Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff recently sat down with my friend Adam Benigni of WGRZ-TV in Buffalo. The Sabres GM and head coached shared their views on the changes inside their organization in 2013. Regier and Ruff have changed their approach off the ice in the post lockout, 48 game season.
The inimitable Adrian Dater of the Denver Post turned me on to this Matt Duchene interview that he conducted with Hockey Night in Canada Radio on Friday 2/15. Duchene has become the alpha dog for the Avs in the absence of the injured Gabriel Landeskog (concussion) and the soon-to-be-traded Ryan O'Reilly.
Duchene dropped a bomb when he told HNIC Radio that he has not talked with O'Reilly and that the guys in the room are only worried about the guys who are in the room.
Translation: See ya later, O'Reilly.
Pretty surprising comments by Duchene considering that O'Reilly technically is still a teammate of the all the guys in the Avs room.
Fast forward to the 9:30 mark of the interview to hear Duchene's not so flattering comments about O'Reilly.
Perhaps the rift between the two players is a by-product of the two year, $7 million bridge contract that Duchene signed last summer. O'Reilly, an RFA, was offered the same two year, $3.5 million per season contract which is now the comparable that the Avs GM Greg Sherman is using to value O'Reilly. Duchene left money on the table. O'Reilly will not be doing so. ROR is asking for 5 years and $25 million. The Avs are not interested.
If I'm Darcy Regier, I'm asking Terry Pegula to gas up the G6 for a flight to Denver to make a face to face trade offer for Ryan O'Reilly. If I'm Regier, I put all my cards on the table. I'd even offer Jason Pominville if that's what it takes to land the studly two-way pivot.
"The Factor" is now persona non grata in the Av's room. He'd be greeted with a hero's welcome in the Buffalo because he is the embodiment of exactly what the Sabres need right now: a skilled, tenacious 200 foot player who can win face offs, wall battles and can score.
According to Dater, he has heard that the Avs asked for mobile D Michael Del Zotto and a top prospect, said to be either Chris Kreider or JT Miller, in exchange for O'Reilly.
The pressure has been building for weeks. Moral victories aside, the Sabres have only earned 13 of a possible 32 points that were available to them in the first month of the season. Five wins and a loser point. That's it.
The wins and losses are not commensurate with the effort put forth. The effort inside games is not good enough. Ryan Miller certainly knows it. Steve Ott knows it. Lindy Ruff knows it. Darcy Regier, Ted Black, and Terry Pegula know it. I'm wondering if everyone in the Buffalo room knows it.
Close, but no cigar is getting old in the Buffalo room.
The pressure has been building for weeks. Moral victories aside, the Sabres have only earned 11 of a possible 32 points that were available to them in the first month of the season. Five wins and a loser point. That's it.
On Sunday, on national TV, the proverbial pipes burst due to the pressure.
Ryan Miller is pissed off, and with good reason. He's busting his ass to cover up for the litany of turnover and mistakes that his teammates continue to commit each and every game. Sunday was no exception. This time, captain Pominville gets to wear the goat horns for his ghastly giveaway that ended up in Miller's net.
The team got punched in the gut twice in the first 92 seconds of the game, yet they managed to fight their way off the ropes to score three goals to give them the momentum and the lead against one of the top three teams in the NHL. Then, inexplicably, the roof fell in on their heads AGAIN. An ugly turnover led to the game tying goal and moments later, Paul martin scored the GWG through an Ehrhoff screen of Ryan Miller.
Ugly way to lose a game.
Jason Pominville reiterated that the Sabres were not, and have not been good enough in their own end of the rink.
“Giveaways are there, but we’re in the zone still, we can still get the puck out. I don’t think they scored off a rush, they were in our zone, they were cycling. Giveaways will happen in a game you just have to make sure we play well in our zone and at that point we didn’t and they ended up making a play.”
Its all retrospective analysis to say "we did that, therefore they did that, then they scored. We have to clean up that part of our game". Yada,yada, yada, blah, blah, blah! Save it, Jason. Your team finds new ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on a routine basis. Its become your team's identity to make stupid mistakes that lead to ugly goals against when your team is under intense pressure in your own zone. Its happened against Montreal, Florida, Boston, Carolina, NY Islanders, and other opponents. It will continue to happen until someone gets fired, benched, or traded.
There's no excuse for starting slow, especially since the Sabres players slept in their own beds after beating Boston. what's more they had a an early practice with no game on Saturday.
“It was tough, definitely a tough start. I mean, getting down by two against that team, but we managed to stick with it and battle back, and got the lead, and just probably weren’t good enough with the lead, and when the game was on the line our power play didn’t get it done
Get it to OT. Even if they lost in OT, they'd have gotten the loser point and would feel good about their bounce back ability. Instead, they get caught scratching their heads for the bazillionth time this season. This routine is getting very old, very fast.
Miller is sick of the excuses.
