Another rare hockey blog. I was thinking how usually Sabres Leafs games are must see tv, but the cable squabbles have taken care of that as a problem. The guys who started out so well, and that game in Boston really exposed them. As the cartoon from the Buffalo News shows, Ryan Miller hasn’t been himself (wonder if the concussions are really healed and all), and the team has been more of a collection of bodies instead of a team, sometimes passionless ones at that. It made me wonder about all the twitter discussions that if Lindy Ruff was let go, who should replace him. I got an answer for that one, Ted Nolan. Think about it, Nolan’s guys weren’t always the most gifted kids, but they never took the night off. I’m saying dump Lindy by any means, but some kind of shakeup needs to happen to give this team some life.
Passion does lead to production. And while the new ownership raised expectations, the bulk of the current Sabres’ nation remembers 2006 when a lot seemed within reach, which only adds to the frustration considering the so called “Core” of the current team was there riding the coattails of Drury, Briere, etc. You’d think what they saw then would be helping them now.
Something got awry quickly, remember October? That was fun. Sure, there were injuries, but other teams have dealt with those too.
The Sabres GM, who is looking more and more like Niles Crane, earned points with me when asked if the team would be worse without Drury and Briere and he answered yes. I respected that because he was honest with us. The guy got Briere, Drury, Doug Gilmour, J.P. Dumont and others, so he knows how to deal. It’s just hard not to wonder if he forgot how.
Aside from fining players for uttering “work hard” “move your feet”, “play the whole game” cliches, with the proceeds going to a list I almost have at the ready, the home team hasn’t been itself since the Lucic incident and needs an injection of some soul soon.
That and MSG (and it’s cable company parent) and Time Warner needs to get this slap fight settled. Getting NBA-TV isn’t compensation. There’s no good side in that discussion. I do know that anybody thinking of switching services should be careful as who knows when the Direct connection expires.
So, do something Darcy, maybe a simple gesture could trigger some good karma.
Mike's Pub 