Playing well for three periods?

[Calvin]

How about having two discussion boards here, one for the people who think Ruff, Darcy and the rest of the lot can do no wrong whatsoever, and one exclusively for the grumpy old men and their ballwashing cliques who are filled with negativity and bile and bring it all to the discussion board?

 

Haha.. just kidding.. take it out on the Flyers tonight! :wallbash:

[PASabreFan]

I put little stock into interviews, press conferences, etc. To me its results and what the peers have to say. I have never felt that this team came up short because of inept coaching. Was he part of the failure? Of course. Was he the cause? I don't believe so.

Is Ruff perfect, of course not. Should a change have been made at some point? Depends who you are putting in his place. Are there things I wish he would do different? Sure.

You, however, picking apart quotes, reading into his words or the words of disgruntled players, just sound too muck like the boy who cried wolf.

 

You put little stock in quotes but seem obsessed by what I think of the quotes. :)

 

We'll agree on results. And this is a coach who, much more often than not since Hasek left, has not gotten his team into the playoffs. That gets coaches fired, except for popular former players in cities where people are generally just happy to have a team.

 

You'll like this. Lindy also made a point, without being asked about it, to talk about how "painful" it is to win in this league; how close the teams are; how close the games are, like any of that is a new phenomenon. This has been a theme since day 1 this year. They even got John Vogl to do a story about it. What's this all about anyway?

[PASabreFan]

How about having two discussion boards here, one for the people who think Ruff, Darcy and the rest of the lot can do no wrong whatsoever, and one exclusively for the grumpy old men and their ballwashing cliques who are filled with negativity and bile and bring it all to the discussion board?

 

Haha.. just kidding.. take it out on the Flyers tonight! :wallbash:

 

I never thought "ballwashing," "cliques" and "bile" could be used so magnificently in one sentence!

[wjag]

I know I'm a noob on here so maybe my opinion doesn't mean as much. (I understand, I've seen the way noobs are treated on other forums, lol.) But I have browsed through here well before I signed up and have seen how critical some people can get about our team. I think they have been playing awfully well. Some say that Miller is the only reason that we're doing so well, which may be true to a point, but our defense has done a great job of clearing rebounds, giving Miller clear view of the shots and forced opposing teams to take shots that every goaltended should stop. Like Miller said last night, he's surrounded by players that are backing him up. They are also doing a great job of spreading the wealth around like we used to be good at during the Drury/Briere days. Just look at the stats, our leading scorer has 5 goals, yet we have 9 players with no less than 3. That was a major problem we had last year. They came out flying last night which IMO was impossible to duplicate for 3 periods, especially against a good team.

 

On another note, that game was fun to watch. I really wish the NHL would decrease the amount of division games so every team could get a chance to see some inter-conference games.

If you have been reading, then you know that it makes no difference if you have 1, 100, or 1000 posts here. If you can bring it, do. I agree the team is playing well. I also think that Miller is playing exceptionally well.

 

Welcome to the board.

[tom webster]

You put little stock in quotes but seem obsessed by what I think of the quotes. :)

 

We'll agree on results. And this is a coach who, much more often than not since Hasek left, has not gotten his team into the playoffs. That gets coaches fired, except for popular former players in cities where people are generally just happy to have a team.

 

You'll like this. Lindy also made a point, without being asked about it, to talk about how "painful" it is to win in this league; how close the teams are; how close the games are, like any of that is a new phenomenon. This has been a theme since day 1 this year. They even got John Vogl to do a story about it. What's this all about anyway?

 

If you got up before the press conferences and actually watched the games (kind of kidding) you would notice that there about 3 or 4 elite teams, 3 or 4 pitiful teams and about 20 teams with very little that distinguishes themselves from one another. The margin of error is very slight and I think its Ruff's way of warning his team of the pitfalls of little "slumps."

As for your implying that Vogl is writing what they want him to write, I would have thought you knew the differnce between when a reporter reports what's happening day to day and what his opinion of what's happening with the team he is paid to cover. When he is doing his job as a beat reporter, it is his job to report waht the team says or does. When he is writing an opinion piece ( a job usually left to the op ed writers) he can comment on what he thinks of the statements.

[PASabreFan]

[/b]

 

If you got up before the press conferences and actually watched the games (kind of kidding) you would notice that there about 3 or 4 elite teams, 3 or 4 pitiful teams and about 20 teams with very little that distinguishes themselves from one another. The margin of error is very slight and I think its Ruff's way of warning his team of the pitfalls of little "slumps."

As for your implying that Vogl is writing what they want him to write, I would have thought you knew the differnce between when a reporter reports what's happening day to day and what his opinion of what's happening with the team he is paid to cover. When he is doing his job as a beat reporter, it is his job to report waht the team says or does. When he is writing an opinion piece ( a job usually left to the op ed writers) he can comment on what he thinks of the statements.

 

Kind of kidding? Maybe you should stop pimping your bar and start watching the games. :) :) :)

[matter2003]

The comment may answer some questions about why his teams have been so maddeninly inconsistent over the years:

 

“That might’ve been our best first period of the year,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said (after the Sabres beat the Flames at home). “It really was. You can’t sustain that for three periods. There’s no chance."

 

Of course you're not going to sustain that level of play for three periods all the time. The players are not machines. But you CAN'T? NO CHANCE?

 

Why the hell not?

 

Because they would be tired and out of gas by the 3rd period if they did that for 2 periods straight...

[PASabreFan]

Because they would be tired and out of gas by the 3rd period if they did that for 2 periods straight...