Thanks, Sabres.com
Pens D Paul Martin summed up Buffalo's struggles with his description of his game winning goal:
“The puck just found it’s way towards me and I just put it to the net and it went in. I think it maybe went off Ehrhoff’s hip, I think it moved a little bit when I saw the replay.”
The story of an otherwise lackluster Sabres season.
The winds of change are blowing. There were a ton of NHL scouts in the building on Sunday. More than usual I dare say. This tells me that Darcy Regier is interested in changing the dynamics and chemistry of his lineup. This may answer the question as to why Nathan Gerbe was playing the PP vs. Pittsburgh. It may well be the reason why Jordan Leopold was in the lineup against one of his former teams. Regier may want to burn the midnight oil this week to find the two areas of greatest need: a competent, skilled Dman, and, a solid two-way centre. Fatal flaws have revealed themselves in the first sixteen games. For example, the Sabres D corps that cannot execute a simple breakout pass. I hear the same old excuses as to why game after game. The wingers are losing wall battles. The centres are not winning draws on a consistent enough basis.
Its time to reward guys like Miller and Ott by adding a difference maker to the Sabres group. If that means trading for Ryan O'Reilly or Jarome Iginla, then so be it.
“They have a team that plays really well offensively. They keep coming; they have defensemen that activate all the time and join the play all the time which is a kind of team we can’t turn the puck over against. I think we did a little too much at our blue line and at their blue line in the second, which is why they came out so hard. We stuck with it and came out with a good third (period).”
Steve Ott,like Ryan Miller was chafed his team's third period performance against Pittsburgh. They feel in the hole in period one, battled back in period two, surged into the third period, and then coughed up pucks and the lead in period three.
Miller sprayed a couple of F-words that rhyme with luck in describing his team's effort in the 4-3 loss to Dupuis, martin and the Penguins.
Ott was more diplomatic, however, he isn't happy with leaving the building with no points on Sunday.
"I really like the determination of the guys to come back in this game. I like the way we battled, and continues to push, push, push, but at the end of it all, we'd be happier with the two points that we deserve to be walking out with".
On Ehrhoff's game in, game out heroics. Today he took a bullet of a blocked shot in the chest. earlier this week, he took a slapper to the mouth and still finished the game.
"I'm sure the cameras can't see the contusions on his body the the blocked shot he had, sacrificing his body probably speaks for itself, and the rest of his game was phenomenal, getting shots through, creating chances, those are the big things that we needs from him and again, he was very solid.
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On getting under the skin of the Pens:
"We tried to draw penalties, and we did. If it leads to some undisciplined (play) on their side then so be it. You know, our power play's gotta do the job every single time we are out there".
On pissing off Kunitz and forcing him to sit two minutes:
" Thats huge, it gave a chance to try to put it away. We know we need to continue to do better and get better. There's a game right there for instance that we should have fought back into.. scratch, claw and left here with some points. Its disappointing when we are walking out of here empty handed.
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On Ryan Miller's miraculous save on James Neal late in the third period:
" You know that what Ryan does. We have a first class goalie here. You're going to see some saves, I can think of some off hand that he makes saves like that and Ryan gives us a chance.. we need to find ways to win games for him"
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On battling back in to. Frustrated?
"I din't think it goes for naught. We battled our asses off to get back into this game. We could have folded the tent after a minute and a half. Every single guy in here could have mailed it out and said "okay, lets start next game", but we didn't. We fought. Guys played extremely well. Guys in here had some really solid games. We have to correct the mistakes. Its disappointing that in the end we didn't scratch and win this one and earn the points that we probably we deserved after it all".
Paul Martrin scores the eventual game winner after the Sabres clawed and slashed their way back from an ugly two goal hole in period one.
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3-3
@12:54, Leopold with ANOTHER D zone blunder, his umpteenth #minusplayer. Pominville's refusal to be hard on the puck to get a clear caused another soft turnover in Miller's end of the rink. Its time for a night or two in the press box for Leopold.
Pascal Dupuis scores the equalizer.
Third period goal differential now back to +5.
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3-2 Sabres
Gerbe with the stop-up, then fed to @OtterN9NE for the go ahead goal.
gerbe and Hecht manufactured the chance with their speed. Ott was Jonny on the spot for his third goal of the season.
Sabres are now +6 in third period
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TKO McCormick over Tanner Glass. Nice scrap. McCormick could've done some serious damage to Glass while the Pens sweater was over his face during the fight. Cody took the high road and didn't goon him with blind punches. Cody allowed the guy to get his sweater off his face so that he could see the barrage of McCormick's knuckles.
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Pominville's assist on Buffalo's first goal has now been credited to Vanek. HDTV now with 1G, 1A.
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Will Bylsma lock it down in P3, or, will the pond hockey continue for the Pens? PIT haven't looked particularly impressive today
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The roof usually collapses for whatever reason (fatique and penalties) in P2. They avoided it today.
Sabres out hitting Pens 20-12; Sabres 8 takeaways to Pens 3; Sabres 9 blocked shots to Pens 11
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Better all around period for Sabres. They have been wretched in second periods of games in past week and a half. They played with more poise and purpose in all three zones. Miller was outstanding in turning aside all 11 Pens shots. The Buffalo PP clicked on home ice for the first time in a long time. Vanek from Ehrhoff ties the game at 2s heading into the third period.
