Tim Tebow is a polarizing figure. What I find most interesting about Tim Tebow isn’t what makes him polarizing — the unconventional quarterbacking style and commitment to his theological beliefs — it’s that he has become polarizing. The reaction to Tebow is a lot more interesting than even his most compelling qualities.

Recently, Tim Thomas’ reputation underwent a similar transformation. Thomas is a sensational hockey goaltender who also, apparently, happens to be a politically charged American. He got the web buzzing after making a decision to express part of his political orientation. The circumstances of that choice — the high profile stage, the timing, the Facebook note — are mostly uninteresting but the reaction from the public has been absolutely fascinating.

It always surprises me the degree to which an athlete can force us to confront a social or economic issue. More than any other category of celebrity, athletes have a way of revealing unresolved tensions within the public.

We’re constantly reevaluating athletes based on their athletic performance. Sometimes athletes are measured by more than just ability. When this occurs the conversation tends to drift into one of tolerance. The big picture question for every polarizing athlete is one of tolerance.

* * *

I admire athletes for their physical ability. Those are not just empty words. I understand how hard they must train and the sacrifices they must make in order to reach the professional level. Athletes impress me; they impress me all time. The skill they demonstrate, the stories they craft — it can be a remarkable viewing experience. What athletes do and say in-between games can, if you let it, detract from this experience.

I’m always reluctant to set any expectations for the behavior of an athlete outside of a competitive environment for many reasons but mostly because they’re always based on appearances and surface truths. Shouldn’t it take more to know a person? Wouldn’t it take more to know you?

I’m not trying to sell anyone on the idea that what athletes say and do inside the public’s sphere of observation is totally irrelevant to the games. But I do think from time to time we need to remind ourselves that — and pardon the cliché — athletes are people. People are complicated and can have complex motives in life. And they’re diverse and they’re full of surprises. We should all respect each other’s story. We should respect the blank spaces.

That I will never fully understand Tim Tebow or Tim Thomas in their time as professionals is not disappointing or at all bothersome to me. I don’t need to understand an athlete to appreciate his work. All an athlete like Tebow or Thomas will ever ask from me is my attention; they have it, without condition, for as long as they compete at the professional level.

Eventually, I learned that the actual behavior of polarizing athletes was much less consequential, in a direct sense, than the breadth of the reaction would otherwise suggest. Are we out of problems? Polarizing athletes like Tebow and Thomas are harmless. Again, it’s about tolerance; tolerance from us, the public. Are you tolerant of this behavior from a person you don’t fully understand – the sports world routinely asks us. Nevermind that this person is a legitimate stranger. Please provide your answer by an explicit show of support or criticism. This is what we do.

“The Top 50 Albums of 2011 are sourced from 403 bloggers’ personal Top 10 lists and weighted according to their ranking.”

Some of the more notable albums included are Tune Yards’ W H O K I L L, Decemberists’ King Is Dead, Adele’s 21, Radiohead’s The King of Limbs, Shabazz Palaces’ Black Up, Jay Z & Kanye West’s Watch the Throne, Fiest’s Metals, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, Drake’s Take Care, The Roots’ Undun, The Weeknd’s House of Balloons, and The Black Keys’ El Camino.

Higher on the list, ahead of all the albums I just mentioned, placing third in HM’s top 50 of 2011, is an album by M83 named Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. By a wide margin, the track with the most traction on Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is “Midnight City.”

I don’t remember my first impression of “Midnight City.” Evidently, it struck me as a song to pass over. Then mix and mash artists wore it out. When the mix and mash artists sink their talons into a song, it’s usually a sign to stay away. I stayed away and, to be honest, the parts of “Midnight City” I heard reminded me of my least favorite era of music: the early techno movement of the 1980s led by groups like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell.

When I saw that Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming had made it all the way up to the three spot, I decided to listen to the album in its entirety. I had to learn for myself why everyone was so impressed. Maybe I had blinders on. It turns out I was foolish for sleeping on M83. The album is great. I recommend it.

As for “Midnight City,” my appreciation for it has grown too. I needed to listen to it in its entirety a few times. ”Midnight City” is a song built around a powerful four note, synth-metal arrangement. At first, I didn’t find the presentation of the melody very appealing in the first-half of the song and I’m still not too crazy about it. I probably would have skipped past and never heard the second-half of the song if I had I only ever came upon “Midnight City” while listening to something like a Spotify playlist. Fortunately, my patience is much greater when I listen to full albums. When I commit to listening to an album, I prefer to hear each track from beginning to end, in sequence, uninterrupted. Had I not seen Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming on HM’s list of top 50 albums of 2011, I would have never heard the saxophone in the second-half of “Midnight City.”

