Porous Five Hole

Per Ruff, Greenway is having surgery and will miss a significant amount of time

https://buffalonews.com/sports/professional/nhl/sabres/lindy-ruff-buffalo-sabres-slump-nhl/article_0bbdf6b6-bd62-11ef-b4d4-b706877a278f.html “Lindy Ruff bears some responsibility for Sabres sinking to bottom”

This isn’t contradicting you in any way, but he was with the Caps in a developmental role and not with the big club regularly. This was back when there was a taxi squad during the COVID season. I don’t know the circumstances of his exit there, perhaps ROC was just closer to home and that was appealing. You’re correct, played and won a Selke for Lavs on Long Island.

If Laviolette and staff are canned, I think there’s a place for Peca in Buffalo. I assume his home is still in Getzville and it is a logical fit. However, I cannot endorse him as a head coach. The Sabres cannot have another first time head coach, regardless of Peca’s pedigree as a player, as a human, or as an assistant.

Who are we thinking POHO?

On the other hand on Drury, dealing with Terry might be a walk in the park compared to Dolan. I’m not saying it is likely to happen that he comes back to Buff, but I wouldn’t completely rule it out. I don’t get the impression Peca left pissed off. He had an offer from the Sabres, but it wasn’t what he wanted. The Sabres didn’t have an open position on the bench at the time and he accepted a promotion elsewhere. The Sabres didn’t screw him (well they did in 2000, and he STILL came back to the org). He’s not coaching in the NHL today without the Sabres org and Appert specifically.

He’s being paid by NJ, so yes.

I would move that date to March 3, 2023 because he whiffed at improving the club at the trade deadline and the Sabres just missed the playoffs.

coming for you @LabattBlue!

If he cannot make his system work with 1OA, 1OA, and 4OA, I don’t know what to tell you. Talent is there and I think we have a coaching problem. Ok to agree to disagree.

I guess. My point was that Lindy is not the guy. I don’t know if Tocchet or Keefe could have been. But Ruff was a safe and easy hire…and I don’t think his magic dust is working. Back to the drawing board if it were up to me.

Tell me daddy. What is it?

@mjd1001, what do you disagree with? What had Lindy done that makes you think he’s the answer? The Sabres have lost ten straight and to say coaching isn’t a problem is flawed to me. No one should lose ten straight. Clearly he isn’t making a difference from (gulp) Ralph or Meatballs.

Goaltending failed him in NJ, but let’s talk about today. What has his system done for the Sabres?

The Devils are not regretting Ruff for Keefe. I cannot definitely say some guy (Montgomery, Tocchet, whomever) would have better results here in Buffalo because that’s impossible, and we agree the roster is flawed…but we cannot rule out that the game has passed Ruff by. We are a third into the season and I cannot find a single reason to say, “Yea Lindy made a positive difference here” other than marketing.

Isn’t it incumbent on the coach to play a system that his team can be as successful as possible? The Sabres are 29th overall in the league. I cannot quantify where they should be, but I do not believe they’re the 29th most talented team. They’ve got top ten picks all over the place. Not on him at all? We agree the team is flawed and not good enough. That’s on the GM. But what positive difference has Lindy made on these guys? We should be able to see something by now.

You’re right production wise. Tage is an offensive unicorn. I just don’t think Ruff has unlocked a better Tage than we’ve seen before. I should have set Tage aside when I made my post.

Yes. Marek said the other day that every forward is playing one line higher than they should be. I would edit that to say every forward is playing one line higher than they deserve to play. We agree here.

Sample expected goals chart from last night. Pretty ugly for a desperate team (who was also gifted a two goal lead). Like, come on we are in game 30 with nearly a rookie goalie.

Too much pain to put myself through it lol He’s a dead man walking and everybody knows it.

If you think the head coach doesn’t sign off on PP structure (or is ultimately responsible), I don’t know what to tell you.

We all love Lindy. He’s a WNY treasure. But it might be time to put down Old Yeller. He’s lost his fastball. -His defensive structure is either too hard for a young team to play or just doesn’t work. -His special teams are bad. The PP was bad in his last stop as well. -His high flying NJ offense has not shown up here. -Papa Ruff has had no visible advantage to the psyche of this hockey club. -When I say he lost his fastball, what I mean is no one is having a career year. Not one. You would expect to see SOMEBODY in a position to have more success relative to last year. It has been long enough and it is just not there for anybody. Not everything is his fault. -He didn’t ask for the youngest team in hockey. -He did not ask for one of the least physical teams in hockey. -He was not given the opportunity to bring in his own set of assistants. -His roster mix is still flawed and still fragile. None of that is on Lindy. And no one survives Father Time…but he’s lost his fastball. He will not be fired, but he could decide/be coaxed that his heart isn’t on the bench any longer. His deal with Buffalo is only a two year deal (both years being paid by NJ). Perhaps he’s ushered upstairs or into retirement when GMKA gets fired on April 18th, 2025. The playoff goal is out of reach for 24-25…But what is in reach is a full toilet flushing of coach and GM—and we need that to happen.

So the guy who lives in Florida with low taxes and palm trees is going to give the old boys a pep talk?

Quinn on the power play is a brand new sentence lol