Depew, NY -- I took my laptop to HSBC Arena and wrote a lot of this column there.
I used to do this all the time when I wrote for the Spectrum at U.B., sans laptop. Come to the game, write a story and actually talk to the players (I was mortified. I'm shy as hell.) Then I'd rush home and write the story and email it in to my editors before midnight. Good times.
So what's the deal with these guys? That's probably the most asked question going around town in reference to the Sabres. They have talent, they don't try, what gives? Such is one of the mysteries in life.
Even before the team has been officially punched out of the playoff picture, the blame game has started. It's the players fault. No, it's the GM. No, it's the coach. As with a lot of things in life, the truth is somewhere in the gray.
Through the two years since most of the Eastern Conference finalist team was disassembled, the players left behind to fill the void of Danny Briere, Chris Drury, Mike Grier, Jay McKee, Brian Campbell, J.P. Dumont, and others have been inconsistent at best. At times they have looked like a tremendously skilled hockey team. At others, they've been frustrating to even watch.
The time is quickly approaching when a decision must be made. Are the players left behind - Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Jochen Hecht, Ryan Miller - enough to compensate. Do the Sabres have a core that you can count on? Let's take a look at some specific areas of the team.
Cornerstone Player
If Lindy Ruff is responsible for the Sabres decline, despite gutting the good players of the team and not replacing them, then explain to me the rise of Thomas Vanek? Here you had a young player who got himself benched in the playoffs in 2005-2006 because of his play. Look at him now. There were moments when he was the only Sabre with any inclination of getting in a kerfuffle last week. And he scores 40 goals a year. And he wants to play defense now. And he scores goals in all the hard areas.
I don't think you can fire a coach who has made a very gifted but undisciplined player into an All-Star cornerstone of the franchise, so we will have to find our excuses elsewhere.
Cornerstone Goalie
Before Miller's injury, he was on pace to have his best season statistically. Although he is not perfect, he is good and worth his money. More so than that, he seems to function as a spiritual center for the team. That locker room has been accused of not holding itself accountable in the past, but Miller has never been afraid to speak out when the situation has warranted. He stops the puck, he provides leadership, no problems here move along.
Leadership
There is a reason that people have accused the room of being soft. It's because... well... they're soft. The alarm bells should have gone off when Craig Rivet was named the captain of the team. If the group of kids in the locker room were going to show any leadership, any aggressive move toward establishing themselves as the center of the room, they would've made a jump at that letter and what it means. Instead, they deferred. Rivet has been around and was a veteran, yes. But it wasn't supposed to be his team, it was supposed to be theirs. The franchise was practically begging for someone to step up. Everyone took one step back, except Rivet.
Who You Gonna Call?
It was dire going into last Friday's Flyers game. The Sabres needed to win, and too many teams around them were making moves up the standings. The Rangers, the Panthers, the Penguins, the Canadiens, and the Hurricanes were trading spots from five to nine. Only the Sabres stayed put.
The Atlanta game and the Ottawa game were disasters, so what does Lindy do? Ellis, Paille, and Kaleta are out there on the ice. They were still out there when the Sabres need two goals and there were three minutes left. If you need to resort to scoring late, game-tying goals with your grinders, you're in a bad way.
“We need to send a message tonight. I need my best out of all of you, and we have to dominate from the opening face-off. Quick, get me Matt Ellis!”
It should be Roy, Pominville, Hecht, Connolly, Vanek, or Stafford. Nope. Why not?
Not So Clutch
When pressure is applied the team crumbles. It started back in the Eastern Conference Finals between Ottawa and Buffalo in 2006-2007 and has continued through to now. Hell they almost coughed up the Leafs game Friday night! You can set your watch to how quickly they give up leads because of panic. Just imagine that Atlanta game again for all the evidence you need. People used to stay until the very last whistle because they just knew the team would pull it out. Now they stream for the exits because they know the opposite is true.
So What Happened?
If you took the guys who left and added them to the worst NHL team, they'd make them instantly better. Looking back, no team could've sustained those losses and been as good without replacing them. But management made a bet that the group of players who remained would grow to form a new core. It was a gamble. It hasn't payed off.
So now your left with a lot of role players who are being paid like stars, a farm team that looks a lot like the team you have up here now, and very little leeway with money to fix it. Regier has painted himself into a corner with the roster he has.
Now What?
Well, to fix your problem you have to admit there is one. It seems fantastic, but there's a good chance that the Sabres will say that they missed (if they miss) the playoffs because Miller got hurt. You know it isn't true, and so do I, but it tastes better than saying “we missed because we drafted pansies.”
If they come to grips with what they have, they need to bring in some more leadership to support what they have. Rivet, Miller and Gaustad need help. Maybe a veteran forward who isn't afraid of his own shadow.
They will also need to ditch the luggage that is Lydman and Tallinder. Whatever magic they had is now gone. Move bothand find maybe one or two to take their place. Can Weber move up, maybe even Myers if he's that good? The Sabres might need to take a step backward there and see what they can do.
And they should also trade Derek Roy.
Wait, What?
Yes. The team has taken on his personality. They are fast, talented, undisciplined, stubborn, and soft. Either he grows up or he moves out. It will require someone to hold him to account for that to happen, and there is no one in that room who can do it. Either get someone who is a designated Derek Roy chaperon or move him.
Oh, but he's a bargain, right? Yes he is, which makes him that much easier to move. No worries about other teams cap space.
But what about all the production? I'll give it up to get smarter, tougher, and stable.
