Ted Nolan Is Nothing More Than A Puppet
I feel bad for Nolan; he seems to be a good guy and a fairly capable coach. However, he is an AHL coach. His talents are about motivating and teaching players how to compete. To be a NHL coach you need to have players already know how to compete, and that is why I believe Nolan is nothing more than a Sabres puppet. He was brought into Buffalo to teach, and give the fans something to smile about not coach.
Ted Nolan was the man in charge of “The Hardest Working Team in Hockey”, but that was back in 1996-1997. Despite having that on his resume the Buffalo Sabres fired Nolan, and the “blackball” stated. Nolan wouldn’t return to a NHL bench until 2006-2007 (New York Islanders); ten years after being shown the door. As the Sabres front office struggled to keep fans happy Ted Nolan was brought back to Buffalo and the team has only gotten worse.
For the Sabres Nolan was a safe choice to coach the team; the fan base loved him and in a time when the on-ice product is at AHL talent level at best the origination needs something to make fans smile. The problem is the shine that Ted Nolan brought to the dark days of the Sabres has worn off, and I believe that is all part of the Sabres master plan. It’s unfair to expect
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Nolan to get wins out of a team that some believe is built for failure, and as this season drags on it is becoming clear that Ted Nolan is a puppet for Tim Murray.
Having lived in the Buffalo area all my life I feel a connection to the Sabres fan base, and this just feels wrong. Nolan did deserve a “second” chance with the Sabres, but not like this. This is not a second chance this is a set up. There is no way the Sabres front office could truly believe that Nolan could get NHL games out of this roster, and fans are letting their thoughts be heard. If you spend enough time around Sabres fans you will quickly learn they do understand what is going on in Buffalo.
"Nolan was on a short leash no matter what. I was giving him this and maybe next year, then gone. He is not Tim Murray’s guy. He was only brought back with Pat Lafontaine to appease the fans that had a love affair with him back in the 90’s… This team is crap. And that is by design. But in the end, he was going to be here on a very short-term basis. I do not think he should be fired before the season is over. [Ron Toczek]"
The Sabres are historically bad, and this season is going according to plan, sort of. I don’t think this is a tank job, because no one can play this bad on purpose. For the Sabres I think the goal was to be bad, but compete, and clearly that’s not happening. Is Ted Nolan to blame? No, this is not his fault, at least not completely his fault. As the coach he needs to get something out of his players no matter if their hearts are in the game or not. It is important to remember Nolan signed a three-year contract extension on March 31, 2014, but that could easily be bought out.