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Next Sabres Head Coach


Doohickie

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1. I agree it's time for a change, and it's pretty well becoming the consensus opinion in the hockey world. Keenan concurs, and said so on the NBC Postgame show last night. He wishes he were given a fraction of the chances to stay with one team (while not having a lot to show for it) as Ruff!

 

However, I don't think it happens until after the season, especially based on Terry P."s stance.

 

2. Given the success of Paul MacLean in Ottawa, the first place I'd look is up Babcock's coaching tree for another of his protegees.

 

After his comments about keeping Regier and Ruff, there is NO WAY he fires them mid-season. It's going to take some smooth talking to not get a backlash if he does fire them this summer.

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Marc Crawford

 

Can't say that I agree with you here. Crawfords a screamer and he loses his players fairly fast. Todays pampered stars demand better. They want to be taught not hollered at. They want to be reasoned with. Ruff has said as much when he admitted he's had to change his style. Anyways its just my opinion. Take it for what its worth.

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Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe made an interesting comment on Sunday's "Sports Reporters" show on ESPN2. They were discussing how well the SF 49ers are playing under Harbaugh with basically the same roster as last year under Mike Singletary. Ryan said that "the players have to buy what the coach is selling." In other words, they need to believe in their coach's philosophy or system before they will perform well. Israel Gutierrez then said that as a head coach, you have to let your players play to their strength. I know this is football talk, but it made perfect sense when applied to the Sabres situation. The players (I think) have no more faith in Lindy's "system". It's boring, to watch and probably to play. Guys are over-thinking every play and rather than getting them to calm down and relax, Ruff puts more pressure on them. Although I have no way of knowing, it sure looks like the team is burned out on Ruff's message. If nothing else, a new guy (from outside the organization) would bring a breath of fresh air into the team. Maybe they would play better, maybe not.

What I am worried about is that right now, the unrest within the team will result in players bearing grudges against one another that won't be able to be repaired, even after a coaching change. To let the current situation fester will only make things worse. It will be really bad if it affects the young guys to the point where they would rather stay in Rochester or go sign with another team as soon as that option is available. Selling players on coming to Buffalo has always been hard; right now, it makes it nearly impossible...

 

Seems the Sabres of '99 bought Lindy's system. They were selfless pluggers, the Dixon Wards of the world...guys who knew that if they didn't work hard, they might be out of the league. They ran through walls for Lindy and we got to the Finals. The 2005 group were very talented and had good leadership. This current crop of players are inconsistent, fragile, overpaid, pampered, unaccountable and entitled. The core group of Vanek, Roy and Pominville although (mostly) statistically good and consistent, don't offer leadership, although they try. The core has got to be changed eventually and alot of dumping of unproductive players has got to happen before anything starts to kick in.

 

No one responded to my post about Doug Jarvis before...I'm repeating this. This unheralded coach has got a stellar resume and would be the ideal coach for this hockey team. He was a top defensive forward in this league, has got 5 rings, is the all-time NHL iron man playing every single game of his career, been an asst. coached both the Habs and now Bruins, has won on the AHL level as a head coach...he knows the ropes and would earn instant respect. Plus he fits into the Sabres Aryan blond-blue eyed mold. Check it out: http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=69053

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Seems the Sabres of '99 bought Lindy's system. They were selfless pluggers, the Dixon Wards of the world...guys who knew that if they didn't work hard, they might be out of the league. They ran through walls for Lindy and we got to the Finals. The 2005 group were very talented and had good leadership. This current crop of players are inconsistent, fragile, overpaid, pampered, unaccountable and entitled. The core group of Vanek, Roy and Pominville although (mostly) statistically good and consistent, don't offer leadership, although they try. The core has got to be changed eventually and alot of dumping of unproductive players has got to happen before anything starts to kick in.

 

Seriously? You're going to go by the team's performance over a decade ago as a defense to keep Lindy now? (BTW, the 1999 team was built by John Muckler and was kind of still on autopilot from when Ted Nolan was the head honcho). The post-lockout team was the result of the "perfect storm". Clutch-and-grab was out, speed was in and the Sabres had it in spades.

The Buffalo Bills went 11-5 in 1999 under head coach...Wade Phillips. How many teams has he been with since then? Heck, Ken Hitchcock WON the Cup back then and he's been fired and hired a bunch of times since.

