The 2011-2012 season is over for our beloved
Buffalo Sabres, and what a disappointing season it was. Here at A&M blog we tell it like it is,
and I blame the following list of players/people most for this year’s failure.
5. Ville Leino- Leino is under contract for another 5
years. When all is said and done he
could go down as one of the biggest free agent busts in the history of the
team. If I had a nickel for every time I
saw him get knocked off the puck, or a dollar for every open net he missed, I
would be as rich as Taylor Swift. Leino finished
with a paltry 25 points in 71 games this season. Words can’t describe how
pathetic that is, especially for a player who made 6 million dollars this year.
4. Lindy Ruff- It
hurts to put Lindy on this list because I like the guy. Sports are about results though, and Lindy
has simply not produced. In his tenure
as Sabres head coach, the team has made the playoffs just 8 of 14 years. Lindy’s overuse of Ryan Miller hurt the team down
the stretch in the most critical games of the season. Also, I question why it took Ruff so long to
recognize that Tyler Ennis could play center.
3. Brad Boyes – I’m
surprised more people aren’t talking about how pitiful Boyes was this
year. It’s unbelievable to think that he
had 43 goals for the Blues in 2007. What
the hell happened to this guy? He’s not
even thirty so age can’t be to blame. He
made 4 million dollars this season and scored 8 goals in 65 games. The Sabres could’ve gotten similar production
from a Saint Francis High School player.
2. Ryan Miller- He’s the third highest paid goaltender in the
NHL. He finished with a .916 save
percentage (22nd in the league) and a 2.55 GAA (25th in
the league). Miller’s backup Jhonas
Enroth faced 716 shots this season and finished with an identical save
percentage. It is my belief that the
difference between goalies in this league is negligible, and the aforementioned
statistic seems to substantiate that claim.
Why pay a guy like Miller 6 million dollars when you can get similar
statistics from a lesser paid goaltender?
Hell, this year’s save percentage leader was former Ottawa scrub Bryan
Elliott! Anyway, the bottom line is that
in 2012 the Sabres did not get what they paid for in 6 million dollar man Ryan
Miller (Moneyball anyone?).
1. Darcy Regier- Regier
has been the General Manager of the team now for 14 seasons and there have been
no Stanley Cups to speak of. Frankly,
the guy sucks at assessing talent. In
recent years he’s traded for Bob Corkum, Dainius Zubrus, Dominic Moore, Steve
Bernier and Brad Boyes. What a laughable
list of players that is. In the past
we’ve excused Regier for being handcuffed by a cheap owner, but at this point
he’s run out of excuses. Owner Terry Pegula allowed Regier to spend to the cap
this offseason and the result was an underwhelming 9th place
finish. Regier is responsible for each
and every player on this roster and for that reason he tops my list as the most
blameworthy.
Others to blame:
Derek Roy, Drew Stafford, Thomas Vanek, Kevin Sylvester
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