Where's the bottom for this Buffalo Sabres franchise?

In 1956 the New York Football Giants won the NFL Championship and for five of the next six seasons they made it to the NFL championship game only to lose. Regardless of that fact the Giants were considered a model franchise but after their 14-10 loss to the Chicago Bears in the 1963 championship game, New York went 17 consecutive seasons without making the playoffs and got progressively worse (4-23-1 in 1973 and '74 combined) before stagnating well below the .500 mark until the 80's.

Football fans largely ignored the Giants and in a pre-ESPN era where game highlights were mainly shown via local news broadcasts and in Sunday pre-game or halftime shows (think Monday Night Football with a national audience,) out of sight, out of mind. As the New York football Giants continued floundering through another lost season, just when you thought it couldn't get worse, it did. On November 19, 1978 with New York up 17-12 over the Philadelphia Eagles late in the game, the 'brain'-trust on the sideline scoffed at the thought of kneeling to run out the clock and 'boldly' decided to run a complicated play. Quarterback Joe Pisarcik's handoff to Larry Csonka was flubbed and Eagles cornerback Herm Edwards scooped up the fumble for the winning touchdown.

Why this story in a blog about the Buffalo Sabres?

It's about finding the bottom.

Of the coaching search, Kane, O'Reilly and Lehner

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-18-2019


All's quiet on the Buffalo Sabres coaching front right now after Todd McLellan and Alain Vigneault were hired by the Los Angeles Kings and Philadelphia Flyers, respectively. Of the two, only McLellan was a consideration by the Sabres as he came in for an interview while his son was in the NCAA Frozen Four being held in Buffalo. Nothing came of it as reports suggest that the Sabres didn't even make him an offer.

If you're a fan like myself who is interested in seeing Buffalo hire a veteran hockey coach, pickins is mighty slim and none seem very appealing with a list that includes Mike Yeo, Todd Richards and Michel Therrien, among others. Former Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff's name has come up for whatever reason in Sabreland, mostly nostalgia, but it's a ship that's sailed even though I'd pick him over any of the "retreads" available on the coaching market right now.

It's not a good situation for the Sabres be in as they just finished a disastrous two-year stint with a rookie head coach and, barring any unforeseen firings of 2019 NHL playoff coaches, right now that's about the only thing left on the market. Toronto Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe seems to be the front-runner for a NHL job while back-to-back NCAA Champion head coach Scott Sandelin of Minnesota-Duluth might be the other hot rookie candidate. Rochester Americans head coach Chris Taylor's name is always mentioned but as of now there have been no reports of the team contacting him about the position, and there's a possibility he may not be interested in the job at this time. Also, Sweden national coach Rickard Gronborg's name is getting hot for a head coaching position in the NHL and the Sabres have been said to be interested in him dating back to last season.

It's quite the pickle general manager Jason Botterill has himself in right now and barring an unforeseen veteran coach hitting the market soon, we're in a situation where we could see another head coach go down the drain over the next few years and in the process the Sabres might be looking for another GM.

Considering the circumstances the Sabres find themselves in right now, the ideal situation in this bloggers eyes would be for any potential rookie head coach, if that's what it comes down to, to be surrounded by veteran assistants who command the respect of the players.

All things Jack Eichel from his post-workout interview session yesterday.

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 9-6-2017


Jack Eichel isn't too worried about beginning the season without a contract extension. The 20 yr. old face of the Buffalo Sabres franchise is in the final year of his three year entry-level deal and is coming off a season where he lead the team in scoring despite missing the first 21 games. Of course any thought of a hitch in negotiations with the player they suffered two years for sends some Sabres fans into a tizzy, like when it was reported that Eichel said he had "no problem playing the year out" on his current deal.

“If that happens, that happens,” he told the gathered media after yesterday's workout. "Obviously, I'm pretty adamant on staying a Sabre and staying in Buffalo, but it's not something I can really control here. I can just control my play. We know where we stand. We know where the Sabres stand."

Both sides seem to be on the same page when it comes to term as it's expected his next contract will be the league-max eight years. The two big contracts that were handed out over the summer in Edmonton no doubt are having an impact on the salary side of the equation. Oilers franchise center and captain Connor McDavid signed an 8yr./$100 million contract on July 5, with the $12.5 million AAV being the highest in NHL history. Edmonton Oiler forward Leon Draisaitl signed an 8yr./$68 million contract on August 15 with an AAV of $8.5 million. "There’s obviously a new market out there in terms of money paying for young kids," said Eichel. "It’s been set.

"Guys are making an impact on their team and getting rewarded for it. I don’t think the age should be too much of a reason not to get a good deal. If they’ve earned it, they’ve earned it.

With that in mind, most have Eichel's contract in the $10 million per season area but structure should also be taken into account. McDavid's contract starts at $15 million next season and finishes at $10 million the final year yet possibly more important is a structure that, according to CapFriendly, pays out $86 million of his total in bonuses meaning it's lockout-proof.

That's the realm of the of agents, however, and Eichel's keenly aware of that. “Like I told my agent, ‘This is something that you do and you focus on.” he said. “I’m pretty adamant on staying a Sabre and staying in Buffalo. It’s not something I can really control here. I can just control my play.

“I want to be here. I want to be in Buffalo. I want to bring some excitement to this town, and the contract thing will take care of itself. That’s why you hire agents.”

Eichel also said he likes the direction of the team. Both GM Tim Murray and coach Dan Bylsma were fired after a rather disappointing season last year and many players have mentioned a fresh start in 2017-18. "With the way things ended," said Eichel, "I think it's good for everybody to have a fresh start. Guys are able to comin in here with some new faces--a new general manager, a new coach--people who haven't made impressions on specific people in the locker room and that can be a good thing for some guys who obviously didn't have the best relationships the last few years."

Last season saw disconnects between the players and Bylsma and internal abrasion in the locker room. It caused the team to finish with a worse record than the previous season after most felt they'd take a step forward.

Defense was the looked upon as the root of the problem with a blueline that was considered to be one of the weakest in the league. Buffalo goalie Robin Lehner, who called out the players for not playing Bylsma's system at one point last season, came back to Buffalo after his off season workouts and defended his defensemen.

“I had no problems with the defensemen but the problem was we really didn't know how to play," he said. "It's not just the defensemen, that's a common misconception, it's how we play as a team." Lehner proceeded to say how he watched the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins play in the playoffs, "everyone plays as a five-man unit and its fast forward and fast back to the defensive zone and I think that's what Phil [Housley] wants. He doesn't want us to play slow, he wants to play fast and everyone attacks and everyone defends and we didn't do that last year.”

Defenseman Zach Bogosian who was the whipping boy for the d-corps woes last season came out and said that he was taken out of his game by Bylsma's approach. He is also looking forward to a fresh start. “I think the last two years (under Bylsma) for me has been frustrating and disappointing. Skating is definitely my strong point. Last year and the year before I felt like I was handcuffed back there. I don't think I got a chance to play my game in the way I know I can play and I'm just looking forward to a new start and play my game which is jumping up into the play.”

Eichel also had similar sentiments about last season and is also looking forward to the upcoming season with a new approach from coach Housley. "From talking to him, the style of play that he wants to instill in us is going to fit in pretty well to my game," he said. "Obviously, pushing the pace, playing with the puck, possessing it, playing fast, all that stuff bodes well for me, and I think it should be a good fit."

Without a doubt some of the best and most exciting Sabres games to watch last season was when they pushed the pace. In Eichel's first game back from injury on November 29, they got into a shinny with Ottawa forcing the Sens to take a number of penalties. Buffalo went 3/5 on the powerplay and came away with a 5-4 win. In December they fell behind 2-0 early in a game against the Los Angeles Kings and came back with four-goal flurry that propelled them to a 6-3 win. Buffalo fell behind in three consecutive games in January only to skate their way to three consecutive overtime victories.

Eichel is an electrifying force on the ice and it would seem as if Housley is going to release the hounds and let this team play to one of their strengths--skating. Last season Eichel lead the team in points despite missing the first 21 games of the season and most expect him to have a breakout season this year. He certainly seems to be confident that it will happen.

From his and his agent's perspective, if he has that breakout season it pushes him closer to the McDavid's salary-level. Perhaps that's part of the reason he has no problem going into this year without a contract extension.


*****

It would seem as if everybody's on the same page with Eichel. Sabres owner Terry Pegula said, "I can tell you this, We want Jack and Jack wants to be in Buffalo." The latter part has been confirmed by Eichel on a couple occasions starting with this quote from an article by Barry Scanlon of the Boston area Sentinel and Enterprise newspaper on August 19: 

"I've made it clear that I want to be a Sabre. I want to be in Buffalo when we start winning. I want to reward the city. It's been two great years. I don't want to go anywhere else," Eichel was quoted as saying.

He reiterated that point the other day when he said, "I want to be here. I want to be in Buffalo. I want to bring some excitement to this town."

Dan Fetes of WROC in Rochester caught up with Sabres general manager Jason Botterill at a golf outing last month and Botterill said that "At the end of the day we certainly want to get Jack signed up for max amount and term possible, he has the same belief." The new GM also said that the negotiations "continue to be very positive."

Eichel seems to respect Botterill as well. "He's a real sharp guy. He knows his stuff, he knows what he's doing. I know we all trust him."

All the right words are being said and everybody seems to be on the same page. Hopefully this gets done soon.




http://www.wgr550.com/articles/news/eichel-looking-lead-and-mature

Another Sabre with an indictment of former coach Dan Bylsma's "system"

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-29-2017


The Buffalo Sabres defense was a mess last season, plain and simple, but the reasons for that mess still aren't fully known and probably never will be. Injuries played a role, as did lack of depth and talent. Coaching shouldn't be dismissed either.

