Author: Chris Ostrander

Weekend yields roster moves for Sabres

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It would appear that two games behind the bench is all that Ted Nolan needed to make some concrete decisions on the Sabres roster. A number of changes in the forward lines accompanied Nolan tipping his hand regarding the goaltenders after last weekend’s home-and-home with Toronto.

After Ryan Miller turned aside 33 shots in a 3-1 victory, Jhonas Enroth was victimized by screens and deflections in a 4-2 loss that saw the young Swede only make 22 saves. The decision to run with Miller was likely made not only due to his strong performance on Friday, but the play he has exhibited over his last five starts. Continue reading →

Let @FakeDarcy’s end serve as a death to parody accounts

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Yesterday marked an end of an era in Buffalo. More specifically, the end of a social media era.

The departure of Darcy Regier from the Sabres front office also signified the end of the line for Fake Darcy as the latter posted one final farewell tweet as news broke of Regier’s termination from the Sabres.

https://twitter.com/FakeDarcy/status/400649349064974336

Fake Darcy managed to operate at the forefront of the Sabres Twitterverse with a steady stream of obvious, snarky tweets that were always taking the lighter side of things into account. It was always just right, not trying too hard, but funny enough to elicit a chuckle.

That’s not always the case when it comes to Sabres-related Twitter accounts. This is probably true of most Twitter feeds that surround professional teams, but given the cottage industry that is Sabres parody accounts, yesterday’s actions should serve as the end of the line for such accounts.

Go ahead and search Twitter for Ron Rolston or Ted Nolan. Be prepared to scroll for a while as there is an account for everything imaginable for the former and current coach of the Sabres. But none of them carry the personality that was found with the feed that was Fake Darcy. To their credit, the Lindy Ruff’s Tie guys have also done a fine job in maintaining a Twitter feed that is entertaining enough to justify. But they’re less a parody and more just a Sabres-related feed in many way.

A quick visual survey shows one account with a single tweet to its credit, two that stopped late last spring and a few others that managed to stay active but truly offered little in the sense of following.

I suppose all parody accounts come with an acquired taste, sort of like comedians. If a particular brand of comedy doesn’t do the trick, you’re not going to find much use for them. But when one account in a veritable sea of them offers even the slightest comedic value, it would seem that the trend for such accounts is crap. I’d like to think that the fanbase is better than this, but I’d be lying.

So consider this a clarion call of sorts. The Sabres Twitterverse was blessed with a mildly entertaining – much like the mildly successful real GM – parody account that was run very well. Whoever was the voice behind the account knew well enough to step down when Regier was fired. Let Fake Darcy’s retirement serve as the end of the line for any further accounts of the ilk.

Goodbye to Fake Darcy, your run was entertaining and well received. Let’s hope that Sabres fans have enough sense to know that they won’t replicate what you perfected.

Sabres make sweeping changes as LaFontaine and Nolan return

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A pair of very familiar faces are back in prominent positions with the Sabres organization as Pat LaFontaine and Ted Nolan were brought back in the fold after a massive shake up at First Niagara Center.

LaFontaine takes over as the team’s President of Hockey Operations with Ted Nolan stepping in as the interim head coach. Both Ron Rolston and Darcy Regier were relieved of their duties prior to LaFontaine and Nolan stepping in.

Ousting Rolston seemed like an inevitable choice given Buffalo’s woeful record and the ugly way they went about earning it. Exactly when the axe was to fall on Rolston was left to guesswork due to Buffalo’s current campaign for the first overall pick. The heat was rising fast, however, as Buffalo’s string of first period flops and ugly losses was punctuated by an inability to draw any sort of redemption from the progression of the team’s young players. When a coach lauded for his ability to develop players isn’t even doing that, obviously there is a problem.

Regier’s departure is only shocking when you consider the scope of this shakeup. The construction of the roster left plenty to be desired and his quest to mimic the toughness of the Bruins ended up sacrificing the overall skill level of Buffalo’s forward group. Like Rolston, Regier’s departure was something that was expected at some point in the coming calendar year, the timing is what comes as something of a shock, as were his replacements. Continue reading →

Elimination of goalie fights can be avoided

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With a handful of events sitting at the forefront of everyone’s collective memories, the NHL’s GM meetings are set to look like a breakdown of current events based on the potential changes that are set to be discussed.

Amongst the topics are diving, bullying and goalie fights. Exactly how goalie fights may be impacted could be quite severe.

Thanks to Ray Emery’s antics against the Capitals, talks surrounding goalie fights are likely to revolve around supplementary discipline or perhaps even doing away with the practice altogether. A few reports have indicated that a 10-game ban will be levied against any goaltender who chooses to cross the red line to fight his counterpart and I say that’s one step too far.

Even though a situation like what unfolded in Philadelphia is about as rare as a John Scott hat trick, the League needs to have some sort of safeguard against such events after coming away from the Philly brawl with egg on their face. It was a situation that likely called for a suspension to Emery for a reckless decision to (basically) attack a player who had no interest in engaging in a fight. But without any safeguards in place, there was nothing done by the League.

Now the League is likely to make a move to compensate for the previous shortcoming. If the chatter serves to be true, it will be something of an overreaction to the situation. Continue reading →

Extra Point: Offense sputters in Steel City

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Sunday’s loss to the Steelers not only dropped the Bills to 3-7 on the year, but brought the Draft and offseason process closer to the forefront as the 2013 season is slowly turning towards yet another chapter in the tragic novel that is the Bills playoff drought.

