from Damien Cox of The Spin,

--The Buffalo Sabres. Winless in five with only five goals scored, this has started in nightmarishly bad fashion for Ron Rolston's group, an odd collection of unproven kids, highly-paid vets who have never lived up to their contracts and a veteran goalie, Ryan Miller, who maybe should have left two seasons ago.

Miller is at least a card the Sabres have to play. Perhaps Tomas Vanek, as well. Or maybe this is a team that's going to have to take dead aim at the first overall pick next summer and live with the pain. That said, this can't be what Terry Pegula had in mind.

--The New York Rangers. Losing by a combined 15-2 in San Jose and Anaheim has the Blueshirts reelling, even moreso with star goalie Henrik Lundqvist floundering and winger Rick Nash sidelined after a head shot. The switch from John Tortorella to Alain Vigneault hasn't clicked yet, stay-at-home blueliner Dan Girardi is nowhere near the force he was two seasons ago and the youth of the Rangers has yet to shine.

This is a team that already looks like it could use a trade to shake things up. In the current NHL climate, with so many teams so tight for salary cap dollars, that's almost impossible to pull off.

--Florida Panthers. You do wonder if Kevin Dineen could be in some jeopardy....

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