A French musician named Anthony Gonzales does all the composition work for M83. He doesn’t use traditional melodic instruments very often in his music, or at least he doesn’t in Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. Its sound is nebulous; it’s highly synthetic; it’s a lot of softly layered voices over powerful percussion. It might be a pop album if it weren’t for the series of trans-meditative tracks that interplay between the power ballads. I love how Ian Cohen of Pitchfork describes these breaks.

“While many of them stand as intriguing meditations on their own merits, they reinforce Hurry Up’s intentions to be an immersive universe– check in whenever you want, but the magic’s in the exploratory phases.”

The exploratory phase in “Midnight City” is fantastic:

A singer wails, “waiting for a car/waiting for a ride in the dark.” The melody whines. Synthetic snares and symbols thump and hiss dimly. A saxophone arrives and solos aimlessly — an unexpected but distinctive sound that leads the moment it becomes audible.

I consider the song’s ending necessary in order to fully appreciate its beginning. I like to think the melody was designed for the background — a background in which an instrument like the saxophone can float to the front. The scene is a city at the midnight hour. Neon signs, skyline, flashing movement — all are part of the lyrical imagery. Sonically, I chose to allow the melody to represent the city; it’s slightly irritating, maybe a little uncomfortable, and probably a little too strong, especially initially. The beauty can be found by surveying the entire package, specifically how the song builds then slips to the background so as to allow something distinct to emerge in the forefront. The saxophone and its timing doesn’t just fit within the constructs of the song — it’s perfect for the song.

It took me a while to recognize this. A three-minute prelude to a single minute of what, judged independently, is probably an unremarkable couple of bars of saxophone. But together, layered, it works almost effortlessly. The song is nearly finished by the time the missing part is added and suddenly it all snaps into place.

* * *

How long before the Sabres find a saxophone?

The current favorability of the Sabres is hardly a matter of great subjectivity. By anyone’s standards, they are having a largely problematic season. So, of course, Ruff and Regier have been heavily criticized. I’m not here to dissuade anyone, only to point out the symmetry. We no longer allow the reputations of Ruff and Regier to exist autonomously, apart from the team, as we once did and presently do with individual players.

I want to be try and be as fair as possible with how I measure the Sabres. When attempting to understand and contextualize a team’s win/loss record, the first step I’m inclined to take involves designating eras. An oft-used benchmark in hockey circles is the 2004-2005 NHL lockout. Other eras commonly begin and end with ownership/executive/coaching changes and major player addition/subtractions. I think the Sabres, for example, are in the defining years of the Ryan Miller era and the beginning years of the Pegula era.

The Miller era has had its ups and down. In four years, the Sabres have made the playoffs twice but failed to advance beyond the first-round in each occasion. Heading into its fifth year, Regier chose to replace Connolly, Butler, and Montador with Leino, Regehr, and Ehrhoff — a sizeable investment in the short term future of the team. Regier’s motivations were affected by Pegula’s presence, no doubt, but it would be a mistake to label the previous summer as anything but an endorsement of the players already under contract. This is year five of an era, and there needs to be some results suggestive of progress.

The endorsement is arguably the most obvious problem with Regier at the moment. The Sabres won a division title in 2010, a reason to hope the team had finally taken a step forward, but the following fall the team put together an abysmal first-half of the regular season. At the very least, that period in the season was a sign of the group’s limitations.

Now here we are again, one year later, and the Sabres sit 4^th in their division and 11^th in their conference. Regier’s lack of foresight is a major factor in the current product. He never sold high on any one of his players. The people who are expecting Regier to make a trade now are minimizing the larger point which is that a significant trade should have already been executed. This is the wrong time. The ideal candidates to move off the team have extremely low market value.

Again, the Miller era has had its ups and downs. It has been surprising to watch the production from individual players oscillate from high to low. It’s primarily been the stars too — Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, Thomas Vanek, Drew Stafford, Tyler Myers, Ryan Miller, and formerly Tim Connolly. Each one of those players had long stretches of high production that make everyone wonder if this player can finally be relied upon. The letdown has historically proven itself inevitable under Lindy Ruff. Why?

I couldn’t even guess at the cause. I’m an outsider. I only know this season has been particularly troubling to watch. The secondary scoring, the depth on defense, the back-up goaltending — never has any of it been better in the Ryan Miller era. If the surrounding parts have never been better, why are key players still disappearing for long-stretches?

A lot of the questions and points of frustration with the Sabres can be interpreted and blamed in multiple fashions. The larger take-away is the urgency that Ruff and Regier are both functioning within now. Their job security is a source of public debate. Internally, there’s support for Ruff and Regier but to what point? This was supposed to be a season in which the Sabres show significant progress — the culmination of four years growing and developing a core. It’s tough to justify a continuation of this poor to middling product. What are they moving towards? Is there a foundation in place from which a winner can be built?

It’s time to consider some difficult questions but it’s too soon to expect serious answers.

