Well the Sabres new start of the season, didn't start to well, with a 2-1 loss in Miami last night. Sure they had a lot of shots on net. But they were the easy to stop ones. Florida contained them well. They scored when they needed to, and the Sabres lone goal was on a 5 on 3. So not impressive at all.
Lindy may have lost these guys. They had a couple days to come together, and had nothing to show for it. I saw the first period, there was no extra emotion out there. They tried, sure. But it didn't look like things were different. Its been almost 1 year and a half from the Presidents Trophy year. And for the most part this is the Sabres team we are stuck with. The UFA's up coming really are pointless. Max is useless, Timmy is always out and Kotalik is Kotalik.
People are saying get rid of them early, bring up the young kids. Thats not going to solve anything. There needs to be something drastic. Something that would get everyone talking. Trading Max isn't the answer anymore.
Its time for Lindy to go.
I'm never its the coach's fault guy. I'm more its the players, stupid, kinda guy. But with the amount of guys under longer term deals. You really can't get rid of most of the guys. Now you have Lindy calling out Ryan Miller for a bad goal. This after last year, riding him into the ground. If your franchise goalie and face of the franchise quits on you, then the Sabres are really up the creek with no paddle. Their goalie isn't the issue. Its the offense. The lines aren't working, there is no gel. There doesn't seem to be a fire in them. Mancari had fire when he came up, and it was obvious, which is probably a bad thing. It showed how much he wanted it versus the other guys. Something is needed to get the whole team going.
I think there is talent here. Darcy Regier has an eye for talent. But Lindy is the only coach he has had as GM. He might be a little to loyal to him and to players. They don't bring in many new guys. The one new guy that came in, was named Captain. I've been thinking about that lately. At first it was a good story. But now it seems to me that they were that desperate for leadership last year, or they actually saw some leadership in Rivet and stumbled over each other to put the "C" on him. Or they hated the dreaded rotation that much. They just gave it to the new guy.
And with how Darcy Regier is, he won't fire Lindy. I don't think he can nor wants to. He would have before the lockout, and no one would have batted and eye at it. But its a duopoly with the Buffalo Sabres. And that leaves it with Larry Quinn. The much despised, minority owner, who has a financial stake in the team now. He knows if the Sabres miss the playoffs this year, ticket sales will drop and they will run through the waiting list. And with a bad economy, season tickets will be down. The attendance is already off. He will have to force Darcy's hand, or he'll can the both of them and start over.
Well now Ryan Miller is upset at the comments Lindy made about his first goal.
The coach said the first goal "was an easy play for Ryan to read," and Miller used the slight to close his chat.
Told that he may face more odd-man rushes because the coach wants his defensemen to join the play more, Miller … clearly taken aback by the earlier words and getting more emotional by the second … uttered, "Well, I guess I'm going to have to read better," and took off toward the team bus.
I don't know if I have heard Ryan snarky like that before at Lindy. Which is probably a sign, the team might be quitting on Ruff. And now he's going with the "we are going to work all the time card" is not going to help.
This will only get worse, and things have to be handled now. If this goes any longer, the season will be permanently lost. Its too early for the Sabres to close up shop. In my eternal optimism I always think they could get better and I like Lindy Ruff. But I think its just time. Familiarity has bred contempt and its time to shake that all up.
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