The self-fulfilling prophecy of doom

[Stoner]

"The message I had to them was that there's not a lot of opportunities out there five-on-five and you can't pass them up. The odds are that there's maybe eight a game for a team," Ruff said.

 

How often is this the message drilled into the players' heads? That you WILL NOT create a lot of scoring chances and you had BETTER cash in on the ones you are lucky enough to create. No wonder their hands are giving the death grip to the stick.

 

Lindy acts like a low-scoring, low-chance game is predetermined by the opponent, that there's not a damn thing he and his coaches can do about it. How about the Sabres dictating the flow of the game?

 

This is not a one time comment. It's one of Lindy's favorite old pregame speeches. Pure incompetence, I say, and a pretty good explanation for 11 years of pretty much constant offensive woes, and woe is me hockey.

[inkman]

How about the Sabres dictating the flow of the game?

...because they can't?

[Stoner]

...because they can't?

 

In the words of Colonel Potter, horse hockey!

 

It's called coaching. The Sabres should look into it.

[jad1]

"The message I had to them was that there's not a lot of opportunities out there five-on-five and you can't pass them up. The odds are that there's maybe eight a game for a team," Ruff said.

 

How often is this the message drilled into the players' heads? That you WILL NOT create a lot of scoring chances and you had BETTER cash in on the ones you are lucky enough to create. No wonder their hands are giving the death grip to the stick.

 

Lindy acts like a low-scoring, low-chance game is predetermined by the opponent, that there's not a damn thing he and his coaches can do about it. How about the Sabres dictating the flow of the game?

 

This is not a one time comment. It's one of Lindy's favorite old pregame speeches. Pure incompetence, I say, and a pretty good explanation for 11 years of pretty much constant offensive woes, and woe is me hockey.

 

Telling players that they have to cash in on their opportunites is pure incompetence? So all NFL coaches that tell their teams that they have to score in the red zone are also incompetent?

 

I know you fancy yourself the contrarian around here, but this is scrapping the bottom of the barrel, even by your standards.

[Stoner]

Telling players that they have to cash in on their opportunites is pure incompetence? So all NFL coaches that tell their teams that they have to score in the red zone are also incompetent?

 

I know you fancy yourself the contrarian around here, but this is scrapping the bottom of the barrel, even by your standards.

 

You fanned on that one dude.

 

Let's continue the football analogy. The Bills are offensively challenged. Are you OK with Jauron telling the team before a game that they're going to get into the Red Zone only three times? Even if it's the team's average performance (have no idea if it is, it might be more than three but it's not a lot more), the coach has to buck up the players! I mean, there's a power of suggestion there. Listen, guys, we're gonna move the ball up and down the field today! Ruff's depression is weighing down the team. Maybe he and Ray can share a shrink.

 

Edit: After losing Game 3 of the Rangers series in NY, Lindy predicted the Sabres might not get two or three more goals the rest of the entire series! He had the highest scoring team in the league that season. He has Debbie Downered his teams throughout his tenure. He is joyless. No wonder his teams usually play like that.

[Eleven]

"The message I had to them was that there's not a lot of opportunities out there five-on-five and you can't pass them up. The odds are that there's maybe eight a game for a team," Ruff said.

 

How often is this the message drilled into the players' heads? That you WILL NOT create a lot of scoring chances and you had BETTER cash in on the ones you are lucky enough to create. No wonder their hands are giving the death grip to the stick.

 

Lindy acts like a low-scoring, low-chance game is predetermined by the opponent, that there's not a damn thing he and his coaches can do about it. How about the Sabres dictating the flow of the game?

 

This is not a one time comment. It's one of Lindy's favorite old pregame speeches. Pure incompetence, I say, and a pretty good explanation for 11 years of pretty much constant offensive woes, and woe is me hockey.

 

BS, PA. I've heard Lindy use the phrase "create chances" enough to know that this is selective quotation and unbalanced commentary. C'mon, PA. You're one of the good ones around here; hold yourself to a higher standard.

