Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Buffalo Sabres defenseman Connor Clifton was among the small group of players in attendance for last week's press conference to re-introduce Lindy Ruff as the team's next head coach.
While I didn’t get a chance to talk with him then, I did speak with him right before the final game of the 2023-24 season in Tampa, Florida.
Clifton had only played for the Boston Bruins before signing with the Sabres in free agency last summer. This is the first time he’s not taking part in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where he's played 46 games with Boston.
He says this is just part of the journey.
"It’s part of our process, where we didn’t have the start we wanted," said Clifton. "Then we started winning some games, and then we started losing. We’re trying to battle back, and we get to .500 at Game 60 to give ourselves a chance in the last 22 games to make a real push. At the end of the day, I don’t think we were good enough to reach that Wild Card."
Clifton knows there were a number of unforced mistakes the team made over the course of the season. The team wouldn't have even had a chance to be where they were near the end without Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in goal.
"It was just so many mistakes in puck management," Clifton said. "In this time of the year, it’s so hard to score goals. When we’re giving up one or two in the first, and then we play our game and if we don’t score two goals, we’re losing because of those three minutes we took off in the first and gave them two freebie goals."
That is just one of the many reasons Ruff is now the coach.
"We were learning the same lessons all year in how to manage the puck, and how to play our fast style where we want to go play offense. But at the same time, we’ve got to keep the puck out of our net," Clifton said.
This is where structure comes in with Ruff. The structure wasn’t there, because the players either wouldn’t or couldn’t do what Don Granato wanted them to.
Honestly, as I spoke to Clifton he just sounded disgusted with the season and how they played. That’s where his training in Boston comes in where playing like that isn’t acceptable.
"I give us a lot of credit, we battled, and we got back to .500. I think we all thought we were going to make a real push, and now here we are sitting a bunch of points back for the Wild Card, and watching [the Washington Capital] in the East got in with [91 points]," Clifton said.
I asked Clifton if it will hit him once the playoffs started.
"Yes, not being in it sucks," he said. "It’s not what anyone expected, and the unfortunate truth is we’re watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year."
During his introductory press conference, Ruff talked about his last time in Buffalo and the had he talent. He also mentioned guys like Rob Ray, Andrew Peters and Adam Mair.
He has guys currently like Clifton and Jordan Greenway, but nobody else. He’ll need a few more that are hard to play against, and will do all the small things that make a difference between winning and losing.
The Vancouver Canucks did it last summer. It's up to general manager Kevyn Adams to do it this summer.
