It’s not a secret that if the Buffalo Sabres want to make any kind of playoff run, certain players are going to have to step their game up—Thomas Vanek, Drew Stafford, and Craig Rivet just to name a few.

But there is one name that seems to be escaping a lot of criticism: Lindy Ruff.

Buffalo’s head coach, in his 12th season with the Sabres, has made some highly questionable decisions in the last month of play—the most recent has Sabres’ fans scratching their heads.

In light of the Sabres’ recent scoring slump, Ruff called up Mark Mancari from the AHL to provide an offensive spark—which the young Sabre did.

In three games with the big club, Mancari had two points, an incredible 15 shots, and was a plus-three. He also averaged just under 18 minutes of ice-time per game.

It seemed that the Sabres had finally found the offense it was looking for, thanks to the hard-nosed effort of Mancari—until Ruff returned the 24-year-old forward back to the Portland Pirates before Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

There is a combination of things that has made Sabres’ fans wonder what Ruff was thinking.

Forget Mancari’s great numbers with the team in three games, but take a look at another player on the team that could have been sent down.

Tim Kennedy’s rookie year has progressively gone downhill as the season has worn on.

Kennedy does not have a point in his last 12 games. He also only has six shots during that stretch and is an abysmal minus-nine—showing that he is slacking on both sides of the puck.

Mancari had seven shots in Friday night’s 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild alone.

Kennedy’s ice-time is also down significantly from the beginning of the season. He hit a season-low on Friday night after playing just 6:47.

Kennedy’s lack of offense coupled with his lazy defensive play makes me wonder what Ruff is trying to do with the 23-year-old Buffalo native.

With plenty of talent waiting in the AHL—Mancari, Tyler Ennis, and Nathan Gerbe—what could Ruff possibly be waiting for?

This is not the first questionable decision that the former Jack Adams’ Award-winner and longest tenured coach in the NHL has made this season. I understand that I almost contradict myself with that previous statement, but it would appear from this season that Ruff’s best coaching days may be behind him.

Either way, it might be time for the Sabres to look for a new head coach—playoffs pending, that is.

Read more NHL news on BleacherReport.com

The Buffalo Sabres’ special teams have been a mystery all season long.

Buffalo’s penalty kill is currently ranked fourth in the NHL at 86 percent. The Sabres’ extremely high percentage can be attributed to the fact that they have been shorthanded just 214 times this season—the third fewest penalties taken in the league.

The Sabres are not overly aggressive on the penalty kill. Instead, Buffalo lets its opponents take the puck into the offensive zone and waits until they make a mistake to clear it down the ice—this is more easily done with a goalie like Ryan Miller in net.

But, Buffalo’s checking line and defensive specialists—Paul Gaustad, Mike Grier, Jochen Hect, and Patrick Kaleta—are among the league’s elite penalty killers.

The previous ingredients, mixed with the rather large defensive pairing of 6’8” Tyler Myers and 6’4” Henrik Tallinder, make it very difficult for opponents to get into a groove on the power play.

While the Sabres have excelled being down a man, they have struggled as of late with the man advantage.

Buffalo has just one power-play goal in its last 10 games and is currently ranked 23rd in the NHL.

Thomas Vanek, Buffalo’s high-paid “superstar,” has not scored a power-play goal since Jan. 29 in a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins.

But obviously Vanek isn’t the only player struggling at the moment, and head coach Lindy Ruff has had to mix up the power play lines as a result.

On one power play during the Sabres 2-1 OT win over the New York Rangers on Sunday, Ruff put out Mark Mancari, Tim Kennedy, and Jochen Hecht.

Mancari is understandable because his call-up could have motivated a few other players to get theirs acts together—not to mention he has a monster slap shot.

Kennedy, on the other hand, has been in a severe rut both offensively and defensively. Rewarding him with power-play time is not the way to break him out of it.

While Hecht is a key component to the Sabres’ penalty kill, he is not known for his dynamic offense.

The bottom line is that there are other players that should be used to help a laboring power play before Hecht is thrown into the mix.

Ruff has the right idea with Mancari.

If the power play continues to struggle, though, Nathan Gerbe and Tyler Ennis of the Portland Pirates may be next in line to provide a spark.

But for the moment, the Sabres and their conflicting special teams have done just enough to keep the team atop the Northeast division.

Read more NHL news on BleacherReport.com