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But with a structure where the HC reports to the owner, and does not report to the GM, it basically almost completely divorces the GM from oversight on team operations. What does that leave the GM to do? Even worse, apparently the selection of Lynn for HC came from that final private phone call between Pegula and Ryan. Lynn was Ryan's suggestion - the owner asked the coach he just canned to name his successor. That is amazing, and incredibly there's no evidence that Whaley was even asked what he thought about naming Lynn as interim HC. The GM found out the owner fired the coach, after the fact. The GM found out the fired coach named the next HC, after the fact. And it's not clear that the GM was even involved in the decision to bench the team's starting QB. IF these duties are taken away from the GM, what DOES he do? How can the GM be responsible for, or accountable for, anything, with such huge decisions apparently totally bypassing his desk??? What's left? Draft picks? Now I don't even care how long Whaley, Brandon, Overdorf, work for the Bills. I wanted them gone but they clearly really don't matter. They're apparently just figureheads. Everyone gets a vote, but the only vote that counts is T-Peg's, and maybe his wife's. Pegula is making the big decisions, and he's not running the Bills the way successful NFL franchises, that win Super Bowls, are run. And then there's the Sabres..... Maybe Pegula runs the Sabres 180 degrees differently than he does the Bills? Color me skeptical. The greatest thing to happen to the Bills and Sabres is Terry Pegula. The worst thing to happen to the Bills and Sabres is Terry Pegula. He's both savior, and the villain of the piece.

Yup. Terry Pegula's own angry interview today, after Whaley's presser, to allay concerns that his Bills' organization is dysfunctional actually made the Bills organization structure seem MORE dysfunctional if that's possible- Terry pulled the curtain back to reveal a puppet GM who, like Schultz in Hogan's Heroes, "Knows nothing!", and now fans, sports reporters, and sports writers alike are left wondering what Whaley is responsible for, or how much authority he has, if any. It's just an amazing hot mess!

Yup. IF the Bills are indeed structured that way, and we're hearing it first hand from Terry Pegula himself that is the case, doesn't that make Pegula the ultimate meddling/helicoptering owner? These teams seem to be like a new hobby for Terry and Kim Pegula, where they can tinker away to their hearts content. I don't think that's a solid path to building championship teams however. Can we ever get good coaches or good GMs to work in Buffalo under this type of organization? I don't see Pegula, or the situation, changing. That would require a big philosophy change by Terry Pegula -a quality guy like a Parcells or a Belichick likely wouldn't ever take a job with a team where the owner was making decisions that should be the GM's provence, and leaving the GM out in the cold.

Would be some great hardball questions for GMTM - "Tim, how heavily were you involved in the selection and hire of Bylsma?" "Tim, does Bylsma report to you, or to ownership?" I would love to know the answers, and more insight on how much (or how little) autonomy Murray has as Sabres' GM.

No, it makes perfect sense, given that org chart - where the coach reports to the owner, and bypasses the GM. But isn't that an odd way to run a team? Why would the coach report to the owner and not the GM? Isn't that unusual? I thought in most pro teams, the teams are structured so the coach reports to the GM and not the owner. The Patriots would be an exception but Belichick is the football "czar" really, who wears both the GM and coach hats. Is Whaley just a figurehead? LOL And shouldn't the GM be presumed to have a greater knowledge of football operations than an owner, and therefore be able to better judge of whether a coach should be relieved or not?

It's very possible Tim Murray has absolutely no say on who is the coach. Murray may not have the autonomy we had hoped he'd have over the team; he was a novice GM when hired- perhaps he agreed to allow too many restrictions on his authority as part of the deal? We were hoping for a hockey Czar - perhaps Murray has allowed himself to be too restricted and limited by the Pegulas?

I went with 4. His hire isn't a disaster, but we could have done better and should have waited for a better goalie to appear on the market. He's kind of mid-tier as goalies go - he'll never be elite. His price was too high for what he delivers. And his shootout play is terrible, to say the least.

T-Peg said there's "no dysfunction"? I'm sorry -but when the GM isn't even consulted in retaining or firing the coach, THAT is serious dysfunction/mismanagement. A good top-shelf GM would have had KITTENS if the owner made such a major change and left him out of the discussion. I manage employees, and I would have a @#$%ing fit if my boss told me he talked to one of my employees and fired them, without any discussion with me about the matter. There's a chain of command for a reason. Whaley though is like "ohhh shucks, I guess Terry fired him". Whaley is clearly a clown and isn't a quality GM or a good leader/commander of men.

