Brodeur is out for 3-4 months, apparently. Boo hoo... NOT. Oh, how I love being juvenile and '90s. Does this mean that NHL.com will take down their Brodeur watch thing?
With the return of Rivet, one would have to be absolutely stupid, high, or dead to not expect the team to play better.
I have been thinking about this a lot today. Carrying on the entire theme of "the team sucked last year because they had no leadership"... I don't believe it was, or is, exactly that simple. It is, but isn't.
Leadership. Last year we all saw that there was not one speck of that anywhere in the locker room. When things went wrong, everyone blamed everybody else on the team, and that was that. The only player that continually held himself accountable was Vanek; I gained a ton of respect for him last year despite his poor play the first half, and that has continued this season. All the others were always ready with excuses and cliches excusing their poor play. The bounces never went their way, their feet were never moving, and the defense had a breakdown on every goal against. Sound familiar? There was never any sense of accountability or responsibility in any player on the team (sans Vanek, of course).
Take Lindy Ruff as an example of how last year's little problems were (so far) all solved with the addition of one Craig Rivet. He is an excellent coach, when it comes to motivating individual players. I am certainly never in the locker room or privy to anything that is said, but I can say with confidence that last year, he was not able to focus on that one bit. Instead, he was too busy with trying to motivate the entire team to play well, and they were simply not responding. They were, and probably still are, a little too pigheaded for consistent straight-up positive response to what he tells them as a team, as a whole.
Enter captain(s). This team obviously responds extremely well to permanent on-ice leadership. Not only that, but Rivet has, according to the media, spent time after nearly every practice talking to the team and reiterating everything that Ruff said, as well as, I'm sure, putting his own two cents in; there is off-ice leadership as well. This takes pressure off Lindy Ruff and enables him to focus on what he is best at: motivating individual players to do well, while coaching a defensive system.
His weakness is capturing and keeping the attention of the entire team as a whole and getting them to respond on a consistent basis when there is no captain in place to reinforce what he says and keep the kids in line... if that could be called a weakness. Every other coach in the league, with the exception of Ron Wilson this year, has the benefit of a permanent captain to help him. It is highly unusual, and even bizarre, for a team to have a rotating captaincy. In fact, in my opinion it is completely stupid. I am sure that every other team in the NHL would struggle without a captain just as the Sabres did last year. When people said they were lacking an identity, what they really meant, I think, was that they were lacking leadership... Again, same thing, really, just semantics, but what a world of difference one person can make. When Ruff allows himself to function under the same circumstances as other coaches, he shows that he is without a doubt one of the best in the league at what he does.
I am just grateful that, as Heather said, the team at least recognizes that it is immature and stubborn and desperately needs an actual leader. They are reaping the benefits of that ability right now, and man, does it feel great.
HEY! Vanek, Roy, Miller, and Numminen have been named to the fan ballot for the All-Star Game. I just got the text... Voting begins November 12. I'd advise voting for Vanek and Miller multiple times a day, maybe for Roy if you're into getting as many Sabres to play in the ASG as possible, and not for Numminen at all because not only is his nomination incredibly random, but I am sure that he will need and greatly enjoy the rest.
Personally, I will be voting for Vanek and Miller every day, for Roy if he picks his game up and genuinely deserves it, and not at all for Numminen.
1 comment:
I was going to vote for all four guys, but I will be voting a lot more for Vanek and Miller showing how they've played in the beginning of the season. They deserve it more right now.
Also, I like what you said about the Sabres' problem last season. It certainly was not an identity problem. They lost two captains yes, but the core was still basically the same. It was the leadership missing, and last year was a good year to learn from many mistakes and grow up. I believe they've all grown up a ton.
I think that when people told me last year that Vanek sucked, I should've looked right into their eyes and said 'At least he's holding himself accountable for practically everything.' That says so much about his character. Even though it makes him seem like a headcase, I think it shows how much he wants to win and how much he wants to contribute, no matter what.
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