While he cleaned out his locker this morning at the First Niagara Center, Buffalo Sabres’ center Derek Roy responded to questions from the Buffalo sports media about his early-season injuries, why the team failed to reach the post-season and his relationship with Lindy Ruff.

When asked if he tired of being called out by Ruff behind closed doors and in the media, the veteran responded: “Behind closed doors, [criticism] is fine. You can be hard—it’s good to be hard—on your players. Behind closed doors, on the bench, to get them pumped up—I’m not a coach, but I don’t think it’s the right thing to be saying it to the media.”

As the interview continued, Roy explained that his relationship with Roy was good, saying that the head coach “expects a lot out of me, expects me to be a leader and the hardest-working guy on the team.”

The Sabres’ core of veterans—Roy, Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville and Drew Stafford—along with Ruff and GM Darcy Regier, have shouldered much of the blame for missing the postseason, and the latter two have yet to address Roy’s comments in the media today. The Twitter-sphere, after learning of the oft-reviled center’s words, took offense:

Die by the Blade’s Andy Boron recapped the Roy post-season interview and linked to WGR Sabres beat reporter Paul Hamilton’s discussion this morning about how the Buffalo veterans responded to Ruff’s coaching style.

Even Greg Wyshynski, creator and editor of popular Yahoo! Sports hockey blog Puck Daddy, crafted a story on Ruff’s tumultuous relationship with his team’s leaders.

As this news makes the rounds, where do you stand? Are Roy’s comments merely pent up frustration from a “lost” season and not indicative of a severed player/coach relationship? Has this story been blown out of proportion, or has Roy finally burned his bridges to that extent that either he’ll be playing elsewhere next season or Ruff will be canned?