Wow, that seems even more spot on today than last year. The Sabres are looking like a tank team in the 3rd 'rebuild' year, and the Bills are in complete disarray. It's astonishing - February will mark 6 full years of Pegula ownership of the Sabres - it's been downhill ever since they took over. The last time the Sabres had a winning record AND made the playoffs the season began without the Pegulas as owners. And the Bills began a slow erosion that now looks like total free-fall to the bottom of the NFL. Pegulas style of ownership apparently = Kryptonite for a team.

Yeah, I think they smother and kill their team with kindness, like doting, over-protective helicopter parents. They likely very much DO want their teams to be successful and win championships - but they are utterly CLUELESS as to how to accomplish such lofty goals. But rather than going the Robert Kraft route - hiring a relentless, skilled driven guy like Bill Belichick who HATES to lose, to be czar over his product, and sit back and enjoy, the Pegulas want to be involved, and go with the "Committee" method, where they are actively involved in every decision. Heck, we SAW this evidenced in one of the early Sabres videos a few months after they bought the team - they were right there in the room with Regier and company, and Terry stated that all decisions are reviewed approved by "committee". "Built by Committee" is usually synonymous with mediocrity. Heck, if only we could get BACK to mediocrity - the Sabres are now perennial basement dwellers.

Brandon = Peter Principle in action - he has been promoted to, and beyond, his level of competence. And I still remain unconvinced as to how great a marketer he is; The Bills have always had a highly devoted, rabid regional fanbase. I think Brandon's best skill is relationship building with the ownership; schmoozing and politicking and such. He was the "Ralph-Whisperer" for a number of years until Wilson died; and wormed his way up to being head of the "Inner Circle".

Yup - the team averaging ~2 goals per game, tied for 29th in the league, is the biggest problem the team faces - and has now for 3 seasons and counting. With the greatly improved talent the team now has vs the 2014-15 team, the Sabres should be doing MUCH better in average goals per game. That's coaching, IMO. Goals against - the Sabres are mid-tier in the NHL (17th) at 2.6 If they could get the Goals For average per game up to a reasonable 2.5, 2.6, which should be achievable with the talent they have, they'd be winning a lot more games!

Brandon is a St. John Fisher alumni. If Brandon made the decision to move training camp there, to his former college, there must be some sort of weird back-scratching, home-town, parochial nepotism at play - maybe this trait/characteristic is why Russ and T-Peg get along so swimmingly, because they share it in common?

I just realized today - the last time this team was decent, finished above .500, and made the playoffs - the season began without the Pegulas as owners. February will mark the 6th anniversary of the Pegulas ownership - and the team has stunk every complete season of the Pegulas' ownership. We all expected great things when Terry Pegula took over; other than keeping the team in Buffalo, what other positives to the Pegulas' ownership? Similarly, the Bills have seriously declined since the Pegulas took over; The Pegulas purchased the Bills mid-season in 2014 - the Bills finished that season 9-7, and were arguably a quarterback away from being serious playoff contenders. Now the team seems in disarray, and is back to Dick Jauron levels of futility (7-9 season finish). Are the Pegulas and their style of ownership = Team Kryptonite?

Not exactly a powerhouse yet - the Leafs are still 3 games behind .500. I suppose that's a better place than the Sabres (10 games behind .500) Remember when Babcock took over as coach of the Leafs about 1 1/2 years ago? The common wisdom at this forum was the Leafs were YEARS behind the Sabres in rebuilding - we'd already suffered our pain, but the Leafs had suffering ahead and that we'd be playoff contenders long before the Leafs. And of course, a coach accustomed to winning like Babcock would get frustrated with year after year after year of losing with the Leafs as they tanked for draft picks, and that the joke would be on HIM for spurning the Sabres HC advances? Well, if this lasts, and the Leafs claw their way up to the midway point in the League with a decent record and the Sabres remain bottom feeders at the end of the season, Tim Murray needs to do some explaining.

Agreed! I have watched plenty of low scoring losses WITH ROR on the active roster. While he's a fine player, I don't know that his presence alone will turn things around.