@ 9:16 vanek ties game with timely PPG. Ehrhoff took th epoint shot that found Vanek's twig... Vanek's 12th goal of the season.
Crosby was sitting two for xcheck when Adam too a two minute minor for face off violation.
Sabres maximized their PP, finally!
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Its always a great hockey day when I get to speak with one of my boyhood idols, Rick Dudley. The former Sabres grinder is now assistant GM in Montreal. I dare you to find me a more plugged-in, active personnel evaluator in the NHL. Duds has a book on hundreds of players in North America and in Europe. he told me that he just returned from out West, where he has been evaluating the talent in the West.
All Dudley does is gut failing teams and then re-builds them into winners. I told him that he should have a cable TV show that features makeovers on homes. He laughed. Dudly is the organization improvement king. Look at his body of work: Ottawa. Tampa. Chicago. Atlanta. Montreal. Any Cup winners in the group? Duds' finger prints are all over the NHL.
He's so successful because he never is satisfied. he always askes : "What if?".
"There will be a trade market in the short season and we feel like we have to be ready, and I feel like we are", he told me during the first period intermission in the press box.
The Canadiens enter today's action atop the Norteast division. They have been very impressive thus far. I asked Duds what the difference is with Montreal:
"We changed our culture. Prust has been great for us in the room. Markov being healthy, too."
Carey Price has been full value for Montreal. But, he's not doing it all by himself.
"Our kids have been great. Galchenyuk is wonderful, and Gallagher has been producing well. Gionta has been solid for us too"
@6:32, the Vancouver connection pays off as Ehrhoff's point shot finds Cody Hodgson in the slot. He wasted little time depositing the puck behind Marc Andre Fleury.
Great job of CoHo to put on his Carhart and to fight to the dirty area inside the Pittsburgh D. He was rewarded to driving inside.
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Paging Mr. OReilly, Mr. Ryan OReilly.....how good would a robust two-way centreman look in blue and gold right now?
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Jason Pominville atkes a dumb tripping penalty at 3:52. Where's the discipline that the team has been preaching all week? The captain knows better than to put his PKers back on the ice twice in the first four minutes of a game against murderers like the Pens.
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2-0 Pens
@ 1:27, with Myers in the box, Crosby was left all alone in front of Miller . 87 ate up a freebie puck off the dasher boards and he slam dunked it hime.
PPG.
terrible start for Buffalo.
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1-0 Pens
35 seconds into the game, pascal Dupuis steals Cody Hodgson's milk money and feeds east Amherst's Brooks Orpik at the point. Shot eludes Miller.
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The Sabres are scratching Mikhail Grigorenko and TJ Brennan today.
The Pens are going with a heavy lineup.
Grigo will have to wait until later in the season to take draws against Geno Malkin, a guy who he has admired for a long time.
Crosby, Malkin, Sutter and Vital are skilled centres and win a lot of draws. Ruff is playing the percentages and going with experienced centres today.
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Keep Matt Cooke away from Ehrhoff and Myers' ankles. Cooke carved up Erik Karlsson's achilles tendon with an ill-advised skate check. No suspension.
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Sabres next 8 games: PIT, WPG, TOR, NJ, TBAY, FLA.,NYR, CAR. Gotta win 12-14 points in next 2 weeks
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Warm-Ups:
7 D take the skate. Brennen, Weber, and Leopold all on the ice. Who sits?
Weber will play for the injured Sekera.
I'd sit Leopold.
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Miller and Fleury lead their teams onto the ice. Both teams had Saturday night off #highoctanehockey
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Quite a few NHL scouts in the building right now. More are scheduled to arrive closer to game time.
Western teams in the house today: Minnesota, Anaheim. LA, Edmonton, Colorado, Chicago, Dallas, Nashville, and St. Louis.
If trades are going to be made in this truncated season, and they will, then expect GMs to make deals outside of their conferences. Darcy Regier alluded to this point when he was a guest on WGR radio on Friday, before Friday win over Boston. Regier said that he had spoken that day with two Western GMs who had lost the night before (Phoenix and Minnesota).
Eastern teams iill not trade to Eastern foes this season. There is too much at stake in a 48 game season. Who wants to lose their GM job for trading a player or two to a conference for who ends up kicking his team out of the playoffs?
Lots of folks streaming into the building carrying hand made Crosby placquards. Tons of people sporting their faveorite Sabres and Pens sweaters. Nice atmosphere and we are still an hour away from puck drop.
No game day skate here today.
I'll inform you during warm-ups as to the status of Mike Weber, Jordan Leopold and TJ Brennan. With Reggie Sekera doubtful for today's game, its very probable that Weber will draw back into the lineup to take Sekera's D spot in the six man corps. Will Brennan play? Will Leopold sit? Lets just wait and see what the warm-ups tell us.
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