Lindy Ruff has been fired

[Paxon]

Probably reading into this a bit much but I think Ryan is AOK with this.

I think they're all pretty OK with it, it was him or them at the end of the day. I think, whether a guy wanted Lindy gone or not, they all recognize too that it reflects poorly on them. It's really their fault even more than Lindy's that he's gone. They've been beaten in 1 on 1 battles up and down the ice. So I think that truly there is a positive (fresh start) and negative (as a comment on their play) aspects to this for absolutely every guy on the team.

Miller's a pretty analytical guy, I wouldn't expect his reaction to be filled with sentiment, but rather looking at what this really means and could mean down the road.

 

[CrankyJay]

I think the more interesting quote is from Pominville. Is that all he had to say?

He's always been a horrible interview.

 

[thefifagod]

I think the more interesting quote is from Pominville. Is that all he had to say?

Agreed. Every time Pominville says something publicly, I feel like he is being careful with his words or is simply holding something back. And as crankyjay said, he rarely says anything insightful.

 

[Sabretip]

Hey, this should mean we are no longer tied to "The System"!

I suspect that the number of people who could clearly and succinctly explain what Ruff's "system" was could be counted on one hand. Other than defensemen joining the play and pinching - which was hardly unique or revolutionary - Ruff's tactics from season to season seemed to be all over the place and vary with his roster.

 

[Sabretip]

Veteran player, with other team experience:
Regehr, Erhoff, Ott, Leopold, Sulzer, McCormick, Scott.
I discount Hecht as a disgruntled source.

The quote by LeBrun noted a player who has played for 1 other team - so I suspect it's either Ott or Regehr, both of whom are not afraid to pull their punches.

Tip, I always appreciate your insights and style (multiple posts / quotes to build a point), but I don't want this squad becoming more freelance on offense until they learn to clear the d-zone effectively, puck support each other, back check on D, not leave the zone early, come back to assist the D on breakout passes, etc. Let's not get started on the forecheck, dump-ins and puck pursuit, etc., You can give this squad all the freedom they want to "create offense", but they need the damn puck (better puck possession) in order to do that.

I wasn't suggesting they should become freewheeling - even if they wanted to, the NHL's style of play and rule enforcement would not allow it consistently. I was only pondering if Ruff's demands for defensive attention are removed, will players react in the way kids do when they have a substitute teacher for a day?

 

[CrankyJay]

I think they're all pretty OK with it, it was him or them at the end of the day. I think, whether a guy wanted Lindy gone or not, they all recognize too that it reflects poorly on them. It's really their fault even more than Lindy's that he's gone. They've been beaten in 1 on 1 battles up and down the ice. So I think that truly there is a positive (fresh start) and negative (as a comment on their play) aspects to this for absolutely every guy on the team.

Miller's a pretty analytical guy, I wouldn't expect his reaction to be filled with sentiment, but rather looking at what this really means and could mean down the road.

I hope whoever comes in just starts with the basics...there's so many gripes I have with the Sabres game. This will sound petty, but I don't think this team even has the fundamentals of passing down.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

I suspect that the number of people who could clearly and succinctly explain what Ruff's "system" was could be counted on one hand. Other than defensemen joining the play and pinching - which was hardly unique or revolutionary - Ruff's tactics from season to season seemed to be all over the place and vary with his roster.

You got that right!!

But The System as an excuse was trotted out many times as reasons why the team was playing like ****.

Last season's turn around as I recall. Earlier this season on the dump and chase comment.

I gave up trying to figure out what it actually was (transition turnover counter attack was the best I ever came up with) 'cause it seemed to morph based on the team's performance.

Good riddance!

 

[Deevo]

Reading the numbers I guess. Miller's only had a couple games where he wasn't at least good, in my opinion. He's been brilliant in many.

Currently in a Twitter argument with him.. He's rebuttal was "he is inconsistent, check last few games."

I guess they'll just hire any former NHL player.

 

[sabres4ever]

Does James have any head coaching experience? I don't think he does. Rolston has a good amount of head coaching experience, though no NHL experience of any sort (as far as I recall). My feeling ultimately is that I don't care one way or another, but Patrick has been Ruff's right hand man and it's probably wise to go with a guy who is the least attached to this system and who might have a future as an NHL head coach.

That's probably the wisest move I think, but I wasn't sure if there was some pecking order or something similar.

 

[Sabretip]

More reactions from CBC:

If your team is struggling so much a third of the way through the season that you feel a coaching change is in order -- after a 10 year-stretch where missing the playoffs was more common than actually making the playoffs -- it might be time to also take a long look at the people responsible for putting the team together and consider making a change there as well.

In this case, that's general manager Darcy Regier.