^^^Kool-Aid is a helluva drug!

EJ Manuel is horrendous! And I'm sorry -but no one -especially - should be a 'lock' on HC job after that pathetic outing - scoring 10 pts against a terrible Jets team, and 7 of those points complete 'garbage time' work - less than a minute left in the 4th down 27 pts. One outing doesn't prove Lynn is terrible either - but there isn't enough data either to just anoint him as HC without an exhaustive search. Lynn strikes me as a "company" type - he didn't have an issue with the starting QB decision made for him. Could you imagine Bill Belichick being told by the front office who would be starting in the pocket on the next Sunday game? He'd go absolutely ballistic - any GOOD big name HC worth his salt would/should! But the fact Lynn meekly accepted the marching orders from Brandon's front office demonstrates to me he's not the right kind of 'managerial timber' to right the sinking Bills ship. The Bills need a coach (and a GM) with a sense of purpose and self-worth - not just working to curry favor with Russ Brandon and the Pegulas (who are clueless). Needs remain the same as the past several years. Get rid of Brandon. Get rid of Whaley. Get a quality franchise QB and a quality HC.

A wonderfully optimistic view point - but without any changes to the roster, or to the coaching, it's more logical to think we'll see a continuance of the same from the first ~half of the season. The losing streak against Boston, for example, has now continued for more than a calendar year.

This is great theme/background music for all those Russian dashcam crash videos on Youtube. :)

A tank team with Ted Nolan as coach post more wins through the end of the year than a far superior supposed 'rebuild' team? Can't be - but it is. The Tank team posted 14 wins through 12/31/14 - this year's team only has 13 wins. This sort of stat should be posted at every Buffalo media page and Sabres facebook page - I can't think of anything more damning against Dan Bylsma's lack of coaching skills and leadership than that! And someone needs to ask long term contract Tim Murray - where is that much faster than 5 year rebuild he spoke of?

Bylsma should be immediately relieved. That was a disgraceful performance. The Sabres only scored 1 goal in over 100 minutes of regulation play against the Bruins ( both Sabres goals were in the first period of the previous game). And the first time in team history - they were swept by the Bruins in a season series. The Bylsma coached Sabres have lost six games in a row against the Bruins - that is just awful!!!!

Excluding Tyrod Taylor from the highlight video - that shows what bottom feeders Brandon, Whaley, et al, are. It's disgraceful and petty, and the Pegulas ought to be writing pink slips left and right. But of course this garbage continues on and on, season after season. Is Whaley back to being a Manuel cheerleader as he was in the first season EJ was drafted?

LOL!!! What makes it even more humorous - at first when it was announced Taylor was benched I thought it was a wise and prudent strategy (for a change) on the part of Whaley and the management - prevent a $30 million injury clause payment, and keep him intact to add to his trade value. Well, now it's apparently yet another instance of the Bills closing the barn door after the proverbial horse got out. IF they knew Taylor was injured weeks ago, they should have benched his ass to minimize the injury and prevent a potential $30 million dollar expense for an average QB. Rex Ryan saving his job shouldn't be a factor - Ryan sucks, and his hire was a colossal miscue in the first place! Now it looks like a good chance they're probably on the hook for $30 million - for what? Tyrod Taylor? lol So once again Bills management/ownership acted too slowly, and ineptly. So the situation morphed from funny, to EXTREMELY funny!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

It's been more than a calendar year (Dec 26, 2015) since the Sabres won vs the hated Bruins. Bylsma's team has a 1-5 record against them or a 0.166 W% Ted Nolan's coached team, from Nov 13 2013 thru the final "tank" year, with some terrible players on the roster (Ville Friggin' Leino for cryin' out loud!) played the Bruins 8 times, and has a 3-5 record, or a 0.375 W%. The Bruins were a better team then, too! Bylsma should be sacked - plain and simple. How can he get a pass on this? That type of record against Boston (now 5 losses in a row) should be unacceptable. If Murray doesn't address this obvious coaching failure, his competency as a GM becomes questionable. BTW, I was undecided on the "Bylsma should be fired" issue - but seeing how poorly this far better team is doing, especially in head to head matchups such as Boston - he should be sacked whether or not there's a better replacement waiting. Time to move on!