What kind of message do people expect to hear from Pegula and Black in January? With an entire half-season remaining, it makes total sense for them to emphasize the injuries. The season is still salvageable. The team should know that the owner and president believe in a healthy version of this roster. It almost goes without saying — calling attention to the injuries as proof of the team’s misfortune will not hold up if the Sabres miss the playoffs. But we’re not at that point yet.

Their message isn’t something to agree or disagree with; it’s purpose is to enable the team to play to its potential. It’s not the time for reevaluation; that comes later. For now, throw away all the plans and expectations. Start over. This time the urgency is real. The pressure is real. It’s time for desperate hockey. Play desperate, or don’t. Either or Pegula and Black are wise to give the team a chance to make that decision themselves.

What’s bothered me most this season has been the home record. Prior to the game against the Leafs on December 16, the Sabres had won just two of their last ten games at home. That’s absolutely pathetic.

Let me be totally clear. The home team at FNC that season ticket holders have watched from their seats ranks to this point as one of the worst in the league. Ticket holders have legitimate reasons to be upset with the product. The Sabres have been dysfunctional at home all season long. They routinely allow leads to slip away and their effort has been, to put it lightly, inconsistent. Some fans will give the team more time to pull it together than others but there’s no escaping the widening gap between reality and expectations.

My most shared expectation was that the Sabres would show flashes of greatness. I didn’t expect their record to be elite. I imagined the Sabres would occasionally overwhelm an elite team but would otherwise have limited success against middling opponents. This has not been the case. The Sabres performance in bench-mark games has been disappointing. The Flyers and Bruins have a combined 4-0 record against the Sabres this season; the Red Wings and Penguins have each crushed the Sabres.

My hope at the start of the season was that at some point in the season the Sabres would put together a run where they win something like thirteen of fifteen games. I still think they’re capable of such a streak but the dynamic has changed now that the Sabres have tumbled so far down the standings table. I thought a winning streak would be enough to put the Sabres in a competition for the division title late in the season; considering the way the season has gone so far, it seems like a long winning streak might be a necessity just to qualify for the playoffs. Obviously I totally misjudged this team.

The leading story, now midway through, has been the inability of several high profile veterans to carry the Sabres through adversity. In the first quarter of the season, Tyler Myers played poorly by anyone’s standards and Ryan Miller directly cost the Sabres several games. Miller has been an average goaltender more recently and Myers, of course, has been out of the line-up. Drew Stafford has done some impressive things rushing to the net with the puck but he has been unable to finish nearly as often as the team has needed. Derek Roy, Ville Leino, and Brad Boyes have each been largely unproductive. These are players the Sabres depend on to bail the rest of the team out.

At present, the Sabres are a terribly unconfident and extremely fragile group. It’s plain to see. These recent losses against the Senators, Capitals, Devils, and Leafs are the product of their failures earlier in the season. The leads that slipped away and the pucks that almost made it past the goaltender are piling up and now they’re dragging the team down. Close losses in which the Sabres didn’t exactly play poorly were inevitable. I don’t usually have a fatalist attitude with the Sabres but I resigned myself to these most recent losses weeks ago. Far more than the soft team storyline that’s been totally overblown, the missed opportunities earlier in the year to close out wins have pulled the life out of the players and fans.

So now the conversation swings back to coaching and leadership. If we accept that poor execution from the talent is responsible for a disappointing first half of the regular season, the question becomes — why has the top-talent failed the team? Did the talent fail to meet our expectations because we’ve overrated their ability? Or, did the talent fail because of inadequate coaching and/or leadership?

It’s appropriate to ask where Lindy Ruff fits in with what has happened this season. He has coached the core of this team for five or six years — hundreds and hundreds of games. His opening day roster featured a Vezina trophy winning goaltender, two 40-goal scorers and three 30-goal scorers all in the prime of their careers, and arguably the most talented group of defenders he’s ever coached.

It’s also fair to ask why so many of the forwards, veterans and rookies alike, look uncomfortable on the ice when key leaders like Vanek and Pominville have been so dependable. If Vanek and Pominville are effective leaders, why hasn’t the rest of the team been able to rally around their individual success?

There has to be some kind of middle ground between blame and shared responsibility. Frankly, it’s a little insulting to see and hear people absolve Ruff of any blame. Certainly Ruff, and even highly productive leaders like Vanek and Pominville, share part of the responsibility for the team’s record.

But whenever I consider the quality of this particular coaching staff and leadership group, it feels like contributing factors that, at most, exacerbate a much larger problem — which is that the Sabres are built around a mostly undependable group of veterans. What do the Sabres do with Miller? What do the Sabres do with Stafford? I mean, there’s a list of players I could mention here, right?

