You cannot turn rabbits into pit bulls. If you keep getting handed gutless/heartless/whatever players, you cannot change them. You work with what you are given. If Darcy keeps giving him people who aren't trying hard enough, what do you expect Lindy to do? You cannot force someone to play their best. They either choose to or not. Period. Some folks cannot be inspired. They get in a mindset and nothing will move them. I have been very restrained in the "trade them all" madness, but I'm about ready to go. Roy & Stafford both go. Sekera. And Paul Hamilton. If I have to hear that smug, whiney voice much more I am going to reach through the computer & strangle him. The man cannot be positive to save his life. You could put him on a mountain of gold and he'd bitch about how uncomfortable he is.

So there. Ditch those 4 guys and I bet the atmosphere improves tremendously.

We need Lennie to tend to the rabbits.

I'm tired of this. All the guys they let go the past few years may have been replaced skill-wise, but heart-wise we lost out. All I can think of right now are Tallinder & Lydman, but I hope you get my point. We need decent guys with a good work ethic. I want Grier 10 years younger. I want Gerbe to stay. Ellis fits the bill, I think. Where the hell is the HEART??

You are talking about something like pride? Yeah we have absolutely none of it.

Gerbe should have the "C" at this point. He may not put up points but he plays like a Captain should. Things look grim and he knocks some people around and rallies the boys for a good shift.

Something has to be fucking done. It looks like all the moves are fails at this point. Admit your mistakes, and move forward to correct them. That's what Ted Black told us was going to happen last week. Well, you sat down, and looked at things, SO WTF ARE YA GONNA DO????????????????????????????????

Ok, a bit more calmly. Sure it's hard to pin the tail on the donkey when there are this many issues, but these guys are paid millions of dollars to KNOW what's wrong. If they can't put a finger on it, and do something to improve it, then what's left??? Terry Pegula is supposedly a smart guy, so I hope he's of this mindset. I think the OBVIOUS move is what any other NHL team in this spot would normally do, and that's fire the head coach. Hire an interim if necessary, and maybe bring Arniel in as an asst. At this point it may be a mercy killing for LR. His nerves have to be shot.

You have to start somewhere. You can't sit on this coach for 5 more years until there's a new turnstile of players, can you? Our captain isn't motivating anyone(then again, we didn't even have one last year). I agree the more players with heart the better, but how the hell do you acquire them?? No one is going to give you their lions for slumping chumps. The options are limited, and there's only one easy fix. If this were any other club, Regier would HAVE to do something(namely fire a coach) to save his job. HE'D HAVE TO! No owner would allow him to make one last desperation trade, and stay. While coaching change might be 20% successful, one trade is almost surely not going to work. There's no excuse for this team losing playoff revenues this year. If TP wasn't rich, he'd sure as hell understand this, too.

I'm just saying they have to do something. It's usually the coach. It's not like the pool of coaching candidates will get any deeper than it is now, anyways. If you believe it's the GM, then that's a move, too. It's just far less common, and would produce no effect on the ice for a good while. I'd hire Maurice interim, and Arniel as asst. It would seem our technical aspects could get better that way at least. Our morale can't get any lower. Just please don't tell me you want to stand pat, because you aren't sure if you can do better than...(Lindy, Darcy, Ryan, Drew, Derek). Tell me what the "wise" moves are, rather than just what might not be. That's a cop out. What moves could we, AND should we do NOW for results?

The job of a coach is to "motivate his players." Always has been - always will.

Can't do it over a five year period?? You simply aren't a good coach.

If we had a player who used to score 80 points a year; but was only good for half of that the last five years we'd wash our hands of him.

This fraud has gotten away with being sub par for over five years now; but we give him a free pass????

Okay, we're Buffalo - but why should we accept this?

We want to throw out the baby, but keep the bath water on this one.

Are we really that accepting of underachieving here in Buffalo? Sad.

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"I'll rap you with my cane; you pencil necked geek!!"

-Bowler, imitating Freddy Blassie, at the very first M & G.

Howie I agree with a lot of what you just said.

Sadly, Lindy lost this team a while ago. Last year Roy went down and nobody said we could achieve without him. These players need to be challenged, and not by the same 4 voices, they need to hear it from new voices.