 

Guess we'll find out here in the third. :)

[tom webster]

Kind of kidding? Maybe you should stop pimping your bar and start watching the games. :) :) :)

 

Since we are at it, why doesn't Ruff's record count when he had Hasek? Does Belichek's record change because he had Brady? How about the various Devil's coaches with Brodeur? Coaches win when their best players play better then the other team's best players. When Ruff's had the players he has made the playoffs and his team's have done very well once they are in the playoffs. Name a series he has lost when he clearly had the better team.

 

Enough of this argument, though. In conclusion;

 

1) I think Ruff is one of the league's better coaches.

2) I wouldn't have been opposed to him being replaced if someone better was brought in

3) I don't like the way it would appear he treats some of his players, but being that I am not privvy to the relationships he has with all of them, I am going to assume he has his reasons for doing those things he does that I don't understand.

4) In general I share your belief that the teams gets off too lightly with a portion of its fanbase.

[SwampD]

Since we are at it, why doesn't Ruff's record count when he had Hasek? Does Belichek's record change because he had Brady? How about the various Devil's coaches with Brodeur? Coaches win when their best players play better then the other team's best players. When Ruff's had the players he has made the playoffs and his team's have done very well once they are in the playoffs. Name a series he has lost when he clearly had the better team.

 

Enough of this argument, though. In conclusion;

 

1) I think Ruff is one of the league's better coaches.

2) I wouldn't have been opposed to him being replaced if someone better was brought in

3) I don't like the way it would appear he treats some of his players, but being that I am not privvy to the relationships he has with all of them, I am going to assume he has his reasons for doing those things he does that I don't understand.

4) In general I share your belief that the teams gets off too lightly with a portion of its fanbase.

I put an asterisk next to every coach that coached Brodeur.

 

...and most players...

[Alaska Darin]

New Wing Nut here. Yeah, you're right. Winning Cups sucks. I have it so much better as a Sabre fan. Better just accept the mediocrity and enjoy my pudding.

Poor you.

I swear, sometimes it feels like Buffalo sports fans get exactly what they deserve.

You really don't know the definition of irony, do you?

[nfreeman]

Nonsense.

[X. Benedict]

The comment may answer some questions about why his teams have been so maddeninly inconsistent over the years:

 

“That might’ve been our best first period of the year,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said (after the Sabres beat the Flames at home). “It really was. You can’t sustain that for three periods. There’s no chance."

 

Of course you're not going to sustain that level of play for three periods all the time. The players are not machines. But you CAN'T? NO CHANCE?

 

Why the hell not?

 

Because it is true of the game and a pretty innocuous statement.

 

Ruff is managing his lines.

Keeping every shift of every line to 30 seconds for a period is favorable.

Doing it for an entire period with nobody getting stuck out there is like batting through the order in baseball. It is nearly impossible to do in the second period.

 

Why do you think everything that Ruffs says is indicative of some failure as a coach?

 

Very little of those post game pressers have anything to do with game decisions.

[PASabreFan]

Nonsense.

 

You tell 'em. Refreshing to see you're on my side for once.

[PASabreFan]

Because it is true of the game and a pretty innocuous statement.

 

Ruff is managing his lines.

Keeping every shift of every line to 30 seconds for a period is favorable.

Doing it for an entire period with nobody getting stuck out there is like batting through the order in baseball. It is nearly impossible to do in the second period.

 

Why do you think everything that Ruffs says is indicative of some failure as a coach?

 

Very little of those post game pressers have anything to do with game decisions.

 

I really don't think Ruff was referring to shift length. All this thread proves is that I'm not the only one who reads into his comments what he or she wants to read.

 

For the Lindy defenders, perhaps you haven't noticed, but he's made some pretty startling admissions about how he's changing this season. I know, I know -- we can't listen to, interpret or even believe the significance of anything he says, but he's been talking about the importance of getting the team together away from hockey on the road, lightening up on "punishment" after losses, focusing on positive reinforcement instead. He hasn't blown up his lines. He didn't go into the lockerroom and rant and rave after one bad loss, preferring to have his team figure things out. He gave them a morning off recently. He's giving rookies significant time and roles. The other day he said the coaches are having monthly meetings with players to improve channels of communication. If he would budge on Vanek and figure out how to use his backup goalie, the transformation might be complete. And this doesn't even go into the system tweaks he introduced.

 

Not sure what that has to do with anything, come to think of it, except that I feel a bit vindicated in my recent criticisms of him, in that apparently he agreed with me. Ruff probably didn't think of himself as a failure, but he knew he had to change, and he has. Will it last the whole season? Who knows.

[PASabreFan]

Poor you.

 

You really don't know the definition of irony, do you?

 

It would be ironic only if I was one of those fans.

[Alaska Darin]

It would be ironic only if I was one of those fans.

You're obviously the perfect fan. You know, the one who can easily point out all the errors everyone else makes. It's too bad you're seemingly unable to cast that eye toward yourself and are missing the obvious flaws.

 

I like the idea that you feel because other people are super critical of everything too that you're somehow vindicated. I'm sure the fans of NKOTB probably feel the same way when people criticize their ridiculous opinions.

[X. Benedict]

I really don't think Ruff was referring to shift length. All this thread proves is that I'm not the only one who reads into his comments what he or she wants to read.

 

 

 

No, but it is one of about 40 reasons why what he said is true.

 

I'm not really working that hard to parse his words. His line changes speak much more loudly, and while I don't always agree, I like how he handles his lines.