Spittin\u2019 Chiclets<\/a> by superstar Tage Thompson, was a warning he felt he had to deliver after watching the Sabres stumble out to the 29th-best record in the league through the first 30 games of the season.<\/p>\n\u201cI felt like we got outworked, and that should never happen,\u201d the 59-year-old said. \u201cI think that\u2019s unacceptable with the talent level that we have, and I think that\u2019s probably the biggest part of our start.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it can be pinpointed to one thing in the lineup, and a lot of times the goaltender gets blamed for it. But I think our goaltending was good at the beginning of the season. It gave us a chance every night. We just did not play well enough, did not compete hard enough, did not work hard enough, and that resulted in some losses that shouldn\u2019t have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
The wins that followed began coming in succession over Adams\u2019 three last games in position, but they haven\u2019t stopped since Kekalainen addressed the players.<\/p>\n
Still, if the Sabres have rattled off an NHL-high 27 wins over the last 35 games \u2014 collecting at least nine more points than any other team in the league over the same span \u2014 it\u2019s the players who have driven the standards set by the GM and head coach Lindy Ruff.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what the coach says and what the manager says if they don\u2019t buy in and lead by example,\u201d Kekalainen says. \u201cThey drive the standard on how we do things on and off the ice, how we carry ourselves in the hotels when we travel. There\u2019s never any compromise on that no matter what time of day it is, whether everybody\u2019s watching or nobody\u2019s watching. And it has to start from the leaders. And I think that\u2019s where everybody has to buy-in. <\/p>\n
“You come from a trade, or you come as a free agent, or a young guy from the minors, you need to see the high standard of the leaders every day and you\u2019ll have no choice but to buy in and do the same things. I think that\u2019s the most important part. Obviously, coaches are important, and they set the standard and the requirement for the daily work, but unless you get those leaders to buy in it\u2019s hard for the coaches. That\u2019s been the focus is making sure that we have the type of leaders that are showing the example every day and driving people to go with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rasmus Dahlin, 25, has blossomed into his captaincy.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been well supported by Thompson (who leads the Sabres in scoring with 34 goals and 70 points), Alex Tuch (who\u2019s been as dangerous as he\u2019s been versatile, with 28 goals, 29 assists, and a plus-17 rating), and Mattias Samuelsson (who has 36 points and is a team-high plus-31). And everyone else has followed, giving the Sabres the offensive depth to outscore anyone and the defence and goaltending that\u2019s convinced Kekalainen he could be closer to fulfilling a lifelong dream than ever before.<\/p>\n
If he didn\u2019t believe the Sabres could win the Cup, he\u2019d have not taken grand-slam swings at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n
Not that Kekalainen would confirm rumours he went hard after St. Louis Blues centre Robert Thomas.<\/p>\n
As for reports that Kekalainen completed a trade for Thomas\u2019 hulking teammate, Colton Parayko, who ultimately decided not to waive his no-movement clause to join the Sabres, there was no denying them.<\/p>\n
Nor was he hiding his discontent for how that situation played out publicly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just talking in general, it\u2019s always disappointing if any information that should be confidential within the organization leaks out,\u201d Kekalainen said. \u201cA lot of times, there\u2019s a lot of people involved outside the two organizations \u2014 it could be agents, could be doctors, could be a lot of different people \u2014 and in today\u2019s world, with social media, stuff can get out before we\u2019ve even made a trade call. <\/p>\n
“It\u2019s disappointing. I take it very seriously. I know St. Louis did some investigating within their own group, and I always tell our group that it\u2019s bad career planning if you\u2019re going to leak confidential information, and I think it\u2019s extremely important and professional to keep things tight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the ripple effect, though perhaps not as strong as it would\u2019ve been had the Parayko deal gone through, was confidence bolstered for his team.<\/p>\n
Smacking a few singles helped, too, with depth defenders Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn, depth centre Sam Carrick, and experienced winger Tanner Pearson acquired for a cluster of mid-level prospects and picks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing as manager that I wanted to show the group,\u201d said Kekalainen, \u201cwas that they earned the right of us doing everything we can to help them.\u201d<\/p>\n
A big part of that meant keeping Tuch, a pending unrestricted free agent Kekalainen said he wants to sign before July 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a very valuable player for us in many different ways \u2014 not only scoring, but penalty killing and defensive situations and size \u2014 and he\u2019s a great teammate and great pro,\u201d he added. \u201cWe just need to get a contract done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kekalainen wouldn\u2019t comment on whether any progress has been made on that file, but he had no hesitation expressing his belief the Sabres are ready for what comes next.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve won four of the five games since the trade deadline and left him feeling confident they\u2019ll continue to work at a brand that can win come spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that we\u2019re a deep team, whether it\u2019s on defence or on the forward side. Our goaltending\u2019s been good,\u201d Kekalainen said. \u201cWe definitely have enough skill. We have enough guys that can score. We have a really good back end. We have the physicality. <\/p>\n
“Guys have shown now that they have each other\u2019s backs and that they\u2019ll push back if that\u2019s the type of game our opponents want to play in trying to push us out of our comfort zone with different styles. I think we\u2019ve responded well.\u201d<\/p>\n
It’s reinvigorated a great hockey market, eliciting a massive response from a fan base that\u2019s long been starved to see the Sabres reassert themselves as a playoff team, let alone a contender.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incredible,\u201d Kekalainen said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a passionate fan base. I think we\u2019ve sold out 11 games in a row now. Every game from now on in is sold out. It\u2019s amazing. This is what you dream about always as a manager is the fans are excited, the city\u2019s excited. <\/p>\n
“They have the Sabres logo on the border bridge of fans coming from Canada to Buffalo. They had the Sabres logo on the official billboards that say \u2018USA,\u2019 and that\u2019s fun. You can see it on the streets; people are wearing our gear, our merchandise, and the flags are flying on houses, apartments, and cars.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have to just keep earning their respect. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. With our play, we have now earned their respect to this point, and they\u2019re excited, but we\u2019ve got to keep earning it every night.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANALAPAN, Fla. \u2014 Here\u2019s Jarmo Kekalainen, back in familiar territory, more than two years removed from his last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-540415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}