‘But front-office politics, with Pegula’s cronies working against LaFontaine, according to stories in the Buffalo News, saw LaFontaine pushed out of the organization after just three months. Also gone in short order was Ted Nolan, one of the most popular and successful coaches in team history. Then came Murray’s sole reign and a series of mistakes. Most of those mistakes concerned bad contracts, which haunt teams for years in a salary-cap system.’