Sabres Fall Flat After Ruff Firing

Any spark that Darcy Regier was looking to get out of his Sabres players by firing the longest tenured active head coach in the NHL has fizzled out badly. There is no doubt that the Buffalo Sabres have gotten out to a dismal start to the the 2012-2013 season. On Wednesday when Lindy Ruff was fired the team sat at 6-10-1 with a measly 13 points in the Eastern Conference. Lindy Ruff had coached the team since July 21, 1997 ending up with a record of 571-432-162. In the past a drastic move to fire the head coach of an NHL team mid-season has been a strategy that team general managers have used to bring their teams back from the edge of a lost season. During the 2008-2009 season the Pittsburgh Penguins fired their head coach mid season igniting a run to an eventual Stanley cup win. This strategy seems to have fallen on deaf ears with the current group of players in the Buffalo Sabres locker room. They followed up the firing of their highly esteemed coach with a 3-1 loss to the Maple Leafs and an embarrassing 4-0 blanking at home against the Islanders. The defense looked lazy in both games with key mistakes and turnovers that ended up in their own net. Ryan Miller has played well in goal but cannot make up for the sloppy defensive play and lack of effort to get to loose pucks and win battles along the wall in their own end. New coach Ron Rolston seemed lost and in over his head in the post game interview following Saturday night’s shutout loss to the Islanders. Ryan Miller’s whiny obscenity laden rants are already getting old in this lockout shortened season. Miller trade rumors will start soon no doubt. The team lacks energy, grit, determination and star power and at this point are difficult for fans to watch. All these factors have combined to get the Sabres to dead last in the Eastern conference standings at 6-12-1 as of Saturday night. Hardly the “hockey heaven” promised by Sabres owner Terry Pegula. Although it had seemed that Lindy Ruff’s message was not getting through to the Sabres player’s one now has to wonder if anyone’s message will reach this group. Ron Rolston has an impressive resume but the big move of head coaches does’t seem to have inspired any of the players. The Sabres have dug themselves quite a hole and if they don’t find a way to climb out,  it may be general manager Darcy Regier who is joining Ruff in the unemployment line.