Lindy Ruff

Who is Next in Line for the Sabres Hall of Fame?

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Rob Ray became the 44th member of the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame on Friday night, a well deserved honor for one of the most beloved players in franchise history. Ray’s induction comes two years after Ryan Miller was inducted in conjunction with his jersey retirement, the first player to be inducted in nearly 10 years. 

It wasn’t long ago that the Sabres Hall of Fame was a stagnant, forgotten aspect of the franchise. After Miller and Ray’s inductions, it would appear that the Sabres Hall of Fame has been revived. 

The priority for the Sabres now should be to find a better way to share the Hall of Fame with the fan base. Currently, the only physical display is the wall of names and photos in the Sabres hallway. It’s a very nice exhibit but few fans ever get to see it in person. There should be a far more substantial celebration of the team’s Hall of Fame in the arena. I’ve long lobbied for the Sabres to build an interactive Hall of Fame and museum in the space behind the Sabres Store and my opinion hasn’t changed. There is a ton of room back there and I expect most of the office space to be cleared once the Canalside Gateway building opens. It is a perfect venue for a walk through attraction that fans can visit on game days or summer afternoons alike. I don’t need to re-hash that entire post, but devoting space to the Sabres Hall of Fame and other memorable aspects of team history seems like a slam dunk for the Sabres to pursue. 

As for the members of the Hall of Fame, it’s encouraging that the practice has returned. With only two new inductions in 10 years, it’s hard to say what sort of cadence the team will take up for new inductions. Will this be an annual event? Bi-annual? Or will the ceremonies come intermittently as the team sees fit to nominate and select someone for induction? 

My hope is for this to become a regular fixture on the Sabres calendar. There are enough worthy candidates to stretch on for 10 seasons with a new induction each year and even more if you care to get a little more creative with the standards for entry. Here is a list of the next most worthy candidates (in no particular order) for the Sabres Hall of Fame and a case for induction for each one. 

Continue reading →

Assessing a Pivotal Season at the Halfway Point

Chris Ostrander1 Comment

In a year when virtually everything had to go right for the Sabres, it feels like it’s all gone wrong.

As the Sabres prepared to open training camp for the 2024-25 season, the club was banking on a lot of things to go right in order to break their playoff drought. There weren’t too many constants to lean on from the prior campaign while improvement from the young core and better health were among key talking points for a team desperate to break their playoff drought. In a way, it felt like this was a season of “What if?” Or “If ____, then ____.” At the halfway point of a year that has been defined by a 13-game losing streak, it’s hard to say that anything Kevyn Adams and the Sabres had gambled on have paid off. In some respects, it was fair to be optimistic about certain aspects of the club. While other decisions seemed questionable at best. Little has worked for the Sabres this year, including some of the key tent poles from a pivotal summer. 

Continue reading →

Storylines for a Unique Sabres Training Camp

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Sabres camp was barely 30 minutes old before the first crisis struck, as Rasmus Dahlin left the ice early on Wednesday. That changes things a bit as it pertains to this year’s camp storylines as Buffalo enters camp with a unique schedule ahead of their season opening trip to Europe. 

Due to their early travel to Germany and then Czechia, the Sabres opened camp on September 18 with a clear line of delineation between what is likely their traveling squad, and the group that will stay behind to finish the preseason prior to the opening of Rochester Americans camp. This isn’t much of a surprise, as Don Granato received criticism throughout last season for spending too much time mixing in prospects with established veterans during camp and preseason. Between the additions made by Kevyn Adams and the onus to have a more effective and competitive camp, it seemed likely that Lindy Ruff would keep most of the key NHL group together. The upcoming departure for Europe made that all the more likely, as there is far less time for tinkering prior to the departure of the club’s 27-player group they will bring to Europe.

The first 24 players on the ice were exclusively established NHLers, with the exception of Kulich. One cut would give the Sabres their 23-man group, indicating Ruff already has a pretty good idea of who he plans to start the season with. Who the Sabres choose to round out their group for Europe is one of the lingering questions as camp opens. Jiri Kulich was a safe bet thanks to his his play the last two seasons in Rochester and his impressive showing at the Prospects Challenge. Being Czech born makes him an even more logical player to bring for the tour as a small gift for the player and the fans in Prague. I don’t think it’s out of the question that Kulich plays in one of the two games against the Devils given his nationality. 

Accounting for Kulich, extra defensemen Dennis Gilbert and Jacob Bryson, and James Reimer as the likely third goaltender for the trip, there will be two spots left for Ruff to use at his discretion. As another Czech and one of the forwards in the running for the 13th or 14th forward spot, Lukas Rousek will be a likely candidate, as will Isak Rosen. Kale Clague, Ryan Johnson and even Nikita Novikov may have already been potential candidates to travel with the club, a possibility that would become much more likely if Dahlin’s status is in question. Beyond the players the Sabres opt to bring to Europe, there are four other storylines I have my eyes on for camp and the preseason.

Continue reading →

Two in the Mailbox – What Makes a Successful Offseason?

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

I could’ve done without the agonizing breaks between games of the Stanley Cup Final, but it’s worked out in a way. Playing game seven on Monday sets up a sprint to Thursday’s draft and the opening of free agency on July 1 In between, Fanatics launched their new on-ice jerseys with the Kings and Ducks dropping their new designs for 2024-25. The end of this week could be a whirlwind of action as teams play catchup on trades and signings now that the Cup has been awarded. 

