Miller called out the team’s defence which has been all but invisible to say the least this season. The goaltender’s comments show that he is extremely frustrated with the lack of help he is getting and his team’s poor play. Aside from Thomas Vanek, Ryan Miller is the only Sabres player who has consistently showed up this season and plays a full 60 minute game. Miller has every right to be frustrated by this joke of a Sabres team that is hitting the ice night after night: you think they’ve hit rock bottom one game and they come out and perform even worse the next. I love this team, I really do, but they’ve turned into the joke of the NHL and I’m not sure there’s a way they can climb out of this hole like they did last season. Until this team undergoes a management change they will continue to go through a downward spiral- doesn’t matter who they bring in Lindy Ruff will ruin it.

Anyways back to Ryan Miller, there’s a hidden message to be found in Miler’s post game comments where he absolutely lost it, and that’s the fact he’s done in

Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

Buffalo. Miller is calling out for help, saying he’s giving it all he can but he can’t do anymore without some help from the rest of the team. The sad thing is that even with the Sabres playing horrible defence Miller has bailed them out time after time and gives them a chance every night, posting a .915 Save Percentage which is pretty decent considering what’s playing in front of him. Miller has been standing on his head facing close to 500 shots (498) which is the most in the entire league and speaks volumes to how poor the defence is. On any other team people would be singing Miller’s praises for keeping his team in games and stealing games they have no business winning, instead he’s getting ripped for games the team hasn’t shown up for.  This season is not Miller’s fault; he’s doing everything he can and he’s tired of it all.

What you take away from Miller’s little meltdown is he doesn’t plan on playing for the Sabres much longer- while he probably wont pull a Tim Thomas and refuse to play because he’s got some self respect, I would be utterly shocked if he’s still wearing blue and gold past next season. Whether you want to believe it or not Ryan Miller is one of the top goalies in the NHL, and he deserves a team that will at least show up in front of him he truly deserves better. Next season is the last year of the goaltenders contract before he becomes a Unrestricted Free Agent meaning he can go anywhere he wants and by the sound of things is already looking forward to getting out of dodge. But if the Sabres are smart they’ll trade him to get a decent return instead of letting him walk for nothing, by the
trade-deadline next season if Miller isn’t entertaining contract talks with the Sabres it would be a safe bet to say he could be gone.

Miller knows that under this management and with this group of players this Buffalo Sabres team isn’t going anywhere. Miller still has maybe 6 years left to be a top notch number 1 goalie and win a Stanley Cup and that’s not going to happen in Buffalo which is why he’s made up his mind he won’t be returning after next season.

Mar 14, 2012; Buffalo, NY, USA; Colorado Avalanche center Ryan O’Reilly

I hate to brag.  No, that doesn’t sound right.  How about this: I love to brag!

Weeks before Ryan O’Reilly became the “It” child for teams looking to salvage their 2012-2013 NHL season, I wrote a piece that identified O’Reilly as the sort of player the Sabres should consider pursuing if they were truly serious about contending for the Stanley Cup this year.

I thought the Sabres’ lack of a true number one center was a glaring concern, a deficiency so significant that the Sabres would have labeled fixing it their number one priority.

I was wrong, and now the Buffalo Sabres have pretty much guaranteed that they will not be major players in the scramble to acquire Ryan O’Reilly from the Colorado Avalanche.

People I have spoken to, and read, today have numerous theories as to why Buffalo should not be considered a true player in the O’Reilly sweepstakes.  Some fans just feel Buffalo isn’t a glamorous enough location, or that it is not a large enough market and won’t provide as big spotlight for a young, budding star like Ryan O’Reilly.  Others make the argument that Buffalo doesn’t have enough to offer Colorado in return for O’Reilly’s services.  And others point out that the Sabres won’t touch him because of the reason Colorado is shopping this kid in the first place: his asking price of $5 million a year.

Good arguments, all of these . . . but they are not the biggest reason why Buffalo has doomed itself to being an irrelevant factor in the circus that is about to ensue.   To me, the biggest reason the Sabres should consider themselves the extreme long shot to nab this kid is because they flat-out deluded themselves for far too long.

For whatever reasons, no one in the Sabres organization seemed too concerned about the fact that they had no true number one center heading into this season.  As a matter of fact, it would seem that Darcy Regier, Terry Pegula, and Ted Black all felt like they had assembled a Stanley Cup contender, and didn’t need to consider shopping for parts.  (Apparently, Steve Ott and John Scott were the pieces to the puzzle Buffalo had been missing all along – who knew?)

So they sat back, watched the Sabres stumble out of the gates, and waited until a handful of large-market and more “desirable” teams found themselves missing parts of their own, and now there is little to no chance of luring someone like O’Reilly to Buffalo.

Mar 14, 2012; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres center Derek Roy (9) and Colorado Avalanche center Ryan O

To me, this is a case of an organization over-valuing itself.  Coming into the season, most people thought Buffalo would make the playoffs based on the strength, not of its offense, but its defense and goaltending.  Question marks have been surrounding the offense of the Sabres for some time now, and anyone who follows hockey wondered how well Buffalo would fare with no true top-line center.   The results are in: the defense isn’t as good as advertised, and the offense is exactly as good as we thought, meaning it’s not good enough to win high-scoring contests.  The offense has some holes to plug, and a two-way player like O’Reilly would be the perfect fit.

Had Buffalo been honest in its assessment of its roster, Ryan O’Reilly would have been on their radar weeks ago, which means they would have already started the process that other teams are just now initiating.  There’s never any guarantees when it comes to these negotiations, but at least the Sabres would have had their foot in the door before teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers, and Phoenix Coyotes came calling.  Instead, they are just one more team vying for Ryan O’Reilly’s attention, and a team with less to offer Colorado than their competition, to boot.

Who knows how willing Colorado would have been to part with O’Reilly two or three weeks ago; it’s a moot point now.  Heck, I don’t even know if Buffalo is seriously considering going after this kid anyway; I strongly feel they ought to, but if they were, they have waited too long to wake up and realize their ship is sinking, right up the middle.  This kid could really be the player that helps the Sabres get over the hump this year, but my gut tells me the Sabres have outsmarted themselves right out of the picture.