[jad1]

You fanned on that one dude.

 

Let's continue the football analogy. The Bills are offensively challenged. Are you OK with Jauron telling the team before a game that they're going to get into the Red Zone only three times? Even if it's the team's average performance (have no idea if it is, it might be more than three but it's not a lot more), the coach has to buck up the players! I mean, there's a power of suggestion there. Listen, guys, we're gonna move the ball up and down the field today! Ruff's depression is weighing down the team. Maybe he and Ray can share a shrink.

 

Edit: After losing Game 3 of the Rangers series in NY, Lindy predicted the Sabres might not get two or three more goals the rest of the entire series! He had the highest scoring team in the league that season. He has Debbie Downered his teams throughout his tenure. He is joyless. No wonder his teams usually play like that.

 

Right, because the Sabres are probably going to miss the playoffs for the second year in a row NOT because they're weak on the puck, shy away from physical play, take stupid penalites and attempt countless brainless passes that result in turnovers, it's because Ruff doesn't believe in the POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING!

 

Man, you must be as delusional as one of Pomminstein's "It's disappointing, but we played hard and we need to take the positives into the next game" speaches after a loss to the Islanders (or Thrashers, or one of the other bottom feeders in the league) if you think that's what this team needs.

 

How can you possibly miss the fact that the problem with the Sabres is that there is no on-ice accountability? This team doesn't need a pep talk, it needs a kick in the ass.

 

Coaching only gets a team so far, but if the players don't hate to lose as much as the coach, the team is going down.

 

In the past, Ruff has had these guys on the team, Peca and Drury for example. Guys who had no problem putting a finger in the chest of a teammate who made a stupid mistake. Ruff won Jack Adams trophies with those guys on roster. They weren't the most talented guys in the league, but they didn't let their teammates hide from the coaches' criticism. The current roster is missing this type of leader.

 

This team is not going to change its makeup under a new coach. They'll form a comfort circle when the new guy starts holding them accountable, just like they do with Ruff.

 

Trade some of the current passengers on the roster for a leader or two, keep Ruff, and the Sabres will make the playoffs again.

[Stoner]

BS, PA. I've heard Lindy use the phrase "create chances" enough to know that this is selective quotation and unbalanced commentary. C'mon, PA. You're one of the good ones around here; hold yourself to a higher standard.

 

Selective quotation? They're Ruff's words. He selected them! Not sure how else they can be interpreted.

[Eleven]

Selective quotation? They're Ruff's words. He selected them! Not sure how else they can be interpreted.

 

He said them. YOU selected them.

[Stoner]

He said them. YOU selected them.

 

Sabres won! Gimme five!

[Eleven]

Sabres won! Gimme five!

 

You got 'em. All five.

[matter2003]

You fanned on that one dude.

 

Let's continue the football analogy. The Bills are offensively challenged. Are you OK with Jauron telling the team before a game that they're going to get into the Red Zone only three times? Even if it's the team's average performance (have no idea if it is, it might be more than three but it's not a lot more), the coach has to buck up the players! I mean, there's a power of suggestion there. Listen, guys, we're gonna move the ball up and down the field today! Ruff's depression is weighing down the team. Maybe he and Ray can share a shrink.

 

Edit: After losing Game 3 of the Rangers series in NY, Lindy predicted the Sabres might not get two or three more goals the rest of the entire series! He had the highest scoring team in the league that season. He has Debbie Downered his teams throughout his tenure. He is joyless. No wonder his teams usually play like that.

 

The basic premise I am getting here is that Ruff sees his players as being too nonchalant when they get good chances because they feel there are always gonna be more, while he is trying to tell them they need to bear down on them and focus more because they are not going to be as frequent as they think...I don't see a problem here---would you rather the players believe they are gonna get 20 chances so its no big deal when they try and make 5 passes in front of the net instead of shooting? Its obviously they don't have enough skill anymore to do those type of things on a routine basis, although by Ruff's comments they must think they do...

