"The whole concept is almost laughable at the moment. The Buffalo Sabres as Stanley Cup contenders? Ha. It's quite possible they are the worst team in the NHL rather than the group that filled training camp with talk of competing for Lord Stanley's trophy. "We're not a good team right now," veteran right wing Mike Grier conceded after another week with no victories dropped the Sabres to 3-7-2. The Sabres are winless in three games, have celebrated only twice in the past 11 and have plummeted from the cellar of the Northeast Division to tied for 14th in the Eastern Conference and 29th in the 30-team NHL. The reasons are almost too plentiful to list. The Sabres take too many penalties. They can't kill them. Their power play is shaky. Their team defense is shoddy. Their offense, blanked in a 4-0 loss to Dallas on Saturday, fails to make any goaltender's pads wobble. Their captain has been scratched. One of their top players can't pass a memory test. It's simply not a good time to be wearing Blue and Gold. "We have to start winning," defenseman Shaone Morrisonn said. "We've got to put a string together here because it's going to be too late. We're going to have to play catch-up all year now. We've got to start now. There's no time. Our urgency is now. "There's no excuses. We've got to be better." They keep saying they need to improve, then they don't. Turnovers, missed defensive assignments and downright dumb decisions send them trudging to the dressing room as losers night after night. "Part of being a professional athlete, you've got to be disciplined and focused on your job," Grier said. "Everyone has got to know their job and the system and their role and all those things. We haven't been great with the puck. We're turning the puck over. We're missing assignments and things like that. "As players, the coaches lay it out for us. We watch film almost every day. There's no reason for someone not to know what they're supposed to be doing at this point in the season, but we're just having breakdowns, and when we do it's in the net." As Grier said, the coaches are instructing the players. That means the players either aren't listening or are unable to comprehend the details. Or, it means the coaches' teaching methods aren't suitable for the players. "It starts with everybody," goaltender Patrick Lalime said. "You can't point the finger at this or that, or somebody else should have done this. It's everybody." The Sabres have spent the last three-plus seasons preaching the philosophy that leadership comes from all over. Instead, it's as if no one is stepping up. Center Derek Roy has had a good start, but no one has been able to put the team on his back and wade through these murky moments to deliver a victory or inspiring moment." Read more: http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/article237691.ece
