You guys are in for a long read...hunker down, y'all.

Alex wrote a couple of blog posts last night, one on his blog and one for Black & Blue & Gold, that do a really good job positing what the fuck is up with this team and why it might be time for Lindy to go. I'm going to copy/pasta them here so as to not violate the CoC.

As you guys know, I'm not the type to start the "RUN X OUT OF TOWN"-type posts. I'm posting this because maybe, just maybe, it's time.

A Criminally Vulgar Blog - Lockerroom Cancer: Who Is It?


Black & Blue & Gold - Breaking Lindy Ruff's Spirit


So, now that you've finally read all of that, what do you think? I think, in as little words as possible, it's time for Lindy to go.

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mechaphil

It possibly might be his time to go. If you can have a team at your heals for ten straight minutes then not even seem like you care your team is failing on the ice and letting in ridiculous goals for 40 minutes and then you get two goals and your team is revitalized, something is up with the bench boss then.

I'm not sure I buy into it yet, but it really does seem like he doesn't care like he used to. He hasn't shown the fiery passion he has before. And he didn't do anything about the Boychuk stomp on Vanek. You go after our best player, you better see retribution.

Ruff's time may very well be up here in Buffalo and I would hate to see the guy go and win a cup elsewhere or do great like I'm sure he would. But enough is enough. If we want a winner on the ice, we need fresh faces behind the bench to get this team to where it needs to be, and if Ruff wants to make excuses for this team time and time again now, he needs to go.

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If the Sabres fail to make the playoffs or exit in round one again, I think it will finally be time for change. Head coach and GM. Every now and then you have to get some fresh new thinking in the building. You have to wonder if folks just stop listening to Lindy. I really like Lindy and want him to win us a cup, but I just do not see that happening at this point.

We need an owner willing to step up and spend to the cap, we need a GM to make shrewed moves to help the team. Darcy did this back in the day. I know he has it in him.

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--Scott

Come on man... thats like saying your girlfriend is cheating on you in gang bangs... Not Ruff... I don't want to believe it... I know the team is missing something... You can just feel it... But not Ruff... Can't we send this to Ruff? Who would you get to take over? Not Ruff... its a good read... but not Ruff... Come on Lindy wake up.....

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I'm curious as to if Lindy will be cut loose, at what point do they do it? I think it's safe to say that if we blow out, lets say Atlanta tonight, this situation will be over-shadowed because of a superior win by this Sabres club. I'm not saying I want the team to completely tank the next few games just to see change behind the bench, but I honestly believe the time has come for that change now. Things appear to have become stagnant on the bench and in the room. Everyone in the organization claims they want to compete for a Stanley Cup this season. Well, IMO if they wish to follow through with that, the change needs to happen sooner than later. Granted, Ruff's coaching style obviously has given results judging by his record, but the past is the past. Like most are saying, I think it's just time before it gets too late.

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If it's a tight squeeze, spit on it! - NyI

He's a middling AHL player who had the good fortune of a drunk arbitrator. - The Squanto re: Tim Kennedy

I don't see any in season changes management wise. If they finally let anyone go (ie Ruff or Darcy) then it will be after the season is concluded. Heck, they may not even bother changing then either, with how our owner operates.

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--Scott

Lindy isn't the problem. The 'core' players that Darcy has given him are the problem. Unfortunately, Lindy is probably going to be the sacrificial lamb out of all this.

I don't doubt its partially the core players but I see CV's point in all this. When one of your "core" players go down you let the team just pack it in????? I have always had a problem with that. If that happens you drill your players over and over again. Make them understand that they are a team and not just one or two players. I haven't seen a "team" for a few years now. Once in a while we see a glimpse what this team could do if they played as one team but usually they literally just give up.....

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He forgot to discuss Pominville in the original article, and there are multiple grammatical errors. I'm sorry, but that shit just annoys me, especially if you write blogs.

Anyways, on to the point...I agree, Lindy Ruff should be gone. In fact, he should have been fired after 08-09.

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If it's a tight squeeze, spit on it! - NyI

He's a middling AHL player who had the good fortune of a drunk arbitrator. - The Squanto re: Tim Kennedy

I have been thinking this for a long time now, gradually getting more and more angry and sad at the same time. Part of Ruff seems to have given up. The flame that saw him on the boards screaming and wanting a piece of mush mouth Murray when Drury got nailed is gone. I mean, where was that guy when Vanek got stomped on? No where. Gone.

Obviously we have roster issues and I (simply put) don't think we're collectively good enough to win the cup, but there is something even more basic that is dragging us down. The one man who's fire needs to be hot enough to keep his players passionate and invested is the coach, and that fire seems to have been smothered by years of soul crushing losses, retarded reffing, shitty management decisions, core roster losses and player ego's.

