Daily Links for Friday, December 9

Paul Hamilton’s read was especially intriguing. I think he has hit on the fundamental problem and it’s telling that Ruff didn’t want to talk about it to the point that he had to resort to “No Habla Ingles” basically.
The value of Chris Drury particularly was not his play, especially going forward from the day he became a Ranger. I think you’d be hard pressed to find a Rangers fan who thought that deal was worth it. However, Drury and Grier always ALWAYS held younger players accountable and that changed the entire tone of the locker room. The singular focus on winning the cup was evident. It was hoped that that would rub off on the younger players, which is now the oft-mentioned core, and I think to some extent it did.
However, I think players like Vanek, Pominville, Miller, Gaustad and Roy hold themselves accountable. In particular, I think Vanek is hard on himself. What they don’t do is hold each other accountable. It was easy when Drury and Grier were on the team. They were older veterans and always gave their all. The core is now the veterans on the team. It’s harder for Vanek to hold say Pominville accountable because they’re peers, and always have been. I also don’t think they hold the younger players like Gerbe, Ennis, and Myers accountable. It’s more of a you’re okay, I’m okay relationship. I think it’s maybe because when Vanek, Pominville, and Roy came into the league, they never had to do hold people accountable because that was a role taken by others on the team. As a result, the younger players aren’t going to hold their older teammates accountable because that would be out of place.
What’s the answer? I don’t think on this team. I think Myers has it in him, but not right now. The closest other player I think might be Kaleta. He’s one of the few players I see talking to his fellow players and trying to pump them up. But he’s Patrick Kaleta. Not sure he’s the best one. Regier has tried to address this by signing players like Niedermayer, Grier and Rivet. Those were ridiculed, but I think they would have been good if the players were a little more serviceable, and I don’t blame him in particular for any of those signings. Niedermayer had a good year prior to the Sabres signing him. Grier had worked on this team before, and I think he helped massively in righting the ship last year. He and Niedermayer were a few of the Sabres who played best in the playoffs. Rivet was a great signing on paper. He was a physical veteran, but still should have had some good years left, considering how long some players are able to play. It would have been had to judge just how quickly his skills declined. I guess what I’m saying is that Regier needs to bring in a youngish leader. Drury was around 30 when he became a Sabre. That would be perfect. But there really aren’t many players like that around the league and it can be hard to identify them. I was slightly disappointed that the Regier didn’t address that this summer, but again, I’m not sure how many guys were available.
Either way, the cycle of not holding guys accountable needs to change. I don’t think Ruff is the problem. I think finding forwards that haven’t tuned him out / can easily play his system is the solution. I respect Jason Pominville’s leading by example, and I think that he’s a good player, but I think the reason the team likes his leadership is because he doesn’t hold them accountable or get in their face and in order to be most effective, this team needs to play like they’re playing for their jobs and if a guy isn’t putting out, he should feel like the team doesn’t want him there and he would need a trade. So Jason Pominville would be on the trading block, as would Derek Roy, Paul Gaustad, and Drew Stafford. I would see what kind of deal I could make. I think that would instantly change the culture of the locker room for the better. I would bring in a guy to be captain and who could score a lot, and maybe someone else with some leadership qualities. I would fill the other two spots with Kassian and Tropp. That would really help this team, in my opinion.

Leino, 1-game suspension. Yeah, that sounds right.

Lucic, nothing? Crap.

Tootoo, 2-games? C’mon, seriously? That should be way more.

Bourdon, nothing? WTF.

At least with Lucic, you could argue that it was a clean hit. Just on a goaltender. Out of the crease. That wasn’t looking. But Bourdon? That’s clearly boarding, with an injury to boot. I want a Shanahan video explaining why that doesn’t require a suspension.