What could you possibly get in return? A #1 defenseman, a hot forward prospect and a pick? Or maybe this guy. Yeah I know L.A. would never give him up, but I'd be willing to throw Roy and extras to make that happen. He is the exact thing this team needs. He's tough, he's physical, he's talented, and he's a culture change.
Get Dustin Brown.
* * *
I think you can make a serious case that the Bills haven't gone far enough in their attempt to make themselves a playoff team. They've clearly committed to something by picking up Owens. "Something" might be a tremendous understatement.
Why isn't Owens enough? The Bills don't have Tom Brady, so they will not win the AFC East. Even with Owens, who makes their offense better, their defense is still a big question mark. they are weak at defensive line, even with a healthy Schobel. Their linebackers leave much to be desired (I'm looking at you Posluszny.) Donte Whitner is on call now in case Ko Simpson wets the bed again at safety. Not good. Maybe not even average. Oh, and your Pro Bowl tackle wants big money or bust.
Maybe, just maybe, they are good enough to compete for the Wildcard. That would require them winning close game under pressure against teams that are better than they are. When has this crew shown that kind of gumption? Against San Diego last year? Then the wheels fell off the wagon.
So what to do?
Look, the Bills have already boarded the crazy train by signing Owens. The press and most of the fans who watch the league think the organization is making a huge mistake, so there is nothing to lose in the P.R. department. They didn't have anything to lose in the first place because they were so terrible! They should go all the way here. Go nuts.
The league will blow up in a few years anyway. The owners want a new deal, and the players were threatening strike if that were to happen. Who knows what the league will look like then. There might even be an uncapped year. Attack right now. Sell out. Go Michale Keaton.
Find a pass rusher by any means necessary. Trade into the early picks of the first round if need be. Trade a bunch of picks for a guy in the league already and pay him. Do the same for a quality linebacker.
Signing Owens does not guarantee a playoff spot. They still need to do more. So do it.
The next few months will be interesting for the Bills in that regard. I could care less where Owens works out.
Also on Owens – no complaining about the Press, no matter how incompetent they are. I heard how excited people were when they signed Owens and how it was going to make the Bills relevant again. Well, now you're relevant.
Has anyone been paying attention to the coverage over the past three years? The coverage of Owens has been the equivalent of Most Extreme Car Chases That End In Gas Station Explosions 8. He's been a circus everywhere, and at all times pundits have decried his behavior. And now, in the afterglow of the signing and attention and daydreams of the Bills constantly being on Sportscenter, you are shocked, SHOCKED to find that the Press and pundits might again decry his behavior.
If you don't like that the nation is waiting for the Bills to fail, I understand. Just stop acting like your offended. You knew this was coming, and if you didn't you are unqualified for Common Sense.
How big does your ego have to be to think that you can get to within a light year of how funny the Three Stooges were? The Farrelly Brothers? My God what a disaster.
Look, there are foundations here – bedrock on which all comedy comes from. You can trace the line from Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin through the Marx Brothers and The Three Stooges to Sid Ceaser and Milton Berle to Woody Allen and so on. The crap that passes for comedy now is nowhere near the league of the bedrock.
Steve Martin, who can be legitimately funny, is cashing checks off the grave of Peter Sellers with those god-awful Pink Panther retreads. Leave it be. Recognize that you make passable comedies that no one will remember in twenty years.
Jim Carrey as Curly? The Curly? Good writers and producers were blackballed in the 40's and 50's because they liked unions, yet these guys somehow are still able to work. I'm looking for justice, people.
They can make whatever movie they want. I'm just suggesting that if they take a gas can to one of the great comedy troupes of all time there should be consequences.
Like deportations.
* * *
I'm not completely sure what the Sabres record is when Ronan Tynan sings. He sung a lot when they were making a play for the Presidents Trophy. I think he sung the next year too - just as they were going into the tank. It might not be his fault that they started sucking. I'd rather blame the loss of all the good Sabres through those two years.
Regardless, I love the tune he cranks out, especially in tough times. God Bless America is a spectacular song in context, which I'm not sure a lot of the people in the building know. Everyone knows about Kate Smith and the Flyers and so on. It's those first couple of words that you don't usually hear now (except for Smith and Tynan) that tell you all you need to know if you listen.
While the storm clouds gather
Far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance
To a land thats free.
Let us all be grateful
For a land so fair,
As we raise our voices
In a solemn prayer -
The song was originally written by Irving Berlin in 1918 while serving in the army. 1918 saw they fourth and final year of the First World War. To us it seems like something on paper – almost unreal. To people who lived through it, it must have been terrifying.
Destruction of that scale had never been seen before. Europe had been eating itself alive for three years and people died by the thousands daily for what seemed to be nothing, the Western Front scarcely moving between 1914 and 1918. (4,200 Americans have been killed in Iraq over seven years. At the Battle of Arras in 1917, 4,000 Allied soldiers were being killed a day.) It was called The Great War for a reason.
Now the States were about to get pulled into the monster. Parents are always scared to send their kids to war, but then it must have seemed assured. No one who went there would ever come back.
The song was reshaped right before the start of the Second World War (if you even want to count them as separate wars. It's pretty much the same war with a twenty-four year time out,) at which point Smith sung it and made it a hit.
Next time you get a chance to hear it, think about when and why the song was sung. There might not be a better one written to express the anxiety of an entire nation.
To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 1 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy tips.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 2 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy tips.; tournament; WGR; Jeremy White; Golf; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 3 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy tips.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 4 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 5 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 6 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 7 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 8 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala;
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Oh, but he's a bargain, right? Yes he is, which makes him that much easier to move. No worries about other teams cap space. 