As much as I would hate to see Ruff leave, I think it's time to start dating other people. Apathy has set in and I want someone more passionate.

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I think a big shakeup, like firing Ruff, would be great for this team.

i love lindy. i do. but there is a point when a coach just can't do more with a team. and even great coaches get fired when they don't win the big show.. and don't get nearly as many chances as lindy has..

best example is pat burns. he was a great coach, won the jack adams with three different teams, but only one of them ever won the cup.

TOR 1992–93 84 44 29 11 - 99 3rd in Norris Lost in Third Round
TOR 1993–94 84 43 29 12 - 98 2nd in Central Lost in Third Round
TOR 1994–95 48 21 19 8 - 50 4th in Central Lost in First Round
TOR 1995–96 65 25 30 10 - (80) 3rd in Central (fired)
BOS 1997–98 82 39 30 13 - 91 2nd in Northeast Lost in First Round
BOS 1998–99 82 39 30 13 - 91 3rd in Northeast Lost in Second Round
BOS 1999–00 82 24 33 19 6 73 5th in Northeast Did Not Qualify
BOS 2000–01 8 3 4 1 0 (88) 4th in Northeast (fired)


personally i love what boughner did for the spitfires so quickly, and he's getting his first year in the NHL as an assistant right now. i'd love to see boogieman eventually become our coach.


also great post and blog entry. also i know i've said it before, but, thinking about mckee getting a staph infection in what i still don't doubt was OUR YEAR, still makes me so fucking sad.

http://www.thegoosesroost.com/2010/10/needle-and-thread/

Here's another good take on the growing Lindy talk, this one from Ryan at The Goose's Roost.

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mechaphil

Haha, I did forget to discuss Pominville.

The grammar isn't that bad. I don't think there are multiple grammatical errors, I think there are like four, and a shit-ton of sentence fragments. Either way, I don't blog to be grammatically perfect (or even the least bit professional). The goal is to convey a thought to the readers in a way that's understandable, and since no one else complained except for a someone that bags on everyone else anyways, I'm going to consider it a success in that regard. (It passes the read aloud test).

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

(I realized post-writing this that I forgot to discuss Jason Pominville, which is actually kind of telling. Has there been a less visible top six guy the past few years? I know we all like to lambaste Stafford (just as we did MacArthur) for only showing up once every six games, but isn't Pominville kind of the same thing? I don't know what you can say about him as far as being a locker room cancer. Pominville is so bland that we don't have much of a feel for his personality. Could he be? Sure. Is he? It doesn't seem likely. It's almost a struggle to try and think about it).

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

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In response to the first blog, and with all due respect, it read like paranoid rabble designed to single out players. The coach gets a slightly larger portion of the blame, that much I can agree with.

If everybody is buying into the "poor us" routine then everybody is to blame. Just because one guy feels hopeless doesn't mean it's okay for you or anybody else to drink that same shit flavored crap-aid (epic punage). In fact, it might be a good idea for one of the seemingly innocent victims of a few players attitudes to stand up and put them in their place. Not just for themselves, but for the team. Everybody from Rivet (the fan proclaimed diehard manly man of the team) to Connolly (who's drop pass out of the zone for fear of contact puts him in pre-opp status for a sex change) got their purses handed to them. And if for some insane reason the coaches are telling them to play with their junk tucked in, then shame on the players for not saying "FU" to the coaches.

When your hockey team gets bullied, everybody looks bad. All you can do as a team is suck it up--never forget it--and press on.

So, everybody is to blame, but why did it happen? Well. It's in Philly. It's like the 10th game of the season. The Sabres do not have elite team toughness from top to bottom, that was pretty much common knowledge coming into the season. And the Flyers had their Wheaties peed in by their coach, and were forced to eat it. It was a perfect storm of punishment, and a wise team will try and weather that storm and sneak out with the 2 points, that's always Plan A for every team in the league. That plan didn't work. Plan B should have been to play balls out and charge into the storm and defy them with everything you got. Yeah...still waiting for that...

My long winded version?

Team toughness is brought upon by attitude, by friendship (aka chemistry), and it's always by design.

1. Design: You need to instill a tough guy attitude, that starts with the mgmt and the coaching staff. So here is where Coach Ruff takes more of the blame. Because as the boss, he has the most say in what the teams attitude will be like. Because he controls the ice-time, so if somebody doesn't do what he says, they don't play as much. Which means less money, possibly less women, less of pact bond (I believe in these primal instincts, I don't mean it as disrespect to pro athletes), and less happiness in general. It's possible to turn the smallest, softest players into an army of Theron Fleury's. Highly improbable, but still possible.