Former bench boss Dan Bylsma never could get the team on the same page last season, to the point where the face of the franchise, Jack Eichel, showed his dismay in-season and was rumored to be avoiding contract-extension talks if Bylsma was retained. The disconnect between Bylsma and his players was so pronounced that it eventually lead to his firing and as Sabres' players slowly begin to gather in Buffalo for workouts, things are beginning to trickle out on just what transpired last season.

Two players who are in Buffalo already doing workouts are goalie Robin Lehner and defenseman Zach Bogosian.

Lehner was the first to talk with the media at the HarborCenter workouts. Last season he established himself as a bona fide starting goalie with some strong numbers in spite of a defense-corps in front of him that was described as as one of the worst in the league. However, Lehner didn't look at it that way.

“The problem was we really didn’t know how to play,” he told the gathered media after a workout session last week. “The defensemen, it’s a common misconception (it was a problem). It’s how we play as a team. I was sitting watching the whole Stanley Cup playoffs last year. If you watch the good teams, look at Pittsburgh, everyone defends, everyone comes back and everyone plays as a five-man unit, and it’s fast forward and fast back in the defensive zone.

“I think that’s what [new coach] Phil [Housley] wants. He doesn’t want us to play slow. He wants us to play fast, and everyone attacks and everyone defends. That’s what we need to do. We didn’t do that last year. We were playing as three forwards and two defensemen.”

For many of the players, this was their second season under Bylsma's system and to have Lehner say that "we really didn't know how to play, furthers the conclusion that there was a serious disconnect between Bylsma and his players. His system was a "end-all, be-all," so rigid in it's X's and O's that it never fully took into account an individuals strength's and weaknesses.

Case in point, Bogosian.

Although he never lived up to his third-overall pick status, Bogosian still has the same traits now as he did when he was drafted in 2008. He's always had an NHL frame, and a rather large one at 6'3", 215 lbs., but he's also always been an excellent skater which allowed him to skate the puck out of the zone. Although his passing is good (and decision-making, meh, at times,) getting him some open ice to move the puck out has always been ideal for him.

But that's not what happened last season, or the year before either. “I think the last two years for me has been frustrating and disappointing," Bogosian told WGR550's Paul Hamilton yesterday. "Skating is definitely my strong point. Last year and the year before I felt like I was handcuffed back there. I don't think I got a chance to play my game in the way I know I can play and I'm just looking forward to a new start and play my game which is jumping up into the play.”

Handcuffed by X's and O's, as were others on both offense and defense.

That's not to give individual players a free ride either. Bogosian has his limitations as does Josh Gorges and both may see diminished roles on the team this season under Housley. Plus new GM Jason Botterill revamped the defense with trades for Nathan Beaulieu and Marco Scandella while also signing free agent KHL d-man Victor Antipin.

Regardless of who comes in and who goes out, it comes down to coaching and the best coaches fit their system to the players given them, not the other way around.

With any kind of decent coaching, Buffalo's D, as is, should make big strides

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-28-2017


Yeah, I said it.

Although a top-four of Rasmus Ristolainen, Nathan Beaulieu, Zach Bogosian and Jake McCabe isn't quite a Cup-contending core, with any kind of coaching, along with solid goaltending (and, of course, goal-scoring,) it should be enough for the team to make a big jump from their poor 2016-17 season.

The Sabres had about as bad a season as a team could've had last year and the brunt of the fan backlash fell on the shoulders of Buffalo's defense corps. If it were up to many, veteran players like Bogosian and Josh Gorges would've been on the first Greyhound Bus out of Buffalo mid-season. Some, like myself, acknowledge the poor play of the defense but also attribute the Sabres 78-point season to a number of other factors which includes a dismal start to the season after losing Jack Eichel and Evander Kane to injuries and a strict adherence to the system employed by head coach Dan Bylsma.

The former is easy to quantify while the latter, without revealing insight from the players, is almost impossible to prove. However, the fact that there indeed was a disconnect between player and coach, which ultimately lead to Bylsma's firing, does give credence to the belief that his systems didn't fit the personnel GM Tim Murray gave him. We can add in that the roster Murray build wasn't a Cup-contender either. It had plenty of holes and, according to some reports, he had no answers when owner Terry Pegula asked what he was going to do moving forward. Murray was fired along with Bylsma and the team is starting fresh.

New GM Jason Botterill inherited a team that has some definitive strengths up front, goaltending that looks solid and a defense corps that has a hole in the top-pairing. Many had hoped that he'd somehow be able to find a d-man to fill said hole, but pickin's are slim this off season. One player that may be considered for the top pair is free agent, Kevin Shattenkirk jowever, being the top free agent defenseman in a brutally thin market means the puck-mover will probably be asking for top dollar with some suggesting 7yrs./$7M per season. With his good, but not great, 2017 playoff performance, that seems quite high and is probably out of Buffalo's reach.

There are other FA d-men available but most would be considered top-four at best with Washington's Karl Alzner and the NY Rangers Brendan Smith maybe being able to hold down a top-pairing spot in Buffalo. After that there's aged vets like Chicago's Brian Campbell and Johnny Oduya,  Montreal's Andrei Makarov and a pair of 33 yr. olds in Trevor Daley (PIT) and Dan Girardi (NYR) who wouldn't be a good fit for the Sabres.

What it comes down to at this juncture is basically, what you see on the back end right now, is pretty much what you're going to see next season. It's a proposition that have some in a tizzy. Yet most feel that with a new GM and head coach in Phil Housley, the Sabres are in a transitional period, especially on the back end where Housley is coming in with visions of an attacking group of puck movers. As dire as it might seem to some right now, with any decent coaching, this group of defensemen should be able to hold their own and help the Sabres progress.

Lindy Ruff has yet to win a Stanley Cup but he's been able to take flawed teams to the playoffs and talented teams deep into May and June. When he was in Buffalo he wanted his teams attacking when he had the talent, but he also leaned towards the defensive side of the equation when his team lacked firepower up front. In 2009-10 he had a Vezina Trophy winning goalie in Ryan Miller and Rookie of the Year in defenseman Tyler Myers. They made the playoffs. Although his defense was active he wasn't in full-bore attack mode for 60 minutes like when he coached his back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals teams.

Ruff went into the 2010-11 minus two of his top three defensemen as Henrik Tallinder and Toni Lydman were lost to free agency. They were replaced by Jordan Leopold and Shaone Morrisonn with Morrisonn starting out the season on the team's top-pairing with Myers. But as the two suffered early in the season, Morrisonn fell down (and even out of) the lineup while Myers was dropped to the second pairing and eventually landed with third-year pro Chris Butler. Leopold moved up top with gritty, veteran defenseman Steve Montador while the bottom-pairing was a mix of Andrej Sekera (who ended up with plenty of time in the top-four,) Mike Weber, the plummeting Craig Rivet (who was eventually waived by Buffalo) and Marc-Andre Gragnani.

There was a lot of mixing and matching by Ruff that season as players like Morrisonn and Rivet fell precipitously, Myers suffered through a sophomore slump, Sekera and Butler rose while Leopold and Montador held steady in their roles. It ended up being a defense by committee in that these were the top-four in even strength ice-time:

Leopold--18:00
Montador--17:16
Sekera--17:11
Myers--16:57

The same four were atop in average time on ice:

Leopold--23:19
Myers--22:27
Sekera--21:05
Montador--19:43

The Sabres made the playoffs that season with only one player in the top-50 in point production (Thomas Vanek, 73) but with scoring by committee that placed them ninth in the league. Miller had a 2.59 GAA and .916 Sv%, well off of his Vezina highs, and the Sabres fell from a fourth-best GAA in 2009-10 to 16th in 2010-11.

Buffalo started out the 2010-11 season with Derek Roy and Tim Connolly centering a top-six that featured Vanek, Jason Pominville, Drew Stafford and Tyler Ennis on the wings. It was the last time Buffalo made the playoffs and they did so with a lineup that was weaker as a whole and especially up front in the top-six at center than last year's Sabres.

Having said that, a top-four featuring Ristolainen, Beaulieu, Bogosian and McCabe isn't that far removed from the top-four that Ruff started with, or even finished with, in 2010-11.

On April 8, 2011, the Sabres clinched a playoff berth after Nathan Gerbe tied the score at 3-3 half-way through the third period against the Philadelphia Flyers. The defensemen in that overtime game ranked by TOI were:

Butler--25:04
Myers--24:45
Gragnani--22:11
Montador--20:13
Weber--15:12
Morrisonn--13:27


Just sayin'




You can relive the highlights from that Philly game and a raucous Buffalo crowd with this mcskyns YouTube video:

Pegula rolls solo in important press conference

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-21-2017


I highly doubt anyone thought earlier today that Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula would roll solo with his most important presser since buying the team six years ago. Thanks to Sabres TV we saw Pegula stand at the podium by himself answering questions about the present, future and, unfortunately, an unpleasant past.

Everyone who's ever watched a Terry Pegula presser knows how awkward he is in front of the microphone. He'd much rather be doing other things or answering questions about the positives he and Pegula Sports and Entertainment have done like HARBORCENTER and Canalside. But after firing both his general manager and head coach yesterday this was a time for him to take ownership of his team.

It was a ballsy move considering the many questions surrounding the state of an obviously flawed franchise, but in his opening statement he stood at the podium stating that "we" as an organization weren't happy with our season and, very humbly I might add, said that "accountability starts with me."

The theme of his approach going forward will start with three words that he repeated throughout, "discipline, structure and communication" a theme that Pegula and his wife Kim decided upon after meeting with former GM Tim Murray and former head coach Dan Bylsma. Later in the rather brief presser he added a fourth, "character."

After watching the Sabres play this season, and also following them in the media, it's not surprising that those three words would be the foundation moving forward. Lack of discipline on the ice reared it's head in the many times they failed to buy-in while off the ice it manifested itself in the Sam Reinhart saga when he was benched after breaking a recently installed zero-tolerance policy on tardiness late in the season. This Buffalo team was a mess with structure out the window and an obvious lack of communication between coach and players and more than likely between GM and owner.