Something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately within the context of the Sabres roster is the franchise’s status within the league. What Pegula did with the locker-room and player lounge is part of a transition. Those changes have become a punch-line when put in context with the Sabres home record but the reality is the athletes under contract with the Sabres play for an organization that has extremely committed ownership, first-rate facilities, and great fan support. I believe the Sabres have become a potential destination for the Mark Recchi, Gary Roberts, future hall-of-fame types who, as their storied careers come to a close, are trying to win one last ring. The point is — players should understand they’re very fortunate to play for the Sabres. They need to feel a sense of urgency to make the most of their time. Tomorrow they could be playing for a lower-rated franchise whether they’re productive or not but the unproductive players, everyone in hockey should be made aware, are expedited out of Buffalo. Players need to earn the right to stay with this franchise. That’s a message the Sabres will eventually to need to enforce, if not send.

I think I first have to say — the fallout that takes place after a questionable on-ice incident has become one of my least favorite parts of the hockey fan experience. There is so much posturing that occurs outside of the game now and it’s growing a little tiresome to follow.

When it comes to supplementary discipline, I’ve only ever cared about reducing the severe head injuries. I find most concussion inducing body checks a little disturbing to watch and I don’t like the idea of someone like Tim Connolly suffering for the rest of his life so that I may be entertained. I’m satisfied with the renewed commitment the NHL has shown in extracting those body checks from the game. Now I’m sort of ready to move on from all the case-to-case criticism the hockey community gives questionable incidents. Head shots are beyond reproach in the NHL now.

My one concern with Shanahan is that he has no experience of any kind in jurisprudence. Being a respected member of the hockey community will only get him so far. He needs to be able to manage the perception of his decisions, otherwise observers will bury him. His relationship with media is now very different than it was back when he was a player. It’s all about subtext for him now. It’s become apparent to me that he doesn’t quite get it yet.

For instance, a judicially trained individual wouldn’t allow, or given the impression he would allow, a simple denial of intention from the player in question to become a deciding factor. Here’s Shanahan addressing the Miller/Lucic collision back on November 14th:

“I did have some questions for Milan and I wanted to hear directly from him. They were regarding his intent; at what point did he know there was going to be a collision; and whether or not he felt he had the time to avoid the collision. I was satisfied with his answers.”

In a situation such as this, why would the defendant be presumed to provide a truthful testimony? Um, right hand on the Bible, okay Milan? The defendant’s denial is part of the reason for the trial, not evidence for an acquittal.

Beyond that, a judicially trained individual wouldn’t have engaged a coach in a public debate over his decision in the way Brendan Shanahan did with Lindy Ruff. Shanahan is the authority. He’s the judge. Of course the persecuting party will object to a non-conviction. They’re biased. So are the defendants. The decision stands for itself. Deaf ears to the party who was ruled against. Shanahan has to be accepting of criticism; otherwise he clouds the integrity of future judgments. Here’s Shanahan addressing Ruff at the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony:

“I think Buffalo’s comments are irresponsible to suggest that it’s open season. I will have this warning for players: `It’s not. If you run a goalie you’re going to find yourself in the same situation that Lucic was today, you’re going to have to explain yourself and you don’t explain it sufficiently, and if I don’t buy it, you’re going to be suspended.”‘

Shanahan will still be the judge for the Sabres’ next court date. And by next court date I mean today or tomorrow. Shanahan’s verbal missteps are returning, express delivery, back to his door-step. Jordin Tootoo of the Nashville Predators collided hard with Ryan Miller inside his goal-crease on Saturday night, three weeks after Lucic checked Miller. Now what does Shanahan do?

Let’s forget the video evidence for a moment. Why shouldn’t Shanahan suspend Tootoo? Tootoo denies he intentionally collided with Miller, just as Lucic did. Tootoo’s words should be a factor just as they were in Lucic’s case, otherwise it looks like Lucic and the Bruins, by extension, were given unequal treatment. Okay — why should Shanahan suspend Tootoo? Shanahan’s message, in response to Lindy Ruff’s criticism, was that it wouldn’t be tolerated.

Shanahan will look bad no matter what he decides. His decision will contradict with some aspect of his message over the course of the fallout to the Lucic/Miller collision. Does intention matter or not? Is it open-season or not?

Maybe it really is coincidence that Tootoo hit the same goaltender who earlier in the season was involved in a significant goaltender interference play. Maybe it really is coincidence that Miller was hit during the first game back since returning from injury. Seems like a stretch but again I don’t really care what happens to Tootoo. What matters is Shanahan’s mixed message and that Ruff, who publicly opposed him, has been proven right.

The take-away is probably to be mindful of Shanahan’s language and message moving forward, specifically the language that comes out of these disciplinary hearings and Shanahan’s larger message to the press. For someone in Shanahan’s position, there’s an unfortunate small room for error.

