POLL: So, what's the Sabres' problem?

[Eleven]

...

[rbochan]

Rivet mentioned in his interview that some of the players aren't buying into the system. If I were Lindy, my attitude would be: "You're not buying into the system? You don't get to play." Cripes, don't even give them another shift if it happens during a game. Bring up the Pirates and toss the bums into the press box. Hopefully something like that would get this peewee-team-dressed-as-Sabres off their collective poopers. It's a sad, sad team when Peters outplays your multi-million dollar forwards.

Get it done.

[wonderbread]

This team lacks consistency. Simple enough. They don't have it em to play 60+. They had plenty of chances. They need to come prepared to play the whole game. Secondly someone needs to grab this team by their collective balls and tell them to MTFU.

[cilevel]

Lack of focus and/or willingness to play the system. They simply are not playing 60 minutes right now, and until they learn we can expect a losing record.l

 

We know by their start that they can play 60 and achieve a winning record. So if I were Lindy the question is simple - Okay boys it's on you, do want to win, or lose?

[BuffalOhio]

They still want to play Run 'n' Gun like 2 years ago, and it ain't working. Defense first.

[FearTheReaper]

There are several minor problems that we can complain about,but i think we all can agree that the lack of veteran leadership is probably one of the biggest problem. We simply dont have enough leaders to keep the team concept alive. To many guys are playing as individuals.

[stenbaro]

Front office missing the boat on team needs and unwilling to admit mistakes and move on with bad choices in players..Hanging on to deadbeats too long..ex(max)

[FearTheReaper]

Front office missing the boat on team needs and unwilling to admit mistakes and move on with bad choices in players..Hanging on to deadbeats too long..ex(max)

 

+

Sitting on 7 mil in cap space? I'm not saying we need to spend to the cap. But damn,we could at least bring in a vet that fits the team mold.

[stenbaro]

+

Sitting on 7 mil in cap space? I'm not saying we need to spend to the cap. But damn,we could at least bring in a vet that fits the team mold.

thier cap is much lower or did you miss the memo..lol

[FearTheReaper]

thier cap is much lower or did you miss the memo..lol

 

I could of swore it was 7 mil. I quess i'm mistaken.

[darksabre]

I'm glad there's other people here that came to the same conclusion as me. I honestly had to sit and think about this. It's the system. This team has talent where it needs it, but offensive players aren't being responsible from a defense standpoint. They've stopped back-checking and it's burning our goalies. When we play a defensive game we do well, but when certain players don't feel like being responsible *cough*max, pommers, roy*cough* then things go down hill. No wonders Lindy looked like he had given up last year, how long till he gives up this year?

[carpandean]

Yup, they are not buying into the system. They keep trying to go back to the system that they've been playing for three years. In 2006-07, they had basically two starting goal tenders and three top two scoring lines. That along with a different set of rules meant that they could win run-and-gun games 7-5. Now, when they slip back to that system, so much is different that they give up the 5, but can't manage 3, much less 7. They do, however, have enough capable two-way players, sprinkled with some offensive talent, so that they can win 2-1 defensive games. I can't figure out why they can't see the difference in their records when playing defense first. Guess what? Winning is more fun than any play style.

[stenbaro]

I could of swore it was 7 mil. I quess i'm mistaken.

you might be lite..I was makin a funny

[Buffalo Wings]

I think they just need to grind, grind, and then grind some more. These guys have talent, but not like '06 & '07....when they could out-skate and out-score other teams and were rolling out 4 lines that could have been considered #1 or #2 lines on any other team.

 

There's enough offense to win games, but they're not going to win 7-5 games anymore. They need to be able to grind out the 2-0 and 3-1 wins.

[Kristian]

Other.

 

Lack of veteran presence.

[Supersabre]

Whatever is wrong with this team I wish that they would snap out of it.

[FogBat]

If anything, the Sabres must not become what I've written in my signature block.

[SabresFan526]

Other - It's a total lack of execution and playing within the system. This team has enough talent both on offense and defense, especially within a salary cap era. This team can score goals and offense should not be a problem. The problem is that this team does not follow the system and do not support the goalie and play defense.

 

Last night is a great example. They supposedly have a great PK, but they give up two PP goals to Pittsburgh. Then on the game-winner, I blame Pominville and Vanek for not taking out Staal and letting him come freely through the slot. Some would blame Teppo for that, but positionally, he was in the right place standing in front of the crease to block a shot if it came from the outside, the forward is responsible for taking the man and preventing him from flying freely through the slot. And to me, it looked like it was Pominville's man and he's had quite a few mental breakdowns in the defensive zone that I have seen in the last few games. Of course, then on Fedetenko's goal the Sabres get caught on a bad pinch by Sekera and nobody comes back to backcheck leaving Spacek all by himself to handle a 4-on-1, and he looked lost with 4 guys coming in on his one.