This year, Roy isn't the focal point, and we're failing yet again. Eventually people will need to recognize the problem isn't with the players, but the system they play in. I'm a big X's and O's guy, and I can tell you, their game plan doesn't fit with the talent they have. It's like Regier and Ruff didn't communicate on the signings, because Ehrhoff, Leino, and Regehr should fit in just fine with the players we have, the problem is Lindy refuses to adjust the game to his roster. It's not lack of talent, it's under use of the talent. Why the fuck was Luke Adam on the 4th line tonight, when he had been our 3rd leading scorer behind Vanek and Pommers all season? I'll tell you why, because Ruff is afraid to trust his young talent. This season all falls on coaching, and lack of utilization of our talent. Our guys aren't under-achieving, they're not being giving the opportunity to succeed. That's the problem.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

I'm with JVacc and Howie also. Ruff is forcing a system that doesn't get the most out of his talent. All of these players on the roster have been productive at some point, but every other team is well prepared for what they do now. Except for the sub-par goaltending that is beyond Lindy's control, this team should be able to score more if Lindy's system didn't handcuff the forwards in some ways. They are non-aggressive in the neutral and d-zones, and almost never cause odd-mans for the forewards to capitalize on. This forces a predictable dump-and-chase, forecheck, and asking these skilled players to run through the brick wall of every opponents 'collapse' style down in the slot area. It's really damn hard to score that way, and it's really damn boring to watch.

Regier isn't the problem. Getting us Regher, who works hard every shift, Leino, who, despite his offensive troubles, still tries his ass off, and Ehrhoff, who's been pretty good and tries as well. Ruff I believe is the problem. And if anyone is to be fired mid season it should be the coach.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Blue and Yellow we all agree that Ruff is part of the problem but don't disregard Regier out of this he is just accountable as Ruff. They both have been here a long time and both have accomplished nothing. I guess I shouldn't say nothing but hasn't got us the main thing every team plays for. How much more time is needed with these two. In all other sports if your not named Phil Jackson or Bill Belichick you would be fired by now. He has overspent on players he feels that can help this team and lets face it St Louis let go of Boyes because he was overpaid and his production is going down and then Leino is grossly overpaid for what he brings to the table and don't get me started about Stafford. Yes Pegula gave him free reign to spend money to help this club but hasn't spent it wisely I should say.

I believe he has spent his money wisely. The Leino contract was a bit... Overloaded. But Ehrhoff's contract was a steal. Regher was a steal. Boyes' contract isn't bad, either. There were no other moves, and if he didn't make these moves I guarantee you wouldn't be happy because it would've been another year with nothing done.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Regier also hampered us by giving up all those second rounders for players that were rentals like Torres, Moore and Zubrus which he gave up a 1st rounder for. Those are boneheaded moves. I'm sorry but unless you have a team that is contending for the cup and maybe just a player away it isn't smart to trade away high picks for a rental player. I haven't been a fan of anytime this team trades picks away because this team builds thru the draft. This team right now lacks hardly any offensive prospects in the system that are game changers. I like Kassian and Foligno but I don't look at them as game changers.

You want Arniel to become an assistant for the Sabres? Have you seen the "uninspired" play of the columbus ble jackets this season? Arniel isn't what what we need... I'd hire Marc Crawford. He's offense first and has a good defensive mindset. Plus he's got something none of these Sabres have... A Stanley Cup ring....

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"If you want to know what I've been doing lately, I've been driving around from Tim Horton's to Tim Horton's, rolling up the rim. Haven't won anything yet. Thanks." - Lindy Ruff

I Don't know man if you really want "game changers" most of the time you find them in the 1st round. And if you want superstars most of the time it's the top 10 that gets you those players.... Yes every team gets lucky with an awesome pickup in the 3-5 rounds but we shouldn't be looking at ourselves as lucky because luck has not been on our side for a very long time.

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"If you want to know what I've been doing lately, I've been driving around from Tim Horton's to Tim Horton's, rolling up the rim. Haven't won anything yet. Thanks." - Lindy Ruff

I wouldn't want Arniel or Crawford! I would give someone else a chance before I would hire those two. I think Pegula sticks with Lindy until the end of the season before a move is done.

Regehr was a good pick up.

Leino works hard, but so did Chris Drury. We saw how his monster contract worked out for the Rangers.

Ehrhoff is a great player. But why pick up a star offensive defenseman when your whole back end is riddled with them, including two young ones who are on the rise?

Why did Darcy shell out a 4 year deal to Stafford, who has been painfully inconsistent his entire career, and never plays physical hockey?

Most importantly, why has Darcy not had the balls to shake this team up after 4 years without a first round playoff win?

The players he's been banking on for years have proved time and time again that they can't get the job done. And by sticking with them, Darcy has proven to me that time and time again, HE can't get the job done.

Darcy's the problem. Ruff contributes because he and Darcy collaborate on who and what they want.

In my opinion, they both need to be gone.

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Wheelhouse