Sabres Edge

The Buffalo Sabres just tweeted:

"Darcy Regier announced this afternoon that Lindy Ruff has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the Buffalo Sabres. More to follow."

By Mike Harrington

The Sabres made one move by the the time their 90-minute practice ended today, putting forward Cody McCormick on waivers. But stay tuned. Lindy Ruff made it pretty clear that's not all-systems-go on the SS Sabre for long.

"If we're going to be like this, it isn't working the way we're going," Ruff said of his team, which is last in the Northeast Division, 13th in the Eastern Conference and 27th in the NHL overall standing. "I think the indication today is we're going to have to try some things and that's what we're talking about."

Ruff made an exit-stage right from his meeting with reporters at that point, but had answered questions for about four minutes. So what does it mean?

A simple move could be to bring up Kevin Porter from Rochester for Thursday's game in Toronto. But there's plenty of indication GM Darcy Regier is heating up trade talks, given the dire straits his team is in.

As for McCormick, he's got another year left on his deal at $1 million and has no points in eight games this year. He gave the Sabres eight goals, 20 points and 142 penalty minutes two years ago after being acquired from Colorado to replace Andrew Peters but hasn't approached those totals since as he's battled concussions and a severe finger problem that kept him out of the first eight games this season.

McCormick apparently became expendable now that the Sabres have John Scott. The fourth line in general is providing absolutely nothing offensively. That's certainly not their job but other teams do get some push from that trio and the Sabres have not.

"Part of it with John there, we're crowded at that position," Ruff said. "And with Pat Kaleta on the right side, I tried to put Cody at center. We've got too much of almost the same thing."

Ruff said Christian Ehrhoff and Tyler Ennis both sat out today for maintenance and should play tomorrow in Toronto. Click below to hear Ruff's meeting with reporters today (2:20 update: The Sabres confirm Terry Pegula will do no interviews today).

By Mike Harrington

The Sabres have just taken the ice for practice in First Niagara Center. There is no sign of center Tyler Ennis and defenseman Christian Ehrhoff. Ehrhoff, remember, took a puck high in the neck area during Sunday's game against Pittsburgh and might be taking the day off. We'll have to wait for Lindy Ruff's post-practice update.

Based on line colors, the Sabres are skating this way:

Vanek-Hodgson-Pominville
Foligno-Grigorenko-Stafford
Ott-Hecht-Gerbe
Scott-McCormick-Kaleta

It's certainly time for Grigorenko to play tomorrow night in Toronto, and on a scoring line. We'll see how it goes.

The defense pairs are Myers-Regehr, Sekera-Sulzer, Leopold-Weber-Brennan

12:10 update: TSN's Bob McKenzie has tweeted that Cody McCormick has been put on waivers. McCormick is still on the ice at practice.

The fans need to hear from Terry Pegula. (AP Photo)

(2:20 p.m  update Wednesday: The Sabres confirm Terry Pegula will do no interviews today).

I spoke to the the Sabres public relations department yesterday afternoon, following protocol by requesting an interview with owner Terry Pegula. The thinking was that Friday is the second anniversary of his opening press conference** and it might be nice to get his thoughts about where the organization stands on all fronts, especially in the wake of the all-systems-go the HarborCenter project got Tuesday afternoon combnied with the struggles on the ice. 

(**You remember that presser, right? "Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup" is the most-remembered line. But it also included "Lindy ain't goin' nowhere" and "To whom much is given, much is required.")

I was reminded, correctly, that Pegula has taken a step back from most interviews and that team president Ted Black is doing the bulk of the talking. Black, to his credit, is taking all the bullets every week on WGR Radio and did so again last week during an 18-minute interview at Buffalonews.com.

In the wake of last night's fiasco against Winnipeg, my interview request is foolish. This is no time for any big picture reflection. The franchise is in complete crisis and Pegula doesn't need to do any perfunctory 10-minute phone interview with me.

He needs to stand in front of me, WGR Radio, the Olean Times Herald, every televsion camera in town and every other outlet that comes in from time to time in Western New York and Southern Ontario and explain what in the world is going on here.

Continue reading "It's time for Terry to talk -- today" »

Sabres had their worst performance to date Tuesday as they played without passion or effort.

By Mike Harrington

The dressing room door was zipped shut for nearly 20 minutes after Tuesday's 2-1 loss to Winnipeg.  On one hand, I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall in that room. On the other hand, I've heard it all before already. And we heard some more after this one. 

