mjd1001

I just turned on the game and more than 2 minutes are gone and they aren't losing yet. Things are looking up!

Makes me wonder how much Lindy just was hired and took the money, or was promised more influence than he actually has. -Lindy has always talked about the value of an enforcer. In an interview with Rob Ray he said he appreciated his role on the teams of the past, he said it really opened things up for other players with him on the bench. This was further reinforced when he said it in another intervier (not about Ray) in the offseason. And he had one just last year in New Jersey (MacDermid). -Also, he really didn't get to bring in his choice of coaches. It seems like if were up to Lindy, the roster might have more of those tougher to play against guys, but instead he might have been hired with "here is the deck of cards, play your best hand with what you have."

Some I'm sure unpopular opinions on the Pitt-Balt game right now: -I think Pittsburgh is usually one of the more boring teams in the league, and I hate low scoring games. This one is currently 17-10. Not super low scoring but not a track meet....but I am actually enjoying this game. -Tom Brady. I dislike him so much as a player, and some of his 'smugness' both as a player and in interviews just reinforces it. I'm going to die on the hill that Peyton Manning was better than him (too many opposing players said Brady was great, but Manning gave them nighmares the night before playing him a lot worse). And the cheating. But, I do not mind him as an announcer. He's a bit clumsy, he says some things that aren't always fluid, but I like him doing games.

So, All Buffalo has to do is lose to Boston tonight and the Islanders next week (they seem to always play bad vs the Isles, don't they) to set up the big game vs Chicago next week. Next week Friday. Buffalo vs Chicago. For none of the marbles. Not for the whole kit and kaboodle. The game for only the kitchen sink and nothing else. For none of the Enchilada. Who canwe crown the legends of last place? If things fall into place....it might be one of the more interesting games of the season.

A version of what you said seems to be the opinion of many on this board. Hire the best people you can to run your team. They may not all be perfect or the very best guys, but if you trust them, and understand they will make mistakes, trust that they won't make as many mistakes as YOU would, and let them do their jobs and get out of their way. That doesn't mean you can't tell them to run trades and signings by you, just don't do more than that, let them make the trades, negotiate the best deals and just get your approval. And on occasion, they are goingto want to do things that you do not want to do. You have to let them do those things, odds are they know more about the particulars of hockey players and building a roster than you do.

I agree there foundation is there. Tage and Dahlin are star-level players when not hurt. Tuch and Zucker this year are good complimentary pieces. Most of the 3rd and 4th line are adequate as 3rd and 4th liners to me. On D....Dahlin is not a problem. Byram isn't always a complete player, but I'm happy with his play. The 3rd pair are not good D-men but very few players have good 3rd liners. Most of the fault of this team to me is really only a few areas, but they have been BIG problems and impact the rest of the team. Quinn and Cozens playing SO bad for most of the year...and the fact that is YOUR 2ND LINE. If Quinn and Cozens were struggling, but you weren't relying on them to be a 2nd line, with 2nd line minutes and first team PP usage it would be different...but it isn't. Also Power. He's really talented and has really good games, but as mentioned above, he would be best suited to have a veteran reliable guy as his partner. I don't mean an old, well past his prime vet who is just hanging onto his career signing 1 year deals. I mean a legit good D-man, 27-30 years old who is legit top 4. Oh, and UPL not playing as well as last year, that doesn't help. Dahlin and Tage are good enough to be your top D-man and to be a dangerous first line Scorer...they just AREN'T good enough to carry your team to victories when you have nothing behind them supporting them with an entire missing 2nd line.

I disagree with you on him, but this is what a message board is for, for discussion. If the team wouldn't be this bad for so long, a lot of the 'conflict' on this forum wouldn't be here.....much of it is out of frustration with the on-ice product.

Many of us don't think of him as an 'absentee' owner. In many cases its the opposite....Instead of not listening to the people they hire, Some think Terry will just get rid of anyone below him who he disagrees with. That is the reason for, under Pegula, A couple of President of the team changes, 4 GM's, 8 different coaching staffs (couning Ruff twice), all in less than 15 years. It may be he THINKS he knows more about hockey than football so he is too involved, to the detriment of the team, in a way he is not with the Bills. Below are some points that some will agree with, others will disagree with, but they are just the tip of the iceburg to the argument about him. If you search enough on this forum, you will find some quotes and articles linked in threads to support some of them (and many others I am not mentioning). -First point is that Adams constructed this roster, this rebuild, so its on him, but Pegula is the one who hired Adams. Pegula 'brought Adams' through the organization. And Pegula fired Botts for not being a 'yes man', and replaced him with Adams, someone who many think was unqualifed for the position, but got it due to Pegula being 'comfortable' with him, not because he was the best, or even a good hire. -He has personally picked players to sign in the past (Ville Leino, Christian Erhoff). There is speculation by some (not everyone) that he has an ovesized opinion still in roster direction, whether to sign someone to a big deal or not. -Lots of smoke in the Eichel situation that he personally soured on Eichel, leading to the situation between him and the team getting worse. Again, lots of discussion back and forth on this as well as some articles in those threads to support that view. Reinhart trade? It was leading up to and during Covid, when there was a chance a longer term deal at a decent rate of pay might have kept him in Buffalo. That may not have happened because Pegula controls the purse strings and that is at the time he wanted to cut costs with the Sabres. -When Covid hit, despite him being a billionaire, he demanded cuts be made to the Sabres staff. Some other teams made cuts also, but some not as deep, and Pegula seems to have been slow to put money back into the team. -Some subtley here, but Pegula has a history of making hasty hires with the hockey team and then quickly reversing course. Many of those were due to disagreements, whether on money or the roster. See the terms of Botteril being fired, the quotes directly from the Pegulas were "we felt we weren't being heard". -He physically sits in at the draft war room, he frequnetly is in the building during the trade deadline. Some think he's just there to 'observe', others are sure he gives his input, sometime to the detriment of the process. -There are several beat writers, several former players who are now in the media,that share those opinions. There is more, a lot more. As is currently being discussed in another thread....see the older thread on here "the trial of Terry Pegula" its older, and there is a lot of arguments back and forth, it occasionally gets off topic.... but people have posted some pretty good points of view in it (at least of his earlier years with the team), and there are articles and links to some quotes that support this. Also, it might take some time, but sift through some of the threads in the past 2 months. Many of us have posted info on this, some with quotes directly from him, and some with links to articles written about the topic.

