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@davedavishockey Kukla's Korner

Published on Wednesday, March 8, 2017

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Bylsma’s Future In Buffalo Looks Bleak

In his last 6 starts, Robin Lehner is 1-3-2 with a 3.94 GAA and a save percentage of .874. He's given up at least 5 goals in 3 of those 6 games. Yet at no point has Dan Bylsma dared to test fate by pulling him.

Not after falling behind 3-0 almost 2 weeks ago to Colorado in the first period, not last night after the second period when his underperforming goaltender was behind 4-2 in a still-winnable game against the Flyers, and at no point in between.

It's not crazy to think the January 17th fiasco in Toronto, when Lehner was posing for selfies by the bench and then staring down his coach after playing horribly and being yanked, is still in his head. Lehner made it very clear after that game that he always wants to keep fighting and not be taken out in those situations, sensible shake-things-up-to-jump-start-your-team strategies be damned. 

Meanwhile, the once radical theory that Sabres players are consciously or subconsciously diverting a bit from the coaching staff's game plans -- out of confusion, inability, rebellion or indifference -- is actually starting to gain some legs.

There just isn't another reasonable answer available to the question of how so many defensive zone lapses can occur so often in so many games. Last night's parting of the Red Sea for Claude Giroux is Exhibit A.

In a nutshell, the inmates are running the asylum. Bylsma seems unable or unwilling to force his imprint on this group. He does not appear to have control of his team. And it doesn't fare well at all for his future in Buffalo.


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