Lack of effort (how is that possible again?). Lack of execution. Playing tight. It's all hard to believe, especially when you see how little Terry Pegula's $65 million payroll is buying him.

Lindy Ruff said he was embarrassed and added, "we need to take a hard look at everything". Ya think? 

Hard to believe it's gotten to this point. Tied with Columbus for most regulation losses in the NHL (10). Now standing 13th in the East -- seven points behind every team in the Northeast Division -- and 27th in the NHL if Los Angeles got a point late Tuesday night in Edmonton.

Click the files below to go around the locker room after the inexplicable defeat:

By John Vogl

As we wrote about Monday on Sabres Edge, Charlie Sheen wasn't thrilled when Christian Ehrhoff screened the actor's pal, Ryan Miller, on the losing goal against Pittsburgh.

It appears they've cleared the air today. Take a look at the sequence on Twitter:

watching the best goalie in the worldRyan Miller,stand on his head,then some dooshy teammategot in his way.#sux twitpic.com/c4nb4y

— Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) February 17, 2013

@charliesheen that dooshy teammate was me, went to my #AngerManagement class though #notmadatyouanymore

— Christian Ehrhoff (@TheRealHoff10) February 19, 2013

Thanks. You're awesome!#I'llStickToBaseballRT @therealhoff10 @charliesheen that dooshy teammate was me, went to my #AngerManagement class!

— Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) February 19, 2013

By Mike Harrington

I've done a lot of Sabres yakking in the last day and a half or so. Collected some audio and video here heading into tonight's game.

I was on with my good friends at the Illegal Curve Radio Show on TSN 1290 in Winnipeg and the podcast of that hour show can be heard at this link (I was the guest for the first 12 minutes.)

Continue reading "On the air: The Peg, XM Radio and NHL Network" »

T.J. Brennan gets another chance tonight. (Getty Images)

By Mike Harrington

This is a night the Sabres' power play needs to fatten up its stats. The Winnipeg Jets come into First Niagara Center tonight dead last in the NHL in penalty killing at a pathetic 65.9 percent (no other team is below 72.9).

Of course, the Sabres are hardly world-beaters with the man-advantage, scoring at a 13.6 percent clip that's just 26th in the NHL. And they're just 2 for 34 in the last nine games. Yikes.

So defenseman T.J. Brennan, a power-play specialist, is back in the lineup and Marcus Foligno will return to do the dirty work with a No. 1 unit that will now consist of Foligno-Tyler Ennis-Thomas Vanek up front with Brennan and Jason Pominville at the points.

Brennan has no points in five games this year and has been a healthy scratch for the last four. He had three four shots on goal in the Feb. 5 loss at Ottawa, three in the Feb. 7 shootout win over Montreal and none two nights later on Long Island, where he missed some chances. He hasn't played since.

Continue reading "Power play's mandate: Take advantage of Jets' weak PK unit" »

Jordan Leopold takes a seat tonight. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)

By Mike Harrington

The criticism around the Sabres is there's too much status quo, and rightly so. That changed a little this morning for Drew Stafford and Jordan Leopold.

As John Vogl reported here while the team was on the ice this morning, Stafford will start tonight's game against Winnipeg on the fourth line with John Scott and Cody McCormick. Leopold, meanwhile, will be a healthy scratch for the first time in this three years with the Sabres.

"I just haven't got off to a good start," said Leopold, who has one goal, three assists and a minus-7 rating. "I'm trying to keep the confidence up, trying to get into plays, trying to make things. It's the little things, not big things that have been getting me a little bit. It's not the first time I've sat and watched a game. You learn from it. It creates a fire underneath you and urgency to get better."

Leopold said he was in the dumps all day Monday over Pittsburgh's tying goal Sunday, the Pascal Dupuis tally that came after a Jason Pominville turnover at the Buffalo line. Leopold dropped coverage on the cross-ice pass from Kris Letang.

Continue reading "In Lindy's crosshairs: Leopold to the press box, Stafford to the fourth line vs. Jets" »

By John Vogl

The Sabres could have a very different look on the ice tonight when they host Winnipeg.

Based on the morning skate in First Niagara Center, it appears T.J. Brennan may replace Jordan Leopold on the blue line and Drew Stafford will play on the fourth line.

The lines:

Continue reading "Sabres mix up lines, defense pairs and power-play units at morning skate" »

By Mike Harrington

Here's hoping the stripes at tonight's Sabres-Jets game have a better game than the guys in Denver yesterday.

