luke adam gettin' some love

and he should be...

the 2008 second round pick (#44 overall) is tearing up the ahl in his rookie campaign to the tune of 11 goals and eight assists...he's also a +11 on a portland pirates team that sports a 11-3-1 record, tops in the ahl...were it not for the strong possibility of adam getting an extended stay with the sabres, pirates head coach kevin dineen would be looking at a potential third straight rookie of the year in the 6'2", 203 lb center (nathan gerbe, 2008, tyler ennis, 2009)...

nhl.com has this piece on adam...



the sabres have a bevy of prospects plying their trade in junior as well and you can keep up on their progress by visiting kris baker's site sabresprospects.com

out of character

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

"out of character"...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

life's not fair, especially for a stand-up guy like lindy ruff

"Life's not fair"

no, it is not...especially in the world or professional sports

since the end of the 2006/7 season, the buffalo sabres have had turnover with regards to players...during the last 3+ seasons, these are the players who have remained from that team and where they are placed on the depth-chart:

derek roy--#1 center

tim connolly--#2 center

thomas vanek--#1 lw

jason pomminville--#1 rw

jochen hecht--#2 lw

drew stafford--#2 rw

paul gaustad--#4 center
andrej sekera--#5/6 defenseman

ryan miller--#1 goalie

that core of nine "untouchable" players consists of the sabres "top-six" forwards, one bottom-six forward, a bottom-pairing defenseman and a #1 goalie....

that is "the core" that head coach lindy ruff has had to work with over the past 3+ seasons...

--THAT IS THE CORE THAT WAS TO LEAD THIS TEAM

--THAT IS THE CORE THAT WAS TO COME THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH

--THAT IS THE CORE THAT WAS TO TEACH THE YOUNGSTERS

*********AND*********

--THAT IS THE CORE THAT IS SAID TO HAVE "TUNED HIM OUT"

--THAT IS THE CORE THAT PLAYS LIKE THEY WANT HEAD COACH LINDY RUFF FIRED

--THAT IS THE CORE THAT HAS LEAD THIS EDITION OF THE BUFFALO SABRES TO A 3-8-2 RECORD, GOOD FOR DEAD-LAST IN THE NHL

life's not fair...

it's a shame that lindy ruff is not recognized for his coaching abilities...his ability to take the players that are given him and mold them into a team...a team that will play a certain style based upon their strengths and weaknesses, and, because of the changes that the league went through, based upon what was afforded by the league:

• he inherited a team that featured a hall-of-fame goaltender...his skaters included one goal scorer and a bunch of muckers and grinders, and had it not been for "no goal," that edition of the sabres would have been in a game 7 where anything could've happened, especially with a hall-of-fame goaltender...that team, btw, finished 4th in the n.e div. with a 37-28-17 record, good for 91 points...
• between that season and the 05/6 "new-nhl" season, the roster endured a complete overhaul...there was still grit, but this team was fast and skilled...ruff did not reign in the horses, he let them open-up to the point where they were tied for 6th most goal-for in the league...were it not for a rash of injuries on the back-end, the sabres would have made it past the carolina hurricanes in the ecf and went into the finals as a favorite
• the 06/7 team that was given him was even more talented and skilled, but lost alot of the grit and heart of the previous season...what did he do?...opened it up even more...the "run 'n gun" team of that season scored 308 goals, by far the most in the league...unfortunately, mid-way through that season, the league said good-bye to the "new-nhl" leaving speed and skill to be bludgeoned by physicality and the reintroduction of "clutching and grabbing" and outright thuggery...that edition of the buffalo sabres succumbed to a bigger, stronger ottawa senators in the ecf, a team that got beat-down by the stanley cup champion anaheim ducks

what was given to lindy ruff following that season was "la core," a team that was devoid of grit yet lacked the scoring prowess of the previous season...a classic middle-of-the-road team that didn't have the talent to "run 'n gun," didn't have the defensive acumen's to handle a bigger, stronger nhl and didn't have the leadership to guide them through the treacherous waters of the tougher, grittier nhl...the results are obvious...