The Sabres will be among those clubs as they are expected to buy out Jeff Skinner when the buyout window officially opens. The buyout will give the Sabres an additional $7.5 million in cap space and the onus will fall on Kevyn Adams to use that space wisely. As previously discussed, there are some financial hurdles to clear with Skinner’s buyout. Even with the cap expected to rise, the three added years of dead cap eats up the approximate salary of a bottom six player. There’s also the larger cap hit in year three to contend with. In order to extract full value from this decision, the Sabres need to cash in on the cap and roster space created by the buyout. That means finding established NHL talent to acquire this offseason in order to tangibly improve the roster and break the playoff drought. They can seek players with term, but this buyout also opens the door for a rental acquisition. Adams has the most space to play with this summer, he has to use it to his advantage. The Sabres can lean on their pipeline when the dead cap stings the most, but they can’t use a buyout on Skinner and not use the cap savings to improve the roster.

Now, for your questions:

Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast 12.38 – Seth Appert Promoted and Listener Questions

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Seth Appert was named to Lindy Ruff’s coaching staff this week, rounding out who will join Ruff behind the bench this year. We talk about Appert’s promotion and what it means for the team as a whole and Appert himself. We also touch on Matt Ellis’ move upstairs and the debate that has stirred throughout the fanbase. 

The second half of the show focuses on a few listener questions, where we hit on Kyle Okposo’s comments to the media about this season’s struggles, our belief on what sort of roster turnover there will be and what would qualify as a true shake up when it comes to offseason moves for the Sabres. 

The Instigator Podcast 12.35 – Lindy Ruff Returns as Sabres Coach

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Kevyn Adams landed on his head coaching hire and it’s a familiar face. Lindy Ruff will be back behind the Buffalo Sabres bench for the 2024-25 season and we dig into the decision to bring Ruff into the fold after moving on from Don Granato. We touch on his tenure in Dallas and New Jersey and attempt to translate which traits and aspects of those seasons may serve the Sabres in trying to snap their playoff drought. 

The Instigator Podcast 8.30 – NHL Return to Play Schedule Reported as CBA Extension Looms

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

With new news being reported about the schedule the NHL will be following for completing the 2019-20 season, we run through the key dates for the coming months on this week’s show. This includes the schedule for the qualifying round and playoffs, when the offseason will begin and when the 2020-21 season is set to start. We run through the entire schedule and how it could affect not just the end of the 2020 season, but how the coming year could look due to fatigue, rust and other extenuating circumstances. Also on the show are segments on Lindy Ruff’s hiring in New Jersey, Judd Brackett being hired by the Wild and the report that Rick Dudley won’t be coming to Buffalo.

Between the Pipes: Moulson shines in Ruff’s return

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

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 →

Basement Brigade presents Black & Red Night on October 28

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

As you may have heard, Lindy Ruff is coming back to Buffalo on Monday. His return is expected to be accompanied by a tribute from the team, which is nice.

Eric, from 3rd Man In, has come up with a little event to coincide with Ruff’s return on Monday. Eric, along with many additional members of the Basement Brigade will be calling for fans to break out their red and black Sabres gear as a way to honor the team’s former uniforms on a night when their former coach – who coached plenty of teams in those colors – returns to Buffalo.

Head over to 3rd Man In to get more of the specific details, but it is really quite simple. Pull out your old red and black gear from the late 90s and early 00s and wear it to Monday’s game. You may not have liked the red and black jerseys, but no one liked the Slug jerseys and plenty of lemmings went out and bought them, didn’t they? This is a cool little idea that isn’t a protest, complaint or anything else but a way to honor what may just be the most successful era in team history.

In the event you didn’t hit the link to Eric’s site the first two times, here it is again: Basement Brigade presents Black & Red Night on October 28

Update: The site and Twitter account with go with the red and black theme as well for the week. Here’s a sample of what I’m getting at.

redblack2

Familiarity may cloud judgment on choice of Rolston

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Ron Rolston’s return was somewhat expected. He wasn’t a total catastrophe during his stint as Buffalo’s interm bench boss and he was rewarded with the removal of the interim tag at a vote of confidence as Buffalo’s head coach moving forward.

While not too many people were happy about it, I’ve been left wondering one thing: Isn’t this exactly what everyone wanted?

The sluggish start to the regular season eventually led to the axe falling on Lindy Ruff with Rolston stepping in to fill Ruff’s 15-year old shoes. He did so with a carryover coaching staff and what ended up being a significant portion of the Rochester Americans opening day roster in front of him. With the season wrapped, the Sabres let both Kevyn Adams and James Patrick walk away, leaving the door open for Rolston to bring in a coaching staff of his choosing. Therefore, once the 2013-14 season begins, the Sabres will have a brand new coaching staff behind the bench; precisely the type of cast they have clamored for over the past few seasons.

Obviously Ron Rolston isn’t the sexy choice for anyone. He’s a relatively mild mannered guy who won’t make too many press conference highlight films. Some have said he’s a carbon copy of the GM and I can’t say I disagree. This is probably why everyone is so upset at the choice of Rolston as the permanent coach. Not so much because he doesn’t have the potential to be a good coach, but because his name isn’t Patrick Roy and he was likely cherry picked by the browbeaten GM for the role. Continue reading →