Ruff may have been responsible for cooking the dinner, but Regier was the one doing the shopping and providing him with the ingredients. And they simply aren't good enough.

How often in this and past years did the team look like an overcooked casserole or some kind of home-made stew no one knew?

But even more than the bad contracts was some of the philosophical changes that were made this season, including the Sabres' desire to become a "tougher" team in the wake of the Ryan Miller-Milan Lucic incident last season. There was a lot of overreaction here, and it's impact has been felt up and down the roster.

This summer the Sabres traded talented and productive center Derek Roy to the Dallas Stars for agitator Steve Ott in effort to increase their sandpaper and grit. That stuff certainly has a place, but at the expense of talent?

I was 100% for dumping Roy but I was not happy that Regier thought adding Ott and Scott was enough to represent improvement over last season's roster.

The only forward in the NHL that's been on the ice for more goals against per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play this season than Hodgson is Marty Reasoner. This despite Hodgson getting favorable offensive zone starts (52.4 percent of his shifts start in the offensive zone). So while he's produed a lot of offense for the Sabres, he's also given up a lot coming back the other way.

All of this adds up to an organization that needs a mighty overhaul. Maybe the coaching staff is a good place to start

http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/blog/eye-on-hockey/21737029/coaching-isnt-the-only-problem-in-buffalo

Ouch! I can see Canuck fans laughing at this one....

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Currently in a Twitter argument with him.. He's rebuttal was "he is inconsistent, check last few games."

I guess they'll just hire any former NHL player.

Truth. But I suspect he's refering to a complaint that many on this board have about Miller.... Make's repeated after repeated spectacular stop and then gives up a softee.

That can crush a team.

Ward's probably mentally damaged after playing in front of Osgood all those years...

 

[Sabretip]

Back and forth from ESPN crew with some salient points:

Burnside:

Since those back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference finals in 2006 and 2007, the Sabres have missed the playoffs three times and been bounced twice in the first round. For me, the most disappointing moment was in 2011 when they had a banged-up Flyers team on the ropes in the first round and couldn’t close the deal, losing in Game 7.

I have often lamented from afar that this remains a team without a strong leadership core. There’s no Daniel Briere, Chris Drury, Brian Campbell or Jay McKee, all of whom were central to those strong Sabres teams. Can a new coach coax more leadership out of guys like Drew Stafford, Tyler Myers, Tyler Ennis, Nathan Gerbe?

Custance:

Defensively, there are some issues, and it’s hard to identify if it’s because of personnel or coaching. Tyler Myers appears to have regressed, which is a major problem since he’s making $12 million (!) in actual salary this season. Jordan Leopold was a healthy scratch. There’s a lot of money invested in that defense and it hasn’t come with a real payoff. Is there a coach available to fix that?

Burnside:

I guess if you’re Regier you hope a new coach can help turn what appear to be egregious mistakes into positive assets. I have to believe that, unless Regier can catch lightning in a bottle and see his team improve dramatically in the short term and make the playoffs, we’ll be talking about another key opening on the Sabres' staff the moment this season ends.

Custance:

If I’m him, I’m not sure I’m letting Regier make a long-term coaching hire at this point. That's why I like the move to promote Rolston on an interim basis from Rochester.

Burnside:

Maybe the Sabres have a surplus of defensemen because they don’t have many who play it all that well, or who haven’t played it all that well under Ruff. The team ranks 26th in goals allowed per game. Not sure what kind of return you’re going to get for players that Regier might be looking at moving, or maybe it’s just the act of moving someone.

But I still don’t see anything there to suggest that whoever’s behind the bench makes enough of a difference to get this team back to the postseason.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/22237/will-new-voice-get-sabres-into-postseason

 

[Der Jaeger]

In DC traffic a lot of the day... just found out about an hour ago.

Last time the Sabres had a coach not named Lindy Ruff, I lived in a dorm. It's been a long time.

Good luck, Lindy. Past time for the change.

 

[Endless Ike]

What's with the hate for Ruff? Serious question! next to making the Sabres a competitive team when he had next to nothing for the longest time.

Scoring wasn't the Sabres issue IMO more defence and the top 6 (dmen) isn't horrible nor is it great, it's decent.

He'll find a job soon elsewhere.....if AV ever became available would you guys be interested in him as a coach?

I read somewhere that the Sabres missed the playoffs as many times under Lindy Ruff as the rest of franchise history combined.

He got handed a couple of ****** situations, but I don't truly believe he ever was a positive difference maker. And I believe he was a negative in several seasons.

 

[Timbo Slice]

After processing this...... yupp, still love it. I'm very willing to give Rolston a chance. After Theirren got fired in Pittsburgh, Bylsma took over and immediately turned them around. Now, we don't have that level of talent, but I KNOW there is more to get from this roster - Myers, Stafford, Grigs, etc. might benefit from this. Rolston is used to working with kids, so I'm especially excited to see if he can help Grigorenko come around.

