A year ago at this time, Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn was busy conducting what he

called "the most thorough top-to-bottom evaluation ever done here."

Critics were naive enough to think there would be some major changes on a team that had

missed the playoffs two years in a row. Instead, they did nothing.

Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff stayed on the job. The core players remained intact. Regier and

Ruff kept saying how much they liked their guys. The core players were ready to assert

themselves as leaders and playoff performers.

Well fellas, what do you think of your precious core guys now?

The Sabres lost to the Bruins, four games to two. They blew a pair of 2-0 leads. They went

scoreless on the power play. Tim Connolly and Derek Roy, their top two centers, didn't score a

goal. Jason Pominville was largely ineffective.

They had a wondrous regular season. But hockey reputations are made in the playoffs. This

team was soft to the core.

A major change or two is in order. Ownership should make it clear that simply making the

playoffs isn't good enough. Make someone accountable, whether it's Regier, Ruff, or one or two

of the soft, underachieving forwards.

They'll probably do nothing. If Quinn considered it a "mulligan" when the Sabres missed

consecutive playoffs, this might be deemed worthy of a parade.

Our sports teams are good at rationalizing failure and selling hope. Ruff talked about the

kids learning from defeat. It's the old shell game: Forget Connolly and Roy. Look, over there,

at Tyler Ennis and Nathan Gerbe. The future!

You're supposed to accept a first-round flameout and see this as a young team whose time is

coming. But when does it become time for Connolly, Pominville and Roy? When will they be held

accountable for leading a playoff run?

Regier had a chance to change the competitive character of his team last winter. Instead,

he gave Connolly a fat contract extension, ensuring that his team would reflect its soft,

injury-prone center. He got what he asked for when Connolly fell on his face against Boston.

At the trade deadline, Regier was elated to get Raffi Torres without sacrificing the core.

As soon as the Sabres faced elimination, Torres was scratched. Suddenly, Ennis and Gerbe were

the saviors.

When things got tough, it was OK to throw the kids out there and deflect attention from the

core veterans. But if Ennis and Gerbe were good enough in a playoff crisis, why couldn't they

be up in the regular season? Because the Sabres had to justify re-signing Drew Stafford?

Ruff has to take a big share of the blame. It gets tiresome, hearing about his system. Why

can't his team score on the power play? Why do they wait until halfway through the series to

play physical? Why do so many promising young forwards fail to develop on his watch?

And why don't Ruff's teams reflect his tough-guy persona? He has been the coach for 13

years. He has power. Ruff should walk into Regier's office and declare that if they don't

trade Roy or Connolly, he's going to resign.

Regier has done a nice job of stockpiling young players. But his teams lack the physical

edge to thrive in the playoffs. His formula for success has been a great goalie and a small,

finesse team. It hasn't worked. They couldn't put it over the top with Dominik Hasek, and they

couldn't win a series this year with Ryan Miller.

But we're to believe the next group of little guys will be different. Ennis, Gerbe and Tim

Kennedy are tough kids, but who knows if they'll be any better in the physical grind of a long

playoff?

It's the Sabre way. Push hope forward. Just wait until the kids mature. Make it about the

future. That way, you don't have to make hard decisions in the present, or make the bold moves

that actually put you over the top.