Ron Rolston coach

[BillsU]

Ron Rolston is remaining the head coach of the Sabres. Press conference at 11am.

[Dude]

Un****ingbelievable.

[BillsU]

I don't hate but I don't love it either. Wonder how much Regier actually looked outside the organization? The only way now that this team can show they are moving forward is to get rid of the older players and bring in younger talented prospects either through this draft or trades of Vanek, Miller etc.

[OpIv37]

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this.

On the one hand, the team did improve under Rolston. And the team is now loaded with Amerks, so the players and coach are familiar with each other.

On the other hand, they still missed the playoffs and were terrible at both PP and PK. I can't believe they didn't go with someone more experienced.

I guess it's just frustrating because it proves the good ole' boy network is alive and well in Buffalo pro sports. Once you're in, you're in until you **** up so bad that keeping you will mean a total fan revolt. Loyalty has value but this is loyalty to a fault.

I like the youth and I'm glad they are breaking it down, but I don't see how basically promoting the Amerks from the AHL to the NHL is going to win hockey games.

[Dude]

I hate it.

One, it shows that Regier is afraid to go outside the organization and bring in someone who could possibly upset the apple cart and threaten his job status.
Two, it shows that Regier sucks at picking head coaches. They improved under Rolston but they have no incentive to get better now. GM and HC are the same, ownership doesn't give a ****, why should the players?
Three, Rolston is Dick Jauron on hockey skates. The team reflects his attitude and has no passion or drive. They improved in wins, but they took many nights off and looked like **** in way too many games. I'd even say that they didn't improve as a team, just got a few more wins.
Four, the culture at FNC hasn't changed one bit.

I ****ing hate this organization right now.

[SkateZilla]

the debate:

Did he actually do a good job, or was there simply a lack of serious candidates?

[OpIv37]

the debate:

Did he actually do a good job, or was there simply a lack of serious candidates?

He did a better job than Ruff with the same squad, but whether "better" actually constitutes "good" is a matter of opinion.

Lose Stafford and Leino, entertain offers on Vanek and Miller and move them if the right deal comes along. Let him start over and hope for the best. It's not my preferred outcome but it is what it is at this point.

[rbochan]

This organization needs to be asked how pursuing Parise, Suter and Doan in the off-season fits into a 'rebuilding' plan that supposedly began with the Most Wonderful Trade in the World of Gaustad for a 1st and bringing in Hodgson.

This team is just a bunch of bull**** right now.

[DetDannyWilliams]

wonder if he will bring in his little brother Brian to be an assistant, yes Ron is the big brother to Brian. Brian Rolston just retired from the NHL after playing for the Devils( won the Stanley Cup as a rookie), Avalanche and Wild he split time between the Islanders and Bruins this season but did not play (concussion)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdajJf3mpUM

[Dude]

Why in the **** would he do that?

[WagonCircler]

It's official. The Sabres have become the Bills.

[sukie]

It's official. The Sabres have become the Bills.

I wonder what the league wide impression of Darcy is. I assume "hot seat" is pretty much the word association. Rolston is lame duck "safe" hire for "hot seat" GM

[WagonCircler]

I wonder what the league wide impression of Darcy is. I assume "hot seat" is pretty much the word association. Rolston is lame duck "safe" hire for "hot seat" GM

I'm not sure about hot seat. Seems more like "tenured".

[sukie]

I'm not sure about hot seat. Seems more like "tenured".

Seems that way but lets say Darcy is available. Does he get a job elsewhere in a jiffy? Would he be sought?

[swiper]

Seems that way but lets say Darcy is available. Does he get a job elsewhere in a jiffy? Would he be sought?

Regier doesn't like change so you get these repeated 9th, 10th finishes. Was Rolston really that good? He wasn't. Not that he's a bad guy, but what he did this season doesn't merit him being head coach.

[gebobs]

It's official. The Sabres have become the Bills.
Only if the Bills are already the Amerks.

OK...point taken.

[rbochan]

Matthew Coller ‏@matthewwgr 5h
Hiring Rolston is fine, but the suggestion that it takes 20 years and 53 No. 1 picks to become contender in the NHL is....disconcerting

[DetDannyWilliams]

Why in the **** would he do that?
As far as my brother goes, I don’t know if he’s ready to move into that phase of things yet from player to coach, but he has certainly through this process provided a lot of great, great feedback in terms of players, coaches, systems. He had the ability to play for some of the best coaches in this game whether it was Pat Burns or Jacques Lemaire, he played for some great coaches, so he was able to provide both a player’s perspective and what those great coaches, you know what made them great. Moving forward, he’s somebody that I’ll always have as a sounding board to communicate with.”http://www.wgr550.com/Sabres-Regier-knew-Rolston-was-his-choice/16288770

[WagonCircler]

Only if the Bills are already the Amerks.

