Tyler Myers has been to the edge and back in the past few days. Exiled to the press box for two straight games must have ripped his guts apart at night. Myers is human. He's made mistakes. He's not the only player in Sabres history to have made a low-light reel of damning mistakes in the course of a season.
Its not the mistakes that Myers has made that Lindy Ruffi focused on today. The bench boss will be watching Myers to see how he corrects the problems that have been plaguing him this season. Myers is suffering from a of crisis of confidence. He'll be okay when he allows himself to settle down. the negativity and voices in his head will subside when he's playing his game, and existing just to avoid making mistakes that the coach will be critical of.
He was benched. Big deal. He'll be better. You watch and see.
After today's skate in Kanata, Myers credited Ruff, and his locker room neighbor, Robyn Regehr, for the countless conversations and guidance that they have had with the 23 year old in the past few days.
Thanks, sabres.com
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I was lucky and fortunate enough to share Clint Malarchuk's company when he was playing in Buffalo. I'll never forget that gruesome night in 1989 when Malarchuk's life was almost tragically taken from him in a collision with a St. Louis Blues player in The Aud in Buffalo. Were it not for quick thinking and laser-like first-repsonse, Malarchuk would have perished on the ice while playing the game that he grew up loving.
Today, Malarchuk suffers from mental illness. like so many Canadian and American men and women, Malarchuk kept his illness a secret for decades.
Today, he speaks openly, freely and passionately about mental health awareness and the many outlets that we can turn to in our hours of need.
Clint Malarchul was a great hockey player. He's become an even better human being as a result of all of his struggles.
Thanks to Clint and the Calgary Flames for shining the light on mental health awareness.
Updated 1:20pm EDT:
According to Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News:
Lindy Ruff and his coaches have finalized their lineup for tonight.
Alex Sulzer and TJ Brennan will be the two D scratched.
Personally, I have no problem scratching Jordan Leopold who has been wildly inconsistent this season in his own end. Ditto Sekera. Too many brain farts with the puck. way to many careless plays with the puck, too.
Tyler Myers has struggled mightily this season. He's been watching the past two Sabres games from high up above.
Tonight, Myers will return to the Sabres lineup in Ottawa.
Ruff cited how well that Myers responded last season after he was benched. Ruff is expecting the big man to regain his confidence and his fury.
Lindy Ruff told Howard Simon this morning that Myers will indeed skate tonight. Myers watched the Islanders and Bruins games from the press box. Comes as no surprise as he was -9 in his first 11 games of the season. Ruff is looking for Myers to throw off the mental chains that are binding him physically and mentally when he's on the ice during games.
Its not known yet which Sabres D will sit to make room for Myers. Ruff will meet with James Patrick at the rink this morning and will decide which D becomes the odd man out in Ottawa.
Ruff said that Leopold has struggled badly at times and that he nneds to be better in his own endbecause he is such a key cog in the Buffalo defensive alignment. Ruff stressed that Leopold and Myers have to play better.
Ruff said that he met with the leadership group of his team on Monday discussing the team's defensive liabilitiies.
Monday was an off day, so Ruff will address the group's defensive strategy at today's game day skate.
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Ruff said that Mikhail Grigorenko will play again tonigt.
He was working with the Sabres skating coach on Sunday and Monday.
Ruff says 'he knows that he's going to be doing a lot of extra work". Grigo is doing extra skating to develop more "pace and power", video work, and faceoff work.
All of the extra work is what Ruff calls "the program' for Grigo's development.
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Ruff liked the way that Stafford played against Boston, but stressed that the one-time 30 goal scorer will have to play better. The coached liked the assist on the Ennis goal on Sunday night. Stafford also had a couple of "Grade A" scoring chances that he didn't cash in on.
Is Ruff thinking of benching Stafford?
"I'm not there yet".
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Lindy: "Jhonas has to play better".
Translation: Ryan Miller is playing until his legs fall off.
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Leino is "a little better" as a result of his new hip treatment.
He skated 20 minutes the other day and is feeling better.
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An interesting side bar to the Sabres D situation is that the Anaheim Ducks are said to be looking for defensive re-inforcements in the wake of the injury to their young star D-man, Cam Fowler, who has yet to join the Ducks on their current six-game roadie. Fowler will likely not appear in any of the final three games of the trip, according to Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau. Fowler suffered an "upper body" injury in the February 2nd game vs. the LA Kings. The young star hasn’t appeared in a game since then. Fowler has only appeared in 6 of Anaheim's 11 games this season andhe's slated to miss more games. How many more is not known at this time.
The Anaheim blue line presently consists of a solid veteran core of Sheldon Souray, Francois Beauchemin, Luca Sbisa, Toni Lydman, and Bryan Allen. However, without Fowler, it thinks out quickly. The team made a trade with Pittsburgh for D Ben Lovejoy last week.
Anaheim recalled 30 year old D, Nate Guenin from Norfolk on Monday.
The Ducks have been scouting the Sabres for the past three games.
The Western conference will not be playing the Eastern conference this season due to the 48 game compressed NHL schedule.
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More to come after the game day skate.....
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Anaheim recalled defenseman Nate Guenin from Norfolk (AHL) earlier this morning.
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