Somewhere between the early '90s and now, I've gone from rebelling against my ardent sports-fan parents by stomping around my house chanting, creatively, "Nail the Bills to the ground!" during football games, to reaching reflexively for the sports section of the paper every morning, looking for hockey news. This is a habit that has turned more than one promising Frosted Flakes-filled breakfast sour with disappointment in the past week. Since the Buffalo News ran the photo of Scott Neidermayer hoisting the Stanley Cup, there has been nothing but 50-word blurbs entitled "Red Wings re-sign Chelios" and "Pyatt to stay in Vancouver" in the NHL corner for days on end. There was even one rough morning where the existence of hockey went unrecognized completely. So imagine my delight when, this morning, I pulled out the sports section and found not one, but two (!) stories about the Sabres on the front page. Neither one was the story I'd been waiting for (namely the one in which Ryan Miller sticks to his passive-aggressive guns and reassures the world at large that he's oh-so-happy for his Cup-winning baby brother), but they did bring up some other interesting points and worries.
The main headline states that this coming season the Sabres will look to enter "goal-prevention mode", and turn their backs on their high-scoring ways. Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff are both quoted in the article saying, effectively, that the Sabres will have to stop counting on goals to win them games and work on playing the other side of the puck if they want to advance beyond the Eastern Conference Final. This is somewhat troubling to me. First of all, if they think they can build a defensive-minded team without stifling some of their explosive young talent, or making some serious roster re-arrangements, they're nuts. And secondly, are they really trying to say that it was lack of "goal-prevention" that lost them a shot at the Cup, when Ryan Miller was consistently ten times better than any other Sabre on the ice during the Ottawa series? I'm not saying that the goaltender should be the be-all, end-all of keeping the other team off the scoreboard (and somewhere, Ryan is nodding vigorously), but surely, when a goalie stands on his head and your team still can't take advantage of it, the problem is offensive and not defensive play. It seems to me like Ruff and Regier are trying to cover up the fact that the explosive, 308-goal-scoring Sabres fell asleep in the post season, by saying that a team capable of scoring 308 goals in the regular season is not built to win the Stanley Cup. Little bit of a cop-out, I feel.
On the bright side, they did mention that special teams is a concern of priority (good to know they're not blind and deaf), and that the Sabres could potentially get a specialist added to the coaching staff. I think I speak for all of Buffalo when I say "Yes, please!" Ruff still claims special teams is an "easy correction," which baffles me. If it's so easy, Lindy, why didn't you correct it, say, 1,000 agonizing power plays ago? But then it was reiterated that both coach and GM took substantial paycuts in renewing their contracts with the Sabres and for that (even though I've just spent the past two paragraphs hating on them) I have to love them and thank them. They built this team from the ground up, and it just wouldn't be the same without them.
The second front-page article is a commentary by Bob DiCesare about how the administration is really dragging its feet in trying to re-sign Drury and Briere. And, seriously, what is up with that? Do we not want them? Does our new "defensive strategy" frown on guys who score goals? Did they both suffer career-ending injuries on the golf course that I don't know about? Get with the program, Darcy. You're costing me valuable sleep time here. Also, DiCesare agrees with me that the policy the Sabres have of not starting contract negotiations until the end of the season is idiotic. If they had just signed Briere to a multi-year deal before the '06 playoffs like he wanted, we would have Danny locked away for about $5 mil. and we'd only have to deal with Chris right now. But instead I have to deal with a co-captian ulcer.
Still, I can't help but have faith that everything will turn out okay. I was similarly doom-and-gloom about the future of the Sabres last off season, and it really couldn't have turned out better. Sure, I was very blue (get it?) when Jay McKee left, and at points over the season I found myself longing for J.P. Dumont's scoring and Mike Grier's toughness, but the truth is that by the end of October, I had fallen head over heels in love with this 2006-2007 team. Here's hoping they can work that magic again.
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4 comments:
I'm not worried about Drury and Briere yet. I don't think it matters how late they push it. If the guys are going to test the market, I think they're going to test the market no matter how long and hard we negotiate with them and no matter how soon we do it. Two weeks doesn't sound like a lot of time, but I think it's plenty of time to talk.
I have mixed feelings about not negotiating during the season. I understand what Darcy and Co. are saying but I really think in this case it's going to price one of the captains out of town.
I was equally baffled by Lindy's assertion the special teams are an "easy correction." So easy we couldn't do it ALL SEASON? Okay, Lindy...
I agree that the problem was largely the offense in the playoffs but some of the defensive play in front of Ryan was very sloppy with a lot more turnovers and out of position play than we saw in the regular season. I'm not worried though. I don't get the feeling they're going to throw over the offense entirely - with the offensive talent they have they can't do that - so much as tighten up some and try to avoid leaving Ryan on his own so much.
You're right, of course, about Drury and Briere, but I'm just really impatient. I just want it to be over with already so we know who's staying/going. And for me it's just a question of: Seriously? You have better things to be doing than trying to sign your co-captains? Mental pictures of Darcy and Lindy sitting at home twidling their thumbs haunt my dreams.
I understand the merit of it, too, but I think in this and many situations the cost of that merit is too high.
Yeah, maybe I got out of hand criticizing the ostensible move to defensive play. My main beef probably should have been with the way the Buffalo News was spinning it to sound like "Ruff and Regier admit they were idiots for thinking a team without defense could win the Stanley Cup!" Generally it just sounded like R&R were skirting the main issue, and pointing to the defense (which was definitely sloppy, I'm not disputing that) as a way to avoid saying "Man, where'd our offense go?"
Thanks for reading, Heather!
Part of the delay, too, I'd imagine, is the fact that there has been no salary cap set yet. It might not matter that much for Buffalo (or Anaheim, for that matter)--they're not cap spenders, I think.
But it will certainly matter for the paydays coming to Briere and Drury (and Giguere).
I would be surprised if any of those three got signed before the cap was set, but then again, the NHL surprises me all the time (Surprise! We're NOT showing the NHL Awards at the time slot we promised!).
Hi Gambler! Nice new digs!
Earl, (or anybody else) why on earth isn't the cap set yet? It seems sort of preposterous that such an important strategic puzzle piece hasn't been clearly defined. How are you supposed to negotiate when you don't know how much you can spend? (or how much the other spendier teams will be spending, in the Sabres case.)
I think that months and months ago the Sabres decided they could/would only sign one captain. So they want to break the bank for one guy, and then just let the other guy go. I think they are putting all of their eggs in one basket, but leaving just enough wiggle room to go after their second choice if things don't work with the favorite son. I can understand how you wouldn't necessarily want to tip your hand in that situation because inevitably the second choice guy is going to be a bit peeved. Maybe they think they will have a better chance of signing the second choice guy if he doesn't sit around stewing about the situation for two weeks. I dunno.
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