When Pegula mentioned character, one couldn't help but think about Evander Kane's off-ice issues, said to be severely frowned upon by Kim Pegula. Another event was the Ryan O'Reilly bout with a Tim Horton's wall two summers ago. And one couldn't help but think that as owner of the NFL's Buffalo Bills the bouts with stupidity that some of his football players had must have come to the fore in the addition of character. Murray said of Kane that he had warts, and that some of the best players of all time had warts, but Pegula just busted out the Compound W.

After a rather humble opening statement Pegula was thrown into the fire by a question about Jack Eichel and how much his discontent played into the firing of Bylsma, as well as Murray. The transition from defense to offense began as he quoted Eichel's agent Peter Fish, "I don't know where those stories come from. It's ridiculous. Pegula called it a "complete fabrication" and "not a true story."

Later in the Q&A Pegula would get on the offensive again when asked if the rumors of talking to former LA Kings GM Dean Lombardi before firing Murray. "We didn't talk to anybody," he said flatly, "pure fabrication.

"Put that in the 'Jack demanded his coach be fired' category."

All-in-all not much was said about the immediate future of the franchise save for head amateur scout Jeff Crisp handling the amateur side of things with "several people" heading the pro side. Pegula said that their goal is "to build a stronger organization top to bottom" but would not reveal if he's ready to put a Hockey Ops person in between him and the GM. A hint may have come when he answered with a definitive "no" when asked about a direct link between GM and ownership with no go-between.

We haven't seen Pegula at a Sabres presser for over three years and a lot has transpired. The hiring process of both Murray and Bylsma were done with him outside of the loop and it's something he said he regretted with the results being a second season outside of the playoffs after what he termed the Sabres "rebuild."

One reporter had a different review of the rebuild pointing to fans and media alike calling it a tank. Pegula was asked about his "point on character" and if he felt the organization was damaged in that respect from that "flawed plan, a plan that authorized and essentially hoped for losing as a way of building."

"I don't want to talk about the past," began Pegula, "but a lot of teams go through rebuilds..." The reporter mentioned that it was true, but not a lot hope to lose. "Hope to lose? We don't hope to lose," responded Pegula as he brought the past to the present.

The team tanked and perhaps they're reaping what they've sown. Some will let it go, while others while carry it to the grave.

Buffalo is in a rough spot right now with no GM to guide this team through the expansion draft, NHL Draft or free agency, not to mention the glut of 20 free agent contracts to decide upon as well as an extension for Eichel and a decision on whether or not to move forward with Kane.

Pegula is taking a methodical approach, which is good. He'll have the amateur draft covered with Crisp and even possibly former head scout and assistant GM Kevin Devine. He has Mark Jakubowski as his cap-guy and an AGM who handled much of the contract negotiations and he may tap into a trusted internal guy like Kevyn Adams for some help on the pro side.

Gotta give Pegula a lot of credit for standing up there solo in a position he's not very comfortable with, but then again, he owed it to Sabreland, as this mess is his.

Boom! Both Tim Murray and Dan Bylsma fired. Opportunity knocks

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-20-2017


It's been a rather contentious off-season for fans of the Buffalo Sabres as a very disappointing season turned to question marks in April as the NHL playoffs march on. Fans took sides when it came to who was most responsible for the step backwards the Sabres had taken this season with one side saying GM Tim Murray put together a poor roster and the other side saying the head coach Dan Bylsma couldn't figure out how to make things work on the ice.

Well, the owners of the Buffalo Sabres made it pretty clear today that they weren't happy at all with what transpired and fired both Murray and Bylsma. Here's the statement from the Pegulas:

"After reviewing the past season and looking at the future of our organization, Kim and I have decided to relieve General Manager Tim Murray and Head Coach Dan Bylsma of their duties. We want to thank Tim and Dan for their hard work and efforts that they have put in during their tenures with the club. We wish them luck. We have begun the process to fill these positions immediately."

Word of the firing came when in the early part of an interview I was having with long-time Rochester Americans announcer, Don Stevens, and to show just how split Sabreland was on responsibility for the Sabres poor season, he mentioned one, yet I was thinking the other. Neither of us, however, thought that both Murray and Bylsma would be shown the door as I assume most in Sabreland didn't think this bombshell was coming.

The national media has already begun jumping on the move . Pierre LeBrun tweeted, "Constant turmoil with the Bills and Sabres. The passionate fans of Western New York deserve so much better."

It's a shot at ownership and I'm sure there will be plenty more. Some of the things that will be pointed our are the Bills 17-year playoff drought, even though the Pegula's have owned the team for only two of those seasons as well as the Sabres six-year playoff drought, all of them under the Pegulas with two of those seasons being devoted to emptying the roster for a scorched-earth rebuild. We'll also hear a lot about how they fired the Bills Rex Ryan after two seasons with three years left on his contract and that of Bylsma, who has the exact same scenario.

And while talking about paying former coaches not to coach for them, we can add in Murray who just signed a three year contract extension which kicks in this off-season.

That being said, the Pegulas should be questioned as to how they structured the Sabres post-tank years especially in light of what the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to accomplish this season.

The Leafs went into their rebuild and began by hiring Hall of Fame player Brendan Shanahan as President and Alternate governor. According to the Sabres Media guide Buffalo's President and Alternate governor is Russ Brandon, a marketing guru who's spent the last 20 years with the Buffalo Bills, becoming Chief Operating Officer in 2008 when he took charge of day-to-day football operations. The Bills have had seven coaches during that time and had a record above .500 only once.

Sabres legend and Hall-of-Famer Pat LaFontaine was with the organization in the role of Vice President but parted ways with the Sabres not long after Murray was hired as general manager. No reason has ever been given for the split and it left a first time GM in charge of the entire hockey department.

The Leafs also have another Hall-of-Famer in GM Lou Lamoriello and an almost sure-fire Hall-of-Famer in head coach Mike Babcock, whom the Sabres courted but missed out upon. The Sabres had a head coach with one Stanley Cup but plenty of question marks as to how he got that Cup.

That the structure problem that probably lead to dysfunction and a season of disconnects.

There were a lot of reasons why the season went off the tracks and lack of depth certainly contributed to it. Murray built a roster that was pretty solid up front but when injuries hit, the replacements weren't quite ready. Lack of depth was a problem that stretched down to the AHL. And Murray's defense was in shambles all season, mainly because of injury but also in large part because they didn't have enough quality.

From the coaching ranks we had a coach that apparently wasn't on the same page as the team's star player--Jack Eichel. That disconnect also lead to reported discord between the veteran players and the younger ones.

It's not surprising that Bylsma was fired as coaches are usually first to go, especially when there's reported friction between him and the face of the franchise. But Murray was a real surprise.

Murray came into Buffalo with a ton of picks and potential in his arsenal and proceeded to come out with guns ablazin' as blockbuster trades became the norm. He took a lot of heat for the Tyler Myers/Evander Kane trade even though Kane looks to be the best player in the deal. That said, he also was the one that had off-ice issues which assuredly didn't go unnoticed by the Pegulas.

The Ryan O'Reilly trade was another big one with the Sabres getting one of the top two-way players in the league. Unfortunately Murray had to give up some prime prospects including a player in J.T. Compher, who may end up being O'Reilly 2.0, and defenseman Nikita Zadorov, a young player who had some off-ice problems but one who also played in a top-four role this past season.

Then there was the trade for goalie Robin Lehner. Murray gave up a 2015 first round pick for Lehner, a source of consternation from many in Sabreland as you don't usually give up a first-rounder for a goalie unless he's had some time to establish himself. Lehner was injured his first season in Buffalo and compiled a strong 2016-17, but even with solid numbers, many are not convinced he's a top-flight No. 1 goalie.

Put it all together and the Pegulas put an end to the dysfunction with in the hockey department. The process now is all about building a proper one although we're unsure of where they want to begin. Hopefully it's with a Vice President of Hockey Operations who will define what it means to be a Buffalo Sabre as throughout the Pegula's ownership, we're not really sure what they want to be.

The Sabres have a future superstar in Jack Eichel at center and have a strong No. 2 in O'Reilly. They have a top-pairing d-man in Rasmus Ristolainen and a good number of role players spread throughout the lineup. If Lehner isn't the No. 1 goalie of the future, Linus Ullmark is in the hopper having made great strides in Rochester this past season after playing real strong as a rookie during Lehners injury.

However, the Sabres also have a lot of dead weight to move and will need to make decisions on 20 free agents this off-season and should also be looking to extend Eichel beyond next season. The draft is coming up and the Las Vegas Knights expansion draft is before that meaning they'll need to formulate their protected list.

Today's news is a bombshell, but with all that said, it's an opportunity for the Pegulas to get it right beginning with the front office. If they don't, we'll just be going through this again.

As the Sabres turn--a Disco Dan/Jack Flash conundrum?

Published by bockeybuzz.com, 4-19-2017


The old adage in Hollywood is "there's no such thing as bad press." Well, the Buffalo Sabres are certainly going to test that. It wasn't bad enough that they were chasited relentlessly for "the tank," and that this year their season went caput while two contemporary teams made the playoffs, now the team needs to deal with internal issues between a marquis player and the coach. Oh, and the backdrop has the Sabres missing the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season while the NHL's Buffalo Bills just finished a 17th season outside the playoffs.

This may be a job for Sean Spicer.

Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray scheduled to meet with ownership today, there's a question as to what kind of remarks he'll be packing in his briefcase when he opens it up for Terry and Kim Pegula. Murray finished his end-of-season interviews with the players and hit the podium for the presser with question marks all over the place. He began by taking full responsibility for what he called "a very disappointing season" but distributed some of the blame to coaches and players. It was the second season Buffalo missed the playoffs with this core group of players and the second with coach Dan Bylsma on the bench.

