Miller’s potential was shown in the Nashville game. He was calm, square to the shooter, and quick from post to post. Unfortunately that’s not the same Miller 98% of the games this season. I’m not putting the entire situation on Miller, but he just isn’t performing to his best. With that said If I was Miller and there was a breakaway like there was with Giroux, I’d let it in on purpose. The sabres have GOT to be one of the worst teams when it comes to breakaways and odd man rushes against. For those calling for Ruff to be fired…sorry, it ain’t gonna happen. Ted Black, Darcy, Terry, all of them want Lindy right where he is, so that’s off the table. I fully expect some trades to happen come deadline time. As of right now, as stated above, this team is just not in sync. Blame it on the coaches, the players, the wind speed, whatever, it’s just not working right now. I thought last game in the first period, Buffalo basically outworked the Flyers in every single area. They looked awesome. Then the team forgot there was still 2 more periods of play and mentally left the rink. The better turn it around if they even want to consider the playoffs.
Trading Miller wouldn’t do any good. Miller is a great goaltender, and while he isn’t at his best right now, with some more support he can do the job necessary to win a Cup. People don’t realize, but the days of riding a goaltender all the way to a Cup victory are gone. Just look at the Cup winners from the last 5 years and their goaltenders. If you think Thomas stole the Cup for the Bruins last year, you’re a fool. The Bruins won the Cup because they played a solid team defense. Yes, Thomas contributed to that greatly but both him and his defense bailed each other out numerous times.
Antii Niemi with the Hawks, Marc-Andre Fleury with the Penguns, Hasek/Osgood with the Wings, J.S. Giguere with the Ducks, and Cam Ward with the Canes…nothing star studded there. The guys on that list are great goalies but by no means stole the Cup for their team.
I’ve been a Ruff fan for years now, and I hate to say this but I have to agree here. The players just are not getting it done, and it all comes down to him. Just look at Bruce Boudreau and Paul Maurice getting fired last week. We keep a guy for 12 years now and what do we have to show for it? One Stanley Cup appearance?!?!? Give me a break, it’s time for a big change and I think it might just be what the Sabres need. Want to send a message and turn heads around the league, pull the plug on Lindy. I know the Sabres won’t do it, but I’d love to see it for the reaction it creates.
Tim Thomas was ridiculous last year. His defense was solid, and if you went in for another whack at the puck, you’d regret it. But, there is no way anyone can short change Thomas last year, he put on a show.
Didnt read it all, but again… I’m going with all ex sabres on this and not just my father. I’m going with get ride of Miller. He goes down every shot. He lets a lot of easy goals in which should not happen, and dont say just this year… its every year he lets shit goals in and saves good ones. He is not an amazing goalie, he is over rated and over talked about.
As for the players. Yes, mistakes made are on the players… but it is Ruffs job to keep the guys motivated and inline to not blow away the next few periods. You cant come out strong… get up, then come out the next period flat footed. Its the same every single year regardless of who is playing. 2nd period is always our worst, and I believe states will show this.
Sorry, but if you say Miller is an amazing goalie… you clearly are not watching the same game. To many rebounds/chances for the other team to score. To many shit goals. He goes down every single shot and still gets scored on low. lol
These are the statements that tell me you know nothing about goaltending. I know we won’t agree on this topic with Miller, but at 6’ 2" probably 6’ 3" with skates on, he has to drop on probably 95% of the shots. It’s the way goaltending is played. The standup style is long gone and most goalies his size play with the butterfly. There’s a lot more to it than just that, but I’ll just leave it alone. A guy his size should be going down on most shots, and his glove hand is pretty damn good, probably among the best in the league.
Agreed. You’ll notice that Enroth really doesn’t do a butterfly type stance, and he gets beat 5-hole all the time. The only goaltender really that doesn’t always do butterfly is Brodeur, he’ll still stack the pads.
Great glove hand. lol
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7329107
Look I’m sorry, I understand about the going down… fine. But he is to inconsistant. Why did we lose the Olympic game game with crosbys goal. That was a weak goal. I’m sorry, but he is way over rated. I understand Sabres fans like to stay loyal to the players… but we can do without.
Sure Enroth might not be as good… how much playing time has he had to build confidence and lose any jitters he may have. You need to give someone else a try in my opinion and a lot of others.
As for Ruff… time for a change. We have had him long enough. We are yet to win, we break down to easy and it seems like the same situations game in game out with motivation once we get on top.
Back to Miller. He does have his games, yes. But we need someone that will be consistant. Miller makes some huge saves, but some of which happen because of the plays made by the wingers and defense. A lot of the “amazing saves” I’ve seen announcers call… I’ve watched and laughed at because of them just shooting the puck right at him. Again, way over rated goalie.
