Star defenseman to be stripped of the captaincy? Insider Elliotte Friedman shares the latest
After some events transpired over the past little while with some of the Sabres players, insider Elliotte Friedman talked about whether a change in captaincy was needed.
It's been a rollercoaster type of season for the Buffalo Sabres, with a 13-game winless streak ultimately crushing their playoff hopes.
While things have straightened out lately, Sunday's lack of response to a hit on Tage Thompson raised questions about leadership.
New Jersey's Stefan Noesen leveled Thompson early in the third period of Buffalo's 4-3 win. Noesen was ejected, but no Sabres player reacted, either immediately or in the remaining 15 minutes.
Afterward, players pointed to the importance of securing the two points rather than retribution. The team called off Monday's practice in favor of a meeting concerning the issue, but questions remain.
Elliotte Friedman reveals the Sabres discussed a possible captaincy change
Elliotte Friedman alluded on '32 Thoughts' that it was getting discussed, the leadership group or the alternate captaincies getting changed in response to it all.
The Sabres have won four in a row, but we will see if there is any long-term fallout from Sunday when Stefan Noesen's hit on Tage Thompson went unaddressed. One player on another team said he heard from a friend on Buffalo that there was talk of the leadership group and/or alternate captaincies being switched over what didn't happen. What a gamer, Dennis Gilbert. Fought Mathieu Olivier three seconds into Tuesday's game to make everyone look better. Not easy.
- Elliotte Friedman
- Elliotte Friedman
On Wednesday, coach Lindy Ruff denied that had to do with saving the alternate captain spots for injured Thompson and Mattias Samuelsson in the team's matchup with Columbus.
"(There was) nothing behind that," Ruff told reporters. "The sharing of the letters is based on the first 40 (or) last 40 (games). The two (Thompson and Samuelsson) that were out had the letters on them."
But Cozens and Tuch have remained with their A's and in the leadership group.
Social media speculation about whether he got 'called out' or otherwise, Jason Zucker himself was insistent on Thursday the team took care of things in-house, and didn't take it as a joke either.
But this fight with Dennis Gilbert against Mathieu Olivier felt too little, too late Tuesday. A real statement would've come immediately following the Thompson hit, either with a fight with Noesen or by targeting one of the Devils stars.
You can watch the fight here
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Without it, the message was clear: Buffalo failed to stand up for its own.
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