Bylsma had the team Murray built at his disposal and finished with a worse record than the previous season. A shored up forward ranks and a full season of health from goaltender Robin Lehner wasn't enough to offset a weak defense, undermanned bottom-six and a number of long-term injuries to key players. Among the injured was franchise center Jack Eichel who missed the first 21 games of the 2016-17 season. However, the biggest problem may have had less to do with the above and more to do with rumors that Bylsma lost control of the room somewhere along the way.

There had been reports of a disconnect between players and coach in Buffalo for a number of months culminating with a report from WGR550 radio today that Eichel won't sign a contract extension if Bylsma is retained as head coach. From WGR's Paul Hamilton, "Inside sources have told me that Eichel has no desire to sign a contract extension this summer if Bylsma remains the coach."

Eichel was drafted second-overall in 2015 after the Sabres and is the future of the franchise. He was the last player Murray talked with during last week's exit interviews and when the GM talked to the press a few hours later, he never gave an endorsement of Bylsma as the head coach moving forward. "He's my coach today," said Murray at the time before qualifying it later saying that things could change.

That change could be as early as today after Murray is finished meeting with the Pegula's.

Peter Fish, Eichel's agent, called the report "ridiculous" via John Vogl of the Buffalo News. “I don’t know where anyone is getting these reports, but they are ridiculous in a word,” Fish told Vogl. “Jack, he left Buffalo, he thought he had a real good meeting with coach Bylsma and a real good meeting with Murray. When he got home to Boston, he was genuinely excited with the thoughts that maybe they’re just a few players away from getting into the playoffs."

Not being in the playoffs might be a particular thorn in Eichel's side this season as he watches his contemporaries--Connor McDavid (2015, first-overall, EDM) and Auston Matthews (2016, first-overall, TOR)--battling it out in the post-season for the first time in their careers. The 20 yr. old Eichel has a competitive spirit and hatred to lose not seen in Buffalo since "The Dominator," Dominik Hasek ruled the crease, the last time the Sabres made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1999.

"He's an extremely, extremely, competitive kid who hates to lose, he just hates it," Fish said. "He's just sitting there at the podium after a long season, World Cup, ankle injury, he missed the playoffs and he's got microphones in his face. Yes, his frustration level is there, but it's his frustration. He didn't get the team to the playoffs and he's frustrated and he wants to do better."

For some reason known only to those inside of the locker room, supposedly Eichel and a band of younger players tuned Bylsma out at some point. Veteran players were more apt to publicly say that they're professionals and they showed it on the ice by strictly adhering to Bylsma's system, but the big knock against Bylsma being rumored was that his system was too rigid and that his devotion to X's and O's created a disconnect that didn't resonate with the younger players, especially a talent like Eichel.

It's the second time that this has happened in Bylsma's two coaching stints.

Bylsma took over the Pittsburgh Penguins mid-season in 2009 and coached the team to the Stanley Cup that season. From thence came a decline and a gradual disconnect between Bylsma and his star players.

Here's what Chris Peters of cbssport.com wrote and thanks to our very own I'm That Guy, who posted the link and the following quote in the last thread:

"There are a lot of reports and rumors swirling that Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma’s days with the club are numbered and will get his walking papers any day now. One of the reasons, as reported by Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review was that there was a disconnect between the team and its head coach, most notably between captain Sidney Crosby and Bylsma.

More from Rossi:

Crosby and Malkin felt they needed one another this season when they grew frustrated with Bylsma, the sources said.

Crosby and Malkin grew disenchanted with perceived harsh criticism they received from Bylsma during meetings, the sources said. They and other veteran players were unhappy with Bylsma's numerous meetings and long practices and the decreasing sense of fun within the Penguins' environment, the sources said.

Ownership believed Bylsma lost the dressing room this season, specifically the support of Crosby and Malkin, the sources said."

About the only thing missing from recent reports of disconnect in Buffalo was the "sense of fun" part. But anyone who watched this team through the last few months of the season could tell that this group of players lumbered through games often times with minimal passion.

Right now the Sabres have themselves a soap opera on their hands and it's sure to get noticed throughout the hockey world. Is it bad press? We shall see as there's a number of ways one could look at the situation.

Simply put, if the Sabres have any doubts about where this team will end up with Bylsma in charge, they need to pull the plug now. Murray is probably of the same thought as a disenchanted face of the franchise and/or a slow start to next season putting them in jeopardy of missing the playoffs again will probably mean a pink slip heading his way.

These are the days of our lives in Sabreland.

On coaches, the Sabres and the Leafs

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-18-2017


Bucky Gleason has a very cool article in the Buffalo News today about the coaching carousel in the NHL which, he writes, is enough to make one's head spin. With Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma's status up in the air as he awaits the result of a GM/Ownership meeting this week, there is the possibility that the Sabres will have yet another coaching change, the fourth one since Lindy Ruff was fired. Ruff's tenure lasted just about 17 seasons and at the time of his firing was a part of the longest tenured head coach/GM tandem in the NHL.

But Ruff and GM Darcy Regier's long-time tenure is the anomaly in a league where coaches are hired to be fired, as the old adage goes. Professional sports is about immediacy and hockey is no different these days.

Gleason sets the ball rolling by starting with present St. Louis head coach Mike Yeo and does a Chronicles-like unwinding of the many coaches hired and fired. It's a pretty noble piece that moves well and in the end the simple conclusion is that there are three possibilities that preclude a coach being fired: "A) the general manager needed a scapegoat for a lousy roster he assembled because, heaven forbid, it's the GM's fault; B) the coach's message grew stale; C) players underachieved."

He concludes with "the most common factor is D) All of the above," which seems to be where Bylsma and the Sabres are at this point.

GM Tim Murray's 2016-17 team was flawed, maybe fatally although maybe not because of injuries. That's what he and owners Terry and Kim Pegula will be discussing when they meet in Boca Raton, FL this week to discuss the season. We also know that there was a disconnect between Bylsma and his players. How long this disconnect existed is up for debate but it could go back to the middle of December when disturbing trends on a team getting healthy again were starting to make their way into the picture.

And, no doubt, there were players that underachieved, most notably on defense and in the bottom-six. However, the top-six performed very well, at least statistically. Even Sam Reinhart surpassed his rookie output this season.

Something just wasn't right this season for Buffalo which brings it all back on the coach.

Gleason uses Buffalo captain Brian Gionta as a way go hoist some of the blame on the players. The supposed disconnect between Bylsma and the players had a lot to do with the coaches system, to which Gionta said two months ago that coaching systems didn't vary all that much in the NHL. Gleason writes, " It was the 15-year veteran's way of saying most teams approach the game in similar fashion and, therefore, his younger teammates and others needed to stop whining about Dan Bylsma," then concludes, "there are no secrets in the NHL. Hockey always has been, and forever shall be, an effort sport."

All of that is true, and motivating players to play their hardest in an "effort sport" apparently isn't one of Bylsma's strong points, at least with this team.

Former head coach Ted Nolan was a supreme motivator who employed (at most) basic X's and O's principles while touting the value of hard work, effort and accountability. His teams almost always overachieved yet he was always ridiculed as a dinosaur with no value in the modern NHL.

Yet, as Sabres fans watch the Stanley Cup playoffs for the sixth year in a row, it's not hard imagining a Nolan-coached team easily eclipsing the 78-point total that Bylsma's system-oriented team gathered.

And even if they didn't, there's one thing we Sabres fans could be pretty sure of.

When the Sabres met the Leafs for the final time this season at KeyBank Center with Toronto battling for a playoff spot and Buffalo in the role of spoiler, I'd almost bet the farm that a Nolan-coached team wouldn't have laid the colossal egg this team did in the embarrassment of that game. He'd have reveled in that playoff-like atmosphere.


*****

Speaking of that game.

Toronto eeked into the playoffs by one point. Buffalo had played a highly motivated game against the Leafs 10 days prior at KeyBank and totally manhandled them 5-2. Beating the Leafs again may have put them on the ropes to where they'd have missed out on the playoffs.

It didn't happen and much to the dismay of many a Buffalo sports fan, not only is Toronto in the playoffs, but they're leading the top-seed Washington Capitals 2-1 in the series. If a Sabres fan wants to beat his or her head every time they watch the Leafs this post season, they should do so against a 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres team picture.


*****

I get the consternation of Toronto in the playoff and as a Sabres fan I will always wish them to lose, expecting the same in return.

But when the anguish of a distraught fan comes in the form of "a little rant of 20+ reasons the Leafs have me bitter and salty," perhaps we're taking it a little too far.

When WGR550 morning host Jeremy White began is rant, I and every other Sabres fan can relate, but on the other hand, I get a kick out of watching Leaf Nation celebrate every goal as if it was the Stanley Cup winner.

The Leafs are a fun team to watch and it's good for the NHL as a whole that they're relevant again. Does it hurt a bit? Yeah, it does. Do I want to slit my wrists? Far from it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Toronto was the epitome of health this season and I'd bet the house that if Auston Matthews was injured for 21 games to start the season like Jack Eichel was, they wouldn't be in the playoffs. In fact if they also lost William Nylander and Mitch Marner like Buffalo lost Evander Kane and Ryan O'Reilly, they'd probably not be in the playoffs.

Everything went perfect for the Leafs this season and more power to them. And it's great for the NHL that in it's 100th Anniversary season, Toronto is back in the playoffs.


That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Would Murray gamble on a first-time coach with his job on the line?

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-14-2017


Tim Murray's end of season presser was hardly vote of confidence for his head coach after a "very disappointing" Buffalo Sabres season, but then again, he said nothing of moving on from Dan Bylsma either. Murray even said that he "hadn't had any thoughts of firing him" as well. Yet the door was left open as Murray still has a meeting with ownership next week.

"He's the coach today," said Murray of Bylsma, "like I'm the GM today. There's going to be a review top to bottom.

"The reason I always say today is that something could happen tomorrow."

