Ruff sets focus on fast start
Two questions loom as Sabres camp opens
Lindy Ruff remembers the first game of last season. Ugly would be an apt description. Defenders were out of place. Forwards played as if they were on a pond rather than in an NHL arena. The Buffalo Sabres gave up six goals to the Islanders, and they lost their opener on the way to a season with no playoffs.
Ruff has no plans for a repeat. First, the playoffs are the goal. Second, the coach wants the Sabres ready for Game One. It starts this week when the team reports for training camp.
Ruff and his rookies take the ice Monday for five days of practices and scrimmages. Then on Friday, the veterans report for physicals before taking the ice Saturday for “Puck Drop 2008,” a daylong celebration at HSBC Arena.
Well, the fans will be celebrating. Ruff will have the players working.
“We’ve got to push ourselves back in that playoff picture,” he said. “I felt last year we didn’t get off to the type of start we needed to get off to. Losing the first couple of games put us in an instant hole, and I think if you look back, when you get off to a good start it sets you up for the whole year.
“I don’t think we had quite enough focus going into the season. The focus will be on: We need to be ready.”
As with most Ruff-coached teams, the concentration will be on solid defensive play. But Ruff doesn’t want the phrase “defense first” to scare anyone. The Sabres were fourth in the league in scoring last year and led the NHL the year before, so he knows he has to let his firepower flame.
“I didn’t like our play away from the puck, and that’s going to be an area of focus through camp,” Ruff said. “We want that area stronger, and at the same time still play the style that’s made us successful. I don’t think we want to get away from that.
“I think that can be done, but that’s going to take a little more commitment from different individuals on this team.”
The lessons will have to come quickly. The season starts exactly three weeks after the veterans report, and there are seven exhibition games. That gives 14 days of teaching, and there certainly will be an off day or two.
“We don’t have much time from when the main camp opens to playing time, so we want to be ready,” said Ruff, whose players have helped the cause by conducting offseason workouts almost en masse the last couple of weeks. “You see more and more showing up, and everyone seems real excited about getting it going.”
Training camp is always about getting ready, but it’s also about answering questions. Here are the two most intriguing ones:
• Who will be the seventh defense-man?
The top six seem to be a lock (unless someone really falls out of favor and necessitates a trade): Jaroslav Spacek, Henrik Tallinder, Toni Lydman, Craig Rivet, Teppo Numminen and Andrej Sekera. That leaves Mike Weber and Nathan Paetsch to compete for the final slot.
“We feel like we have eight NHL defensemen in camp and a couple young guys, and we’re interested in seeing what they can do,” Ruff said.
In Weber’s favor is his stellar stint at the end of last season. The 20-year-old finished with three assists and a plus-12 rating in 16 games. Paetsch’s plusses include his additional experience, his contract (he’s in the second year of a three-year deal) and the fact Weber can be sent to the minors without clearing waivers. Paetsch could be claimed if the Sabres tried to demote him.
• There are more NHL-caliber forwards than roster spots, so who gets left out?
Buffalo has 15 forwards who played at least 37 games in the NHL last season. That’s already a couple too many since the team dresses 12 skaters. Plus, college superstar Nathan Gerbe will make a push if he performs like he did in the summer’s rookie development camp, and big Mark Mancari wants to finally make the leap from the AHL.
Look for those two to compete with Mathieu Darche, Clarke MacArthur and maybe even Andrew Peters, Patrick Kaleta or Maxim Afinogenov for the final few spots.
“We have lots of depth,” Ruff said, “and there’s position battles among some of the veteran players, some guys having off years and some guys having better years.”
The Sabres enter camp in good shape, with only Adam Mair hobbled. The center had offseason knee surgery and won’t be cleared for contact right away. But everyone else is healthy, and they seem eager to go.
Said Ruff: “We need all the individuals that have a Sabres jersey on opening night to be focused and be ready to play.”