 

[wyldthing89]

This team as not made the playoff last year and the only thing Darcy did is trade Roy for Ott and sign Scott + Tarnasky. This year so far when everything goes bad he did nothing either to improve this team and the icing on the cake is that he get an extention !!!!

Regier should be fire too but i suspect him to be Pegula's butler on his free time, would rather see hime fire than Ruff if i have to choose only one !!!

 

[rabi]

One veteran player who has played for at least one other team in his NHL career told our Paul Hamilton that Ruff was the harshest coach he had ever experienced.

Connolly?

 

[Paxon]

This team as not made the playoff last year and the only thing Darcy did is trade Roy for Ott and sign Scott + Tarnasky. This year so far when everything goes bad he did nothing either to improve this team and the icing on the cake is that he get an extention !!!!

Regier should be fire too but i suspect him to be Pegula's butler on his free time, would rather see hime fire than Ruff if i have to choose only one !!!

He also drafted Grigorenko and Girgensons... as well as McCabe (looks like a strong 2nd round pick) and Kea (looks like a great pick even if he doesn't pan out), and Austin and Nelson also look like solid picks. We all wanted that 2nd move to follow the Ott-Roy trade and it never happened. I'm disappointed about it but the lockout also happened. He doesn't get a failing grade from me as he got rid of a guy most wanted gone, brought in a guy most like, and had a draft that just might make a world of difference for this franchise's fortunes.

 

[wyldthing89]

He also drafted Grigorenko and Girgensons... as well as McCabe (looks like a strong 2nd round pick) and Kea (looks like a great pick even if he doesn't pan out), and Austin and Nelson also look like solid picks. We all wanted that 2nd move to follow the Ott-Roy trade and it never happened. I'm disappointed about it but the lockout also happened. He doesn't get a failing grade from me as he got rid of a guy most wanted gone, brought in a guy most like, and had a draft that just might make a world of difference for this franchise's fortunes.

I'm not sure Regier is responsable of the players we draft , the scouting team is, i call that more a team work with him having maybe the final word.

 

[DynamicxSabresFan]

I have been lurking for a long time. Today is good as any to make my first post. I for one am happy to finally see this long overdue change. In this day and age no one should be as comfortable as Ruff has for so long.

Produce or get fired. Step 1 complete.

 

[tsujimoto74]

Veteran player, with other team experience:
Regehr, Erhoff, Ott, Leopold, Sulzer, McCormick, Scott.
I discount Hecht as a disgruntled source.

Tip, I always appreciate your insights and style (multiple posts / quotes to build a point), but I don't want this squad becoming more freelance on offense until they learn to clear the d-zone effectively, puck support each other, back check on D, not leave the zone early, come back to assist the D on breakout passes, etc. Let's not get started on the forecheck, dump-ins and puck pursuit, etc., You can give this squad all the freedom they want to "create offense", but they need the damn puck (better puck possession) in order to do that.

Did it say the vet was a current player? Because that sounds like something that would've come from Brad Boyes, honestly.

 

[The Washer]

Lindy Ruff Firing

G:
- Owner is legit. Should no longer be questioned.
- Ruff no longer coach

B:
- Absolutely nothing BAD about today!
*EDIT - Pegula not present. Thought the "Ruff tenured has ended" line was overtly curt

U:
- Regier. Looks broken and defeated like Ruff.
- Regier mentioning that he knows jack squat about his new coach. Fireable if you ask me. Hopefully he just choked on a tear
- Regier. Did he get drunk and kill someone?? WTF was that all about. I almost thought he could be having a mini stroke. And when he leaned in I thought for sure he was hitting the floor.

Anyone know which players did NOT hug Ruff good bye today? I would find that VERY interesting and telling. I'd bet everything I own that Vanek was one.

 

[zts1986]

You have only been a Sabres fan for about 2-3 seasons to say that there is absolutely NOTHING bad about today.

 

[1TuchAnd1NoTuch]

You have only been a Sabres fan for about 2-3 seasons to say that there is absolutely NOTHING bad about today.

awesome post

Seriously, Regier had the balls to fire Lindy and now you're gonna get mad at him for not wanting to fire a close friend? And lindy had a lot of good times with this time atleast give him some respect out the door.

 

[5 Minute Major]

You have only been a Sabres fan for about 2-3 seasons to say that there is absolutely NOTHING bad about today.

100 percent agree.

A man that bled blue and gold was given his walking papers. While it certainly is justified, to not feel some sting over that is ridiculous. Unless, like you pointed out, someone has been a short timer in their fandom.