Murray has been general manager since January, 2014 which is a little over three seasons. He began his tenure with the continued tear-down of the previous roster, and drafted forward Sam Reinhart second-overall in his first-ever draft as GM. He's on his second head coach and has reworked his lineup somewhat to his liking. There have been failures along the way and places where he could have done better with the bottom line being, his team regressed this season.

When he goes in with his "book full of notes" to discuss this past season, Murray will make his case to ownership. No doubt he'll point to injuries that felled Jack Eichel for the first 21 games as well as a host of others, but owner Terry Pegula will probably focus upon the stumbling that took place after Eichel, and Evander Kane and Ryan O'Reilly were back in the lineup for the last five or so months of the season.

That's where Bylsma comes into play.

The Sabres fell apart post bye week but there were cracks and fissures noticeable before that. Those cracks stemmed from a disconnect between some players and the coaching staff--between the players abilities on the ice and the rigid system Bylsma employed. Murray framed the disconnect this way, "I think that maybe [the coaches] are stuck in that (video) room and maybe they could put a coffee in their hand once in a while and do two hours of video instead of three and get out and get to know our players and talk to our players.

"It's about coaching individuals a little more and coaching systems a little less."

At his own end of season presser, Bylsma sais there wasn't a disconnect, but Murray had just finished player exit interviews and it would seem as if the players thought there was a chasm between themselves and the coaching staff lead by Bylsma. Amongst the most visibly irritated at the way things were going during the season was Eichel. As the future of this franchise his words hold a lot of clout with upper management and ownership and one might assume that the disconnect between him and Bylsma that we saw on the ice and that was mentioned in the media during the latter stages of the season likely came out during his exit interview. Eichel, by the way, was the last of Murray's player interviews and was said to be held just before the GM's presser on Wednesday.

There was talk in Pittsburgh that Bylsma lost the room before he was fired and it looked as if he'd lost the room in Buffalo less than two years into his tenure. Perhaps the rigid way he coaches is just the way he is which means if he's still around next season, any ill will between players and coach may will eventually manifest itself in losing ways. Bylsma has three years left on his contract and when Murray said "he's our coach today," perhaps the prevailing thought is that he'll need to get the OK from ownership that they're willing to eat the last three years before he gives Bylsma the pink slip.

If the team has serious reservations about whether Bylsma is the right man for the job, it's better if they fire him now. Waiting until the season begins severely limits the coaching pool from which to draw from. Just this week, a prime candidate in Gerard Gallant was just snatched up by the expansion Las Vegas Knights.

Gallant was a veteran coach, some would say retread, on the market and there remains another one who might be of interest to the Sabres--former Los Angeles Kings head coach Darryl Sutter.

Sutter finished his six-year run in LA with two Stanley Cups wins with the Kings including their first-ever in 2012. He has a long history of coaching that dates back to the  1992-93 season and his teams missed the playoffs only three times in his 18 years behind the bench.

When Murray took over the Sabres it seemed as if he was modeling his build after the Sutter-coached Kings as he used the term "heavy" on more than one occasion. However the game has changed and it's probably what caused Sutter and his GM Dean Lombardi, to get canned. After struggling for two seasons, Murray himself is devoting more of his focus to "speed and transition" which may leave Sutter out of the equation.

Regardless of NHL styles, hiring a veteran coach would be safe for Murray. Perhaps the ideal one would have been Gallant who guided a young, up-and-coming Florida Panthers team to a 103 points and a division crown two years ago. With him gone, as well as another well known coaching retread in Ken Hitchcock, the last of the big-name vets that might be appealing to Buffalo would be Sutter.

Then again, there are two young coaches that will in the very least get long looks from teams with coaching vacancies.

Former Sabre and NHL Hall of Fame defenseman Phil Housley has been working his way up the coaching ladder having been hired as a Nashville Predators assistant after he coached Team USA to the gold medal at the 2013 World Juniors in Ufa, Russia. The captain of that USA team was Buffalo Sabers defenseman, Jake McCabe. From Preds GM David Poile, "Phil brings a unique skill set to our coaching staff. He was one of the most talented offensive defensemen to play in the NHL, and he has worked extensively with young players during his coaching career. He will continue to focus his efforts on our young defensemen and assisting on the power play."
At the NCAA level is up and coming Denver University head coach Jim Montgomery who just lead the Pioneers to the 2017 NCAA championship. Montgomery team was the epitome of speed and transition and will be a hot commodity in an NHL that is all about speed and transition these days. Montgomery also has a bit of a Buffalo connection as he coached Zemgus Girgensons with the Dubuque Fighting Saints 2010-12.

Montgomery has also been working his way up the ladder. He started as an assistant at Notre Dame in 2005-06 and went to RPI for four seasons as an assistant. After three years in the USHL he was hired by Denver and since taking over the head coaching position in 2013, his Pioneers are sporting back-to-back Frozen Four appearances with a Championship this year.

Should Bylsma get fired, Murray will have a tough decision to make. Were he in this position last year he'd have a bit more wiggle room as his team was still feeling the effects of the "tank years." However, should Murray make a change, the focus would be squarely on him and there'd be a tremendous amount of pressure placed on a rookie head coach as Murray is headed into his fourth season as GM with the club.

Housley or Montgomery, or even Boston University's David Quinn, might be well worth it but it might take a couple of years for them to establish themselves. Sutter, on the other hand, would have the best chance for short-term success. Hiring Sutter and having him succeed at getting the team to the playoffs may end up saving Murray's job.

On the other hand, if Murray hired a rookie head coach, he may end up falling on the sword in the event of another team failure.

This is all speculation at this point as Bylsma's still the head coach but in the event of change, one would hope that Murray keeps the best interests of the organization in mind.

Requiem for a season of disconnects

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-11-2017



To put it the only way we can and should, the 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres season was a bust as injuries and inconsistencies sent the team and it's fan base on a roller coaster of manic ups and downs with the Sabres finishing last in the division. Buffalo missed the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season and the 78 points they managed fell short of their 81 points total from previous season. No one in this organization from owner Terry Pegula on down should be anywhere close to happy with what transpired and none should skirt responsibility either.

In retrospect, this may have been a lost season from the get-go as the newly christened World Cup of Hockey got things going in the wrong direction in Buffalo. The whole idea of a Olympic-style tournament sounded like a good idea with players playing for their countries, but having it during NHL training camps may not have been the best thing for a player like newly acquired defenseman Dmitry Kulikov.

Kulikov spent his time playing for Team Russia instead of being in Buffalo acclimating to his new surroundings. After Russia was eliminated from the tournament Kulikov finally hit the ice for his first practice as a Sabre later in September. He made his Sabres debut on September 29 and during the game he was checked into an open bench door. He injured his tailbone and back and although he tried to play through the injury, it basically derailed his season as Kulikov was either trying to nurse it back to health on the fly or missed games.

The injury to Kulikov had an impact on the defense corps but what happened to Jack Eichel the day before the season opener dealt a blow to Buffalo's offense. Eichel's high-ankle sprain kept him out of the lineup for the first 21 games of the season and to keep with the theme of key players going down, left-winger Evander Kane broke four ribs in the season opener and was lost for 11 games. Added into that injury was an ailing Ryan O'Reilly, who was suffering from abdominal issues as a result of playing in from the WCoH. Those injuries crippled the offense as vets and youngsters alike failed to adequately fill the void.

On defense, injuries to Kulikov, Zach Bogosian and Josh Gorges created openings that were partially filled by depth defensemen called up to Rochester as well as an emergency call-up for Canadian junior defenseman Brendan Guhle for three games in November.

In all the injuries were many and the lack of depth forced head coach Dan  Bylsma to change his approach early in the season as he employed a tight defensive system at the expense of offense. At one point in November, the Sabres were averaging under 1.70 goals/game yet somehow managed to stay around the .500 point mark through those games.

With the return of Eichel for the last game of November, the Sabres seemed to find their offensive legs in a 5-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators. The run-and-gun game that night was fun to watch for fans but gave the coaches ulcers as both teams produced scoring opportunities seemingly at will.

That game seemed to be a harbinger of things to come as players would struggle with their natural instinct to play shinny hockey in seeming opposition to Bylsma's systematic approach to the game. To the uninitiated Bylsma's system seemed too rigid a system for the speed and talent he had to work with, especially with a player like Eichel who has no trouble getting up ice and scoring when the opportunity is there, most times at the expense of defense. Throughout the second half of the season there were plenty of reports from the media that there was a disconnect between Eichel and Bylsma because of their differing apporaches.

This seeming clash of styles was not only on display from game to game but also within games as well. On more than a few occasions with Eichel back in the lineup, the Sabres would fall behind early in the game playing a tighter game only to come back when they opened things up with nothing to lose. It began against the Los Angeles Kings in December and really came to the fore as they won three consecutive come-from-behind games in overtime playing games just like that. Buffalo almost made it a fourth in a row but a couple of questionable calls didn't go their way and they lost in regulation to the Dallas Stars.

That reported disconnect between Eichel and Bylsma also reportedly seeped into the locker room. According to some reports a vet/youngin disconnect began bubbling with the young guns wanting to play one way and the vets following Bylsma's system.

Goalie Robin Lehner called out players for not following the game-plan and O'Reilly placed the blame on poor play during a string of losses on himself and his fellow teammates. Brian Gionta, Buffalo's 38 yr. old captain, also put the blame on the players, but there was a sense that the young brigade lead by Eichel and his 21 yr. old roommate and linemate, Sam Reinhart, had trouble getting on board with what Bylsma wanted. This supposed tug of war between vets and youngins, as alluded to by some members of the press, certainly didn't help unify the locker room.

There's a lot of blame to go around for the disappointment that was this season and no doubt injuries made for an uphill climb all season. But fact of the matter is, Buffalo was in a playoff race in February, but wilted. They also had many opportunities to jump teams ahead of them in the standings from December onward but came up woefully short nearly every time.

