K-9

Because Teddy knows full well Patty was fired. PLF didn't willingly do anything. He was schitcanned. GO SABRES!!!

It could also be an issue of PLF overstepping his bounds as well. That doesn't require meddling by ownership so much as intervention. Agree about Patrick. GO SABRES!!!

I think Murray and Patrick are the epitome of smart hockey people running the show. GO SABRES!!!

Let's assume this is true, that this entire thing involved strife between TP/inner circle and PLF, which I'm also inclined to believe is absolutely the case here. Is it absolutely beyond the realm of possibility that PLF conducted himself in such a way as to necessitate his firing? That a pattern of behavior had emerged over the course of the last 100 days that his boss didn't agree with? And if so, does that make his boss wrong in the decision? Because the last thing TP does is fire people off the cuff; indeed, he tends to hang on to them too long in spite of reality. GO SABRES!!! GO SABRES!!!

Love it. "Preformed" damage control. Like whenever they need to, they go to the back room and grab a can of "preformed" damage control off the shelf. GO SABRES!!!

Save yourself the time and trouble. Patty's gone. I'm over it. And I don't need to find a villain here. I'm only concerned about where this team is going moving forward. I'll leave it to you guys to read all the tea leaves and predict the future. GO SABRES!!!

No. Just asking. I know you need to find a demon here and that it has to be the suits in the "inner circle." I get that. I also know that it can be hard to accept the fact that someone we all love can actually be offensive at times. I get that, too. But the more I look at this, the more I'm convinced it's a Patty issue more than anything else. GO SABRES!!!

How well do you know PLF? If he capable of flying off the handle at subordinates a la Polian? Is he capable of doing things without the consent of his boss and when he's rebuffed for doing them, flies off the handle in a disrespectful manner? We'd all like to think that Patty the player and Patty the public face is who he is all the time. I'm just not convinced he can't be a dick when he wants to be and that he doesn't get even more pissed when called out for it. His timing here is bad to say the least. Why couldn't he have waited it out indeed? GO SABRES!!!

That would be the smart thing to do. It would also be smart of Murray to put a term on the offer though. He doesn't need to be in coaching limbo waiting for Nolan to make a decision. But I think Nolan's gonna end up taking it. GO SABRES!!!

That's part of Teddy's makeup; wearing his heart squarely on his sleeve. Once the emotion of the events ebbs, I don't think he'll have any trouble accepting his extension. I appreciate his loyalty to PLF, but my guess is that his loyalty to his players trumps that. GO SABRES!!!

I don't think PLF quit at all. I think he was fired. And I also think it was not without cause. And I certainly don't think this was about one singular event, but rather a pattern of events that established itself soon after he came aboard. GO SABRES!!!

This is so true. Nobody can tell everybody everything they all want to hear. That's why you limit your exposure in the first place. Now that doesn't stop the wild speculation but it's often best to never give a shred of validity to speculation by acknowledging it. GO SABRES!!!

I think if WAS created entirely for Patty because he DID turn down the GM job as you said. Again, if there's a realization that with a GM and adviser in place and there may not be a need to maintain a position solely created for someone no longer in the organization, I can see why it doesn't need to be filled. Maybe they'll just keep an empty chair in the conference room in his honor. GO SABRES!!!

Sure, there's an element of making it up as you go simply by virtue of the fact the position was made up to begin with. I see nothing wrong with a reassessment of the position and the conclusion that it may no longer be necessary. Companies do this all the time. With Murray on as GM and Patrick in house as an adviser, the need for a formal President of Hockey Operations may not exist. Depends on how you look at it, I guess. I just don't see the big problem here. GO SABRES!!!

Stewart with two goals in a Bernier-like debut. GO SABRES!!!

Patty's position didn't even exist before TP created it for him. Not sure how returning to a previous structure looks really bad. I think we'll find out that Patty went all "Polian" on somebody. I hope he didn't use the C-word on TP's daughter. GO SABRES!!!

Sufficiency and milking it to slake the thirst of the 24 hour news cycle are two different things. GO SABRES!!!

Other than because of the bias we carry for PLF as a favored all-time player in Buffalo, why should we be surprised that he's got a HUGE ego and an over-inflated sense of what's right AND be willing to go to the mat over it? Those attributes helped make him one of the best players in history. It's part of his makeup and he probably doesn't suffer what he considers "fools" very easily as a result. As I said upthread, HOF players in sports rarely make successful transitions to front office positions. Patty is 0-2 in this department and his short stints in both places is more than a coincidence. Some will feel the need to make this all about TP, the "inner circle" (ALL sports team owners have them BTW), and how dysfunctional they are in order to satisfy some preconceived narratives. But the simple truth seems to be that Patty just isn't cut out for it. While it's embarrassing in the short term perhaps, it speaks well that TP and Co. nipped the unrest in the bud. Would have been far worse to let it fester out of some misguided loyalty to a great player and person that we all love. GO SABRES!!!

Except that Murray reported this on Wednesday. GO SABRES!!!

What do you make of Hamilton's report that Teddy has been offered a 3 year extension. This on the heels of Murray saying they were gonna do just that the other day and that Murray thinks Nolan is the right coach for the team at this time. GO SABRES!!!

He gave us an outline to the story, perhaps. I hope the real digging is ongoing. GO SABRES!!!

The lack of local coverage is disappointing. That said, there may not be much being offered up at the moment. Sabres will spin of course, but where's the counterbalance through good old-fashioned gum-show journalism? GO BILLS!!!

When I see them listed like that, it really jumps out at you as to whom was the most expendable. GO SABRES!!!

Yeah, in the short term, it looks embarrassing, but if Patty ends up as the guy who hired the guy that leads us to the promised land, it won't matter at all. And if Murray craps the bed, it won't look much like anything anyway. GO SABRES!!!

I hope Ted stays for those three years. He doesn't strike me as a great X & O tactician, but he's damned good at getting players to skate through walls for him. Just what a young team needs as it matures. GO SABRES!!!