So I’ve never really been worried about how this regular season for the Sabres will turn out. I imagine at some point, eventually, the Sabres will put together a long streak of very good hockey — one where they win something like thirteen of fifteen games. I hope and expect that for the most part the Sabres will remain fairly consistent, winning, on average, every other game. I think they’re talented enough to pull out wins even when they’re not playing their best hockey and I think they’re talented enough to string together a really impressive stretch of games during which everything seems to work.

But I’ll admit to being concerned heading into last night’s game against the Bruins. I was not prepared for the Sabres to be faced with such a high stakes game so early in the season. I felt that if the Sabres lost badly to the Bruins, considering how poor their record at FNC has been this season, it would have led to trouble. It would have been a real challenge to overcome another bad loss to the Bruins so soon, this time at home. Fans would have started to really doubt the team’s competitiveness and leadership. Alarms would have definitely been sounding for me, especially with the uncertainty surrounding the availability of Tyler Myers and Ryan Miller moving forward. I still think it will take some time for the players on this team to come together and settle into their roles, especially the newer Sabres. The key during this adjustment period is to avoid slipping into a team-wide slump and losing something like seven of ten games. Would a bad loss to the Bruins last night have triggered a big slump? I don’t know but I think a slump for this team would be particularly destructive. The pressure as an underachieving team needing to make up ground in the standings would be enormous. Everyone in hockey knows how hard it is to make up ground in the standings, even in the early stages of the season.

Against the Bruins, the Sabres played to their strength in the first thirty minutes of the game. They controlled the puck down low in the Bruins zone. They passed well. They forced the Bruins into turnovers. Jochen Hecht, Drew Stafford, and Thomas Vanek all missed on terrific scoring chances. In the second half of the game the Bruins skated hard and started imposing themselves physically, making it difficult for the Sabres to establish any sustained pressure in the offensive-zone. By the end of regulation, those missed opportunities earlier in the game loomed large for the Sabres.

Ultimately, the shootout and overtime matter little. It’s a thing that the Sabres gave up a two-goal lead and it will surely appear in most game stories but that’s not really what people should take away from this night. The Sabres dropped the gloves enough times to satisfy the vindictive and the blood thirsty among us. They acted out the narrative that had been scripted in the weeks leading up to this game. The fans got to cheer a lot. The Sabres came up short in the skills competition but the outcome of that is not nearly as significant, from the Sabres perspective, as putting in the effort required to derail some of the discussion around their perception as being a soft team. The Sabres should be proud of their effort in a game that had enormous build-up and, frankly, expectations that were a little unfair.

Now normalcy may resume. With the follow-up game against the Bruins behind them, maybe players and coaches will refrain from any more profanity laced interview sessions for a minute or two. For a while there it was like they thought they were fucking internet writers or something. Hopefully, the Sabres can just get back to the grind and work on fixing some of their problems without this stupid game against the Bruins looming. It’s not going to get any easier, but, hopefully, now it’s just about hockey.

Over the course of these past few weeks, it’s become unclear to me what the long term plan is for Leino. Are the Sabres committed to making him into a reliable center or is the priority instead to make him into a productive scorer, regardless of position?

It took Ruff just seven games into the regular season to try Leino on the left wing. Three games later, Leino is moving back to the center position. Based on how Leino is being used, the Sabres seem desperate for him to start scoring in the short term. The question I have is why — why is there such urgency for Leino to start scoring?

It’s November 1st and the Sabres have collected enough points in the standings to be at least a little patient with Leino. Luke Adam’s emergence gives the coaching staff time, perhaps more than they thought they would have in the summer, to get Leino settled into his new role.

Speaking of Adam, he’s been extremely productive playing center for Vanek and Pominville. I really can’t say enough about Adam. He’s been outstanding. I certainly don’t think his scoring numbers can be totally credited to the offensive ability of his wingers. He’s made a lot of strong individual plays in addition to working well with Vanek and Pominville. Obviously Vanek and Pominville are both superior scorers to Adam but it’s crazy to assume their production would be the same if, to this point in the season, they had played even-strength hockey with a different forward.

Adam’s inexperience has not been the cause of many goals against for the Sabres either, thanks in large part to Pominville. I’ve noticed that Pominville has assumed many of the responsibilities traditionally delegated to the center. He takes a ton of face-offs and he’s the forward who has been covering the extra attacker in the Sabres zone. The unconventional usage of Pominville is not essential to what makes this line successful. It’s more of a side note. The main story, of course, is how effective they’ve been as a group while on the attack, and most the time this line is on the ice they’re attacking up ice. When the Sabres have possession of the puck, Adam is a more conventional center.

It’s interesting to consider how they’ve been able to make it work especially now that Adam appears to be getting replaced by Leino. In theory, Leino should be able to bring everything that Adam has brought to the Vanek and Pominville line. Pominville can and should continue to do a lot of the coverage in the Sabres zone as Leino, like Adam, has yet to prove himself a complete, two-way center. This is a major reason why it makes sense to put Leino alongside Pominville. It should work. Vanek-Leino-Pominville should be productive but maybe they won’t be.