Buffalo GM Tim Murray's got himself some work to do for next season which includes shoring up the defense, finding another top-six talent to round out that group and moving some expensive dead weight. But maybe his most important work will involve becoming a conduit between players and coaches as well as vets and youngins. Despite what Bylsma said at his year-end presser, there are and have been disconnects all over this season and it started early and it looks as if that was a big contributor to the Sabres regression.

It wasn't supposed to go that way.

While talking to John Wawrow of the associated press less than a week before the start of the season, Murray told him that his team "should be getting better" then followed it up by saying, "When we stop getting better, than we've done something wrong."

Something, or a number of things, went wrong for Murray's team this season and a good starting point moving forward might be to make sure everybody's on the same page.

What the players might be thinking while sitting thru their exit interviews

Whelp, one more game and then we can say goodbye to a very disappointing 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres season.

After the Sabres finish up this evening at Tampa Bay, it’s back home for locker cleanout and exit interviews with the players and eventually the coaching staff. Word on the street is that head coach Dan Bylsma, as well as GM Tim Murray, will have some explaining to do when they meet with owners Terry and Kim Pegula to review the season and the Pegula’s will be looking for reasons as to why the team finished with a worse record than the prior season.

But most important for the future is what Murray can glean from his players concerning Bylsma and the coaching staff.

There seemed to be some serious disconnects as to how the players and the coaching staff wanted to approach the game and although njuries certainly were a factor early on, as the season progressed and the team got healthier they failed to make progress as a team.

While we’re not sure exactly what the individual players might be saying about their experience with Bylsma this season, perhaps this is what they may be thinking as they sit down for their exit interviews:

Jack Eichel: Hang on a second, am I in the right spot to do this?

Ryan O’Reilly: It’s my fault. I have to be better. Does that sound right?

Robin Lehner: Everyone’s responsible and if anyone disagrees, look into my eyes.

Rasmus Ristolainen: He should’ve played me until I collapsed.

Sam Reinhart: Sorry I'm late. Jiminy Christmas, I wish Jack would do the dishes. At least once.

Brian Gionta: I’m a professional professing about professionalism. And after this season, I'm done professionally playing for the Sabres.

Zemgus Girgensons: God, I really hope we don’t end up in Vegas together.

Evander Kane: Shoulda played me with Jack more.

Dmitry Kulikov: Sorry, can’t talk. Gotta catch next flight outta here.

Kyle Okposo: It doesn’t matter. I’ve got my health to think about right now, and even if I didn’t, it still doesn’t matter.

Jake McCabe: I want to stand somebody up.

Zach Bogosian: Screw the stretch pass.

Marcus Foligno: I love that guy. Second-line minutes with Jack? Who wouldn’t?

Josh Gorges: I’m confused. What did he want us to do?

Evan Rodrigues: I’m cool. Hope the next guy realizes I played on Jack’s wing in college.

Cody Franson: I never thought a coach could make me play slower than I actually am.

Justin Falk: I’m better than Franson and a faster skater too.

Sean Malone: I’m Ivy League and I can’t figure out his system .

Matt Moulson: Man, I love the powerplay. Hope he stays.

Alexander Nylander: It’s gonna suck at the family gathering this summer.

Will Carrier: I just wanna skate. Can I just do that?

Nicolas Deslauriers: Why didn’t you let me loose?

CJ Smith: Friggen’ A. I made it.

Tyler Ennis: I hope I impressed him with my fancy stickwork. Hope he stays if I did.

Taylor Fedun: I’m better than Franson and a much better skater, scorer and passer too.

Anders Nilsson: I told him to put me in for the shootout. He wouldn’t listen and now we both may be out of a job. (God I wish Lehner would stop with the death-stare)

Plenty of intrigue concerning the Sam Reinhart benching.

Publishes by hockeybuzz.com, 3-29-2017


The score read Columbus Blue Jackets-3, Buffalo Sabres-1 and that loss coupled with wins by both Boston and Toronto officially eliminated the Sabres from the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.

Normally the game itself and the fact that the Sabres now have a little 'x' by their name in the standings would be the crux of a story, but last night some drama was in play for Buffalo at Nationwide Arena. When you look over the Event Summary you'll find No. 23, Sam Reinhart's name and you'll find a series of empty white boxes across his stat-line.

Nothing.

Reinhart is on the summary because he did in fact dress for the game but Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma had him sit on the bench the entire game for disciplinary reasons. According to Jon Vogl of the Buffalo News a source had told him that Reinhart was late for a team meeting at the hotel and Bylsma laid down the punishment.

“Earlier in the day, Sam Reinhart violated a team policy, and the discipline was not playing in tonight’s game,” said Bylsma post-game. “We’re going to move forward from here. Disappointing, but it happened and we dealt with it. We’re going to move on from here.”

There was a dark cloud hanging over the Sabres dressing room after the game last night as their should have been. They lost the game despite spending oodles of time in the Columbus zone and outshooting the Blue Jackets by a 42-29 margin and there's little doubt they knew the fate of their season after the loss, but they also were witness to a strong statement by Bylsma that the team comes first and that a violation of team rules has it's consequences, however harsh it may be perceived as.

Sabres captain Brian Gionta came out after showering and graciously answered questions about the incident. Gionta had just celebrated his 1000th NHL game the night before by scoring the eventual game-winner against Florida and now he was at the other end of the spectrum. “We’re building a culture here, so everybody needs to learn from it," he said of Bylsma benching Reinhart for the infraction. "It’s about the long term of this franchise and where we go and how we grow as a team and as an organization. While it’s a small hiccup tonight, it’s better in the long run for what we’re trying to get to.”

When I asked the 16-year veteran if he'd seen this type of benching before Gionta said, "Yeah, it's happened plenty of times over the course of my career. Like I said, it's where we're trying to get through as an organization and we need everybody into it.

"I think it will be good in the long run."

Fellow second overall pick, linemate and roommate of Reinhart, Jack Eichel, sat in the locker room post-game peeling away his sweat-drenched pads. He had the typical Eichel redness about him after exerting himself for 23:41 of ice-time while spending time on the ice with every forward who skated last night.

Eichel hates to lose, and no doubt he hates to be out of the playoffs for the second time in his only two pro seasons. Perhaps there was even more consternation about him as his linemate and roommate was so visibly punished. He didn't have much to say afterwards. When I asked about being double-shifted down two top-six forwards he simply stated, "yeah, being down a few guys I got a little more, it was nice."

That was about it.

Reinhart is having a solid sophomore season for Buffalo from a statistical perspective. He's already surpassed his total of 42 points from last season with 17 goals and 29 assists and although his goal-total is down from the 23 he has last season, Bylsma said earlier yesterday morning on WGR550 radio that Reinhart has had a net-front presence this year but that he's not been able to get the tips or the rebounds to go in. Bylsma counted nine tip-ins last season and another four net-front goals but this year the coach said that the playmaker in Reinhart has been coming to the fore

"Sam has always been a pass-first guy," Bylsma told host WGR host Jeremy White yesterday. "He has shown, I think, that he's a true play-making, pass-first guy."

That said, there has been a bit of a change form his rookie year that's been noted by beat reporters in that Reinhart was no longer a constant presence at Ryan O'Reilly's after-practice sessions. Last season Reinhart played mostly on a line with O'Reilly and was a constant at the informal practice sessions soaking up everything the vet had to offer. And it showed as his game slowly gained traction. In his first 23 games Reinhart scored seven points (4+3) or .30 points/game while in his last 56 games he had 35 points (19+16) for .58 ppg.

This year he's been largely absent for the post-practice sessions and is on a pace for .51 ppg while playing mostly on a line with Eichel.

Is there a correlation?

Maybe. Maybe not. But who'd have thought that Reinhart, who grew up in a hockey family and who is considered to be a mature, professional player, would get suspended?

It's been rough and rocky travelling for the Sabres this season and the end result is that they'll miss the playoffs. There has been constant speculation that Bylsma may be losing the room and that there's some friction between Eichel and Bylsma. With that in mind, keeping Reinhart benched for the entire game certainly doesn't help matters even if Reinhart was needed to hit the NHL mandate for dressing a minimum of 20 players with Kyle Okposo as a late scratch due to illness.

Emerging from the cloud that hovered over the locker room last night was GM Tim Murray. Whether it's a peculiar sight having the GM on the road with the team at this point in the season is up for discussion, but he was there. The first thing that popped into my head upon seeing him was what Murray told a disappointed and emotional Reinhart after he was sent back down to junior back in 2014, "you're my first 1st-round draft pick as a GM."

Again, whether or not the Reinhart situation had anything to do with Murray being there is unknown but in the very least, he has some impeccable timing.

The Sabres have four days between games. They're off today and then begin to get ready for a matinee with the NY Islanders on Sunday. More on the incident will come out and it will be put to rest. As the season finishes up and as we begin the post-season we'll know more about the direction of the team. But as for now, the Sabres lost last night, were eliminated from the playoffs and have five games remaining in their season.

Leafs/Sabres, Round 4.

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-25-2017


Much has been made of "the tale of two rebuilds" in cities 100 miles apart. The Buffalo Sabres began theirs a bit earlier than the Toronto Maple Leafs and also augmented it with young vets to help speed up the process while the Leafs are a team full of rookies. Much has also been made about their respective head coaches--Buffalo's Dan Bylsma and Toronto's Mike Babcock as well as the latter spurning a Sabres serenade and leaving them at the alter before heading to Toronto.

There's also the irony of the Sabres finishing last two consecutive seasons only to pick second in the NHL Draft due to losing the lottery while Florida (2014) and Edmonton (2015) lucked into the right to draft first. The real crusher was that Edmonton leapfrogged Buffalo and the Arizona Coyotes to select once in a generation player, Connor McDavid. That's not a slight against Jack Eichel, whom the Sabres did select that year and who is looking like he'll be right up there with the elite in this league, it's was simply a matter of Buffalo playing second fiddle once again.

