Your beloved King has been a hockey fan for as long as he can remember. The Buffalo Sabres have always been my favorite team so I am happy to see them back in the playoffs again after a two year sabbatical. But, I have never been a big fan of Sabre coach Mindy Ruff from day one. His system that he has his team play seems to stifle the offensive imagination of his players. All they seem to do is to put the puck in the corner and then skate round and round with it in the corner. I guess they call that cycling the puck...I call it boring.
The Sabres do have an interesting collection of players, some I enjoy watching and others that drive me nuts. Patrick Kaleta is one player that I enjoy watching as he is a pest with speed and it seems really good hands when he has the puck. He reminds me of Ken Linesman when he was a star in the league. Ken was nicknamed 'The Rat' and I can see this nickname being placed on Kaleta as he loves to get under the skin of other players and boy can he deliver a good clean hit. Tyler Myers is another player to watch. Just wait until he fills out and gets stronger. He will eventually be the Sabres highest paid player and he will deserve it. Ryan Miller, well I do not have enough accolades for him.
Now we have some of the other players that seem to drive me nuts. Tomas Vanish...I mean Vanek comes to mind. He is paid like a fifty goal scorer but he will be lucky to net 25 this year. Is it Mindy Ruff's system or what. He signed a huge front loaded contract a couple of years ago and actually, at the time, looked like he was going to earn it but he has regressed significantly since then. Tiny Tim Connolly is one of the Sabres best penalty killers...too bad he plays on the power play. He has successfully killed off more Sabre power plays than the opposition. Somehow this guy leads the team in scoring, how I will never know.
Another thing that drives me nuts about Mindy Ruff is his use of his goalies. I can understand riding Ryan Miller until he drops but I feel for poor Patrick Lalime. He is a good goaltender who sits and rots on the Sabre bench. He gets to play once every two weeks or so and then people wonder why he is not sharp. He had a conditioning assignment for a weekend in the AHL a while back and played like the Lalime of old after it. It is amazing how being able to play a little bit can get your skills sharpened up again. Then Mindy sat him on the bench and again he rotted. I like Lalime but he needs to play a bit more. Pretty soon Miller's arms are going to fall off from being overworked. It is happening now in Vancouver to Roberto Luongo and I pray it won't happen to Ryan. I also congratulate Lalime on getting his 200th victory last night against Tampa. He is a nice guy and he deserves whatever accolades he can get. He is great in the locker room, knows what his role is and he does not complain as he is the ultimate trooper. He deserves a little more playing time.
The other players on the Sabres are rather ordinary. They do their jobs and this season, for the most part, they have done it well unless, of course, they play Ottawa but that is another story.
I also wish a get well to Mike Robitaille as he recovers from his ailment and hopefully a quick return to the television.
Your King also wants to congratulate the Rochester Institute of Technology in their making the Frozen Four in their first appearance in the NCAA division 1 hockey playoffs. They upset Denver and crushed New Hampshire in their first two games and have done this area proud. Lets root them on and hope they can come back with the trophy. Geez, it was not to long ago they were playing the likes of Geneseo State and Hobart and now look where they are. Go get them Tigers!!!
PS: I do know that the Sabres coach's name is Lindy but I prefer Mindy.
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