throughout this transitional period, ruff had tried to get these player to play as a team, tried to instill in them a concept that "the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts"...tried to get them to concentrate on the back-end and score off of the transition game...tried to get them to play a style that worked, regardless of the style of nhl that was in vogue...

the results?...when this team adhered to this philosophy they were successful as, proven by their playoff appearance last season...when they didn't play this, and reverted to an individual game?...they failed...and that's where this team is now....

why did the core "tune him out?"...because it's a group that knows they are secure and they've gotten to the point where they'll either play their preferred style or not play at all...there's not a true professional in the entire lot, save for ryan miller

the core, and the person that brought them together and made them "untouchable" over the past 3+ seasons--gm darcy regier-- are responsible for this debacle...unfortunately, it's the coach who will get the ax because of it...

this is not to say that ruff is infallible, he's had his coaching blunders, but on the whole he's done an excellent job coaching the players he's been given...this is not to anoint ruff as a saint or martyr either...simply put, ruff is a damn good coach and is standing alone on the gallows for his general manager and his players...he won't be the first, nor will he be the last...

life's not fair...

good luck, lindy...you're a stand-up guy...hopefully fate smiles upon you

tradeable assets (Andrej Sekera, Drew Stafford, Jhonas Enroth, Mark Mancari)

if, by some wild stretch of the imagination, buffalo sabres gm darcy regier were to bring in a legitimate top-six forward, i.e. a #1 center, left-wing or right-wing or a #2 center or left-wing, via trade, it'll certainly come at a cost...no team in the nhl will want to trade a player like that for the likes of tim connolly, drew stafford or jochen hecht...one of these could certainly be a piece, but teams willing to trade a top-six player will be looking for a top-notch prospect in return, a young nhl'er with up-side as well as a top draft pick (or two)...

right now, the sabres best prospect-commodity in a trade for that caliber player would be:

• jhonas enroth, g--although he's on the smallish side, enroth is a position-goaltender type with quick reflexes...he's shown steady improvement since coming over the pond and, although he didn't wow the team in his only call-up, he's on the nhl-cusp right now...why would a team want him?...enroth is real close to being nhl-ready and his ahl-play makes him a potential #1 with some nhl-seasoning...unless your goaltending situation is set for the foreseeable future, allowing enroth's talents to evolve at a reasonable pace could pay big dividends in the future...why would the sabres part with him?...they really don't want to, but enroth would probably be a key piece in any trade for top-notch talent...one thing that we do know is that ryan miller is the sabres goaltender for at least the next four years (barring anything funky happening) and that the sabres will not use enroth in a back-up position when he can get everyday work in the minors...although the sabres are a bit thin in goaltending depth after enroth, four years could be enough time to develop one of brad eidsness, nick eno or hulking connor knapp all of whom are in college right now...a wild-card in the works is williamsville, ny native david leggio, who is providing quality back-up work with portland...in four games he has a 2.41 gaa and a .933 sv%...he was signed to a two-way contract this past august...
• as for other prospects, the sabres are organizationally thin up-front so teams who are interested in the likes of luke adam, zach kassian or even present sabre tyler ennis will need to be offering a premium player in return...on defense (see names below,) the sabres have plenty of puck-movers who probably won't be a part of any trade, unless there's a premium return, defensemen being the organization's strong suit...and they can probably forget about prospect brayden mcnabb, a prospect whom the sabres coveted for his size, grit, strength, skating ability and production...not any like him in the system right now...

which leads us to a couple of current roster players as "sweeteners":

• andrej sekera, d--"rej" is into his third full season with the big-club and will be a restricted fa at seasons end...his price tag is $1.2m...he's a puck-mover on the back end capable of logging secon-pairing minutes...although he doesn't hit the score sheet as much as you would like, he does contribute and has the potential to up his numbers...on the down side, although most think he's having a solid season thusfar, he's still inconsistent and it's still scary when he's defending the zone...why would a team want him?...anaheim is one of few teams who are in need of an nhl-caliber d-man right now and, as the old adage goes, you cannot have enough of them...why would the sabres part with him?...the sabres have some good puck-movers in the ahl right now lead by marc-andre gragnani who had a legitimate shot of making the team out of camp before he was injured...offensive-minded tj brennan has been working on the defensive aspect of his game and it seems to get better all of the time...drew schiestel is continuing his development in portland as a puck-mover and seems pretty solid in his own end...nick crawford was a offensive revelation last season in the juniors and is presently developing in portland...that's a succession of four puck-moving d-men that makes sekera tradeable...

