The current crop of Sabres are dealing with the difficulty of living up to expectations.
Funny, or perhaps not so funny, thing about Buffalo: The good times, on the rare occasion they come, never last very long.
Remember the team of the season last season, the one that ran off 10 consecutive wins at the start? Remember the team that strung together 10 consecutive road wins? Remember the team that won the Presidents' Trophy as the best in the NHL's regular season, the one that garnered a coach-of-the-year nomination for Lindy Ruff and saw the "genius" label pasted on the forehead of general manager Darcy Regier?
Well, that team is in last place in the Northeast Division (yes that's the division that includes the much-maligned Toronto Maple Leafs), 13 points behind the white-hot Ottawa Senators. Through Monday's 2-0 loss to the Canadiens in Montreal, the Sabres are outside the current playoff eight in the Eastern Conference and barely clinging to 12th. That team is in 25th place overall, a paltry 5-7-1 in what has arguably been the softest portion of its schedule. Last season the Sabres were the NHL's poster team for comeback wins and late-game excitement. This edition has given up the first goal in 10 of its 13 outings, but it's most impressive comeback win was the one in which Leafs defenceman Bryan McCabe scored into his own net.
What's going on?
Lots.
For starters, the idea that the Sabres would be almost as good as before they let co-captains and leading scorers Daniel Briere and Chris Drury walk - and then signed no one to compensate for their absence - has been a rallying point for the players that remain, but a myth in terms wins and losses.
The loss of 69 goals (more than half of them clutch scores) and 169 points has left an offensive hole big enough for a van full of suspended Philadelphia players to drive through. Briere and Drury were not only the Sabres' two best centres and two best players; they were two of the best players in the league. Both their points and their leadership have been missed.
But the story doesn't end there.
Winger Thomas Vanek, he of the $50 million contract - $10 million of which is being paid out this year - has struggled mightily. Now that was to be expected, given management invited the predatory off-season offer from the Edmonton Oilers when they let Drury and Briere get away and then boasted that Vanek wasn't going anywhere. That misplay of words and perceived weakness, coupled with the expected community reaction, led to the Oilers' offer that management felt it had to match. Vanek is skilled, but coming off just his second NHL season, was hardly ready for front-line money, let alone a first-line role. As a result, a too-young player is facing the pressure that comes with making too much too soon and is having to go from a third-line rising star to a No.1 without the luxury of having the necessary team leadership or talent pool to help him get there.
And he's not alone. Oft-injured centre Tim Connolly, who was hurt again Monday, moved up to anchor the No.1 line. He had a solid 12 points when he went down, but just one goal and none at even strength.
Right winger Max Afinogenov hasn't done much better. Expected to pick up some of the scoring slack, the frightfully fast skater with unlimited moves and the longest-serving member of the team has produced three goals and five points, but his minus-6 rating means that's hardly a significant contribution. During a one-sided loss to the Florida Panthers Friday night in Buffalo, Afinogenov was demoted from the first line to the third and remained there during the loss at Montreal.
Centre Derek Roy and right winger Jason Pominville appeared to be stepping up their play in their first year of true responsibility with five goals each, but they have both stalled of late and Roy continues to play poorly in his own end while continuing to take the senseless penalties that detracted from his play last season.
Even more disturbing, goalie Ryan Miller has played poorly from the get-go. There are extenuating circumstances, including the death of a close relative and some genuinely stinky play by a banged up defence that was already missing veteran Teppo Numeninen, cut in what was viewed as an exquisitely heartless move when he found out he needed to undergo heart surgery after taking his training camp physical.
Through the first 13 games Miller started 11 and was 26th in goals-against average (2.99) and only got below his previously posted 3.11 after the Montreal game. His save percentage of .894 is also 26th. Miller has never posted the league's best numbers in his still-young NHL career, but he was usually better than that and he was always clutch. So far at least, the big save has been the most noticeably absent element in his game.
Twice in his first seven starts he's been tagged for six goals. That's something no one has seen from him before.
But wait, there's more. This team doesn't hit. Not at home, not on the road. Monday night, the forwards drove the net with intensity, something they haven't done often this season, but still had nothing to show for their efforts. That game aside it's almost as if they are afraid to go there. In addition, their power play and penalty killing have cost them more games than the other way around.
It's not much better on the back end. Seemingly no team fears the Buffalo defence. Teams with speed blow by it. Teams with strength overpower it. Though Brian Campbell is having another standout year offensively (through Monday he was the team's leading scorer), the unit is neither big nor deep and the team recently signed Tampa castoff Nolan Pratt in part because the prospects in Rochester have shown themselves to be not quite ready for NHL play.
As far as leadership goes, well it's back to rotating captains with journeyman Jochen Hecht getting the initial nod simply because he's been in the league and on the team longer than most of the other candidates. This month he was succeeded by defenceman Toni Lydman, who at 30 gets the honour for the first time since he was playing junior hockey in his native Finland.
And it could get worse before it gets better. The Sabres' schedule has been relatively easy off the jump. The strongest team they've played so far was Carolina and the Hurricanes beat them 6-2. They lost an opening home-and-home to the New York Islanders. They did string together wins over Atlanta, Washington and the Leafs, but followed those with a shutout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, a road loss at Montreal and the one-sided loss at Carolina. Back-to-back wins at Tampa and Florida got them back to .500, but they've now lost three in a row - a road game at Boston, a home loss to Florida and Monday's outing at Montreal.
So is it all bad or just a matter of a reconstituted team needing time to find itself?
Regier, who never willingly accepted the "genius" label of a season ago, opts for the latter.
He noted that the team gave one of its best efforts of the season in the Montreal game and told the home broadcasters that he expected it would take awhile for the players to establish a new identity, create new leaders and redefine its style of play. He said he believes those things are starting to happen.
Ruff, who sources say was particularly irked by the off-season developments - the majority of which took place after he signed a new three-year contract - has been openly critical of his team's performance at times, but also sees a better tomorrow.
"Sometimes before you start to gain, you're going to feel more pain," he said after the loss at Montreal, the team's second shutout loss of the season. "I thought tonight's game was a great step in the right direction."
Ruff argued that he sees some signs of character, especially after the dismal loss to Florida at home, but how much character is still debatable and the schedule for November is the kind that could make or break the Sabres' season. They play host to Boston Wednesday, one of three divisional games against Boston this month, and there are two against Ottawa and three more against Montreal. They also play division rival Toronto once more and have a game against Washington and St. Louis, two teams that have shown improvement this season.
"If you don't get those points now it would make for a difficult March and April," newly hired broadcast analyst Harry Neale said. "Those are four-point games and those points can be difficult to make up in the late stages of the season."
It's all a far cry from a season ago when the team was consistently good from day one. The players on this version claim to know what they have to do to get back to that level and have embraced the challenge of doing it without Briere and Drury.
Fans in Buffalo, knowing the history of their sports teams, aren't so sure.