Is our self-esteem as Sabres' fans so low that we need to play it safe and keep Lindy rather than bring in a new coach who could lead us to complete success (or abject failure)? Maintaining the status quo isn't living; it's just existing. You have to be willing to take major risks to achieve great results. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But if you don't try, why bother getting out of bed in the morning?

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Seriously? You're going to go by the team's performance over a decade ago as a defense to keep Lindy now? (BTW, the 1999 team was built by John Muckler and was kind of still on autopilot from when Ted Nolan was the head honcho). The post-lockout team was the result of the "perfect storm". Clutch-and-grab was out, speed was in and the Sabres had it in spades.

The Buffalo Bills went 11-5 in 1999 under head coach...Wade Phillips. How many teams has he been with since then? Heck, Ken Hitchcock WON the Cup back then and he's been fired and hired a bunch of times since.

Is our self-esteem as Sabres' fans so low that we need to play it safe and keep Lindy rather than bring in a new coach who could lead us to complete success (or abject failure)? Maintaining the status quo isn't living; it's just existing. You have to be willing to take major risks to achieve great results. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But if you don't try, why bother getting out of bed in the morning?

 

I'm not saying Buffalo should keep Lindy -- I don't think he works here anymore. I'm saying is that he worked with certain types of teams we once had but those days are over. We have a different character team in the locker room these days that's not responding to him. Buffalo needs a fresh start and hopefully TP can pick a successful GM/Coach team that the players respond to.

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In a normal sports league where you get relegated for being extremely terrible there would be no choice but to fire Lindy 15 games ago, but in North American leagues you actually get rewarded for being horrendous so maybe just calling a wash on this season and go for the number 1 pick makes just as much sense?

 

No. Relegation may be an interesting third-world twist on sports leagues, but it certainly isn't "normal." The North American structure, which has been around much longer and is infinitely more successful, is "normal."

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I know this thread is about coaching, and I probably don't have to do this, but I'd like to remind everyone that a coaching change in Buffalo means nothing unless they get rid of the GM, too. Really. You can talk about Lindy all you want, but the culture change is not complete without Darcy going, and without a total and complete change of culture, this team will suck for many years to come.

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I know this thread is about coaching, and I probably don't have to do this, but I'd like to remind everyone that a coaching change in Buffalo means nothing unless they get rid of the GM, too. Really. You can talk about Lindy all you want, but the culture change is not complete without Darcy going, and without a total and complete change of culture, this team will suck for many years to come.

 

Agree. If I could only make ONE move, it would be to fire Regier. The new GM would have free reign to bring in his own guy and reshape the roster as he sees fit, but to me Regier is problem #1 and unless he's gone, nothing else gets fixed.

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I know this thread is about coaching, and I probably don't have to do this, but I'd like to remind everyone that a coaching change in Buffalo means nothing unless they get rid of the GM, too. Really. You can talk about Lindy all you want, but the culture change is not complete without Darcy going, and without a total and complete change of culture, this team will suck for many years to come.

 

This.

 

Agree. If I could only make ONE move, it would be to fire Regier. The new GM would have free reign to bring in his own guy and reshape the roster as he sees fit, but to me Regier is problem #1 and unless he's gone, nothing else gets fixed.

 

And this.

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who would want to coach this team? it pretty obvious there is a cancer in the locker room. the incident with Lucic just brought it to the surface, into the public. lindy's the coach unless pegula has the balls to blow up his gm/coach combo.

Someone LOOKING FOR A JOB or a new chance.

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Why is it that when we bring new players to the team they do well for a couple of weeks and then stop performing like the rest of the team? = because once Ruff and the coaching staff get ahold of them and force them into his outdated system, they're done.

Ruff has got to go for this team to play to their potential.

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do you know what system Ruff is running now vs the one he was running a few years ago?? Do you know if the one he's running now is outdated compared to other teams'?? I doubt it.

 

I would love for everyone to write a few key components of Ruff's system and how they apply to this team.

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No. Relegation may be an interesting third-world twist on sports leagues, but it certainly isn't "normal." The North American structure, which has been around much longer and is infinitely more successful, is "normal."

 

Would you call the Premiership in English football "third-world"? How about Serie A in Italian football, or just about every other major football league.

 

Also, I would tend to disagree with your thought on the North American structure being around longer, but you may be right about that. But, as for it being "normal" and "more successful" I really don't think so.

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