swordplay

Time to Put Up or Shut Up

Howard Simon (@hsimon62) tweeted 1 hour ago regarding comments by Ted Black...

"on trades?? darcy has free reign to do whatever it takes. only constraint is stay within cap. there is no list of players he can't trade." [sic]

Now we get to see what kind of GM Darcy Regier really is.  Frankly, I think he has it in him.  I truly believe he was handcuffed by previous ownership.  Prove me right, Darcy.  Make a move.  Make several moves!  Blow this team up.  Get rid of the plethora of potential-30-goal-scorers on this team and go get an ACTUAL 30 goal scorer.  Get a true #1 center.  Get a new coach.  Get a shrink for Ryan Miller's fragile ego.  Do what it takes!!  I'm even willing to let go of my man-crush, Drew Stafford, and get stuck with yet another Sabres jersey in my closet of a player who didn't last if it makes this team better.  (On a side note, it's a fact I'm jinxed when it comes to buying jerseys.  I finally decide to get a player who I think is going to hang around a while, and they are gone shortly after.  Next one is gonna have Perreault's name on it so it will last more than a year.  In the meantime, I'll hang my Stafford jersey between my Satan jersey and my Dainius Zubrus "Zubaz" t-shirt from 289 Productions, and throw in my Stu Barnes bobblehead.)

The fact is, the Sabres have an overwhelming amount of young talent in Rochester.  Package some Sabres, package some Amerks, package some prospects, draft picks, your sister, a gift card to Mighty Taco, I don't care.  Sell the farm for a Jerome Iginla or a Ryan Getzlaf.  Dazzle us, Darcy!  Make the Sabres faithful stand up and collectively say "WOW!" 

Off you go... go on... don't come back til it's done.

 

Apathy, Thy Name is the Sabres

It seems to me that there are years where the Sabres adopt a specific persona. In 2006-2007, they started out like a house afire, seemed unbeatable on any given night, and won the President's trophy. Last year, on an almost nightly basis, they played solid in the 1st period, completely disappeared in the 2nd period, and then came out in the 3rd and played great hockey, and maybe they pulled out a win, maybe not.

Although we're only a month and a half in, it's becoming rapidly and painfully clear that there are two traits that are going to be the hallmarks of this year's team... the first is to give up soft goals early (and lots of them), many times short handed, and then try to fight back late in the game. The second is flat, lazy play (the Vanek/Adam/Pominville line excluded), especially in the defensive zone.

As strategies go, this one sucks! The fact that this team is in first place is a fluke. At some point, the lazy play is going to blow up in their faces (like it did tonight) and they're going to find themselves in the middle of a lengthy losing streak, wondering why "the bounces just aren't going our way." Sound familiar? It should! It seems to happen every year right around this time. But this year is especially troubling. This team has more apathy than a team full of up-and-comers should have. Scratch that... it has more apathay than a bunch of multi-millionaire 20-somethings should have! I'm not going to beat a dead horse, but if you can't drum up some energy when one of the biggest goons in the league, Milan Lucic, takes your goalie's head off, you've got a serious problem as a team. Two days later in Montreal, Erik Cole took a run at Enroth in the crease and, again, no response. In tonight's game, Enroth got abused in the 1st period and FINALLY Tyler Myers stepped in and at least pretended to want to throw down, but the effort was feeble at best. (He made up for it by lighting up Brodeur twice, and by cleaning Dainius Zubrus'seseses clock in the 2nd. And for the record, show of hands, who knew Zubrus was still in the NHL? Anyone? Anyone?)

I'll give credit where credit is due, they get a little scrappy once they're down by a few, but how long can they keep winning games like that? For those of us old enough to remember watching Lindy Ruff in uniform rather than in a suit and tie, this season's going to be rough on the ticker.