Buffalo Sabres Need To Take Things 45 Seconds At A Time

Following another loss in which the Buffalo Sabres gave a period away, Adam tries to make sense of the team’s maddening inconsistency.

What’s in a shift? Apparently to the Buffalo Sabres: NOTHING! It seems like they just go through the motions. Why the hell should the Buffalo Sabre players give a crap on how good or bad their team is? Why bother to play or perform when the old saying goes, “As long as the paycheck clears…”?

The Sabres just turned the halfway point in the regular season and not much had changed from the start of the season. The players are still unmotivated and can only play one period out of three. Coach Dan is still changing the lines, which proves to me he doesn’t have a clue at what he’s doing.

It drives me up a wall watching this team. Some nights they play great and hang with the top teams in the league. Other games, they are complete no-shows, and I don’t understand it.

Let’s break it down here, hockey is a 60 minute game which takes about two and a half to three hours to play. The only player on the ice for the full 60 minutes is the goaltender. Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is averaging close to 30 minutes a game, which is a lot.

According to the internet, the average on ice shift is about 45 seconds (https://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/stats/average-ice-time-per-shift/2016/ and http://www.hockeygiant.com/how-long-should-an-average-shift-be.html). With that being said, I feel that every player on the Sabres should be playing their heart out every shift or at least giving an honest effort. I’m not expecting the team to score a goal every shift. However, I would like to see them get at least one shot on net each and every shift. It’s frustrating seeing the team get four or five shots on net per period. I think it’s a player and a coaching issue, both should take 50/50 responsibility. Look, we have two #2 overall draft picks on the team (Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel), a current All Star (Kyle Okposo), and a few former All Stars on the squad (Zemgus Girgensons and Ryan O’Reilly).

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The Sabres have talent, but they only turn it on whenever they want to. For example, a few games ago when Buffalo hosted the Detroit. Buffalo was down by a goal late in the 3^rd Period. Ryan O’Reilly was a one man show: he threw the Red Wing defender out of the way, picked up the puck in the corner, skated behind the Red Wings’ net, and threw the puck up in the top shelf where mama hides the cookies. Why can’t O’Reilly do that every shift?

Occasionally Evander Kane will show up to play. He’s easily noticeable because he has a jump in his step, he’s hitting anything that moves, and he’ll score an occasional goal…but then he does something stupid, get thrown in the penalty box, and the other team scores a power play goal to tie the game or go ahead…

It’s amazing watching other teams play for a full 60 minutes. Earlier in January, the Sabres were playing the Blackhawks at the United Center. It seemed like all of the lines the Blackhawks put out onto the ice were determined to play; it was wave after wave. All Buffalo could do was clear the zone, quick line change, and play defense in their zone again. Other teams have found the recipe to play motivated for the entire game, not lazy.

If each shift is about 45 seconds, I want to see line play hard for 45 seconds. It’s like my track coach, Mr. Roland, from St. Joe’s used to tell us runners, “Boys, don’t be ham and egging it out there on the track because if you do, you’ll have to deal with me.” If our coach wanted us to run twenty 400 meter intervals at 70 seconds with 30 second breaks, that’s what he got from us. As students, we weren’t paid to do athletics. That’s why it’s difficult for me to sit back and watch a game—whether it’s at home or at the arena—and watch a team that isn’t motivated and shows up to play whenever they want to. My cross country coach from St. Joe’s, Mr. Diggens, always said, “Actions speak louder than words.” And the Sabres’ actions are speaking pretty loud to me. They are just showing up, not producing, and collecting a hefty paycheck; millions of dollars!

Yeah, sure, during the “off season,” some of the guys like to pretend that they are “working” when they hand deliver season tickets or pass out hot coffees or hot chocolates at Tim Hortons. If most of us in the real world performed—or phoned it in—like the Sabres do on the ice, we would be fired within days. All I’m asking for is the team to play an honest, hardworking shift each time they are out on the ice.

Maybe the Buffalo Sabres need a motivational speaker like Matt Foley to come down to 1 Seymour H. Knox III Plaza and talk some sense into them. You never know, one of these days, a player or two may find himself living in a van down by the Niagara River.