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Tank You Very Little

January 16, 2015, 6:28 PM ET [11 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT




Ted Nolan was very measured and calculated in his responses to the barrage of questions that he faced following Thursday night’s 7-0 blowout loss to the struggling Minnesota Wild. The Sabres head coach had a lot on his mind, however, chose his words very carefully so as not to “get into trouble”. His words. Walking out of the arena, I got the sense that Nolan was going to sleep off the embarrassing loss and then re-group with his coaches in the morning, He did just that. On Friday morning, Nolan and his assistants, sans Bryan Trottier, created a practice plan that stressed two of the most important elements that determine the success and failure of NHL teams: Skating and communication.

The majority of forward and defensemen are guilty of being gliders and spectators in all three zones during this current nine game losing streak, the worst in the team’s 45 year history. How’d you like Andrej Mess-aros’ ice capades on the Kyle Brodziak shorthanded goal on Thursday night? Talk about a dog’s breakfast? Good Gawd! Mess-aros looked like a scarecrow as he stood around meekly and allowed the sparrows to attack Enroth. Poor Josh Gorges. The guy tried to make a play on the kill and left his position. Mess-aros failed to cover the slot/crease. Where were the PK forwards to support the D? You know where they were? They were 75-110 feet away from Brodziak. No urgency. No passion. No effort. No balls-to-the-wall. No bury-your-head and skate your ass off to protect the fort against enemy invaders. The Sabres power play has scored only 11 goals this season while giving up 8 shorthanded goals.
The Buffalo power play is an NHL worst +3 right now.

No excuses.

The Buffalo penalty kill is a joke these days largely due the reason why their PP and 5-v-5 play is so rancid.


The Sabres do not communicate with one another on the ice. If they spoke with each other on the ice the same way they do in their change room and on the bus, they’d be a dramatically different team. Personally, I’ve never seen a bigger collection of mimes in all of my years covering the NHL. The arena is as quiet as a library during most home games. From my vantage point in the press box, I can hear opposing teams barking orders to one another on the ice. They play as units of five where each man has the other’s back. Not the Buffalo Sabres. They prefer to speak with one another telepathically like Aqua Man and Tadpole did, or like dolphins in captivity do by making strange sounds. The NHL is a verbal game, not mental telepathy or sonar. There’s nowhere to hide on the 200 by 85. There’s no sidelines. No out of bounds. It’s a man’s game where the strong survive and the weak get stalked and devoured whole. The best NHL forwards tell the D where the fore check pressure is coming for. The best NHL D tell their forwards where they want them to receive the breakout pass. The talking should be done on the ice, during shifts as well as on the bench and in the room between periods.




On Friday, the Nolan ran his listless team through an up tempo bag skate. They’ve been asking for it. They got what they deserved. Nolan’s team is presently in next to last place in the NHL. They are on pace to set new historical lows in all statistical categories. They are ranked 30th in the NHL in goals scored with 76 total. That's 1.69 goals per game. They are 30th in goals against with 156, or 3.47 goals per game. The Sabres are 28th in the NHL with 12.6 PIMs per game.

Tank you very much.

Is Nolan worried about his job?


“I’ve never feared my position in the NHL.”

“I never did in my life, because the only thing I know how to do is do what I do, and sometimes it’s good enough, sometimes it’s not. I’m not here to do anything but trying to get this team playing better and trying to get some of our younger players doing the right things in order for them to be better.

“We’re in the business of winning, though. You have to win, and you have to compete, and if you’re not winning and you’re not competing, there’s prices to pay.”

“But who’s going to worry about the rest of the bunch when that happens?” Nolan said. “Usually when teams lose, there’s a lot of changes. You have a lot to play for. You have to play for your contract, you have to play for your livelihood, so you don’t want to be, ‘Well, we’re doing the right thing by losing.’ No, you’re not doing the right thing.”


Thanks, Sabres.com

Now would be a great time for Tim Murray to trade some of the spectators off his roster. If you, me, and the players can see the frustration on Nolan's face, so too should Murray and the Pegulas. Nolan is a master motivator. He's been dealt a hand of losing cards. His face cards are Zemgus Girgensons, Tyler Ennis, Matt Moulson, Marcus Foligno, Nic Deslauriers, Rasmus Ristolainen, Nikita Zadorov, Josh Gorges, Tyler Myers, Cody McCormick and Pat Kaleta. These are the guys who habitually abide by Nolan's orders to play the game the right way.

So, why not the others?

Its been 45 games and Cody Hodgson has been missing in action. Drew Stafford and Chris Stewart are playing on expiring contracts and will be UFA in July. Michal Neuvirth and Jhonas Enroth are also pending UFAs.

Nolan has been a kind and generous man. He's given ice time to players that frankly don't deserve it. Its time for Nolan to take ice time away from the gliders and free riders. Its time to reward the workers.

Nolan hasn't forgotten how to coach. He's a smart man. He's intuitive. He can read people. He's made the most out of a very bad situation. Sabres management and ownership have set goals and are close to achieving them. While the team is succeeding, Nolan has been failing. He has hit a fire wall. Many of his players have stopped listening to him and his coaches. Tim Murray should make a trade. Nolan has lived up to the expectations that were placed on him by his boss. He's followed the schematic to a tee.

Getting rid of a player or two will change the energy in the room. It will open eye, and ears.


***

On Friday afternoon, Drew Stafford vented his spleen about being blown out by a touchdown by his best friend Zach Parise's Minnesota Wild.

Stafford said that the bag skate and hard work is the tonic for all that ails. No more words. He wondered why the fans are even showing up to watch the Sabres play. Staff may want to check himself and worry about leading his team out of the darkness. Let the fans think for themselves. This just in, the fans that are showing up for games are there because they are the diehards. They support the team through good times and bad; through Hell and high water. The fans have an ulterior motive: they want to win the Connor McDavid draft lottery. They have been told that suffering is the order of the day. The fans are handling the suffering better than the players are these days. Buffalonians are robust, tough, stubborn, wise people. We been through tougher times. We'll be through worse times. We pull together and rally. That which doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.

Stafford is a veteran team leader. He's not a prospect anymore. He's not a young blood. He says that he's sick of the meetings and the key words and the video sessions. Good. Now he has to go out Saturday night and take out his aggression and angst on Claude Giroux, Jake Voracek, Wayne Simmonds and the failing Flyers.



Thanks, Sabres.com


Staffiord should do what Steve Ott would do last season when the wall were collapsing on top of the Sabres:

Grab your teammates by the throat and drag them into team into the battle, like Nic Deslauriers did on Thursday night. Trailing 1-0 in the first period, Deslauriers drilled Kyle Brodziak with a clean, hard body check. Then, he pounded the piss out of young Matt Dumba.



Deslauriers tried with all his might to spark his soft, uninspired team. Its too bad. I would have skated off of Niagara Falls for my teammates after sitting on the bench and watching Deslauriers crush Dumba.






*****

Boston's Brad Marchand found out the hard way that slew footing an opponent will result in a 2 game suspension.

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