As I see the Buffalo Sabres...
Just to put this in perspective I am darn near 70 years old. I’ve been following the Sabres since we drafted Gilbert. In the early days under the Knox family the Sabres were basically Toronto South. Punch Imlach and Tim Horton were convinced that this would be a great place to play and work. They were right. Buffalo fans lined up to watch a rag tag bunch of players entertain them. The early years were defined by the French Connection and early success. They were in the playoffs by the third season and we were singing, literally, their praises. In the 74-75 season we had the best record in the NHL but lost in the fog to Philly. The French Connection years ended in 1979 when Rene Robert was traded to Colorado and the door closed with Rick Martins knee injury and trade to LA in 1981.
The 80s and 90s saw Perrault reach 500 goals, drafting of Pierre Turgeon and Alex Mogilny. Trading for Pat LaLaLaFontaine, Dom Hasek, RJs “May Day… and more of the playoffs for nine straight years until the 94-95 season stopped all that. Then enter Ted Nolan and the “hardest working team in hockey… with Patty and Randy Burridge leading the scoring for a bunch of lunch bucket players who warmed our hearts. From 96 – 06 I guess you could say we turned our team into the Bickering Sabres. Hasek fought the press Mucks got fired, Nolan got fired. The Rigas years began and ended Peca sat out in a contract dispute but we made it to the finals one more time against Dallas and we all know how that ended.
The ownership of the Sabres was tenuous at best in the early 2000s as the Rigas group gave way to the league then to Golisano. In spite of the termoil in 05 – 06 we won 52 and with Lindy Ruff at the helm we showed everyone what hard work was again. The Pegula years began in 2011 with the promise that the team focus going forward would be to win the Stanley Cup. During this new focus our coaches were Lindy Ruff, Ron Rolston, Ted Nolan again, Dan Bylsma, Phil Housely, Ralph and now Don Granato. Ten years, seven coaches and four GMs, Regier, Murray, Botterill and now Adams.
So where am I going with all this? Good question. I guess I’m leading to the simple statement that success follows the flag of the leader who knows how to get the most from his troops. What? Lindy Ruff the longest tenured coach for the Sabres wasn’t successful because he was the friend of the players he was successful because of his leadership. His effort needed to be the players effort. Ralph Krueger’s version of the Sabres seems confused and off the mark. Lindy wanted to disrupt the flow, get in the goalies face and get the dirty goal. Ralph is refined perimeter play with outside cycling. Although both believed that the defense should be active in the attack zone in Ralph’s game the shot seems like it never got on net. Crisp passes are gone now, dump and run, chase the puck seems to be the Sabres bread and butter. But right now this team is confused and listless.
We have the talent what we need is a coach who recognizes how to make the most of it. There is a bright future for the Sabres because we do have a rich history. However Ownership needs to step out of the way by finding a President of Hockey Operations and then a coach that can work with Kevin and this young team. Players will need to change, the Hall experiment should end, Montour needs to make way for young talent like Bryson, Staal and Thompson need to go and we need a goalie. Hockey operations from the minors to the big club need a new focus and talent review. A new hockey operations team can objectively do that. Fresh eyes for a fresh start not another Armageddon.