Mango

These guys are still just floating around out there. It’s effing crazy. I have to think part of the issue with firing Donnie is that the next in line is Matt Ellis. Which is terrible. I do think Adams is just as much to blame for this product.

Honestly, what’s Darcy up to now?

My immediate take on the the Sabres Embedded from the draft was that Adams was along for the ride. I didn’t get the vibe he was delegating or collaborating. He looked like he was a kid who got to put on his dad’s suit and was totally fanboy-ing.

It’s insane to me that somebody in that locker room said “We need to be tougher. We need more FU in our game”. Then went out and put out these last few horrendous efforts. Not skill, but low effort. The announcers just said this game was “men amongst boys”

Last year the Sabres were a league worst 71% capacity. I have to think 15% of that are visiting teams on average. I wouldn’t be shocked if Pegula has some pressure from the league. He’s certainly not helping revenues.

Forbes says ~$600M.

Pegula purchased the 4th most winning team in the history of the NHL (by point percentage). The Sabres averaged 99.9% attendance in 2010-2011. Since then the Sabres have plummeted to 12th all time in point percentage, and in 2022 had the worst capacity percentage in the league (71%). Sure it would be nice if we showed up less. But the fans have sure spoken over the last 12 years. Going from one of the best to the absolute worst attendance percentage in the league should speak loudly to Pegula. I hope he sells the team to somebody who keeps them in Buffalo for eternity.

He has been part of the org for years. Kind of like Forton, just sort of kicked around Buffalo hockey for a while, did some work in juniors as a player and a scout, became a road warrior for the Sabres scouting dept, and worked his way up. Not hating on the guy. Good dude. But odd for him and Forton to both hold their respective roles. Here is something crazy, Forton played hockey and soccer at UB. Didn't do much of anything in hockey, took over as the coach for UB soccer for 6 years, then was a volunteer assistant at Niagara. Our own little Ralph Krueger.

I am listening to this podcast now and I am fairly confident Rivet and Peters are regulars on this board. Ha. With all the talk about about, FA's, trades, and roster composition I am curious how much blame falls on pro scouting as well as the GM. Also, it is weird to me that there is another director level position in this FO who is a Buffalo guy. Crowe went to St. Joe's. He has been around hockey forever, but it is weird to me that we have two home grown guys sitting right behind the GM. The odds seem so low.

Not to pile on, but Cozens looked like he had cement skates on in the final two minutes against Preds last night. When you mentioned him not only being late to the corner but it also causing him to get caught out of position over and over again, I heard myself yelling at my TV18 hours ago.

I actually think Terry cares and he tries. The problem is he sucks at it. He knew enough to hire a business partner to act as an admin in oil and gas. (It is Jerry Fortons brother in law) This is his rich guy play toy. He’s entitled to it. He has FU money even when compared to people with FU money. But as fans were also entitled to ridicule him for sucking at it. If it wasn’t my football/hockey team I’d almost feel bad for the guy. He’s like reverse Dan Snyder. It’s borderline embarrassing to care so much about something but sucks so much at it at such a high level.

I think the league likely has a huge gripe with Pegula. We are one of the best TV markets in the country. Buffalo was the 4th most winning (P%) before he bought the team. Now we can’t get more than a couple dozen people in the arena and have been the worst franchise in the league for a decade. Terry is costing the league money.

I think the issue is the vision for the team/roster. Any change in coach will only be a band aid. The fact that the last 4 years have been full bore "stay the course" very much worries me that we have no idea how to pivot, or how to fill the holes in this roster. I think any change in coach or trade will be performative and take ammunition away from a GM who knows WTF they are doing.

My depressing thought of the day: That the Sabres pre-Pegula were the 4th most winning (point percentage) franchise in the league. We are now 12th. It takes a whole lot to trash a teams 40 year history in the following 10 years. We had a .564 P% before Terry bought the team and .445 after he bought the team. The Sabres would have to go on a historical 10 year run to counter act how bad we have been. The damage that Terry Pegula has done to this fan base cannot possibly be understated.

https://apnews.com/article/nhl-sports-buffalo-sabres-don-granato-f766f866a094d2ae84fc307f6be4ffef

I believe it is $2M per year.

This last stretch of games hurts a bit. 2017-2021 was just brutal hockey from this team. We haven't just been losing for 12 years, there have been stretches that have been really hard to even follow. Unwatchable at times. The last few weeks feel like we have been stringing together games that are starting to flirt with that same level. I like the core of this team, I think they are in a better spot than they have been. But their game is triggering some PTSD at the moment.

In general I was thinking that this franchise has had so much turnover that he would push for some stability, and firing coaches mid-season isn't attractive. In the grand scheme of things DG isn't all that expensive, his extension is something like $2M per. Eating his contract at the end of the year would only cost $4M. The relative cost to a family living in Clarence would be not getting your brakes done because you want to put in an inground pool. Sure, brake jobs are totally overpriced and the whole thing is a pain. But you can totally afford it. It will cost way more if you wait and have to get your rotors and calipers done.

I agree. I think (hope?) that there is a sliver of a chance. The Kevyn Adams connection is an interesting one. But ultimately I think the guy is an empty suit for the org. At the end of the day Raleigh is a couple hours from Charlotte. I am not sure he even knows Sean McDermott or Brandon Bean, making this one DOA.

The McDermott-Carolina connection is everywhere.

I am coming to terms with staying put. Our problems are more than a coach and a move. We have an issue with roster construction and a GM trying to save face. Those two things combined means we’ll overpay for minimal improvement. I think the team is close to imploding for the year. Just clean house in the spring and have somebody who knows what they’re doing piece this thing together with as much ammo as possible.

Yes man. Fall guy…it’s really splitting hairs. Im not advocating hiring Forton. I’d like to move out of Terry’s network of buddies. But in terms of value to the FO of a hockey org Forton has provided more value to date than GMKA did when he was hired. Forton deserves a good portion of the credit for our recent drafts.

I think RB is maybe the only saving Grace. But this team isn’t built for that style of hockey. I think that move buys Adams a season or two. But I’d be OK with a coach to help us get over the hump, and replace the GM later. Somebody just reminded me that on day 1 Adams had to fire like 20 people. Then a season later he brokered the Eichel trade. That’s the job he was hired for. I’m actually not sure he was ever supposed to make it this far. I think the intent was for him to be the fall guy. I still think that Adams replacement is in the building and Pegula eventually hires Jerry Forton for the role. He is a long time family friend. (Since well before he bought the team. Like decades before)

These are the only guys I need to protect. Thompson, Tuch, Mitts, Greenway, Benson, JJP, Dahlin, R.Johnson, Power/Muel, Levi. That’s it. That’s the list. Everybody else I’d be open to taking calls on.

Here’s a totally crazy thought, Brind’Amour hasn’t signed an extension yet…