Brawndo

Quick update. I had three interviews and three job offers shortly after being downsized. I leave tomorrow for Chicago to start my orientation for my new position. My new company is new to the Buffalo Area and does not have a local office so my second week of orientation will be commuting to Rochester everyday and the third week part of it will be in Cleveland. The new position is a pay raise and is with a start up so there is room for growth. I actually need to get back to work to relax, I have painted seven rooms, remodeled a bathroom, ripped out a concrete utility tub in the basement and tore out carpet from three rooms. I also took down an old fence in the backyard. I pretty much went to Home Depot everyday and am now on a first name basis with the employees at Sherwin Williams. So five nights in Chicago is going to be a nice break

Jeff Marek was on WGR this AM and reiterated this is a playoffs or bust season for the organization and he expects a fax machine full of pink paper if they miss. He fully expects 11 OA and prospect to be moved as well

Doubtful, unfortunately

Since this is being discussed in great depth on the Expected Buffalo Discord, here you go. The NHL has become concerned about teams that receive revenue sharing that are not maximizing their profits, especially in a hockey market such as Buffalo. They are concerned about the empty seats on nationally televised games, the fact they have had an internal cap and have not spent close to salary cap. They have made suggestions about increasing spending and have placed pressure on Terry to turn things around and make the playoffs. And @Thorny this one is for you, a failure to make the playoffs is the end of Adams as the Sabres GM. The good news is Adams is feeling the pressure from the whole situation and he has no restrictions placed on him in terms of spending to the cap, not sure about a Skinner Buyout though. It was also mentioned TP is expected to be around the team more, it was also reiterated that Adams is continuing to keep Terry in check. It sounds like Adams, Ventura and Karmanos will be making the decisions, the latter two are more promising imho. This would coincide with Friedman report regarding the league knowing there is pressure for the Sabres to make the playoffs this year. But skepticism will remain until they actually make a big move.

FWIW this is from Corey Pronman’s Mock Draft this AM 11. Buffalo Sabres: Tij Iginla, C, Kelowna (WHL) Some may say Buffalo can’t take another scoring winger, but you could have said the same thing about their approach last season and the Zach Benson pick has looked good for them so far. Iginla is a highly competitive and skilled winger who can score and would complement the group Buffalo is building. Several NHL team sources think Buffalo is a strong candidate to trade their pick.

Old friend Josh Bloom scores the GWG for Saginaw to win the Memorial Cup with 21 seconds left

Make the playoffs Dudacek was spot on. This in no way was an endorsement Forton. I believe Mango has mentioned that Forton is on of Terry’s Business Partners BIL The fact that Forton is the director of scouting and Nightengale is Asst Director is mind boggling.

As much as Adams has not done to push the team into the playoffs, there is an argument to be made that being that buffer maybe a more important job. Without that buffer decisions such as taking Alex Nylander over Charlie McAvoy and trading Ryan O’Reilly after he loves his love for the game are made(rather then trying to work towards a resolution) are made. Jerry Forton would have a much larger say in the final decision on players and choices such Topias Leinonen would be the norm and not the exception. Pegula is absolutely holding Adams back. Although he did agree to the 3 Es when he initially took over as GM, there was an understanding that this would cease this past season. Does anyone think that GMKA really wanted to not make any deals that required salary retention or cap dumps? How about the idea that the Bryam Trade would have been completed a lot sooner with Colorado’s First Round Pick coming to Buffalo had Adams been authorized to take Ryan Johansen as part of the deal. Also there is the matter of the team having only one official pro scout in Jeremiah Crowe. Pegula still has a reputation around the league and there was some hesitation by some of outside front office hires to join the organization without reassurance they would be able to do their jobs without much interference. As much as the team has fallen short of expectations, the one area the analytics department has been largely focused on has been the draft something that has demonstrated significant improvement. Adams is making sure they space they need to operate. They have given input on some of the free agent signings namely Clifton and Johnson. They did give advice about usage of both players which was promptly ignored by the coach. I would like to see a scenario where Karmanos and the analytics staff are ones making the final decisions on roster construction in addition to drafting. The reason why I have always mentioned promoting Adams to POHO was so not to lose Karmanos or Ventura. Adams does a good job of keeping Pegula out of a large majority of hockey ops decisions. If they would be free to operate without ownership interference if Adams was no longer with the organization I would not shed a single tear. I do believe there is reason for hope as the NHL has possibly turned its attention to organizations that have been performing subpar, now that the Coyotes are in Utah. There may have been a few friendly suggestions given to an organization we have a love/hate relationship with. Whether or not the advice is needed is another story.

Lindgren did not show the progression necessary as his scoring dropped below his draft year his two post draft seasons, compared to Hagel. With the rules surrounding CHL players and NCAA about to change, there needs to be changes made to the CHL-NHL Agreement. NHL Teams should get prospect rights for 4 years and teams should get complete control over where first picks play after their D+1 Season

He acts as a buffer between Hockey Ops and Terry Pegula.

Friedman mentioned Chuck Fletcher for this role on 32 Thoughts Podcast yesterday

If the Sabres lose possession of the puck with Quinn on the ice, he will spend the rest of shift trying to get the puck back. He and Benson are pain in the ***** to play against that works for me

Waddell will be allowed to sit at the Columbus Draft Table in Vegas as he had little input in the Carolina Draft process.

No worries-Mrs Brawndo has me doing a year’s worth of projects during mine severance time. I have to start my new job to relax.

Friedman reporting Disco Dan is the new HC in Seattle

Jason Nightengale shouldn’t get any type of promotion, if anything he should be removed from the front office entirely. He and Jerry Forton are two of the least impressive members of the front office and have their positions because of Pegula Nepotism. Giving credit for the Sabres improved drafting over the past few seasons to Forton is the equivalent of giving all the credit for a group project to the person who did the least amount of work. Luca Del Bel Belluz was the Sabres Front Office consensus pick for Pick 41 in 2022, when all of a sudden Topias Leinonen was the name announced. The true sign of a person’s value to a front office is other organizations requesting interviews for open positions, both Jason Karmanos and Sam Ventura have interviewed wit( other teams. Nightengale and Forton have not. A restructured front office should look like POHO-Adams/Ruff or Ruff as Senior Advisor GM Jason Karmanos Associate GM Sam Ventura

Friedman and Marek spoke on 32 Thoughts about Tulsky and how he is heavily involved in every decision that the front office makes as Dundon listens to him. They wonder if any outside GM candidate would want to enter into this arrangement and felt that removing the Interim Tag from him would be a good option

Tulsky is reason for Carolina’s Success