2. Attitude: We are all wired differently. The toughest person on the planet may act like the meekest, and with the most kindness. The weakest person on the planet might be the most aggressive SOB you'll ever meet. We are who we are, and either you have that attitude or you don't. Nobody needs to be blamed for who they are, but, as a GM you can hire and fire people with the attitudes that you perceive as desirable for your teams success. An example of the Penguins was used, a team that I know intimately and one that is widely regarded as a template for success. They didn't just start playing tougher, the GM wnet out and got players that were tougher. it became obvious early on that Crosby made agitators drool, everybody loves to hate him and everybody wants to see him brought down to the "Crybaby" that they all perceive him to be. So if you want to keep him happy, you better bring in guys that will prevent that from happening. Today, NOBODY fucks with Crosby that much. If they do, one of their teammates will have a concussion on the next shift. With a team like Philly in your division you better be ready to stoop to their level. Today, the son of the coach of the Broadstreet Bullies has assembled the toughest team in the NHL. Their core, is happy. The surrounding cast members for Vanek, Roy, and company are not nearly as tough.

3. Friendship: If you aren't friends, you will be less inclined to jump on that hand grenade when the time comes. I can't say too much about this one because I have absolutely zero idea of what the team is like in the locker room and off the ice. I don't know if these guys are willing to skate through concrete block walls for each other (well, I know Miller and Pomminville are tight).

So there you have it. Firing the coach and bringing in a Micheal Therrien will make the team tougher by design, but it wont make the team any better, probably worse. I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of bringing in a new coach, and if you're going to do it then the best time is always halfway through the season. In this case, that's a stupid thing to do because there's no better coach in the league and he's plenty tough. I would fire the GM way before the coach, IF I HAD A GUN TO MY HEAD. He's a great GM, he has many qualities that most NHL GM's can't keep up with (most notably drafting, which some Sabres fans--not a lot-- seem to take for granted). But this team doesn't have all of the dimensions needed to succeed at every style of hockey that is demanded from a Stanley Cup contender. Maybe he expected too much from some players, maybe he couldn't acquire/retain some players that they needed, or whatever else. There's numerous justifiable excuses to keep Darcy Regier on board, but if one person ends up getting unjustly terminated it should be the GM and not the coach.

The funny thing is that mgmt seems to have recognized all of their liabilities and have taken measurable steps to correct everything, but it can't be done fast enough for the Cup starved Sabres Nation. Be careful what you wish for.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

While I'm not discounting the blog-o-spehere at all, the 'growing Lindy talk' is basically nothing more than some bloggers and Mike Schopp, who has honestly been on Lindy's jock for years. He's in the 'change for the sake of change' group, which I think is a terrible argument.

If the Sabres rip off 4 or 5 straight (which seems like a stretch given their current play), all this talk goes away.

The evaluation process should be simple.

- Do I think my coach is doing a good job with the players he has been given?
- If not, is there someone out there that I can hire that can do better?
- Do I think my GM is giving my coach the best possible players to achieve the greatest success?
- If not, is there someone out there that I can hire that can do better?

If you want the coach fired, you better have a replacement in mind that can do better. Lindy is not without his flaws, but one could make the point that he has gotten the most out of what he's had to work with. He's not been the same since the Drury/Briere debacle, and made some comments at the time that thought he'd had just about enough of the organization. I think those comments were telling.

Darcy Regier is 10 times more of a problem than Lindy Ruff is. (And LQ is 100 times more of a problem than Regier, unfortunately we're stuck with him.)

This, exactly. Although I don't see him as the "sacrificial limb" - at least I hope not.

If we bring in some actual talent (and it wouldn't take much - two decent goal scorers would make this team one of the best in the league), and the team still struggles, then it would be time to change.

But without that, it's not going to help. Lindy does a good job with making mediocre teams achieve some level of success (see last year). When he has a decent group of players, he has a very high track record of making it deep into the playoffs.

I don't see anyone that would be a better choice. I don't see anyone available that is better qualified or would be a better fit.

I don't get the "shake up" or "time for change" argument either. Put in another coach, but keep the same players, and we'll get the same result. Matter of fact, if Lindy were to be replaced, I bet we'd have a few seasons where we do worse.

Coaching is one of our strong points, and I don't see the value in changing it. Let's add a goal scorer or two first and then we're talking.

McCutcheon, however, is a different story. The PP has been awful for far too long.

But I'm not also completely sold on the "Fire Darcy" thing either. While I certainly haven't been happy with everything he's done, I have to wonder how much of it came from higher up (Quinn). I believe that had Quinn let him, Darcy would have brought in another player or two this summer. Quinn is the main problem - but there's not much hope of him being gone.