And to top it all off, the Maple Leafs finished last in 2015-16, won the lottery and in-turn won the right to select phenom Auston Matthews which they ended up doing, right on the Sabres home turf as the 2016 NHL Draft was held in Buffalo that year. Salt meet wound.

That said, both the Sabres and the Leafs had been gathering talent for a few years and came into this season on a similar trajectory--the playoffs were a possibility, not anywhere near given.

As it stands right now the Leafs sit third in the Atlantic Division, poised to make the playoffs with nine games left in the regular season. The Sabres are 13 points behind the Toronto in the standings and are out of the playoffs for all intents and purposes. While Toronto was busy icing as many as seven rookies on a consistent basis, the Sabres relied heavily on young vets intermingling with young players.

And while some will point to coaching as the big difference between the 30-32-12 Sabres and 35-23-15 Leafs, and there certainly is an argument to be made, when Bylsma was with Pittsburgh he went 5-2-1 against Babcock's Red Wings who were in the Western Conference at the time. Since the two manned their spots behind their respective benches two years ago, Bylsma's Sabres won three of four against Toronto last season while Babcock's Leafs have gone 2-1 against Buffalo so far this year. Lest we forget, Bylsma lead the Penguins to a 4-3 Stanley Cup series win over Babcock's Red Wings in the only time those two teams met in the playoffs.

There's a lot to be said for everything mentioned above but the biggest difference between these two clubs this season might not be a first-overall pick, talent or coaching, all of which may be contributing factors, but more so injuries, and/or lack thereof on the part of the Sabres and Leafs, respectively.

If you look at the top players on the Sabres many of them have missed double-digit games due to injury and they had some big ones at the beginning of the season. Eichel missed the first 21, Evander Kane missed 11 after getting injured in the opener while defenseman Dmitry Kulikov was in and out of the lineup nursing a sore tailbone/back after landing in an open bench door against, ironically, Toronto in the preseason.

Ryan O'Reilly had a bum back from the World Cup of Hockey and just when he was getting to feel healthier he went in for an emergency appendectomy on Christmas Day. Johan Larsson was lost for the season on New Year's Eve and just when the Sabres were positioning themselves for a run, leading scorer Kyle Okposo went down with a rib injury. And that's not even counting the Sabres having to tap into Canadian Junior for an emergency recall of Brendan Guhle because of multiple injuries to their starting defense-corps.

Injuries aren't an excuse but they do have a way of testing the depth of an organization and what we've found out is that the Sabres, despite having top-notch talent in the upper reaches of their roster, don't have the depth to overcome the injuries they incurred.

The Leafs, on the other hand, have been almost injury free when it comes to the top end of their roster. Scroll down their statistical leader board and you'll find that of their top-12 leading scorers, eight have played every game and another has missed only one game. Of the remaining three, defenseman Morgan Reilly (11th on the team in scoring) missed the most games at six.

Toronto has remained extremely healthy this season and no doubt it's contributed to the hugely successful season they're having so far. There's no dismissing the job Babcock has done as he's simply one of the best coaches in the league. Nor will we dismiss the talent they've amassed while rebuilding which includes players like Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander among others. But continuity has allowed this group of Leafs to play their style without interruption all season. It's how they went from constantly blowing third period leads early in the season to now winning those games. It has them peaking at the right time as they've won three in a row and seven of nine while catapulting into third in the division and on the precipice of a playoff berth for only the second time since the 2003-04 season.

Buffalo on the other hand is in spoiler-mode as their season effectively ended during a 2-7-2 post-bye week swoon. The Sabres began righting the ship with consecutive wins on the road at Anaheim and Detroit but then dropped a home game to Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

Top defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen will begin serving the first of this three-game suspension tonight after body-checking the Penguins Jake Guentzel into neverland. However, the Sabres will be welcoming back three players from longer-term injury--Will Carrier (24 games,) Okposo (10 games,) and Kulikov (nine)--and will also have Justin Falk (four games) back in the lineup. Rookie defenseman Brady Austin and his 6'4" 230 lb. frame will also be in the lineup as he was recalled from Rochester. It will be Austin's third game in a row in Buffalo.

With Ristolainen out, Buffalo's first powerplay unit was tweaked and Bylsma will be going with five forwards--Eichel, Kane, Okposo, O'Reilly and Sam Reinhart. Bylsma said the onus of being the "defensive" forward in this group will fall on the shoulders of (what a surprise) O'Reilly.

"You need to have a special guy on top to be able to do it, a guy who's comfortable there, responsible there," Bylsma told the gathered media at KeyBank Center. "You're flipping the switch a little bit when you're standing back on the point as a skill guy versus being a defenseman standing there. For some players it's a little bit of an island, it's a new experience and a little bit of an island, but Ryan's been there."

According to Jourdan LaBarber of sabres.com, here's the projected forward group for Buffalo:

Tyler Ennis, O'Reilly, Okposo
Marcus Foligno, Eichel, Reinhart
Kane, Evan Rodrigues, Brian Gionta
Carrier, Zemgus Girgensons, Matt Moulson

The six defenseman will be Kulikov, Falk, Austin, Jake McCabe, Josh Gorges, Zach Bogosian.

Robin Lehner gets the nod in net for Buffalo.

Game time is 7 p.m.

This is no reason to keep head coach Dan Bylsma.

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-23-2017


When Sabres ownership and management look back on a season of stagnation (at best) in Buffalo, the most predominant themes running through will be injuries and an inadequate defense-corps that also dealt with a slew of injuries as well.

A quick recap on the injuries starts in the top-six with Jack Eichel missing the first 21 games, Evander Kane going down in the opener and missing 11 games plus Ryan O'Reilly suffering from, and trying to play through, back spasms early on while going under the knife for an emergency appendectomy at Christmas. Bottom-six checking center Johan Larsson was lost for the season on New Years Eve.

On the back end there's newcomer Dmitry Kulikov, who missed most of camp because of the World Cup of Hockey then proceeded to smack his tailbone into a open bench door during a preseason game. He was never the same and confessed to the press mid-season, “For old people, you get out of bed, you’re kind of stiff. It’s just a little stiffer for me, I would say." Zach Bogosian had his annual stint on the injured list with 26 games and Josh Gorges missed 16 which is around his average over the last six years.

Injuries like those will cripple almost any team, especially on that's in the second year of their build which coincides with how many years Bylsma's been at the helm in Buffalo.

Those are tangibles and then there are comparables as well.

On the rebuilding side there's the Toronto Maple Leafs who moved into third in the Atlantic Division with an impressive win over Columbus last night. The Leafs are in their first building season, are scoring over three goals per game (as opposed to Buffalo's 2.45) and have seemingly found instant success with an almost injury-free season.

On the injury front team-wise there's the Florida Panthers who were also beset by injuries to star players early on but also went through a coaching change. The Cats have gone from 103 points last season (third in the conference) to one point ahead of Buffalo, or 13th in the conference.

At season's end GM Tim Murray, who was just handed a contract extension this season, and ownership will take everything into consideration, including a dreadful Rochester Americans season,  and decide the future of Bylsma.

But one of the troublesome things that keeps cropping up in the conversation over Bylsma's future, is the three years remaining on his contract and the parallel between him and the recently fired coach of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, Rex Ryan. The Pegula family own both the Sabres and the Bills.

Both Ryan and Bylsma came to Buffalo with experience and reputations, most notably Bylsma who had won a Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh. Both were signed to five-year contracts with the thought that they'd lay a foundation the franchises could move forward with. Ryan failed and was fired with one game left in his second season. Bylsma is nearing the end of his second season in Buffalo and may end up with a worse record than last season which itself was in the lower portion of the league.

Would the Pegula's fire both of their head coaches with three years remaining on their respective contracts?

Chris Nichols of Fanrag, delved into quotes from TSN/NBCSN hockey insider Bob McKenzie who chimed in on the situation. “I don’t think the Pegula family is keen on paying both Ryan and Bylsma not to coach the Bills and the Sabres," Nichols quotes McKenzie as saying, "and they obviously made that decision with Ryan and the Bills."

I get the gist of the Pegula's not wanting do dish out tens of millions of dollars for fired coaches, but that shouldn't come into consideration. Those involved in the signings of the coaches need to take responsibility. For Ryan and the Bills that would include the Pegulas themselves and President Russ Brandon, all of whom were said to be at the forefront of the hire. For Bylsma and the Sabres, departed team President Ted Black may have been involved in Bylsma's hire and we're pretty sure the Pegula's were involved as well, especially when you consider they lost out on Mike Babcock, the high-profile coach now leading an extremely young Leafs team to the brink of the playoffs.

Regardless of what happened with Ryan, if Bylsma was a bad hire, or more than likely a good coach who's just a bad fit for what Murray envisioned, then by all means pull the plug. But don't let the firing of Ryan into the equation. It something that might only prolong the inevitable and move the team further backward instead of forward.

No real reason to continue overplaying Ristolainen and O'Reilly

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-20-2017


The facts:

--22 yr. old Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is presently fourth in the NHL in average time on ice (ATOI) at 27:01. Last season he was 10th at 25:16.

--For the second season in a row Ryan O'Reilly leads all NHL forwards with 21:39 ATOI. Last season the 26 yr. old logged an average of 21:44 minutes/game.

--The 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres have a record of 29-31-12 and although they're not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, their goose is cooked as they're nine points out of the second wild card spot with six teams to jump.

The Sabres have themselves a bit of a conundrum headed into tonight's matchup with the Detroit Red Wings as a thin blue line got even thinner. Taylor Fedun, who was called up because of an injury to Justin Falk, and Cody Franson will not be playing in Detroit tonight after suffering injuries in Anaheim on Friday. It got to the point where head coach Dan Bylsma was rotating three defensemen against the Ducks.