The Avalanche beat the Predators, 6-5, and the difference turned out to be just about the most offsides goal you'll ever see scored by Colorado's Matt Duchene. Check it out here. Yeeeesh. (By the way, the analyst describing the play is former Sabres center Peter McNab.)

By John Vogl

Since the Sabres have won only six of their 16 games this season, news that the NHL will retain its draft lottery system certainly pertains to them.

According to TSN, the league has decided to keep the odds of winning the first overall pick the same. There were discussions to make it more even for all nonplayoff teams.

Here are the odds of getting the No. 1 selection:

Continue reading "Report: NHL draft lottery to retain same odds system" »

By John Vogl

It's not wise to anger Charlie Sheen. The bombastic actor has a history of firing back, and he put Sabres defenseman Christian Ehrhoff in his sights Sunday.

watching the best goalie in the worldRyan Miller,stand on his head,then some dooshy teammategot in his way.#sux twitpic.com/c4nb4y

— Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) February 17, 2013

Sheen wrote that after Pittsburgh scored the winner with 2:04 left, a goal that Miller couldn't see with Ehrhoff in front of him.

Continue reading "Despite blast from Charlie Sheen, Ehrhoff has been carrying Sabres on back end" »

By John Vogl

 Along with students, teachers and bank tellers, the Sabres are taking Presidents' Day off.

The collective bargaining agreement mandates teams give their players four days off for every full calendar month, and the Sabres had scheduled today for a respite. Despite a bitter afternoon loss to the Pittsburgh, they're sticking with the plan.

Continue reading "Sabres stick to CBA-mandated schedule, take today off" »

Watch other segments from this week's "Bucky & Sully Show" here.

By John Vogl

While disappointment over the Sabres' 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh today was evident throughout the dressing room, there were wildly different views of the game.

Steve Ott, for example, was impressed with how the Sabres rallied from a 2-0 deficit and had a lead in the third period. Ryan Miller, in a profanity-filled chat, was furious the team blew that lead and got no points.

Continue reading "Sounds from the Sabres' dressing room following 4-3 loss to Penguins" »

Sidney Crosby has a point in all 12 of his career games in First Niagara Center. (AP Photo)

By Mike Harrington

Greetings from high atop First Niagara Center as we get set for today's Sabres-Penguins matinee. It's a 12:30 faceoff on NBC. Will the Sabres parlay any momentum from Friday night's third period against the Bruins? Will the Penguins continue to dominate on the road, where they lead the East with seven wins? Those are my two quick questions this morning. 

Be sure to join me in a new thread on the Edge at 12:30 for our live game blog -- and have your questions and comments ready in the second intermission for another Sabres FlashChat. 

Today's game is the opener of Hockey Day in America and will be followed at 3:30 by the Kings at the Blackhawks on NBC and the Capitals at the Rangers at 6 on the NBC Sports Network.

Gord Miller, the TSN veteran renowned for his work on on the World Junior Championships, will be doing today's play-by-play and former NHL defenseman and longtime MSG analyst Joe Micheletti will be the inside-the-glass man. Rick Jeanneret and Rob Ray will be doing radio only today on WGR.

Some quick numbers to ponder:

Vs. Pittsburgh: The Sabres are just 2-8-0 in their last 10 against the Pens. 

Power play: The Penguins are third overall (27.6 percent) and are fourth on the road (28.6) but lead the NHL with 10 road power-play goals. The Sabres are 26th overall (12.7) but are ninth at home (24.0) and 29th on the road (1-30, 3.3. Yikes).

Continue reading "Morning numbers for today's matinee vs. the Flying Crosbys" »

The News' Bucky Gleason and Lauren Mariacher also answered a reader email about Sabres fans' growing disinterest:

Watch other segments from this week's "Bucky & Sully Show" here.

By John Vogl

Thomas Vanek leads the NHL in goals and points. The Penguins have noticed.

"Vanek has started off extremely hot, and it’s not something new," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said following practice this afternoon in First Niagara Center. "He’s a dangerous player. He’s a skilled player. He can make plays, score goals. He’s a guy who doesn’t have a reputation for doing it on the inside, but he’s good at the net. He’s good in tight spaces. He goes to the net, gets a shot off, does it on the power play.

"He’s a dangerous guy you’re going to have to watch."

Continue reading "Penguins hoping to keep Vanek cool for Sabres" »