What we know, at this point, is that Ruff is breaking up the best even-strength scoring line the Sabres have in order to get Leino more involved with the offense. Seems risky to me but, like everyone else, I’m observing from the outside. Leino must be frustrated by now. Maybe Ruff is concerned about Leino growing from a frustrated player into a toxic one. I want to give Ruff the benefit of the doubt but this reads like a desperate move to accommodate a player with a lot of public attention on him.

Ruff changes his forward lines so often that it’s almost pointless to discuss one of these moves but this is not just an ordinary skake-up. The Vanek-Adam-Pominville line has stayed together on even-strength for the entire season and Leino has been moved around a lot. Leino has been asked to play multiple positions alongside a lot of different forwards. It’s telling, even if Ruff should decide to reunite Adam with Vanek and Pominville after one shift.

I think with Leino, Ruff just needs to recommit to his initial plan, whatever that might have been. That means, at the very least, stop changing Leino’s position. Keep him at center, if that’s where they’d like him to play. It might take a while for him to get comfortable. So what? The Sabres are loaded with scorers. Behind Vanek and Pominville, there’s Stafford, Roy, Gerbe, Boyes, and Ennis (when he returns). Every one of those forwards can score. And again, the Sabres are doing fine in the standings. They’re right in the middle of things. They don’t need Leino to become productive right now and, to that end, they certainly don’t need to risk what’s working.

I can’t help wonder where exactly Leino’s head must be to warrant some of the decisions Ruff has made. I wasn’t concerned with Leino’s lack of production before this latest move but now I think I am because I can’t make sense of the impatience Ruff has shown towards him.

It should be interesting watching this play out.

“You have teams in places where hockey is not the topic of conversation. It seems to me, [in accordance with] basic business principles, you want to put your product where people who like that product can sample it. It would be like putting a McDonald’s in an area where everybody is a vegetarian. Unfortunately, in the Southern United States — not to pick only on the Southern US — there a lot of hockey vegetarians.”

It should be noted that Farber made this comment in summation to a point he was making on the degree to which Canada has embraced the Jets.

I’ll get to the Southern United States in a minute but first, in case you haven’t been paying attention, the Jets have become something of a national cause to rally around in Canada. It was reported that prior to last Saturday’s game in the Air Canada Center, hockey fans in Toronto gave the Jets a standing ovation. I watched CBC’s coverage a few Sundays back leading up to the Jets’ first home game in Winnipeg wherein some highly emotional and inspiring stories were told. The Canadian Prime Minister was in attendance for that game. What a spectacle. What a celebration.

Of course, hockey is Canada’s game. Every Canadian city is a potential market for professional hockey because people can be depended upon to buy tickets and show up for the games. Canadians are very interested in professional hockey. They always have been and they always will be. Hockey is part of their identity, their culture, and their country. Obviously, this is not the case in the NHL’s American markets.

The superior regional interest in hockey has been, for the most part, the only argument I’ve heard from people who are overtly supportive of the relocation from Atlanta to Winnipeg. The implied message, whether intended or not, is that Winnipeg will support a losing franchise while Atlanta has proven it will not. I think these people have been too dismissive of the strengths of the Atlanta market while conveniently ignoring the shortcomings of the Winnipeg market.

The fact that Winnipeg or Quebec City or Southern Ontario will pack an arena to watch professional hockey, even if the home team stinks, is only half of the discussion. The other half is what happens when the home team plays well and contends for a championship.

Suppose a team like the Jets were to put together a string of seasons where they contend for and maybe even win a few championships. The question becomes whether or not the Jets are capable of financially capitalizing on the success of their team to the extent that justifies their belonging in Winnipeg. The league becomes stronger when the Blackhawks and Bruins win titles and when the Flyers and Capitals make deep playoff runs because those franchises are able to extract more revenue out of their markets than can, say, a franchise like the Jets.

People don’t often take this into consideration when judging the economic value of the Atlanta market. There absolutely was potential for it to become a strong revenue generating market for the league simply because of its size. Of course, this potential was never fully realized because of the utter incompetence shown by ownership and management. All the Atlanta market proved was that they would not support an inept hockey franchise.

I don’t think Atlanta is packed with hockey vegetarians but people like Farber label them as such because Atlanta refused to eat the lousy hockey hamburgers it was exclusively served. MacDonald’s is actually a pretty decent analogy but refusing to eat MacDonald’s lousy beef hamburgers does not make someone a vegetarian. We’ll never know what would have happened had Atlanta bee served with higher quality hamburgers. Would they have bought them? Would they have paid more for them?