“You go from left D to right D to rest, and you came out and went to the left D, then right D and then rest,” Bylsma told the media. “It was a short time, but we had the rotation going there. The fresh guy goes to the farthest point on the ice, and you move toward the bench to get some rest.”

For Ristolainen, it was just another day at the office as he logged as smidge over 30 minutes of ice-time in Buffalo's 2-1 shootout win over Anaheim. It was the second time in the last four games he has logged 30 or more minutes of ice time, the eighth time he's done since breaking the mark 27 games into the season.

Being the hockey player that he is, Ristolainen is more than willing to carry a huge load for the team. He's been in tip-top physical shape since finishing his rookie season in 2014 and Bylsma, as we've seen, hasn't been shy about feeding him as many minutes as he can while the 6'4" 203 lb. Finn will never shy away from that load. “The workload is fine,” Ristolainen said via a Bill Hoppe piece in the Olean Times Herald. “I don’t feel it too much.”

However, playing that many minutes as a young player will catch up to you. Ristolainen, according to his coach, plays those minutes hard and that will eventually take it's toll.

“The problem with Rasmus playing 30 minutes is he just plays them so hard, so physical,” Bylsma said via the Hoppe piece. “He’s all in when he plays 30 minutes like that, and that’s tough for anybody to do. There are some guys who play that much in their careers and tend to manage it a bit better than Rasmus.

“Rasmus, he’s giving you everything he’s got. If he’s out there two minutes for a shift, he will give you everything he has at the end of that two minutes. That is on an empty tank sometimes.”

That is a sign of youthful invincibility, but it also should be taken as a warning sign.

At this point in the season, with the team effectively out of the playoff race and not much to play for except pride, paring back Ristolainen's minutes should be prioritized. A cautionary tale can be found in the story of Chicago Cubs manager Jim Riggleman and his use of phenom pitcher Kerry Wood.

We all know of the Cubs curse (which ended with their 2016 World Series win) and Wood came to Chicago bearing the weight of that. As a rookie in 1998 Wood fireballed his way to 233 strikeouts and Rookie of the Year honors. Wood, however, developed arm problems that would define his career and the opinion around the league is that Riggleman overused him.

Riggleman was in the fourth year of a marginal at best tenure with the Cubs and Wood allowed the Cubs to get into the playoffs for the first time since 1989 as a wild card. But the cost was high as Wood underwent Tommy John surgery and spent the entire 1999 season on the disabled list.

He was never quite the same after that.

You could also point to NFL phenom quarterback Robert Griffin III as a young player who looks to have been ridden into the ground. The Washington Redskins sent three first round draft picks and a second rounder to move up in the draft to select him as their franchise quarterback while the read option was the rage in the NFL. During his 2012 rookie year, RGIII was the master at that and it looked as if the Redskins move paid off..

However, defenses eventually caught up with it and by the end of Griffin's 2012 season, he was taking a beating. Head coach Mike Shanahan (who was also vice president of football operations for Washington) allowed Griffin to play through injuries in the latter part of the season and into the playoffs. The end result was RGIII on the turf against Seattle with his leg dangling at the knee. He's never been the same.

Unlike the Cubs and the Redskins as laid out above, the Sabres are not in the playoff picture so there's absolutely no reason to be playing Ristolainen that much. And what goes for overworking Ristolainen goes for O'Reilly as well.

O'Reilly has a few years on Risto and has a lot more NHL experience so he manages his game much better. But there's a different O'Reilly on the ice when he's fatigued. When on his game he's one of the best two-way centers in the game, one who's relentless in all three zones and can win a faceoff anytime, anywhere on the ice. When he's fatigued he doesn't have quite the same effect.

No doubt O'Reilly will take whatever Bylsma throws at him because he's a hockey player. However he's also one who started the season suffering from back spasms (which may or may not have subsided) and who also went under the knife for an emergency appendectomy on Christmas Day, of which he returned a week early because, he's a hockey player.

There might be one reason to continue overplaying Ristolainen and/or O'Reilly at this point, and that's for Buffalo to win as many games as possible to finish the season. Rumor has it that Bylsma's seat has gotten warm as the Sabres have had a disappointing season and finishing the season on a high note may alter that. But at what cost.

Maybe we should look at what it cost Kerry Wood and RGIII.


*****

With Fedun and Franson joining Falk and Dmitry Kulikov on the injured list, the Sabres recalled two defensemen from Rochester today. Casey Nelson (2016, FA) and Brady Austin (2012, 193rd overall) have joined the team in Detroit.

On the downward spiral, and the chasm between the players and Bylsma

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-17-2017


It’s more than just the fourth consecutive 2-0 loss for Buffalo in Los Angeles, which is strange in and of itself, especially when you consider the last Sabres player to score a goal at Staples Center was, of all people, Craig Rivet (nothing personal) back on January 21, 2010. It’s also more than the 2-8-2 swoon the Sabres have found themselves in since a three-game winning streak had those in Sabreland thinking about a possible playoff run.

After a rough start to the season and some inconsistencies along the way, the Sabres were seemingly righting the ship with a 13-8-2 record to start the 2017 portion of the season. But a decidedly tired Sabres team incurred a rough 5-1 loss at home against the Chicago Blackhawks just prior to their bye week and since then they've been spiraling out of control. Or should we say a surprisingly fragile team soon found themselves losing games they had no business losing and eventually succumbed to apathy. The result is that of a team that now looks content to ride out the season.

The Sabres are in a downward spiral and they neither have the will or the courage to play out the rest of the string as professionals playing for a sense of pride. As a group, they have no pride in themselves or the crest and the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

Last night in Los Angeles most of the skaters looked as if they were taking a casual walk down the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the first half of the game, prancing and stargazing while Los Angeles was busy peppering goalie Robin Lehner with 15 first period shots. Were it not for a rather stodgy style the Kings play and the stellar goaltending of Lehner, the Sabres would have been in the same situation they were in when the Columbus Blue Jackets visited last week--down 3-0.

Despite being outshot 15-2 in the first period, the Sabres and Kings were tied 0-0 heading into the intermission. The Sabres allowed 36 Los Angeles shots on goal last night in what's been a very disturbing trend. In last eight games against teams not named Arizona and Colorado, the Sabres have hung their goalies out to dry giving up an average of 37.5 shots-against/game. That ain't right. In fact it's downright shameful and their 1-5-2 record in those games shows just how pitiful this team has been.

Look, I get it. Coach Dan Bylsma and his systems have been clashing with the on-ice personnel all season long, probably dating back to last season. That much has been coming out of the media and ever so subtly (or not so subtly at times) through the players all season and the numbers indicate that this is a group of players that has tuned out their coach. If Bylsma somehow makes it to next season, it will be a miracle, especially when you consider that the team is looking to start contract-extension talk with franchise center Jack Eichel, a player who's been at odds with Bylsma. We know how this ends. Coaches don't sell tickets, star players do.

I also get the fact that this team is pretty weak on defense. D-man Taylor Fedun was called up from Rochester yesterday and caught a flight to Los Angeles. Although he didn't make it in time for the team's optional skate, he was on the ice and played a real solid game. That he was probably the Buffalo's best defenseman last night tells us a lot about where the rest of the d-corps heads were at.

We should also give a shout out to the line of Evan Rodrigues, Marcus Foligno and rookie Hudson Fasching who took the play to the Kings nearly every time they were on the ice. But they, along with Fedun, got no help from the star players on this team.

Sure Eichel and the like eventually woke up. They had spurts where they played extremely well and were all over Los Angeles, but it wasn't nearly enough. Buffalo got lucky once in the last handful of games as they eventually came back from that 3-0 first period deficit against Columbus to win, but for the most part they've looked like a team that packed it in.

The Sabres have 11 games to go. They're out of the playoffs and only a few of players are playing for a Buffalo contract next season. Captain Brian Gionta's one of them. He's been saying that he wants to return and at a reasonable price he very well could be back. Fedun is unrestricted as well and should be offered an extension. He played well on his first recall before a numbers-crunch sent him back to Rochester. Does he want to return is the big question. The other two UFA's are defensemen Dmitry Kulikov and Cody Franson.

Kulikov came over in a trade with the Florida Panthers and WGR550's Paul Hamilton said that he seemed devastated when he learned he was leaving Florida. Add a shortened training camp from Kulikov's participation in the World Cup of Hockey and the preseason tailbone injury that plagued him this season and one can see why Hamilton thinks this guy wants to be on the next train out of Buffalo once the season ends.

At one point in time Franson was considered a slow-moving defenseman with some offensive acumen who could man the point  on the powerplay. Take out the latter two positives and you have a defenseman that slowed considerably. It's been rough for Franson and despite his proclamations that he wants to return, we're not sure the feeling's mutual.

There will be changes that, more than likely, will include a coaching change thanks to their obvious display of disdain for Bylsma and his methods. However, it probably won't happen until after the season and there's still 11 games to play.

This group of players is not the first to pack it in because of their coach and they won't be the last, but there are 11 games to play and they should man up. I don't expect the Sabres stars to go all out to block a Shea Weber slapshot or to take on a heavyweight, but they should show a little professional pride and skate like it's an honor to play a game for a living.

Murray isn't a dummy. One would think that after watching this parade of stinkers over the past few weeks that he gets the hint--this team, or at least the key components of this team, are neither having fun nor are they winning and that's falls on the coach. Yet those same players should be forced to look at themselves in the mirror. They have enough talent to play to a higher level should they choose to but choosing not to, especially when they've made their message clear, is unacceptable.

The defense can be fixed, the schemes can be altered and the people in charge can make things better, but if you don't have enough character and/or maturity to know when to stop, that's on the individual. And it starts with the star players.

Tonight the Sabres finish their three-game West Coast swing with a trip down I-5 to Anaheim to take on the Ducks, a team that smoked them 5-2 on February 7 in Buffalo.