There’s less than 72 hours until the NHL Trade Deadline and so far it’s been the Buffalo Sabres who have made the most noise heading into the deadline. Buffalo kicked off the weekend by shipping their longtime goalie Ryan Miller and veteran Steve Ott to St. Louis in exchange for goaltender Jaroslav Halak, forward Chris Stewart, forward prospect William Carrier, a first-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft if the Blues make the Western Conference Finals or Miller re-signs with the Blues or a 2015 first round pick if neither happens, and a third-round pick in 2016. But while that was definitely the blockbuster of the trade season thus far, the news out of Buffalo on Saturday night was almost, if not as big. President of Hockey Operations Pat LaFontaine suddenly resigned from his post, not even 24 hours after the trade taking the hockey world by storm. LaFontaine will return to his former job working with the NHL Department Of Player Safety.
But why now? That was the question around Buffalo and the NHL Saturday night and on Sunday. A source close to LaFontaine returned an email asking just that with a simple: “I don’t know. Crazy!”
On Sunday, Sabres President Ted Black and GM Tim Murray addressed the media on the topic and did their best damage control claiming that there was no power struggle between LaFontaine, Murray, and the team brass but it’s pretty clear from head coach Ted Nolan’s comments to John Vogl of the Buffalo News that this wasn’t simply a case of LaFontaine stepping down because he feels his business was done there. Remember, after winning the Jack Adams Trophy in his first stint with the Sabres, Nolan was not brought back as coach the following season as the Sabres shockingly didn’t renew his contract after an infamous power struggle between Nolan, then GM John Muckler, and former Sabres goalie Dominick Hasek.
“I went through that a number of years ago,” Nolan told Vogl Sunday. “I can’t control what people assume. There’s something that happened, and I don’t know, so I can’t answer a question that I don’t know.”
Nolan and LaFontaine are not only longtime colleagues but friends and it’s clear Nolan is not happy about what just transpired in Buffalo that led to the man who was able to finally get Nolan a coaching job back in the NHL. LaFontaine leaving the Sabres just as they were in the midst of rebuilding the team and as he was in the midst of contract talks to be renewed as head coach for next season obviously blindsided him.
“I don’t even want to think about it, to tell you the truth. It’s that tough,” Nolan said. “It hasn’t just been the last two months with Patty. I formed that relationship with him as a player back last time I was coaching. Everybody knows what kind of man Patty is. They don’t come much better than him.”
During the pre-game show for the Heritage Classic Sunday, in which the Ottawa Senators defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 at GM Place in Vancouver, Hockey Night In Canada analysts Elliotte Friedman and Glenn Healey debated what the reasons may be with Friedman as many including this scribe are, wondering if maybe LaFontaine was against the Miller trade. Healey on the other hand claimed it was just a simple case of LaFontaine feeling his work was done in Buffalo and wanting to get back to working in New York City closer to his family. It should be noted that Healey and LaFontaine are tight and that may just be Healey trying to do his best to calm the situation down as well.
But no matter how hard he or the Sabres or even LaFontaine try to do so, there is no doubt the Sabres, whom we were crediting here for the return they got in the Miller deal and for hiring LaFontaine to start this transition period don’t seem to be on that path to redemption that they were only 48 hours ago. Once again they’re left with egg on their face and hopefully for their fans, Nolan isn’t the next one to leave because he has done an amazing job thus far, changing the culture with the players and is the perfect coach for a team that is clearly getting younger.
