Buffalo Boy's Blog

As of yesterday before their total collapse against the Pittsburgh Penguins the Sabres were an equal number of points out of third in the Eastern Conference as they were out of 13th place. After last night they might as well be in last because all signs point to this team not being a playoff team.

You can throw all the excuses you want at it and I have heard all the excuses but, here we are in mid, going on late December and this team is coughing up one, two and even three goal leads at home on a regular basis despte investing in a $10 million a year defenseman who is barely earning a quarter of that with his play, a trade for a hard nosed defenseman from Calgary who also is barely paying dividends and a $6 million forward who was starting to turn things around from a horrid start who is currently going to be out for a while.

Add to that that they are piling up injuries and playing with close to a third of their on ice team as rookies and average goaltending at best and you get a team that is already in trouble. Ted Black can preach patience all he wants but I am starting to believe that until the coach and GM change, this thing is going to continue to crash. What else does Lindy Ruff have left to do to stimulate this team? He changed goalies last night three times, whats next? No goalie? Maybe try a third goalie on the bench so that way we don't have to go back to Miller or Enroth...granted Im not pinning all of their woes on Lindy Ruff or the goal tending, any hockey fan watching can see the defensive lapses and mental breakdowns that leave these goalies and their coach hung out to dry.

After last night they are a .500 team 16-16. Sorry folks I count that third column as nothing more than a loss, the NHL chooses to give pity points for losing, I don't. That makes this team one loss away from being a sub .500 team. Add to that their goal differential (goals for vs. goals against) is now a -5. They have scores 5 fewer goals than they have allowed, That is a big sign of a non playoff team.

Ultimately, I hold Darcy Regier accountable he spent the money and brought these new players in who have not paid off. $10 million on a defenseman whose name isn't Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey, Ray Bourque or Niklas Lidstrom is unacceptable. They could have gotten two solid defenseman or forwards for what they paid for Erhoff who may have some offensive upside but defensively he isn't exactly an elite defenseman yet he is the highest paid player in the league this year and next.

Of course, Darcy Regier can fix it, he has the power to make trades and lets not forget the good trades he has made....Mike Wilson turned into Rhett Warrener, he nabbed Mike Peca out of Vancouver and Chris Gratton became Daniel Briere.....given the resources he has, and the position this team is in, in need of a serious wake up call maybe its time for an uncharacteristic mid season trade to shake things up.

Derek Roy, Drew Stafford, Brad Boyes, name your defensive prospect, hell even throw Ryan Miller's or Enroth's name around and see what you get. You might be surprised if you include a draft pick or a prospect with one of those above mentioned players and it might even help shake up and improve the team chemistry a little.

Its Mid-December and they are a .500 team, its time to worry, not panic, but its definitely worry time if this doesn't get righted and righted soon. January usually starts to signal its time to start making the playoff push, if this thing isn't going well by then, it will be panic time. They can start by winning two games in a row at HOME.