[Stoner]

The basic premise I am getting here is that Ruff sees his players as being too nonchalant when they get good chances because they feel there are always gonna be more, while he is trying to tell them they need to bear down on them and focus more because they are not going to be as frequent as they think...I don't see a problem here---would you rather the players believe they are gonna get 20 chances so its no big deal when they try and make 5 passes in front of the net instead of shooting? Its obviously they don't have enough skill anymore to do those type of things on a routine basis, although by Ruff's comments they must think they do...

 

So we have a Jack Adams winner who thinks coaching is telling his players to score when they get the chance? Great. These coaches are a dime a dozen at youth sports. REBOUND REBOUND! the coach will yell. And there are dozens of coaches in any crowd. RUN TAYLOR RUN! GET IT! GET THAT BALL!

 

The more I think about this quote, the more it perplexes me. Is eight chances per game some kind of stat set in stone? Is this actually the league average for chances? Seems very low. Is Ruff merely admitting that his offensive system is so ineffective, makes such poor use of the talent he has that the players have to consider any scoring chance a must goal, because so few chances will follow?

 

I'll offer a reward right now for any poster who can find another NHL coach who has made a comment like that.

[DR HOLLIDAY]

Coaching only gets a team so far, but if the players don't hate to lose as much as the coach, the team is going down.

 

In the past, Ruff has had these guys on the team, Peca and Drury for example. Guys who had no problem putting a finger in the chest of a teammate who made a stupid mistake. Ruff won Jack Adams trophies with those guys on roster. They weren't the most talented guys in the league, but they didn't let their teammates hide from the coaches' criticism. The current roster is missing this type of leader.

 

This team is not going to change its makeup under a new coach. They'll form a comfort circle when the new guy starts holding them accountable, just like they do with Ruff.

 

Trade some of the current passengers on the roster for a leader or two, keep Ruff, and the Sabres will make the playoffs again.

 

Well said man............ :beer:

[blugold43]

Right, because the Sabres are probably going to miss the playoffs for the second year in a row NOT because they're weak on the puck, shy away from physical play, take stupid penalites and attempt countless brainless passes that result in turnovers, it's because Ruff doesn't believe in the POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING!

 

Man, you must be as delusional as one of Pomminstein's "It's disappointing, but we played hard and we need to take the positives into the next game" speaches after a loss to the Islanders (or Thrashers, or one of the other bottom feeders in the league) if you think that's what this team needs.

 

How can you possibly miss the fact that the problem with the Sabres is that there is no on-ice accountability? This team doesn't need a pep talk, it needs a kick in the ass.

 

Coaching only gets a team so far, but if the players don't hate to lose as much as the coach, the team is going down.

 

In the past, Ruff has had these guys on the team, Peca and Drury for example. Guys who had no problem putting a finger in the chest of a teammate who made a stupid mistake. Ruff won Jack Adams trophies with those guys on roster. They weren't the most talented guys in the league, but they didn't let their teammates hide from the coaches' criticism. The current roster is missing this type of leader.

 

This team is not going to change its makeup under a new coach. They'll form a comfort circle when the new guy starts holding them accountable, just like they do with Ruff.

 

Trade some of the current passengers on the roster for a leader or two, keep Ruff, and the Sabres will make the playoffs again.

dude you are right on. and it would help if our idiot GM and owner didn't saddle the coach with a "smallball" roster of sissies.

[Stoner]

dude you are right on. and it would help if our idiot GM and owner didn't saddle the coach with a "smallball" roster of sissies.

 

Don't you think Lindy has any say in the players the Sabres draft and otherwise acquire?

[blugold43]

Don't you think Lindy has any say in the players the Sabres draft and otherwise acquire?

i believe he has very little input. i think his choices are SEVERELY limited by the hierarchy. i think he is secretly disgusted by half the guys on the roster and wishes he could suit up against them.