Winnipeg is certainly more stable than Atlanta so long as the Canadian currency continues to hold as a relatively equal exchange for American currency. So, one could say the NHL is a more stable league by replacing the Atlanta market with Winnipeg. Maybe the NHL needs more stability what with the attendance figures for some of the other struggling franchises. But that’s sort of a hedge, is it not?

When it comes to relocating a franchise, it’s important to remember that the stability of Canadian cities comes at the expense of capitalizing on the size of some American markets. If you’re going to try and judge what a city like Atlanta or Phoenix or Dallas offers the league, you’ve got to be fair about it and that means considering what happens when the team is playing well in addition to when it is not.

Seeing the Penguins and Capitals documented helped me to fully realizing what those two particular organizations were all about. I consider the Pens and Caps to be something of model franchises for hockey in the post-lockout era. They play in the East, so they have an advantage over the Red Wings and maybe the Sharks or Canucks in terms of visibility but ultimately, the Pens and the Caps were, and still are, the envy of the league. They’re both loaded with elite level talent, smart executives, committed owners, and their facilities are off the charts. Because of these things, their fan support is strong and they get a large share of the national attention.

In the mini-series, there were a couple scenes in which HBO showed the Pens and Caps sitting in locker rooms designated for the visiting team. These scenes stood out to me mostly because the Pens and Caps looked totally out of place. Mostly, viewers saw these players in their own, spacious facilities filled with training and coaching staff buzzing around in one of several rooms adorned heavily with the team’s logo and colors. They looked much more appropriately placed making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in a room similar to this one.

Question: is that part of a hockey locker room or a set used in an MTV reality show?

Plenty has been said about the locker rooms at FNC already. They’re new and fancy and everyone, I think, understands that they’re a lot better than the old rooms. I would only add: player/coach facilities, like the ones recently built inside FNC, contain amenities that first rate organizations are not without. In making these additions, the Sabres have taken another step to becoming a first rate organization.

These rooms are a tangible reminder of why players like Christian Ehrhoff and Ville Leino signed with the Sabres. It’s all relative. Darcy Regier offered ideal contracts to those two players but the profile of the Sabres organization has risen too and that certainly can’t be discounted.

* * *

Throughout the filming of 24/7, the Pens and Caps were captured in two very different realities. The Pens were peaking and in the middle of a long unbeaten streak. The Caps were slumping and Boudreau’s job security was a source of daily question.

Maybe it was the style of the mini-series but there appeared to be an element to both the Pens and Caps that was definitely unique. It felt like the teams they were opposing, particularly when the games were played in either Pittsburgh or Washington, existed only as competition for the Pens and Caps. I know the series was focused specifically on the teams participating in the Winter Classic but it seemed like the games were more important to the Pens and Caps than they were to their competition. The Pens and Caps had higher reaching goals and it was apparent all the time. The stakes felt higher and the expectations seemed greater.

The Pens were busy convincing everyone that they’re capable of performing at an absurdly high level while the Caps were totally desperate for wins and in the middle of a major crisis.

* * *

In one of Bucky Gleason’s columns from the summer, he paraphrased a moment that occurred between Lindy Ruff and Terry Pegula. Pegula had quipped during a management meeting that jobs wouldn’t be on the line if the Sabres didn’t win immediately. Pegula was essentially downplaying the urgency of winning big in the short term when Ruff interjected, “No, Terry, we do have to win now.”

The reality is the Sabres don’t need to win now. Lets put aside potential consequences for now and just focus on the internal strategy. It’s unpractical, in most cases, to plan for a championship in the immediate, short term. Injuries, to key players, can happen at any time and often the teams that go deepest in the playoffs are also the most fortunate. The 2010 Blackhawks are one exception that comes to mind. They invested heavily in one season, won the Cup, and subsequently were forced to blow up their roster. The best managerial philosophy would seem to be do everything possible to win in the near future without damaging the competitiveness of the team in the upcoming seasons. But for a franchise like the Sabres to win something substantial in the next couple of years, they need to act as though they’re contending for a championship every single year, including this one. This, I think, was Ruff’s message.

Watching the past weekend’s games against the Hurricanes and Penguins, I experienced the same feeling with the Sabres as I got while watching the Pens and Caps on HBO. The Hurricanes felt secondary to the Sabres’ purpose and the Penguins felt like a test. The games themselves were two familiar match-ups, between a collection of familiar players, but there’s a new, added dynamic to this Sabres team that is totally unfamiliar.

There’s a new tension that goes far beyond the game itself. And it can’t be fully captured by noting, simply, that the Sabres are pushing really hard for a championship. The feeling is, I think, that everything suddenly matters much more than it had it the past.

The new facilities at FNC and the new players and the new commitment to meet expectations all combine to grow the spotlight. The Sabres have undergone a remarkable transition in that includes growth in both transparency and interactivity. I can feel the local excitement and the greater national attention. I can sense the criticism all the doubters have chambered, ready to fire at the slightest sign of trouble.