Who is more consistent than Miller right now? I think you are being too critical of th goalie to be way too perfect…the goalie can only do so much. The defense needs to step up and right now that is their biggest problem, thus making Miller look really bad. You can find just as many videos of miller making great saves as you can of him not making great saves. That arguement is invalid.
Again… I guess its bias of me to go with what I hear as well and my own thoughts. But when talking with ex sabres players, I find that they all believe he is a much over rated goalie. Yes, mistakes are made by the defense for sure. But Miller is not making the saves he needs to be making. Sorry. I know that Sabres fans will defend the goalie they have grown to like, but he is not an amazing goalie by any means.
Honestly though, I’m going to be done arguing this one… Its not worth it to me, I know hockey like the back of my hand and I know positioning and all. I’ve played from 4-18 mostly AAA travel and 4 years of North varsity. Along with being around the NHL for my entire life. I have always said it and I know people are starting to swing this way, but he is over rated and we can do without paying that much money for him and put it somewhere else. Work on a new goalie if need be. Millions of them out there with the drive to succeed.
I fail to see your point in that video. Hartnell’s goal went in off of Erhoff’s skate. Jagr’s toe drag shot was dirty and Miller probably had a partial screen seeing as BOTH of his players were in front of Jagr when the shot was released but still failed to block it.
I think the media definitely hypes Miller up to be more than he is at times. Bottom line is Miller, actually our goaltending in general, is NOT the issue. So I don’t feel Miller should be taking on as much of the blame as some people seem to be giving. BTW, thanks for your credentials, anyone can play travel and varsity hockey.
I fail to see how a person’s performance relates to whether the media thinks he’s good or not
while i agree that miller hasnt been playing great, our defense is pitiful they constantly turn the puck over in their own zone and give up 3-4 odd man rushes/breakaways a night. i dont care who you are if that kind of shit happens on a consistent basis odds are youre gonna give up some goals
Honestly, I think it’s just you siding with your dad’s friends because they are ex NHL big shots. That’s fine, but it doesn’t really sound like you know why they are saying Miller is overrated.
LOL @ “I know hockey better than a current GM/Coach”
LOL x’s 2 because your dad had something to do with (not sure of what) an NHL team.
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It all boils down to Lindy losing the room. Ted Leonsis/George Mcphee had the balls to fire Boudreau who was 201-88. Lindy Ruff is a .500 coach and will always be a .500 coach. He’s lost the room and we need a change. When you can’t put a few goals past Clemenson and lose a 3-0 lead, back to back…you’ve got problems.
What is with the fucking drop passes? Holy shit. The best of the best don’t even attempt them and we have McNabb and Gragnani and Szechupura doing them every rush.
Sabres. And sorry, I know everyone here is sabres fans. Yes, the rest of the team needs to pick up their game as well. But I still think Miller is not as good as people make him out to be.
Yambag, all I see in that link is that
A. Miller has one of the lowest playing time of all goalies in the top 30.
B. His goals against are mediocre for his time played
C. He is 7-6-1 this season, again considering his playing time and injury
I think you are trying to hard to make him look really bad and he really isn’t this season. Don’t get me wrong, he is not doing as good as he has in the past, but not terrible by any means. You have to put on our defense, look at how many odd man rushes they give up per game.
Hell, look at Enroth’s play tonight. Anyone who says he needs to be our starter is just crazy. You bet your ass that Miller would not have done that shit tonight.
Enroth’s first and last goals were going in no matter who was in net tonight. They were both snipe shots. The second shorthanded goal through the 5-hole and the slap shot low glove were both very preventable. Had he stopped both goals then this really could have altered the momentum of the game dramatically. That being said, Biron had some really solid saves tonight too that could have easily bounced the Sabres way.
Enroth is absolutely terrible 5 hole…Needs to work on that butterfly.
Well part of the problem I feel is those RBK pads. Especially in the case of the 5-hole goal last night. There’s a defect in the design of the pad ever since RBK came out with goalie pads that makes it difficult to completely close the 5-hole. Right at the very top of the pad, they curve inward/upward so pucks can squeak through there. Granted, Enroth should have had his stick in place to make that save, it still doesn’t help that those pads have that design flaw. For that reason alone I refused to wear any RBK pads. I’m surprised Enroth hasn’t had them tweaked to compensate for that flaw.
LA Kings fired head coach Terry Murray because of their “poor” performance thus far this year. 13-12-4 for 30 points, just 2 less than the Buffalo Sabres. That’s 3 coaches terminated just over a quarter into the season. Again, I know Ruff isn’t going anywhere but I would love to see what would happen if they did give him the boot.