You want Lindy Ruff kicked to the curb? He has been behind the bench for 11 seasons, missed the playoffs for two straight

years, five out of seven, and has failed to win the Stanley Cup. In any other town with any

other team, he would have been gone longer than Ozzy Osbourne.

Yeah, I know, good coaches have been fired for less. It's why there have been 130 changes and

counting since Ruff took over in 1997. Eight coaches have been sent packing this season alone,

including Edmonton dumping Craig MacTavish on Wednesday. Another, Minnesota's Jacques Lemaire,

stepped down this week.

The fact Ruff has been in one place for this long is an accomplishment in the nomadic world

of NHL retreads. What other teams do shouldn't matter. But if you buy into the mumbo-jumbo, if

you want change for the sake of change, by all means, fire the guy.

Just know that Ruff will win somewhere. He's widely regarded as one of the top coaches in the

NHL. He'll be behind Canada's bench in the world championships and is the presumptive choice

as an assistant in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Guys like him don't become available often.

That's why you keep them.

He would be snapped up in a heartbeat, by the way. Edmonton must be drooling over the thought

of Ruff returning to Alberta, his homeland. Perhaps he could be reunited with his former top

assistant and best friend, Mike Ramsey, in Minnesota. Hey, how about Montreal?

See, Ruff is viewed as the solution in other places even though some here deem him as a

problem. Then again, teams across the league for the past two years have been laughing at the

Sabres. Firing him would be hardly a surprise, just the latest embarrassing faux pas in a

myriad of others. It certainly wouldn't be the first time the Sabres coughed up a top asset to

the open market.

And that leads us to the deeper problem.

Ownership and mismanagement, not the 2006 Coach of the Year, were the primary reasons this

team fell on its fanny. Billionaire Tom Golisano has been hailed as a savior. For the

umpteenth time, he's an investor. He thought he could run the Sabres like he did Paychex, only

without the paychecks.

Minority owner Larry Quinn is a wise businessman, but that hardly makes him qualified to run a

hockey franchise. More than anything, he's a fan whose emotional ties to players interfered

with General Manager Darcy Regier's ability to make decisions. It's about control. If that's

inaccurate, if it fell solely on Regier, he would have been fired years ago.

On most successful teams, ownership establishes a spending plan and trusts the hockey

department to handle personnel. That's not how it works under Golisano, who made the call on

Chris Drury's contract two years ago, leading to the predictable trickle-down effect that

somehow led to Ruff waking up one day and not knowing how to coach.

If you're tired of hearing about Drury the player, think about Drury the asset. You don't need

an MBA from Harvard to understand that giving away resources is bad for business. Multiply

that by four or five, and you have a gaping hole.

The Sabres don't need a new coach. They need a change at the top, a team president with a

hockey background or a stronger general manager who challenges ownership and addresses

personnel. They need a stronger commitment and a real scouting staff, which in recent years

has been ravaged and replaced by video to save money.

Of course, after the Sabres underachieved this season, it started the tired, boring argument

that Ruff's message grew stale and players tuned out his voice. If players are no longer

embracing his message and have stopped listening, Buffalo has the wrong players.

Maxim Afinogenov was here two years too long. Henrik Tallinder is practically begging for a

fresh start. Tim Connolly should have been traded at the deadline but instead was given a

raise. Jochen Hecht should be shipped out. The Sabres need a good half-dozen changes no matter

who is standing behind the bench.

Ruff has a .590 winning percentage in the playoffs, second only to Cup winner Randy

Carlyle's .628 in Anaheim among active coaches. Buffalo failed to get past the first round

nine times in 11 years before Ruff arrived. He took them to the second round five out of six

times, including four trips to the conference finals. If not for Mario Lemieux's fluke goal in

2001, it would have been five. A player here or there, a little luck, and they win the Cup in

2006.

In the years they missed, the Sabres were either in financial trouble or trying to overcome

unconscionable managerial mistakes. Too many times over the years, Ruff has been given the

tools to build a garage and been asked to construct an oceanfront estate.

The Sabres had enough talent to make the playoffs this season. Ruff should take his share

of criticism for their failure, but the players limped into another long offseason blaming

themselves for a lack of effort and accountability. Of course, people see two straight years

without the playoffs, five of seven, and blame the coach.

Folks, it's not the coach.