The story this week was an inability to control the game at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Playing against one of the worst lines in the league, Buffalo’s vaunted front four didn’t have much of an impact while the Bills running game never got rolling against the sputtering Steeler defense. It was almost as if the teams underwent a complete role reversal after the optimism surrounding this game. Continue reading →

Late Extra Points: Bills throw away loss to Chiefs

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Since it is already Thursday and I’m two full days past when I typically do a write up on the Bills game that was I’ll keep this to a minimum. Consider it a drive thru version of the Extra Point. Continue reading →

Floating ideas on a future site for the Bills stadium

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There’s been a whole lot of talk about where the Bills will reside once their newest lease expires in 10 years (or seven depending on what course of action they take).

While the current renovations will serve as little more than a soggy band-aid for the aging stadium, the lease is designed to provide the time necessary to get a new stadium designed, approved and built in Western New York. Of course seven to ten years probably isn’t long enough around these parts.

Although a shiny new stadium built on the Outer Harbor is probably the first choice for many new stadium advocates, I think that it’s more likely that Bass Pro will build a floating supercenter to support the new signature Peace Bridge span before a football stadium gets constructed on the Outer Harbor. Too many opponents with plans for parks, public access and other causes which simply don’t align with a billion dollar project such as that.

Bear in mind that a number of stadiums have been built in the past 10-20 years for relatively acceptable costs and there’s no reason to think that the new Bills stadium (open or with a roof) couldn’t be completed without eclipsing the billion dollar plateau.

Instead, I think there are a few more feasible locations throughout the city that would not only appease those who staunchly disagree with placing the stadium on the water but also the parties who hope to see the stadium built in the city limits. I’ll go in order of most ridiculous and unrealistic and work my way down to the plan I like best  (forgive the sloppy photo work). Continue reading →

Extra Points: Aerial attack ousts Bills in Big Easy

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Drew Brees and New Orleans’ air attack did the Bills in on Sunday as the five touchdowns tossed by Brees accounted for all the scoring from the Saints on Sunday.

Buffalo held a lead for some time during the contest after a Stevie Johnson touchdown and Dan Carpenter field goal but Jimmy Graham scored a pair of touchdowns in the second and third quarters with a 69-yard bomb to Kenny Stills helping to recapture the lead for New Orleans.

Graham’s first score would be all the Saints needed, but his second score was followed by another late bomb to Stills that rolled up the final 14 points for New Orleans. It was a dominating performance by Brees who took control of the game while being sacked four times by the Bills. Continue reading →

Flow Chart: How to determine if your team should honor a former player

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The Sabres made up for their lack of response during Jason Pominville’s return by running a nice tribute to Lindy Ruff on Monday night.

Ruff’s return has been circled on the calendar since the schedule came out this summer and showing some sort of respect for the longtime coach was likely an easy decision for the Sabres. But it isn’t something that has been the norm for other former Sabres making their return to the city they once called home.

There haven’t been many players who have come back to town worthy of any sort of acknowledgement from the club in the past few years. Maybe only Marty Biron would register for most of the fans. It goes to show how few and far between these opportunities are. By extension, the rarity also makes it that much more important to get it right.

Eric from 3rd Man In has a good take on Pomnville’s return, the non-response from the Sabres and why it should be easy enough for them to take a little time to honor these former players when they come back. Since Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller will be making their way back to First Niagara Center sometime in the next 12-18 months, I’ve cooked up a flow chart to help decide if former Sabres deserve a quick moment when they come back to the First Niagara Center ice.

As you can tell, the blue and gold lines are there to highlight final answers.
As you can tell, the blue and gold lines are there to highlight final answers.

The one thing this doesn’t take into account is the rental player or plugger who may be on a championship squad but never leave a lasting impression. But those types of guys shouldn’t be difficult to weed out. This is designed as; A) a joke; and B) a way to determine if tenured members of the team deserve to be acknowledged.

Pominville and Thomas Vanek are great examples in this case as they both played significant roles through their tenure and grew to be fan favorites prior to departure. They both fall into the category of guys who deserve to be honored and hopefully the Sabres follow suit when Vanek returns for the season’s final game.

Ed Note: This can apply to any team, simply switch out Sabres with your team of preference.

Between the Pipes: Moulson shines in Ruff’s return

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Matt Moulson must be some kind of magician. Because with a flick of his wrist he made a legion of fans forget about Thomas Vanek hours after they were bitching about his departure.

At least that’s the narrative I’m going with.

Moulson’s Sabres debut was a strong one. He scored a pair of goals – one beauty and one in a “dirty area” – and helped energize Buffalo’s new top line alongside Cody Hodgson and Tyler Ennis in a 4-3 loss to the Stars.

Moulson’s debut was likely overshadowed by the return of Lindy Ruff and another tick in the loss column as the #SuckForSam sweepstakes continue. Perhaps Moulson’s start helped to draw some attention away from Ruff’s return considering last night’s loss was one of the few, shall we say, competitive contests the Sabres have played all year.

The issues were still there as Buffalo’s in-zone coverage continues to resemble some sort of union of mini-mite group puck chasing and a glitchy version of Lemmings for Windows 95. Never was it more evident than on Vernon Fiddler’s opening tally in which Mikhail Girgorenko and Drew Stafford were left spectating as the Dallas forward crashed the crease to stake the Stars to a 1-0 lead.

While the Alex Goligoski goal was simply a well-placed snipe. Both Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn potted goals off of atrocious Sabres turnovers that managed to create two odd-man opportunities below the faceoff dots. To give up not one, but two situations such as that is something that shouldn’t occur in the NHL. Continue reading →