After today's skate, Ruff talked about the Leopold benching, the Stafford demotion to L4, and the comments that Ryan Miller made after Sunday's loss to Pittsburgh.
I love Ruff's meesage:
"A room without confrontation.. a room without accountability.. you've got a lot of places to hide".
Tyler Ennis told me a few weeks ago that he was thinking about his his mother trim his tremendous salad. Ennis' flow has been out of control this season and he's been waiting for his hairdresser/mother to arrive from Edmonton to stay with him.
Today, Enzo showed up to prax looking like a proper school boy.
Jordan Leopold just got touched in Ruff's game of "duck-duck-goose".
The veteran blue liner will be a healthy scratch for tonight's game vs. the Jets.
Here's the straw that broke Lindy Ruff's back:
Leopold (-7) can't say he's surprised about the benching. He had to see it coming ever since Ruff sat Tyler Myers for two games last week.
Ruff warned Leopold to shape up, or sit out.
“I’ve talked to Jordan recently, probably three or four games ago, about improved play. I thought we got a couple of pretty strong games. But in the last game, I expect more out of him, out of a veteran defenseman. He’s gonna have to work hard to get back in now.”
TJ Brennan will replace Leopold in tonight's lineup. Lindy Ruff stressed the PP at this morning's skate.
Looks like Lindy Ruff wants to shake things up to get a better result. Only one forward line is intact at today’s game day skate as the team prepares to host Winnipeg tonight.
Based on what Lindy is showing this morning, Patrick Kaleta is now in the top six forward group, while Drew Stafford and his one goal are now on the fourth line.
Ruff said after the skate that he needs more from Stafford.
“There’s an inside part to his game that is getting a little better. When he’s going well, you notice his skating. You notice the one-on-one battles; winning the majority of the one-on-one battles. When it isn’t going well, we’re not winning those battles.
“I didn’t think he was quite up to speed with his skating again the other night, and he lost some battles that I thought were key battles inside the game. It’s something that we’ve talked about. He needs to take a little bit more ownership on some of those battles to make a better play that turns into something better for us.”
Thanks, sabres.com for the quotes
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According to John Vogl of the Buffalo News, here are the new lines and D pairs:
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