Misery loves company Like the Wild, the Buffalo Sabres are imploding and have identically lost 11 in a row on the road. Owner Terry Pegula's on the current road trip with his top advisers; GM Darcy Regier and coach Lindy Ruff are on the hot seat; and the Sabres are willing to trade anybody and everybody.
Drew Stafford, who makes $4 million, had three goals in his first four games and four in his next 41. Brad Boyes, who makes $4.5 million, has three goals. Derek Roy is minus-13 in his past 27 games. Ville Leino, who signed a six-year, $27 million deal, has been a disaster.
'Lurking' around After a helmetless Taylor Hall took a skate to the face in warmups last week and now looks like Frankenstein, former Oilers coach Craig MacTavish, the last NHLer to play without a helmet, was asked if he would play without a helmet today.
No, he said, because it's a "way faster game. When I played, you'd spend 30 seconds out of a 45-second shift just lurking."
Not on the hot seat Tampa Bay is last in the East after going to the Eastern Conference finals. Is Guy Boucher, a mad genius last year, in trouble?
"The coach's message is the farthest thing from the problem here," GM Steve Yzerman said. "There's no point in anybody discussing the coach."
