Ruff No Goal Call For Sabres (sabres)

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Ruff No Goal Call For Sabres

By GARTH'S CORNER

Nov 18, 2015 • 8:33 am

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Thanks, Stars TV

Tonight, Lindy Ruff partied like it was 1999.

Not literally. But close to it.

Ruff was head coach of the Buffalo Sabres were screwed on Brett Hull's foot-in-the-crease ?No Goal" fiasco in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The horrible miscarriage of NHL justice led to the Stanley Cup winning goal for the Dallas Stars.

The no goal call has been haunting Sabres fans for the past 16 years.

Fast forward to Tuesday night inside the Buffalo arena when Ruff called a coach's challenge on Sam Reinhart's third period power play goal that would have knotted the score at 2-2 with five minutes to play in regulation.

The Sabres appeared to tie the game 2-2 with 6:15 left when Sam Reinhart put a wrist shot past goalie Antti Niemi, but Stars coach Lindy Ruff challenged that the play was offside.

"People were yelling 'Offside!' right away on the entry, and then the mechanics, our assistant coach is right in our video guy Kelly Forbes' ear, and Kelly came back to him and said it's offside," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "So instantly, probably within five seconds, Kelly had it nailed."

The officials reviewed the play which clearly showed Ennis entering the Dallas zone ahead of the puck. What the hell is the problem? Ennis should just drag his skate across the blue line like fat bar leaguers like me and my friends do when we play on the weekend. If we can stay onside successfully, so too can Ennis and the Sabres.

"My opinion hasn't changed in three days," Ennis said. "It's in place. Offside has been around a long time, so I've got to get to know that rule a little better."

For what it is worth, Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma agreed with the call. Bylsma said that he and his coaches told their players immediately that the goal was no good due to Ennis being offside.

The Sabres have now suffered three disallowed goals this season, two by Ennis in the past two games against San Jose and Dallas. The other came in the season opener when Evander Kane had a goal wiped off the board die to an offside call.

Sabres fans can bitch and moan all they want to about the disallowed goals. It won't do any good. The offsides rule has been on the books for decades and the NHL officials are simply enforcing them on a more consistent basis.

________________________________________________________________________

Contrary to internet rumors I am not the person sewing and stitching the name plates on the back of the team sweaters for the Dallas Stars.

Antii Niemi is the Rodney Dangerfield of the NHL. Dude wins a Stanley Cup in Chicago and it hardly matters. Before the game between Buffalo and Dallas, the Stars' equipment hack spelled his name wrong on his sweater. See below.

No harm, no jersey foul as Niemi's name was spelled properly on his sweater when he took his crease for the National Anthem.

Thanks, @BradleyGelber

________________________________________________________________________

I've been telling you for six weeks that the Anaheim Ducks and Winnipeg Jets have been keeping close tabs on the Buffalo Sabres. Both teams have been frequent flyers in Buffalo for the majority of home games this season.

Tonight, the general manager of the Ducks will watch the Sabres-Stars game with director of player personnel.

Winnipeg's director of pro scouting will be in attendance in Buffalo as well.

Why are two Western Conference teams sending their heavy hitters to Eastern Conference Buffalo?

Obstensibly, Sabres GM Tim Murray is serious about adding another top four D. It's no secret that Tim Murray has been patiently shopping for another left-hander to even out his D corps.

The Ducks and Jets have been wildly inconsistent in the first eight weeks of the 2015-16 season. NHL GM's usually study their rosters and their organizational depth up until the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday to get a handle on what their teams are lacking in.

The Ducks and Jets both need offensive punch and have defensive depth to deal away to scratch their roster itches.

The Ducks have 23 year old lefty Cam Fowler. Anaheim's top D prospect Shea Theodore is rwady to play in the NHL. Perhaps Bob Murray will trade Fowler to Tim Murray to create a roster spot for Theodore.

Cam Fowler (6'3" 210 lbs.) is the left handed D that Tim Murray is said to be interested in acquiring.

Fowler fits Murray's criteria to a tee:

He is young at age 23. He has term left on his contract at 3 years and $4 million. He also is in need of a change of scenery.

Why would Bob Murray trade away a young, difference making defenseman?

Three reasons:

The emergence of left D Hampus Lindholm.

The desire to move 20 year old top D prospect Shea Theodore to the NHL ranks.

If the Ducks are going to make a trade proposal for San Jose forward Patrick Marleau, they will have to create salary cap space in order to do so.

Theodore was the 26th overall pick out of Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) in the 2013 NHL Draft.

Fowler was the 12th overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft. He has been averaging 23 minutes TOI per game this season. He has performed well at both ends of the ice in his six year NHL career. Fowler is a 35-40 point producer. He is a PP and PK standout.

