KEEP: Tyler Ennis, Paul Gaustad, Mike Grier, Nathan Gerbe, Tim Kennedy, Patrick Kaleta, Steve Montador, one of Hank/Toni (i.e. Hank), Jochen Hecht (his absence made far more of a difference than people have given it credit for), Tyler Myers, Chris Butler (on notice), Andrej Sekera (also on notice), Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek
BID A FOND-TO-VERY-FOND FAREWELL: one of Hank/Toni (very fond), Jason Pominville (begrudgingly fond but only because the season ended when it did), Matt Ellis (very fond), Lindy Ruff (very fond if you leave soon)
BID FAREWELL: Adam Mair, Raffi Torres, Craig Rivet
KILL IN THE MOST PAINFUL WAY POSSIBLE: Tim Connolly, Derek Roy, Drew Stafford
More another day. I need to compress.
9 comments:
I concur. McCormick and Mancari should be here next year too
Please add Vanek to the keep list. Thank you.
McCormick can stay, I guess. I'll give him a shot to make the team at least. I don't know about Mancari.
brian, Vanek ABSOLUTELY should have been on the keep list. I meant to put him there so I'm editing him in.
And I only think one of Pomminville, Roy, and Connolly will be gone next year, unfortunately. Do you give Grier the "C" in your scenario or does it go to Miller, a la Luongo in Vancouver?
Don't hold back Heather. I think Ruff is a pretty good coach though considering what he has for a team. I didn't think the Sabres would even be in the spot they were.
brian, I'm sure you're right that only one of those guys will be gone. (If I had to pick one it would be Roy, I think. But I hit a new level with Pominville this series). I'd give Grier the C. I'm sure Ryan is a huge part of the heart and soul of the team, but I like to have a C skating around out there.
Ross, I love Lindy. I *love* him. But I think it might be time for a change, and changing him is going to be easier than changing all the players who need to go. Believe me, I do NOT cast aspersions on Lindy lightly.
I respect Lindy Ruff as a man, because he has been a tremendous asset to the community throughout his time here. And by all accounts he is a genuinely good person. I think that is why it has taken me so long to arrive where I am now. Specifically, that he needs to go. The system doesn't work. Plain and simple the players all resist it. It is excruciatingly boring to watch. And I strongly dislike how he selectively benches and calls certain players out quite caustically in the media. Do that stuff in the room and keep it there. And the random line generator.
But really what has been staring me in the face is this. Exactly who, in the past ten years has actually flourished in Buffalo. Who do you look at and say "WOW! I never thought (insert name here) had that in him" Conversely, how many players come up and initially show promise, then a few years later we are all scratching our heads and asking "What happened? He looked so good" (Stafford, Butler, Roy, Pominville, Sekera all come to mind). How many times can a player be brought in at the trade deadline in the midst of a solid season, produce nothing here, move onto another team and pick up where they left off before they got here? How often do we complain about inconsistent effort? All of that points to the coach/coaching staff. I really fear if Ruff stays, in two years we will be saying "Remember how good Myers looked his rookie year?"
I concur with the list (though I'm not sold on Gerbe) and I really think it's time for Ruff to go. I hear NJ needs a new coach for their boring system, so there's a great opening available!
I'm with Vanek's Hair on Ruff ruining players, or to be more charitable, not using them to their abilities. I think the Sabres got to where they are in spite of Ruff's system, not because of his brilliant coaching strategy. I am pretty angry with Ruff right now over Torres. The guy came in as the team's leading scorer and he languished on the freaking fourth line. He should have more opportunities to make a difference, but he wasn't one of Lindy Ruff's pets, so therefore he didn't get n a line that matched his skills except when the bench was short. He was a healthy scratch before Drew freaking Stafford was, which is totally inexplicable.
I'd keep Pomminville, presuming he's put on a line with YoYo. He and Hecht work much better together than they do apart.
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