 

This team needs to execute better and playing a better defensive game, which they did for about 50 minutes last night and then lost the game in the final 10 minutes because of a breakdown in the defensive zone. When this team plays sound defensively, forechecks ferociously with a forward high, backcheck to support their defense and goalie, and do not make careless turnovers and take out free men roaming around in the slot, this is a very good team that can win a lot of games. They just are not executing as they should be and they are not playing the system for 60 minutes. They played the system for 50 last night and that's not enough.

[el_Polako]

I'm going with goaltending. I'm sorry but Miller needs to step up and play like an elite goalie. Every goalie needs to make the difficult saves, not to mention the easy ones. Most of the time he's playing like an average goalie.

[Spudz]

Defense is the main problem, but not buying into this defense first by the forwards is the other issue. If they could shore up the D the forwards will get plenty of chances, and they can play free in their own zone without worrying, because they can rely on the D-men.

 

Where this fails is if the D aint a lock down D, the forwards need to be more responsible and they have failed to do so. Too many going into the zone turnovers, not enough back checking, and wasted chances close to goal. Watching the Pitt game I saw them cycling the fore check in the corner, and man I can't remember the last time I saw that. I think Dumont and Grier were here. Whatever happened to that?

[bottlecap]

A combination of things...but at the bottom of it is incumbency. I really believe Ruff has lost the Sabres. We have lot of dead wood on the club: too many soft players and one dimensional players that have been here too long. Sabres need players who are tough and smart and fast and too many are just one or two of those. Defense doesn't have a backbone. Miller isn't as consistent as we need a goalie to be. We need a first line center and an enforcer who can play. And most of all we need an owner who doesn't care about losing money because hockey is a sport where you're going to lose money.

[Realist]

Lack of focus and/or willingness to play the system. They simply are not playing 60 minutes right now, and until they learn we can expect a losing record.l

 

We know by their start that they can play 60 and achieve a winning record. So if I were Lindy the question is simple - Okay boys it's on you, do want to win, or lose?

I agree with cilevel, they can obviously do it. They started the season great. Mentally they just aren't in it for the entire game. Every game we've had spurts where they look unbeatable, then they just screw it up and give up a goal or can't put it in the net and the opponent gets the momentum and the game is history.

 

Mentally, they are not tough enough. Talentwise, they can do it.

[R_Dudley]

A combination of things...but at the bottom of it is incumbency. I really believe Ruff has lost the Sabres. We have lot of dead wood on the club: too many soft players and one dimensional players that have been here too long. Sabres need players who are tough and smart and fast and too many are just one or two of those. Defense doesn't have a backbone. Miller isn't as consistent as we need a goalie to be. We need a first line center and an enforcer who can play. And most of all we need an owner who doesn't care about losing money because hockey is a sport where you're going to lose money.

 

That is my vote as well. I am not quite at the point of saying he has lost them however IMO it is at the point where familarity breeds inattention (not quite contempt) has factored in. This team seems way to comfortable with themselves even when they are not playing well.

 

How much of that goes to the players and how much to the coach with not pushing the right buttons to make them accountable is where I am stuck on this. I do think that things like the situation with Max are contributing factors when all of us can see the obvious problem Lindy has with Max but yet he is still on the team and/or has yet to be benched for his not following the formula. This is the time that a front office move to trade somebody and bring someone else in can be used get the rest of the rooms attention.

[bleedblueandgold]

We definitely need toughness but I think we need to sprinkle a couple young rookies (kennedy, mancari, gerbe) in our lineup to show the other guys how to actually compete and work. It seems like there has been little effort by most of the team the past couple of weeks. They don't have that sense of "playing desparate". I think a few minor changes here or there can spark this team. I think Roy has been playing too many minutes, this is why we are seeing a reduction in his point totals.

 

Go Sabres!!!!!

[Buffalo Fan]

This year is starting to hurt more than last year...Max or no Max, the problems go deeper. Are we expecting too much out of Roy? Rivet is a nice start to overhauling the defense, but I don't think we (nor the front office) should be falling in love with too many of these guys. same with the forwards. If DR senses some interest in just about anyone, and he can get the right guy for this team, he should pull the trigger...the problem may be that there isn't too much interest around the league, unless it's a waiver wire pickup.

 

Maybe with this cap, everyone is overvaluing their own.

 

Whatever it is, this is getting rediculous.