• drew stafford--he's got good size, has been able to put the puck in the net and has shown that when he wants to he can really control the play in the offensive zone...problem is, he's inconsistent...he comes at a cost this season $2.3m, but will be a restricted fa afterwards...why would a team want him?...show the game tapes when he's motivated and you see a power-winger waiting to have a breakout season...why would the sabres get rid of him?...they've seen too much of his jeckyl/hyde routine over the past 3+ seasons and would part with him, putting him in a package for a legit top-six

one more possibility:

• marc mancari--a hulking presence in the ahl, mancari is earning the reputation of "the next jody gage"...he has ahl-all-star talent, but falters when he comes to the big-club...he is slow and the action seems too fast for him on an nhl level...why would a team want him?...as a throw in, it wouldn't be a bad gamble for a player like mancari who could someday have the switch turned on and take a spot on the top-six in the line-up...odds are stacked against this happening, but it could happen...why would the sabres move him?...why not? after this season zach kassian will be with portland as the #1 rw prospect, and a slew on unheralded, mid-lower-round draft-picks like cory tropp, maxime legault and gregg sutch will have the opportunity to move up the depth-chart....the depth on rw is very, very thin, but guys like undrafted fa derek whitmore and nhl-castoff mark parrish should be able to hold down the fort in portland and/or bring as much to the table with the sabres as mancari has...

just some food for thought...

my take on the sabres: man up, ya mamby pamby's!

during one of the wgr segments, it was mentioned a couple of times that maybe some of the players want lindy ruff to get fired, therefore the lackluster play...

really!

sisyphus' boulder is rolling downhill again..

and everybody has a reason, thought or opinion as to why...

here's a compilation of articles and such concerning the sabres as they welcome the change of the calender, with a game vs. a very stingy tim thomas and the boston bruins at home tonight...

• first the good...puck daddy ranks the best goal celebrations in the east and buffalo ranks...



#2

his reasoning?..."Buffalo Sabres: (Listen Here) The horn sounds like an express train pointed at your living room window, and it segues right into an air raid siren. The song they use is "Hell Yeah" by Rev Theory. The whole thing works, and makes us angry that so many of the Sabres' forwards are underachievers."

--a positive aspect (albeit unrelated to the sabres on-ice play) to a horrendous season thus-far, yet a quick truism to finish with ...

while reading on, i offer the following track off of brian eno/david byrne's, my life in the bush of ghosts, entitled, help me somebody as a musical prelude:

• matt reitz, from the cheap seats, does a fine job of analyzing this season's sophomore slump poster-child--tyler myers...from the loss of hank tallinder to myers trying to do too much, a myriad of factors has myers plummeting to the bottom of the plus/minus category and the effect it has on the team...should have added that he's had a number of different d-partners since shaone morrison went down and that he's also carrying 15 extra pounds and an extra inch of height...but...all-in-all, he makes some good points
• the sabres parade to the penalty box the past few games has lead to loads of trouble on a team with a poor pk...john vogl of the buffalo news starts off an article on the pk with this, "It seems like pretty simple logic. If a team is struggling on the penalty kill, it probably shouldn't take a lot of penalties"...pretty simple, perhaps the players should take note
• mike schopp on gr continues his "i really think lindy ruff should be held responsible (read fired) for the demise of the sabres" charge and is shot down by paul hamilton, again, during a wgr roundtable...a couple of days later in his blog, he tempers his point by saying "i think there are three times to change coaches..." says that now is not the right time and finishes by saying, "But I also don't think Lindy Ruff ought to be on a de facto lifetime contract. I think over the years he's done a decent but not exceptional job...To be a great coach, doesn't your team have to overachieve? At least occasionally? Maybe last year's team did that"...in the last two or three years, he's rarely, if ever, mentioned that maybe the sabres don't have the talent his frequent guest, gm darcy regier, seems to think they have
• schopp's on-air partner, bulldog, takes a broader view of the october buffalo sports scene adding in the sabres lousy home record with the 0-7 buffalo bills...his blog begins with, "october was a joke, right?"...not surprising, he likes the bills, as do many fans right now, much more than the sabres
• the buffalo news', bucky gleason, basically says that regier is ultimately responsible as he's trying to find a scapegoat for the sabres woes, but, as we have seen, it's usually the coach who takes the fall...and his buffalo news colleague bob dicesare says the target's on ruff's back mostly for failing to motivate his team (an easy out, imo) concluding that ruff is pretty much dead in the water...not convinced that ruff is the problem, he concludes, "If the team fails to respond to a new coach then we'll at least know what is widely suspected -- that it was the personnel all along."