Yep....l have him the title of one older thread to start with. WAAAAAAYYY to much in there to baby-spoon feed it to him.......I gave him that...that is what he asked for. He wants a "fully sourced account" LOL. That is laughable. Is he Terry's lawyer and does he think this is a court of law? This is a freakin message board. We can have discussions and give our opinions without having to prove it, not only prove it..but prove it to HIS standards? He's laughable.

Do your own damn work. I told you one of the threads. The others have been posted by me in the last few months, and others people added to them. I'm not going to take my own time and list them, there is a search window up top...look to the top of your page and to the right, see it? Its there. The proof you need is here. It has been posted. The articles and quotes are fleshed out over and over on this page. If you missed them, or chose not to read them, or want someone to spoon feed it to you I'm not doing it.

Terry, is that you? Or are you a close friend or family member of the Pegula's? What are you talking about, there is PLENTY of evidence. Or do you only read or acknowledge what you want? Apparently that MUST be it. Go look at the thread "the trial of Terry Pegula" for a TON of that stuff. Myself and others have posted articles and links to quotes made by him and Kim in just the past few weeks.. There are plenty of articles, quotes, more articles from people speculating articles from people who are in the industry. There is the actions of him saying who he waned to sign and then going out and doing it. The quotes directly from the Pegulas about why Botts was fired? If that goes against your narrative, I'm sorry. Its all out there. Some of it is 'smoke' and there are also some sources that are actual flames of a 'fire'. See the above post. A bunch of articles, quotes directly from him. Most of which were mentioned or directly linked on these very forums.

Yeah. So this isn't going to happen, but move some major pieces. If Pettersson was available and you could make a move with Cozens as the centerpiece, do it. But not just that. Now move another regular for another player from another team. I'm only really tied to Dahlin and Tage, I'll move anyone else (yes, including Peterka, Benson, Power, anyone) So get a guy like Pettersson, get another 'talented' youngster. Remove Cozens and someone else at the same time. Now add to that your idea...Bring in 2-3 guys for the bottom line, the type of guys you said. The team may or may not be better. The team still won't make the playoffs this year. But it would be something both DIFFERENT and possibly EXCITING for the fans to watch for the rest of the year. And maybe, just maybe, help some young guys develop a bit to be better next year.

Yes, I do think it describes him. The ego I think is not the same type of Ego as jones..it manifests in different ways. Jerry Jones will go public...when there is something he wants to say he will look for a microphone and camera, he's going to say out loud for everyone to see. Pegula shows that ego in the opposite way. When things go bad, he won't go public like Jones, he disappears even more than usual. But that doesn't mean he doesn't 'dig his heels' in anymore to do things HIS way. Its an opinion piece, but the reason I quoted that is, my OPINION, is that line above is exactly how I feel about him. My impression, my opinion. It has nothing to do with 'beathing his chest' and I never implied that. His "ego" is less of a 'beating his chest' and more of a 'standing there with a smug smile' when things go his way. And he'll let things go bad for a LONG time for the chance to have things go right..but they have to go right HIS way.

I agree. Plus, you want GOOD veterans. Not the guys who are suited for the 4th line or barely good enough for the 3rd line. The problem is, THOSE guys who are better than that are mostly on teams that are still in the playoff hunt. Who is going to want to give you a good, veteran piece that is playing well now.... for a younger guy with potentially more upside but who isn't a guarantee and is likely a step back for you this year? No team that is still in the playoff hunt. "Hey, I know you have a no movement, but would you do us a solid and waive that? We are likely making the playoffs, but I really want to trade you. So can you waive that no trade clause, pack up your family and move to Buffalo and play for a team that is going no where this year?" How do you think that will go over? And the 2nd issue is, if it is a GOOD player who is a veteran you are targeting, some (not all but some) of those guys have no trade or no movement clauses. I think there are very few guys who will waive those to come to Buffalo, to a team that is certainly worse than the one they are on. There might literally be no market for ANYTHING other than more youth/reclamation projects for the Sabres.

Unless you are willing to take someone else's reclamation project/overpay for one of your own. The old "change of scenery" thing on both sides. On the Sabres side of things the most obvious player is Cozens, but it could be any of a few others. For other teams it could be a Pettersson, Rossi, Zegras, or even a guy like Brock Nelson.