OK...point taken.

Amerks = Orangemen.

[coastal]

The problem u whiners isn't coaching.

It's a lack of talent.

at this point, I have no problem with Rolston.

the problem lies with the person who has assembled the talent.

[gebobs]

The problem u whiners isn't coaching.

It's a lack of talent.

at this point, I have no problem with Rolston.

the problem lies with the person who has assembled the talent.

Who says it isn't both?

[swiper]

The problem u whiners isn't coaching.

It's a lack of talent.

at this point, I have no problem with Rolston.

the problem lies with the person who has assembled the talent.

No one is whining. And no one is arguing about the talent level. But that is just another argument to get rid of Regier. All the fanfare with the Myers draft pick, for instance, - how does that look now? Ok. he drafted a tall, uninspired kid who isn't in the same league as Chara like we were all told up front. Is Regier really as good at drafting as some have claimed? Regier messed up this team dating back to when he let Briere and Drury walk and try and replace them with Roy and Connolly. You can go back further and criticize how he handled Peca, Dumont, and others.

I'm fine with Rolston as well. For now. But he did not do anything to particularly make himself stand out and earn him this job. I can understand why some fans would look at his hiring as Regier again taking the easy (read cheap) way out.

[black N yellow]

This team disgusts me. The "dream owner" has turned out to be a complete clown.

[swiper]

This team disgusts me. The "dream owner" has turned out to be a complete clown.

Not exactly what we all expected.

[casdhf]

15-11-5 makes the playoffs. I am not upset by this at all.

[coastal]

Who says it isn't both?
We know little about Rolston at this point outside of he's been very successful in his career.

im willing to give him a shot.

[Dude]

As far as my brother goes, I don’t know if he’s ready to move into that phase of things yet from player to coach, but he has certainly through this process provided a lot of great, great feedback in terms of players, coaches, systems. He had the ability to play for some of the best coaches in this game whether it was Pat Burns or Jacques Lemaire, he played for some great coaches, so he was able to provide both a player’s perspective and what those great coaches, you know what made them great. Moving forward, he’s somebody that I’ll always have as a sounding board to communicate with.”http://www.wgr550.com/Sabres-Regier-knew-Rolston-was-his-choice/16288770


As far as my brother goes, I don’t know if he’s ready to move into that phase of things yet from player to coach
Uh, even RR doesn't think he's ready to be a coach. Why in the **** would you want a rookie assistant coach with a rookie head coach, especially with this team???

Do you think before you post stuff like this?

[gebobs]

15-11-5 makes the playoffs. I am not upset by this at all.

Not quite. That comes to 54 points over 48 games. The Islanders were #8 with 55. Better than Ruff did, but it's still not quite there. And still under 0.500.

[coastal]

Not quite. That comes to 54 points over 48 games. The Islanders were #8 with 55. Better than Ruff did, but it's still not quite there. And still under 0.500.
How would you compare the talent level of the Leafs v the Sabres?

[gebobs]

We know little about Rolston at this point outside of he's been very successful in his career.

im willing to give him a shot.

I am too. But it sure seems like the heady days of Hockey Heaven and the bold platitudes of Stanley Cup are gone and we're back to the same old schtick. Pegula looks more like Golisano than ever. Or worse, as Wagon Circler said, the Sabres have become the Bills and Pegula has become Wilson.

[gebobs]

How would you compare the talent level of the Leafs v the Sabres?

About the same. What's particularly disconcerting was the total lack of any cohesion on special teams, PP and PK, under Ruff or Rolston this season. Surely there was enough talent to do better than 29th and 26th respectively. And if you include SHGA, the PP was only a net +15 for the season. It didn't improve noticeably under Rolston.

[coastal]

About the same. What's particularly disconcerting was the total lack of any cohesion on special teams, PP and PK, under Ruff or Rolston this season. Surely there was enough talent to do better than 29th and 26th respectively. And if you include SHGA, the PP was only a net +15 for the season. It didn't improve noticeably under Rolston.
Show me the Kessel, Lupul, Kadri, van Riemsdyk, Franson or even a Phaneuf on the power play.

[gebobs]

Show me the Kessel, Lupul, Kadri, van Riemsdyk, Franson or even a Phaneuf on the power play.
I'm not comparing their power play to the Leafs. I said their rosters overall were about the same talent-wise (before the trade deadline).

Regarding the PP, I said they had enough talent to be better than 29th. They sucked under Ruff. They sucked under Rolston. I haven't seen such a toothless Sabres PP since the days of Christian Ruuttu. Granted, Vanek was chronically hurt most of the year, but they have hands guys and point men enough to field a decent PP. Most damning of all, Rolston continued the Pominville on the point insanity.