power rankings:

• gleason:  #20, "Lack of mental toughness exposed during collapse in Philly."   http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/sabres-nhl/nhl-power-rankings/article236943.ece
• tsn:  #27, "Still winless at home, the Sabres aren't good enough to get by on average goaltending (or worse) from Ryan Miller, who has a .903 SV% despite facing 27.7 shots per game, down more than 2.5 per game from last season."  http://www.tsn.ca/fantasy_news/rankings/nhl/
• sportsnet:  #29, "The Sabres have made captain Craig Rivet a healthy scratch in back-to-back games."  http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2010/11/01/nhl_power_rankings_nov01/
• ross mckeon, yahoo sports:  "A healthy scratch relegated to the press box for two games, captain Craig Rivet(notes) brings a whole new meaning to 'stay-at-home defenseman.'"  http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=At_OSv3tPhIz78s7OgaLvrh7vLYF?slug=rm-nhlpower110210
• wes goldstein, cbs sportsline:  #26, "Little going right these days for the Sabres, who finished a forgettable month with three straight losses." http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/story/14225149/power-rankings-kings-lucky-they-dodged-ilyas-check
• the hockey news:  #29, "Penalty kill is atrocious; power play not much better"  http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/36119-Power-Rankings-Lightning-strike.html
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

does november equal a "fresh start?"

"ahh say, ahh say, this team's more mixed up than a featha in a whirlwind"



"Right now is a very difficult time for this team. We're trying to grasp the style of play that we want to play, which I don't think we've found yet."--Craig Rivet

words from buffalo sabres captain craig rivet after being afforded the opportunity to watch the last two games from the press box as a healthy scratch...yup...been the same thing for the last 3+ seasons as the team said goodbye to the run 'n gun, feel-good days of the immediate post-lockout buffalo sabres...

that's to be saved for another day...right now, as the team heads into november, a quick look back at some individual stats for the month of october:

• points--derek roy, 13...jordan leopold, tim connolly, thomas vanek, drew stafford, 7
• goals--roy, 6....vanek, connolly, 4
• power play goals--vanek, myers, 2...roy, leopold, 1
• assists--roy, 7...tyler ennis, steve montador, 5
• power play assists--roy, 4...eight with 1
• primary assists--ennis, roy, montador, 4
• plus/minus--montador, +9...ennis, +4...stafford, goose, +3
• plus/minus (bottom)--myers, -10...vanek, -5...morrisonn, -4

forwards avg. toi:

• total--roy, 19:37...stafford, 16:48...vanek, 16:38
• even strength--roy, 15:04...stafford, 13:18...vanek, 13:06
• power play--roy, 3:32...vanek, 3:25...stafford, 3:14
• penalty kill--mike grier, 3:17...jochen hecht, 2:17...connolly, 2:05

defensemen avg. toi:

• total--jordan leopold, 23:56...tyler myers, 23:26...montador, andrej sekera, 19:08
• even strength--leopold, 17:36...myers, 16:44...montador, 16:39
• power play--myers, 3:15...leopold, 3:11...sekera, 2:48
• penalty kill--myers, 3:26...morrisonn, 3:23...leopold, 3:09

goaltending:

• ryan miller--3-5-2...277 sa, 27 ga.......gaa, 2.71...sv. percentage, .903...shutouts, 0
• patrick lalime--0-2...62 sa, 6ga......gaa, 4.03...sv. percentage, .871...shutouts, 0