[Stoner]

i believe he has very little input. i think his choices are SEVERELY limited by the hierarchy. i think he is secretly disgusted by half the guys on the roster and wishes he could suit up against them.

 

I asked. I don't know the answer. I would assume Lindy has a role. Can anyone shed light on this?

[SwampD]

i believe he has very little input. i think his choices are SEVERELY limited by the hierarchy. i think he is secretly disgusted by half the guys on the roster and wishes he could suit up against them.

This is just silly.

[blugold43]

This is just silly.

really? you really think this is the roster he'd have if he wasn't hemmed in by quinn and regier?

[SwampD]

really? you really think this is the roster he'd have if he wasn't hemmed in by quinn and regier?

Every coach has to work within the confines of what the GMs give them. But to think that the longest tenured coach in the NHL has no say in who is on his team is just silly. If he is as big a victim as you make him out to be then he must be a real pantywaste and should just go away. He's a big boy. If he's not getting what he wants, then I'm sure there are at least ten clubs that would hire him tomorrow that would give him players he "really wants".

[Stoner]

Every coach has to work within the confines of what the GMs give them. But to think that the longest tenured coach in the NHL has no say in who is on his team is just silly. If he is as big a victim as you make him out to be then he must be a real pantywaste and should just go away. He's a big boy. If he's not getting what he wants, then I'm sure there are at least ten clubs that would hire him tomorrow that would give him players he "really wants".

 

Didn't Lindy around the time of the Drury-Briere situation in 2007 say he had to take some time to decide if he wanted to come back? I'm not sure his heart's been in it since then.

[blugold43]

Every coach has to work within the confines of what the GMs give them. But to think that the longest tenured coach in the NHL has no say in who is on his team is just silly. If he is as big a victim as you make him out to be then he must be a real pantywaste and should just go away. He's a big boy. If he's not getting what he wants, then I'm sure there are at least ten clubs that would hire him tomorrow that would give him players he "really wants".

i think he's counting the days until his contract expires so he can get away from this clusterfcuk of an organization once and for all.

[jad1]

So we have a Jack Adams winner who thinks coaching is telling his players to score when they get the chance? Great. These coaches are a dime a dozen at youth sports. REBOUND REBOUND! the coach will yell. And there are dozens of coaches in any crowd. RUN TAYLOR RUN! GET IT! GET THAT BALL!

 

The more I think about this quote, the more it perplexes me. Is eight chances per game some kind of stat set in stone? Is this actually the league average for chances? Seems very low. Is Ruff merely admitting that his offensive system is so ineffective, makes such poor use of the talent he has that the players have to consider any scoring chance a must goal, because so few chances will follow?

 

I'll offer a reward right now for any poster who can find another NHL coach who has made a comment like that.

 

I'll go with the obvious observation here. The Sabres over the last two seasons, have a propensity of attempting the extra pass on scoring opportunites, rather than shooting the puck on net.

 

So Ruff is over-emphasizing the point of shooting to break the team of their deadly habit of passing the puck out of the slot, which falls into the larger problem of this team trying to complete low percentage passes instead of making the smart, easy play.

 

He's not harshing the team's buzz, he's make a valid point about pissing away scoring opportunities by making stupid, unnecessary passes.

[Stoner]

Lindy did it again! What a numbskull.

 

After last night: "For the first time in a long time, we held an opponent to one goal. We have to do this in the final two games if we are to have any chance," said Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff. "I'm not letting out any secrets. We're not that good on offense, and we have to give Ryan a lot of support."

 

His team is average offensively, middle of the pack, but top 10 in power play. A team that has to hold the other team to one goal to have a chance to win? Hardly. In other words, glass half full. But Lindy likes to infect everyone with his clinical depression I guess.

 

What if Carolina goes up 2-0 tonight? What message has Ruff sent his team? Turn out the lights.