[trapezeus]

honestly, if rolston was going to be the coach, they should have wandered onto this board after firing ruff for a head coach so that we could have a team tank and get that top ball. now rolston is handcuffed with a pick that can't do anything for 2-3 years and isn't much of a culture change.

i think rolston could be ok. but with reiger making the calls in his typical wet noodle way, the sabres will continue to suck. and they are literally telling us that this last season will be fairly indicative of next season.

The only good thing to say about this last season was that it was over faster than other seasons. i'm not sure i can do an 82 game season with this kind of "we should be winning a lot more of these games, and not pissing them away because of a bad period every single game."

it is just mind boggling how a man with as much money as pegula doesn't think there is a single other option out there with a fan base that is 90% against darcy. and this has been the case since 2007. There is something behind the scenes when a guy hasn't gotten a team to win a stanley cup in 15 years still has his job while other SC winning coaches and GM's have been fired in that time span. It makes no sense that that track record could survive 3 ownership changes.

Truly nothing has changed at sabreland. a huge portion of us are fine with a rebuild and a 3-5 year rebuild so long as its not driven by darcy. Pegula, black and whoever else can't see this should be ashamed of themselves.

And remember how they always told us that ruff would be employed very quickly if let go? he's still there. he had yzerman know him and still pass on him. it will be interesting to see how he fairs during this offseason.

[WagonCircler]

I am too. But it sure seems like the heady days of Hockey Heaven and the bold platitudes of Stanley Cup are gone and we're back to the same old schtick.

^^^ This. ^^^

[coastal]

I'm not comparing their power play to the Leafs. I said their rosters overall were about the same talent-wise (before the trade deadline).

Regarding the PP, I said they had enough talent to be better than 29th. They sucked under Ruff. They sucked under Rolston. I haven't seen such a toothless Sabres PP since the days of Christian Ruuttu. Granted, Vanek was chronically hurt most of the year, but they have hands guys and point men enough to field a decent PP. Most damning of all, Rolston continued the Pominville on the point insanity.
The PP reference was only to highlight one of Phaneuf's strengths... which we don't have a comparable on our roster.

so feel free to point out where we have the talent level of the other players I mentioned.

[BigZ]

wonder if he will bring in his little brother Brian to be an assistant, yes Ron is the big brother to Brian. Brian Rolston just retired from the NHL after playing for the Devils( won the Stanley Cup as a rookie), Avalanche and Wild he split time between the Islanders and Bruins this season but did not play (concussion)

My thought exactly. Good hockey sense and a real high energy guy.

[BigZ]

It will be very interesting who RR picks for assistants. I'm thinking James Patrick is given Rochester.

[don137]

I do not hate Rolston by any means. Not sure if it is coaching, the players or both but I just do not see the passion to play the game at a high level with the current group of players except for Ott. I'd even throw Weber in there. He isn't the most talented player but he was willing to go down and block a shot or get the crap kicked in to protect a teammate.
I know players step it up in the playoffs but watching other teams play and you see the desire and will to win. This team does not have it.

[coastal]

It's a talent problem.

period.

[OpIv37]

About the same. What's particularly disconcerting was the total lack of any cohesion on special teams, PP and PK, under Ruff or Rolston this season. Surely there was enough talent to do better than 29th and 26th respectively. And if you include SHGA, the PP was only a net +15 for the season. It didn't improve noticeably under Rolston.

The shorties were just ****ing embarrassing and really weren't much better under Rolston. To some degree, I'll give him a pass on S/T (other than the shorties) because we sucked at the PP for so long, and he wasn't going to come in and fix it in barely over half of a shortened season. I just looked up the numbers on the PK for the last 4 years and here were the Sabres' rankings:

12-13: 26
11-12: 19
10-11: 13
09-10: 2

So, Ruff had the PK in free-fall as well. Once again Rolston isn't going to fix it filling in during a season that was already shortened.

Now, if these don't improve by at least 5 slots this season, then I'll blame it on Rolston.

[trapezeus]

reiger has had 3 cycles of core's that never won the cup. the first one was with dominic and who couldn't get a team to the cup with him. he had an owner who was stealing money for whatever reason, and they still choose to not spend $500k on peca after they went to the cup prior. Jackasses.

then he had a great team that just happened to be undersized and ideal for the post lockout run. and when they fell short due to injuries (which were beyond preparing for), they added very little and died at home against a team they traditionally beat. they also went on to let the two captains go and replace them with nothing. simiply promoting line 2 people to line 1 and line 3 people to line 2 and hope that that was enough. They poorly evaluated the pieces that would push them ahead and ended up with a 3rd core that simply lacked talent and skill to be a cup focused team.

and it took them 5-6 years to evaluate that. we knew that by 2010 as a fan base.

what allows reiger the right to have a 4th core in a league where if your first plan fails, you fail?

[coastal]

Darcy should burden ALL of the blame right now.

his team has limited talent.

thats all on him at this point.