Buffalo Sabres head coach Ted Nolan is relentless in his pursuit of delivering Lord Stanley's Cup to Buffalo, NY. For Nolan, its so close he can taste it. Nolan has touched and been in the presence of the Cup twice in the past three years. His son Jordan has hoisted the hardest-to-win trophy in major professional sports on two different occasions as a fourth line foot soldier in General Sutter's LA Army. It takes a committed group of selfless, tough SOB's to sacrifice their bodies for one another, and win 16 games in the playoffs. The Kings have "it". Nolan wants to borrow a huge dollop of the "it" factor and to infuse it into the hearts and minds of his young Sabres.
Proud Papa Nolan has witnessed LA's secret to success from a totally unique perspective. He was granted access to the Manchester and Los Angeles experience by way of Jordan's ascent from the AHL to the NHL. The elder Nolan started the journey as a father and a mentor. He's taken notes and has been an active participant in the maturation process that his son has undergone as a member of the Kings organization. Four years later, its as if Ted Nolan has graduated from graduate school with a Masters degree in championship hockey.
Cups are not won solely through the process of osmosis. They are the by product of doing the little things better than the opponent. Nolan instilled his brand of leadership into his young Sabres charges when he took over for Ron Rolston last November. Nolan's first order of business when he took over the reigns of the Sabres was to tell guys like Myers, Ennis, Stafford, Foligno and Hodgson was to put down their iPads and to pick up their socks and pull on their work boots. Hard work prevails above all else in Nolan's world. To say that Rolston and Nolan are exact opposites would be to over state the obvious. Rolston wore garden gloves and spoke like a professor at the smart board. Nolan? Not so much. Ted told his guys to get their arses out of the video room and onto the ice. Nolan pushed the reset button and every player, young and old, was given a new lease of life. The team responded favorably to Nolan's approach.
It didn't take long for Nolan to figure out why the team wasn't winning. He set out to correct the course by preaching fundamentals and by pumping the tires and re-instilling confidence in the guys that Rolston had cast aside.
Ted Nolan often speaks of the "L.A. Model" when describing how he and Tim Murray are committed to building a similar style team in Buffalo. It starts with the draft and developing all of your draft choices. In LA's case, its began with committing to drafting high character, highly skilled, big, tough, physically fit players to play specific roles in the team's puck-possession philosophy. Next, the GM has to be able to identify the right UFAs and be willing to pull the trigger on trades that will upgrade the talent level and lend leadership to the team cause. Nolan has had a birds eye view of Dean Lombardi's rebuilding project in L.A, and now he's bring his lessons learned to the banks of Lake Erie where the Sabres hope to shake off their most dreadful season in franchise history when they finished dead last in 30th place in the NHL standings (52
total points).
Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither was the Los Angeles Kings and their Cup winning ways.
Sabres ownership and management have committed to rebuilding the team from the ground up. The process began in earnest at the NHL trade deadline in March. It continues today.
Nolan's expectations are correct. They are high, and well they should be. Anything short of winning the Stanley Cup is unacceptable.
Last month, Nolan was a guset on "Sabres Hockey Hotline" . The coach sounded downright tickled when he was recollecting the rough rides that the Latvian Locomotive Zemgus Girgensons and and The Finnisher Rasmus Ristolainen gave to second overall pick Samson Reinhart during the Blue & White prospects scrimmage. Nolan loved seeing the big boys compete and show no hesitation about imposing their will on the new kid in town. If for no other reason than to see how the Samson would handle the adversity and pain of getting knocked to the ice, elbowed in the gut, chirped repeatedly and slashed as he cruised to the scoring areas. Nolan sounded equally as enthused when he propped Reinhart for taking the abuse and not getting rattled or intimidated by it. Nolan is bang on. Reinhart, and any top prospect for that matter, better learn how to deal with adversity early on his NHL career. Nolan loved the courage and the tenacity that Reinhart and the other kids showed during the sixty minute scrimmage. The final score didn't matter to Nolan. He and Murray were more interested in measuring the effort and the energy level of the kids. By that standard, Nolan and Murray must be quite pleased with the sacrificing and the sheer determination that they are seeing with great frequency this week.
Nolan said that he was very impressed by the pace at which his top prospects competed during the July prospects camp. Nolan loved the speed and the physicality and said that the NHL has become a year round job for the youngsters. He likes how kids are in training camp shape in early summer. Nolan was critical of the Ron Rolston administration for the way that the team entered training camp last September. Nolan said that a major reason why the 2013-14 Buffalo Sabres struggled so mightily in the early stage of season was because the team as a whole was in poor physical condition. Nolan said that he didn't like the team's fitness level last season. "It wasn't up to par", he said. Nolan thinks that other teams wore the Sabres down as games grinded into the third period. He's 100% correct in his criticism.
Jordan Nolan won two Stanley Cups with the Kings. He didn't do it by toe-dragging guys. He did it through blood, sweat, tears. Jordan Nolan is emblematic of the Kings. All of their players are in peak physical condition. If they are in poor shape, they get traded or cut. Darryl Sutter doesn't have any time for nonsense. Either his players do the work or they don't play. Period. End. Of. Sentence. Jordan Nolan's cardio and VO2 numbers are off the charts. Jordan is one of the smaller players on the Kings' roster. Nolan says the secret to LA's success is that Sutter loves to attack opponents in four-line waves with speed, size, stamina and strength. They also wear down opponents with their tip-top conditioning.
Nolan is blown away by the way that Rasmus Ristolainen came to prospects camp looking leaner and being jacked. Nolan said that he talked to Ristolainen last year when he was demoted to AHL Rochester. The coach said that he told Ristolainen "if you're not fit, you're not going to last". Nolan's words have had a profound impact on Ristolainen. The Finn reported to rookie camp at 207 pounds, some 15 pounds lighter than he played at last season in Buffalo and in Rochester. Ristolainen loves how strong he feels at his new weight and how much more energy he now has inside of shifts. Nolan is very pleased that the kid took his words to heart and made the necessary commitment to improving his overall conditioning. To Nolan, being good enough just isn't good enough. Just like Lindy Ruff, Nolan has given his Sabres a mandate to be in better physical condition this summer. If that means working out more and playing around on the jet skis less, than so be it. Nolan is joined at the hip with Sabres' strength and conditioning coach Doug McKenney, who is phoning players every day to make sure that they are doing their workouts, are eating correctly, and are getting the proper amount of rest.
Nolan: "If some players come to camp out of shape, there are going to be consequences... we don't need those types of players on this team".
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Thanks, Sabres Hockey Hotline
On Friday, the Nolans hosted a Stanley Cup party in their hometown of Garden City, Ontario.
Nolan's goal is to one day host a Stanley Cup celebration in the city of Buffalo.
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