Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Lindy Ruff and Jason Pominville look back on the year as a “wasted season”

Buffalo Sabres v Washington Capitals

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 27: Head coach Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres motions from the bench against the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center on March 27, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Getty Images

There’s plenty that could be said about Buffalo’s season that wasn’t. After an offseason that saw owner Terry Pegula open the wallet to let GM Darcy Regier spend like a mad man and turn the Sabres into a team that needed a furious finish to just miss the playoffs, you could say things in Buffalo aren’t too happy.

As John Vogl of The Buffalo News finds out from Sabres coach Lindy Ruff he didn’t mince words with how to describe the season.

As they clean out their lockers and conduct exit meetings today, the Sabres have to look at the 2011-12 season for what it really was. It was a wasted season. It was a lost season.

“For sure,” coach Lindy Ruff said. “I think you’ve got to look at it that way. You can’t look at it any other way.”

That cuts to the core. Do the players feel the same way though? Jason Pominville sure does as he tells Vogl that “it feels like another wasted year.” Another sad, depressing end to a season in Buffalo but there are reasons to have hope for next season.

Tyler Ennis emerged as an exciting playmaker and goal scorer while Marcus Foligno turned into a power forward with a nose for the net. Should Buffalo get complete seasons from Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek, there’s reason to be excited. They just might have to keep Terry Pegula away from his wallet this summer to be safe.