This season for the Sabres is mostly about securing spot alongside the handful of other elite, first tier franchises in the NHL. Whether they have the players to truly belong is, at present, a subject of some debate, but they certainly have the infrastructure.

To start, count me amongst what was probably the majority of Sabres fans who, prior to the official announcement, had endorsed Thomas Vanek for the title of team captain. I think the strongest reason for this is also the simplest. Vanek is one of three elite level talents on the Sabres. Myers is probably too young for the captaincy and Miller is of course a goaltender. Vanek is the most talented scorer on the team and by a pretty wide margin too. At this point in his career, Vanek affects every game he is in the line-up for and in a very noticeable, if not measurable, way; but Vanek’s potential impact as captain goes beyond his ability to set up and finish scoring chances.

The greatest difference between Vanek and many of the other elite, pure scorers in hockey is that Vanek seems to be very concerned with his role on the team. Many of Vanek’s character traits, at least the observable ones, suggest an acute awareness that his teammates are heavily depending on him to score. How many players externalize their frustration to the degree that Vanek does? How many players assume blame as regularly and to the degree that Vanek does? When Vanek is having trouble scoring, it’s very apparent in both his words and behavior. When he scores a goal, his body language often shows signs of relief.

For fans, this is what I think has always made Vanek somewhat of a divisive figure within leadership related discussions. It’s easy to argue the visibility of Vanek’s frustration sets something of a bad example. If he were captain, he could cast a negative shadow over the team when the road inevitably gets a little bumpy. Vanek is certainly not a very emotionally measured player. The counter is to argue that this sort of tension draws attention to Vanek’s effort and competitiveness. I align more with the latter group but I certainly understand the concerns of the skeptics.

Pominville was my second choice but I preferred Vanek to Pominville mostly because I consider Pominville to be a distinctly uninspiring player. Even in Pominville’s greatest moments, he’s not inspiring through his ability to score, his energy level, or his checking effectiveness. This wouldn’t matter so much if Pominville were able to galvanize the team in other ways, as the agents for the games major physical events sometimes do, but he doesn’t strike me as the type of leader who will elevate his game in response to crisis.

At this level, the captaincy is largely just a symbol to rally around and I consider Vanek to be a greater source of moments that inspire and unite the team than Pominville. But that’s about as far as I want to push this because aside from Vanek, Pominville is the best fit for the role, especially given what’s happened to this team the last few months.

I’ve actually changed my opinion on Pominville a lot in the last few months. I admit to being very frustrated with him in the past but now I think the depth the Sabres have in scorers lessens a lot of the responsibility Pominville has to produce, offensively. This has kind of raised the profile of some of his other strengths.

I think Pominville is a strong choice because he is good at being a professional. It’s really that simple. He’s dependable; he’s respected; he’s well-liked; and he’s very diplomatic.

Just imagine you’re a new player coming to the Sabres. This is weird of me to say having never met Pominville, but he seems like a comfortable, friendly presence, doesn’t he? If I’m right in my characterization, he’s a perfect player ambassador for Lindy Ruff. Pominville doesn’t have to be a force great enough to keep a runaway train on the tracks. He’s just got to keep one eye on the schedule and make sure the train is on time.

There has always been sort of this mystique about leaders in sports speaking up in the locker room and saying what needs to be said when the team is struggling. Who knows how much of that really goes on in hockey now but Pominville shouldn’t be judged on his perceived willingness to do things like that. Pominville, Miller, Roy, Vanek, Gaustad, Stafford, and Hecht have all played together for a substantial amount of time and that group makes up a significant portion of the talent on this team. They’re all veterans now and they all have the status needed to privately call a teammate out. Publicly, only Miller has the power to do something like that and even when he does he treads very lightly, as he should.

I think it’s perfectly clear what the Sabres are getting with Pominville as the captain. It’s a totally risk averse selection. It reads like a measure taken to ease the volatility this team is sure to experience in the coming months and years. Naming Pominville captain is not really a wager. It’s a decision made to ensure a place at the betting table for a long period of time. Naming Vanek captain would have been akin to laying a sizable bet.

Lindy Ruff and the rest of the coaching and executive branch of the team were presumably thinking it’s unwise to place any king of wager with the captaincy. I can’t really argue with that.

Maybe this is the final lesson of the co-captain era. A team that’s built around the inspiration of a captain, or co-captains as it were, will go only as far as those individuals are able to inspire. A captain may be capable of regularly producing inspirational moments but there’s no guarantee those moments translate into motivation for the other players.

Maybe it’s better to build a team that goes as far as the talent core takes it. Maybe it’s better for the primary role of the captain to be to stabilize rather than inspire. We’ll find out sooner or later.