Where would Fowler fit in on the Buffalo blue line?

He is a top four D man who is a 20+ minute per game m

The Jets have lost seven games in a row and are in need of a top six forward right now. Winnipeg have lefties Toby Enstrom and Mark Staurt to use as trade currency.

Toby Enstrom who will earn $5.75 million for the next 4 seasons. Enstrom has high end speed, a fantastic first pass and he plays a complete game.

Mark Stuart has 3 years remaining at $2.65 million. Stuart is a Mike Weber style D in that he is a salty veteran who likes to lay the lumber and block shots. A Stuart-Bogosian pairing may be in the offing as the two D played together previously in Atlanta and Winnipeg.

Murray could not go wrong with either one of the Winnipegers.

Question is: are they available?

My guess is that Enstrom and Stuart are available.

Both lefties are 31 years of age.

The Jets have $11.2 million in available salary cap space today, however, they have five substantial financial commitments that they have to make to core players who are pending free agents. Two of their top four D that will put a ton of pressure on their cap moving forward. One will the belle of the ball come unrestricted free agency. The other is perhaps to top RFA young D in the NHL.

Dustin Byfuglien is a pending UFA and will command north of $7 million per season. It's not likely that Byfuglien will see the open market next summer. Word out of The Peg is that the Jets want to re-sign him to a long term contract extension.

Captain Andrew Ladd will be UFA in July. The Peg want to lock him up long term.

Jacob Trouba's entry level deal expires in July and the pending RFA will be in line for a massive pay raise in the $4.5 to $5 million range per season.

The Jets' number one center Mark Scheifele will be RFA in July and will require a substantial bump in hi spay check.

Energy forward Adam Lowry will be RFA come July. He has earned a bump in pay moving forward.

The need to re-sign Byfuglien and Trouba will likely render Enstrom or Staurt expendable.

The Sabres and Jets would benefit from a trade at this point. Murray would get a dramatic upgrade for his top four D group while Cheveldayoff would create $23 million in salary cap space that he will nee to re-sign Byfuglien and Trouba to their new back-up-the-Brinks-truck contracts.

The Sabres could trade Josh Gorges and his $3.9 million AAV to Anaheim or Winnipeg along with a second rounder. Johan Larsson can play top six or bottom six forward responsibilities. He may be in play as well.

The NHL GMs met in Toronto early last week. U.S. Thanksgiving is right around teh corner.

It's time for the NHL trade market to open.

Montreal AGM Rick Dudley is here. Arizona Coyotes GM Don Maloney here tonight as well. Stars GM Jim Nill here as well.

More to come....

***

Zach Bogosian will be making his season debut tonight. He will play alongside Jake McCabe.

***

Evander Kane has missed the past nine games with an MCL injury that he suffered in a collision with New Jersey's David Schlemko on 10/24.

The initial prognosis for the injury was 4-6 weeks.

The Sabres are 6-2-1 while Evander has been resting and recovering from his knee injury.

Kane will be out of the lineup tonight when the Sabres host the swashbuckling Dallas Stars. However, the power left winger hopes to return to the lineup during this week's roadie to St. Louis and Dallas.

Kane told the team's website that he feels good enough to play in games.

“I feel like I could play today but they’re being cautious and I have to listen to them, so hopefully we’ll be back on that trip."

"They gave me a set schedule of four to six weeks, standard schedule. In my mind, I’m thinking anywhere from two to three and a half at the most," Kane said.

Dan Bylsma said that he has been monitoring Kane's progression the past couple of days.

"Yeah, he seems to be a bit ahead of schedule," Bylsma said. "I know he’s been practicing the last couple of days and had a hard day yesterday and responded well so hopefully we’ll see him on the ice at practice as well."

The Sabres Steve Ott and the Blues in The Loo on Thursday night the travel to Dallas to play the Stars on Saturday night. The will host St. Louis on Monday night.

Kane has a goal and three assists in eight games played this season.

Sabres fans are clamoring to have Kane healthy and back on the ice again as he is a high impact player.

Getting Bogosian and Kane back and healthy at or around the same time will infuse a ton of offense, skill, and snarl into the Buffalo attack.

The Sabres could use two former Western Conference vets in Kane and Bogosian for games against Western Conference powers Dallas, St. Louis, and Nashville in the next ten days.

***

Zach Bogosian is a good bet to play his first game of the season.

Mark Pysyk will play tonight. Carlo Colaiocovo will sit out the Dallas game.

Tim Schaller will draw in for the ailing Zemgus Girgensons who suffered a abdominal injury in the late stages of the loss to the Sharks on Saturday night.

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