Jim Bob
January 2nd, 2003, 2:26:54 PM
http://www.wgr55.com/sabres/fullstory.php?id=0120
I have made no secret this season on how much of a mistake I think the acquisition of Tim Connolly was. That has not changed one bit, but I thought it only fair that I give you Lindy Ruff's thoughts. I will just give you Ruff's quotes and I will not comment.
"Tim's a much better player than he's shown and I'll take some responsibility for that. I've kept him away from some situations. I've kept him away from the power play. We've been on quite a good roll without him on it. I've been playin' him in a third line role since and his ice time is down. I'm going to try to get him back to that 14-15 minute range. I like the guys he's playing with. I think Denis and Adam were ahead of him on plays and gave him options. Timmy's strongest asset still is passing."
"Due to the fact that he hadn't been playing well, he slipped down the lineup."
"I think he's one kid that's pretty tough when he's slumping. He's not a kid that sits around and hangs his head."
"I'm frustrated that I haven't pushed him further along the line, but I pushed him down the lineup too and I don't think you get further along the road when you're pushed down the lineup, but you have to deserve to move up and sometimes you deserve to move down."
"I've been tough on him at times in the sense that if he's not moving his feet and not winning the battles, you're not going to play."
"You gotta look at the total package, you gotta put Taylor and Timmy in a total package and look where they're at and where we're at. Taylor is a big man that's a good player that is a Buffalo guy, you attach on to him a little easier, but Tim has got a lot of skill and a lot of talent that you can't teach. You can't teach the lookin' away, the some of the types of passes he makes, that type of skill."
"All young players can use time in the minors. It's a great training ground, it teaches yah the hard life, that there are no easy games there. I was glad after 12 years to go down there and play and really experience what it was like. I thought it must be fairly easy down there, but you try playing four games in five nights and three games in three nights and traveling in a bus for nine hours and gettin' up in the next city and trying to play again, stoppin' half way to Hershey and dragging your equipment into your hotel room and hanging your stuff up on the lamp shade. All that is a product that this isn't easy down here and you've gotta play tired and you've gotta play hard while you're tired."
"I think players have been run out of this town for not playing tough enough that have been great players. Pierre Turgeon turned out to be a great player, Dave Andreychuk was a big guy that when he left was criticized because he had 26 power-play goals. Tim's not going to be a tough player, that's not what got him here, but he's shown that he cares, that he's got involved for his teammates. That area he's shown he's willing to compete in those type of situations."
I have made no secret this season on how much of a mistake I think the acquisition of Tim Connolly was. That has not changed one bit, but I thought it only fair that I give you Lindy Ruff's thoughts. I will just give you Ruff's quotes and I will not comment.
"Tim's a much better player than he's shown and I'll take some responsibility for that. I've kept him away from some situations. I've kept him away from the power play. We've been on quite a good roll without him on it. I've been playin' him in a third line role since and his ice time is down. I'm going to try to get him back to that 14-15 minute range. I like the guys he's playing with. I think Denis and Adam were ahead of him on plays and gave him options. Timmy's strongest asset still is passing."
"Due to the fact that he hadn't been playing well, he slipped down the lineup."
"I think he's one kid that's pretty tough when he's slumping. He's not a kid that sits around and hangs his head."
"I'm frustrated that I haven't pushed him further along the line, but I pushed him down the lineup too and I don't think you get further along the road when you're pushed down the lineup, but you have to deserve to move up and sometimes you deserve to move down."
"I've been tough on him at times in the sense that if he's not moving his feet and not winning the battles, you're not going to play."
"You gotta look at the total package, you gotta put Taylor and Timmy in a total package and look where they're at and where we're at. Taylor is a big man that's a good player that is a Buffalo guy, you attach on to him a little easier, but Tim has got a lot of skill and a lot of talent that you can't teach. You can't teach the lookin' away, the some of the types of passes he makes, that type of skill."
"All young players can use time in the minors. It's a great training ground, it teaches yah the hard life, that there are no easy games there. I was glad after 12 years to go down there and play and really experience what it was like. I thought it must be fairly easy down there, but you try playing four games in five nights and three games in three nights and traveling in a bus for nine hours and gettin' up in the next city and trying to play again, stoppin' half way to Hershey and dragging your equipment into your hotel room and hanging your stuff up on the lamp shade. All that is a product that this isn't easy down here and you've gotta play tired and you've gotta play hard while you're tired."
"I think players have been run out of this town for not playing tough enough that have been great players. Pierre Turgeon turned out to be a great player, Dave Andreychuk was a big guy that when he left was criticized because he had 26 power-play goals. Tim's not going to be a tough player, that's not what got him here, but he's shown that he cares, that he's got involved for his teammates. That area he's shown he's willing to compete in those type of situations."