nolan struggled right along with them but always looked to the positives and simply asked the team to believe. When the team went 10-3, their belief was rewarded and they sat four points out of a playoff spot. That's a Ted Nolan coached team.

Though a run like that was unsustainable with the personnel he had, Nolan wouldn't be getting any help from his GM to take it further. The team stumbled then crumbled and down to the bottom they went.

Jerry Sullivan, Senior Sports Columnist of the Buffalo News, penned a piece today entitled, Do right by Ted Nolan – fire him. It's a noble piece with a noble premise, "This is not a malicious cry, but a merciful one," wrote Sullivan. "I like Nolan. I know what he can do with a team that’s genuinely motivated.

"It’s sad to watch a man of Nolan’s character go through this, coaching for an organization that is packaging historic failure as a strategic plan. Nolan often talks with pride about his native culture. I doubt the Native American culture finds any nobility in losing on purpose."

Again, one could argue that the "historic failure as a strategic plan" is nothing more than Murray continuing the work of former GM Darcy Regier. Regier got things in motion by dismantling his middling core for picks and prospects before they walked away for nothing. That plan was carried on at last seasons' trade deadline and will basically be finished at the March 2nd deadline this year. From thence the build portion of the plan will commence in earnest.

Anyone who's watched this team since Daniel Briere and Chris Drury left for free agency knows that completely blowing up "the core" was something that should have happened years ago. The fact that it didn't happen sooner could now be looked upon as a blessing in disguise as the Sabres' rebuild will bottom out with an opportunity to draft one of two highly coveted players.

Sullivan and his fellow sports writers at the News seem to be on a mission to discredit this approach as beneath them, the fans and the city of Buffalo. "I agree with Mike Harrington," wrote Sullivan of his colleague. "It’s an open disgrace. There’s nothing smart or noble about becoming one of the worst teams in NHL history. [Owner] Terry Pegula should be embarrassed. But the tanking advocates make it out to be some master plan, even a daily entertainment."

Yet he takes some of the bite out of that by saying, "Maybe it will all work out. The Sabres have some promising young players. Presumably, if they get Jack Eichel or Connor McDavid in the draft they’ll have a superstar to build around. But Murray has to do a lot of work to make them a playoff team before 2018. Anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional."

Contrary to the gist of his article, Sullivan should be trumpeting Nolan as the guy to help lay the foundation when the build portion really kicks in next season. All of Nolan's attributes like character, hard work and belief are exactly what this team should be built upon. Murray brought in Brian Gionta and Josh Gorges for those very reasons. Girgensons, the player most feel will become the future leader of this team, is steeped in those qualities.

Hamilton remarked that Nolan finally capitulated after he received no help from Murray and was unable to rid himself of players that didn't fit his belief system. I tend to believe that the book on the latter will be closed at the end of the season and they will be replaced by youth and/or character. Nolan's job is not to dictate policy, but to follow it and the opportunity for him to really make his mark begins this summer.

What Murray has in mind for next year behind the bench is unknown. He offered Nolan a three-year contract extension which was accepted and the parties could be entering year two but, like Sullivan wrote, at any time during this season or come seasons' end, Murray could fire him and replace Nolan with "his guy."

I'm with Hamilton, though. He believes that Nolan should be retained and that he should be given the opportunity to get this team moving in the right direction next season. "I think it would be a travesty to fire Nolan this year," said Hamilton. "If this is the same next year in November and December where nothing's turned around, then I think it would be fair to say we need a change."

Nolan might not be the answer long-term, but Murray should at least give him the opportunity to use his most noble traits in concert with an influx of real talent that's on the horizon.

That, to me, would be "doing right by Nolan."