Stoner

Has anyone flat out asked the Pegulas how it went down?

Patty told Terry he couldn't take the GM job because he didn't have enough experience, then Terry offered him prez. Seems risky. How about hiring rookie GMs to try and lead the franchise out of tankdom? The Mrs. as team president? Some pal out of PSU club hockey to accompany Pat to Ottawa to interview Murray?

I think it deserves a call-out thread because it goes to the heart of a lot of what's been wrong with their ownership. When the Pegulas had to fire Tim Murray, citing lack of communication skills among other issues, Terry said, this time, he'd be fully involved in the new hire. (He claimed he wasn't overly involved in Murray's hiring.) One can imagine the meeting of Terry, Kim and team president Russ Brandon to discuss GMTM's replacement. With the organizational depth chart limited to those three, where else would they turn but to the NHL offices for advice? Why was the executive bench so short? Brandon, a non-hockey guy, had replaced Ted Black, who had been a highly capable former vice president of the Pens. Ken Sawyer, brought in by Black to be a special advisor, had been CFO of the league for 14 years before serving in the same capacity to save the bankrupt Pens, then becoming CEO to help the Pens become a powerhouse, one with a sparkling new arena to boot. That Sawyer was also long gone. There was no hockey president to rely on, as the LaFontaine experiment had quickly fizzled. Craig Patrick? Have they even found the body yet? (Spoiler alert: grain silo.) Battista! was a joke here, but he's yet another adviser they brought in who didn't make it — the official reason he left was that he was tired of driving down 219 on the weekends and having to pass the monstrous oil refinery in Bradford (or maybe it was the monstrous-smelling paper plant in Johnsonburg) on the way home to Happy Valley. Terry. Kim. Russ. Before firing Botterill, of course, the situation was even more dire, with Kim having named herself president after Brandon's dismissal. Terry. Kim. It turned into the episode of Impractical Jokers where two of the jokers were locked in an overheated basement room with a rotary phone their only way of selling a turquoise ring and thus winning their freedom. Before they could quickly die of dehydration, Kim remembered Kevyn's number, and here we are. The NHL and other "hockey people" were easy scapegoats, but let's remember why the Pegulas needed the hiring assistance in the first place. It's not a fluke that so many good hockey people didn't stick around. Terry's conception of the front office is that he centers a line with the GM (and the odd adviser/team president) on his left and the coach on his right. It's dysfunctional and in no way a standard operating practice in the league that's needed because there's so much money involved these days (involvement need not lead to meddling). Moreso, it's offensive to anyone who's actually been in the business for decades, including the three former GMs. (I've never believed Darcy was fired for cause, but instead got a golden parachute.) The Pegulas might be saved by Ralph Krueger and a lucky hire in Adams. If not, there's only one scenario left. Kruegams follow all the others out the door, and Terry and Kim are left in the bunker under the streets of Berlin with a panting German Shepherd in the corner and no one left to call. Copyright 2020 pasf

I wonder how much money LQ and Dan DiPofi have and whether they and OSP would want to get back in the game. Tom could then say he saved the Buffalo Sabres twice.

You should have tried being a critic of Terry on February 22, 2011. That was fun. You have to have a thick skin to post on a sports message board. If you can get through the abuse from little rocket men and hairy Korab men, you'll find most of the responses are crowd-sourcing challenges that make you improve your position. We had a trial and everything. His Honourable Judge Pheromonius Smell even ruled in my favor.

The confusion we're seeing here comes, I think, from a confusing statement made by a WHO official.

You are in the running. My team is combing over posts and social media content to see if you're "PA People."

Do you know how they're handling contact tracing? To do it right, if a player tests positive, then all of his close contacts would have to be in quarantine for 14 days. Or maybe daily testing supercedes that. At least in the U.S., it never went away. We modestly flattened the curve, but now there's clear evidence a second wave (or resurgence of the first wave) is beginning. Increasing positivity rates and hospital usage are telling.

If you lend your support to this, I can promise you it'll be a mule and the goal song will be that Erie Canal song.

Anwyho... what should the next Sabres mascot be? I love snark, but I think it's a serious question. Sabrepede? No. Seriously, what would be up there with the brilliant Flyers rebrand of Gritty?

I called dibs.

So doesn't this argue against giving Kim doing anything of note re: "gutting the hockey department"? She did what the new GM would have done anyway. Or did the GM do it? Did Kevyn know what he was going to do after getting hired and just do it very quickly (immediately after being hired)?

Was she inside a public location?

I can be liason with ownership. (First I'll learn how to spell it. WTF.)

No, you're right. You do a good job. You can be inside the next mascot suit. Unless... it's a real cat? That can type?

Bobby Pin Kim is in testing right now.

Throw your fedora in the ring.

Everybody who got fired should report to work tomorrow and act like it didn't happen.

The question is ludicrous, loquacious, outrageous and one that not even I would pose.

I definitely didn't click on that. Why would I?

Poopyhead. I can't believe you think Dougie is part of the problem (and maybe even THE problem).

Interesting. What if a prospective owner said, "I'll buy this Vibe, but replace the tires and brakes and clean the thing out first"? Or... if they're ready to hand off to the kids (I'm thinking the older ones, the younger ones are too young, I think), is this is a way of giving them a shot at making it work? I guess I remember some excitement about Pat. It sure didn't translate to his first home game. I went in, all in a tizzy. There was an announcement of Pat's and Ted's return, but the response was nothing to write home about. I envisioned a roaring standing O, but it didn't happen.

And I'm leading the way! In the final scene, I'm wearing a sailor uniform and IKP is bent over backwards at the waist. I might be misreading everything, but most of the angst is about who replaced Botterill and why.

To burst the balloon of tension and to signal that a new era of Sabres hockey is at hand, what about putting out a Tweet saying that Sabretooth got struck and killed by a car last night (pics for sale via PayPal), and the search for a new mascot is underway. Does anyone really love Sabretooth that much? Where's he ever gotten us? If I were Adams, I try to cut loose some of the things indelibly attached to losing, and what better way to start than to kill off the creature that's been banging a drum throughout all of it? Fans could send in videos of themselves as the new mascot. You could have a vote. If the ass-broomed Pegulas would lighten up a bit, they could have something even better than Gritty, with the resultant PR boost. It could show they have a sense of humor and don't take themselves too seriously. OTOH... haha. It could, and probably would, be seen as making light of all of the people whose lives have actually been run over by recent staffing changes.