To be honest, I'd rather see them try the "trade" option, first...

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"Let's just trap Sekera in the caverns underneath HSBC arena." -BlueandYellow

Reporter: "Steve, you guys now lead the league in defensive scoring."
Montador: "It's probably because of how good-looking we are."

It won't happen

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just call me Brad

Twitter @BUrbanowicz13

If Miller and Myers were playing like they did last year, we'd probably be over 500 right now.

Miller is not the problem, the entire d sucks and they do not help him out

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just call me Brad

Twitter @BUrbanowicz13

He isn't blameless either.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Myers looks lost out there, it seems to me that he is trying to hard to fulfill whatever system that this team has in place and it is affecting his game dramatically, yes I know he has made a few obvious mistakes but he has always done that, he isnt even making good plsys anymore. At the beginning of last year Myers was just playing hockey to his best ability and it worked out tremendously well for him but as the season went on he slowed down and seemed to get more confused out there. This isnt the first time it has happened to a player coming to Buffalo either. There have been players who actually complained that the system is just to mind boggling and hard to play with and it hinders their playing ability.

LAst season somebody here posted a good description of "the system". Anyone care to recount that in a nutshell?

Good christ I can't even think of what thread it's in, but I do remember the post you're talking about.

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mechaphil

Does lindy need to pull a tom coughlin? remember when he was basically ready to be canned, because he was way to rigid... he, the coach, loosened up a little bit, relaxed a little, and well, won a super bowl... could lindy use a discussion with coach coughlin? it may help him save his job, a season and get him a cup.....

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Has much changed since this was written 20 months ago?

http://www.buffalorising.com/2009/03/should-lindy-ruff-be-fired.html

Should Lindy Ruff be Fired?
Last night, the Sabres dropped yet another critical game to yet another losing team. This time, the Sabres fell to Ottawa 4-2 fresh from their third period collapse against Atlanta. With the most recent loss to Ottawa, the Sabres are now 1-5 against the 12th ranked Senators this year.

If the season ended today, the Sabres would miss the playoffs - again. Of course, the season doesn't end today, and the Sabres could still go on a run over the last 12 games of the season to make the playoffs. But what if they don't?

This is Lindy Ruff's 11th year as head coach of the Sabres. Together, Ruff and General Manager Darcy Regier are the longest tenured GM/Coach combination in the NHL. With 890 games under his belt, Ruff has 431 career wins - a career 48.4 winning percentage. The Sabres have made the playoffs 6 times during Ruff's 11 years as coach (assuming they don't make the playoffs this year.)

That record seems pretty good.

But if you take the Dominik Hasek years out of Ruff's career, the Sabres have made the playoffs just twice out of 7 seasons. 2 out of 7. And the two non-Hasek playoff seasons were 2005-06 and 2006-07 - the two seasons led by Chris Drury and Daniel Briere.

And consider this - before Ruff, the Sabres were led by John Muckler and Ted Nolan. Muckler led the Sabres to the playoffs in all four seasons he coached, while Nolan took the Sabres to the post-season 1 out of 2 years.

The age old dilemma is assessing sports management is determining whether the core issue is resources (the owner's fault) talent (the general manager's fault) or motivation and system (the coach's fault). There is little doubt this Sabres roster is worse than the 2005-07 teams with the loss of Drury, Briere and Campbell. So part of the blame has to go to Darcy Regier. But Ruff has failed to turn this team into one that can consistently beat bad teams; indeed, the Sabres will likely miss the playoffs because of losses to some of the NHL's worst teams. And if Ruff can only win when his team is composed of the world's best goalie or co-captained by Chris Drury and Daniel Briere, is he worth keeping?

For years, Ruff has been untouchable around Buffalo. Since he took over the Sabres job, Bills management and fans have rightly run three head coaches out of town - Wade Phillips, Gregg Williams and Mike Mularkey. And the fourth is hanging on by a thread.

With 11 years behind the Sabres bench, we certainly should have enough information to decide whether Ruff is worth keeping.

Is he?

This statement shows the flawed logic in these types of discussions. They consistently do two things:

1. The credit for the years that the team made the playoffs doesn't go to Ruff. It's given to Hasek/Drury/Briere.
2. Exceptions for certain playoff seasons are made in order to make Ruff's record appear worse.

Both postions inaccurately reflect what Ruff has accomplished. They also completely ignore the circumstances surrounding the bankruptcy and turmoil during those years.

I'm not saying that it's not time for Lindy to go. I can't decide yet. However, I will call out these 'critiques' of Ruff that twist facts to try and fit a point.

If I had decided to jerk off instead, I probably wouldn't be paying child support...

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That column is trying to use Briere and Drury to make excuses, but I take it the opposite way. Briere/Drury were two players that benefited greatly from the Sabres' (and Ruff's) style of play. Neither have been anywhere near as successful since they have left. Briere has had ups and downs, and Drury has been nothing short of having his head chopped off by Rangers fans.

I fail to see how that is a legitimate criticism of Ruff.

Also take into account the tighter penalty-calling and higher-scoring 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 seasons that greatly enhanced the Sabres' effectiveness. People don't take that anomalous scoring burst into account enough when discussing the post-lockout Sabres or any other team or player that did unusually-exceptional. Case in point - Jonathan Cheechoo.

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mechaphil

It is the finding of this court, that mr "NYintensity" is to pay miss "Terrycloth towel" the sum of 500 dollars per month to satisfy his child support committment.

I'd gladly pay it; that's a third of what I pay now o.0.

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Holy crapbuckets, are you serious dude? You shell out 1500 a month in child support?

hahaha...the single biggest reason I'm still married

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Yep. (And no, it's not court ordered...yet. Court order would take it to around 1200).

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I don't have much to add to this thread because I honestly don't know if I think it's time for a coaching change or not... I'm torn. I love Lindy but I think it's fair to include him in the conversation when talking about who is at fault for the team's poor start, but I really have to laugh out loud when people say that Lindy "sucks"... Are you kidding me?

Lindy may or may not be the right coach for the Sabres right now, but he certainly DOES NOT suck as a coach. He's a great coach, one of the best in the league. Ask just about everyone around the league. Sometimes fans take things for granted and don't realize what they have until it's gone when they can finally see things from an outsider's perspective.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo