A Broken Switch

[Allan in MD]

A possible negative of the Sabres' great start this season was development of a mindset on the team that you can play any which way and its not a concern because when it becomes necessary, all you have to do is flip on the switch and the game will somehow be yours. Time and again the team has proven that this approach works.

 

Obviously, this is a very dangerous approach, as has been evidenced in some recent games. Especially troubling is the fact that the many injured players are returning to action, yet, the consistency of play has not improved accordingly.

 

Only ultra special teams, such as Michael Jordon's Bulls, can get away with playing in this fashion. I am not yet convinced that these Sabres are ultra special, though they are undeniably very good.

 

This team has to understand that there will be times that the switch, from overuse, will stick or break. We can only hope that excessive playing with the switch will not shock this team. And we must certainly hope, as well, that Lindy takes appropriate measures to ensure that those taking excessive time off, big names or not, get the message. He certainly was successful, in this regard, with Vanek.

 

It would quite disappointing, we can all agree, if a mindset turned off this, heretofore, very bright season.

[Taro T]

A possible negative of the Sabres' great start this season was development of a mindset on the team that you can play any which way and its not a concern because when it becomes necessary, all you have to do is flip on the switch and the game will somehow be yours. Time and again the team has proven that this approach works.

 

Obviously, this is a very dangerous approach, as has been evidenced in some recent games. Especially troubling is the fact that the many injured players are returning to action, yet, the consistency of play has not improved accordingly.

 

Only ultra special teams, such as Michael Jordon's Bulls, can get away with playing in this fashion. I am not yet convinced that these Sabres are ultra special, though they are undeniably very good.

 

This team has to understand that there will be times that the switch, from overuse, will stick or break. We can only hope that excessive playing with the switch will not shock this team. And we must certainly hope, as well, that Lindy takes appropriate measures to ensure that those taking excessive time off, big names or not, get the message. He certainly was successful, in this regard, with Vanek.

 

It would quite disappointing, we can all agree, if a mindset turned off this, heretofore, very bright season.

Which is why I don't see winning the Prez's Trophy as a problem. (I realize your post wasn't directly regarding the PT, but I've seen that concern in many threads recently.) If they win it, they will realize that they had to bust their butts to do it, and I think they are level-headed enough to remember that the skinny trophy isn't the one they are after. A lot of times that a team ends up #1 overall and then has a quick exit, I can't recall many losses of the top team to the weak ones. They develop an arrogance that losses like the last one and Lindy Ruff's & Chris Drury's memories won't allow to set in to the point that it can't be overcome.

 

If they don't win the PT, well then they have something additional to prove. These guys seem to do alright when they play with a chip on their shoulder.