jad1

Rumor is that Terry just figured out how to boot up his new lap top, but accidentally configured the default language to be Mandarin. So hold tight, things will heat up once they figure this out.

Conner McDavid has barely made Edmonton a playoff team.

So a "playoff" team is going to tank to get the #1 pick. Way to address tanking NHL

Right, bring in the cost-cutting king to fix the precieved issue of cutting costs. Looking foward to the day they let Eichel and Dahlin walk for nothing on the same day.

120-65, but how many players graduated to the NHL during that time as regulars? Two? Olofsson and Ulmark? And did those guys really need a 'winning culture' to make it to the NHL? Player development was supposed to be Botterill's forte, but all the franchise got was a bloated, under-performing scouting staff and an AHL team dominated by players who have aged out of prospect status. Hard to blame Adams' decision to make massive organizational changes after the Botterill clown show of the past few years.

He may well be, but this move seems to be an effort to get someone more in synch with Krueger's coaching style and philosophy. Taylor is probably gone on Krueger's recommendation more than anything else.

He did get multiple 100+ point seasons out of the Leafs. He might not be the final answer as a Cup winning coach, but he did a lot to mature a team with several players on entry level contracts.

Too soon to tell.

Trades are the rough NHL equivalent to NFL fee agency. A good NHL GM has to be proficient in the draft and trade market to be successful. Botterill's draft picks might turn out to be good NHL players, but his inability to build the roster through good trades is one of the reasons he failed as the Sabres GM.

Hiring a good GM is a mystery that every owner in every sport has to figure out. Who is the best GM-hiring owner in sports? Who has the GM-hiring model that always produces results? In the NHL, maybe its Jacobs? Maybe Lemieux? In the NFL, maybe the Rooney family? There are very few owners who have this figured out. The Pegulas are the rule, not the exception.

And the defense is nowhere as good without Hyde and Poyer. Beane is just good at every phase of player acquisition. The only criticism I have is that he spent a lot of capital to draft Allen, but if Allen continues to prove he's the guy, who cares what they gave up.

They also vastly improved in free agency.

After 18 years of missing the playoffs that included all manner of insanity, the Bills hired a GM and coach who decided to blow up and rebuild the roster and despite that, made the playoffs two out of three seasons. If it turns out that the only thing Beane and McDermott accomplish is those two playoff seasons, sure it's a failure. But they are still building the roster, so they get the benefit of confidence that they know what they're doing.

Thanks for catching my typo. Obviously I know Kim's position. And whether your illusion is valid or not remains to be seen. Many who followed the Bills at the time of Beane's hiring wanted a more experienced GM. Many wanted Beane to report to a more experienced football operations guy, like Bill Polian. Beane, despite his inexperience, has proven himself fully capable of performing the job, and the Pegulas look to be capable NFL owners. The hiring of a competent GM will do the same with the Sabres. It remains to be seen if Adams will be that guy for the Sabres.

This is a bit harsh, considering that the 'vote of confidence' is a cliche is sports. The owner says that the GM or coach has my complete confidence, and then fires them two weeks later. There are reasons for this happening, most likely that the press asks the question before the owner is ready to answer it, but it's not exclusively a Pegula thing. Anyway, if Adams turns out to be as competent as Beane, Kim Pegula will be considered one of the best GMs in the league, if he turns out to be Botterill jr, she'll be considered one of the worst.

Yeah, but you have to build and set the direction of the staff, and that's more than a part-time job. Coaches have assistants, but they are still involved in preparing the team every day of the season. Combining those responsibilities of both positions under one guy is too heavy a workload to be effective. If Adams is a mediocre GM, Ralph won't have the time or opportunity to save him.

The idea of Krueger playing GM/coach is a troubling one. With an 82 game schedule and multiple leagues to scout it's too much for one guy to handle. Scotty Bowman tried to play both roles with the Sabres and failed miserably, and Bowman is a legend, while Krueger is a guy who has spent 2 of his last 7 years employed in the NHL. This is on Adams. Hopefully he is ready to run a team.

Do you really need this role if you hire a competent GM with experience? Would you need it if you hired, say, Lombardi or Hextall?

No doubt all three of these guys have done things that merit them being fired. Regier has more in the 'plus' column than the others, by far, though. When Regier was good, he was one of the best GMs in the league. When he was bad, he was one of the worst. Some of that was due to the owners he worked for. Some was due to his declining ability to judge talent and to make deals.

I've often wondered what how things would have played out if Pegula became owner instead of Rigas. If 'drill another well' would have owned the Sabres before the salary cap. Would Peca have held out? Would Hasek have forced a trade? Would Pegula have delivered on the promise to give the team all the tools to be successful? And how would things been different with no artificial cap after the lockout? Would Pegula have addressed the Drury/Briere contracts like he addressed Eichel's contract? Anyway, at his peak, Regier was better at drafting, trading, and team building than Murray and Botterill can ever hope to be. Under Regier during the better years, the locker room never felt like the morgue it has been the last 9 years. The Amerks also won the Calder Cup under Regier, while today the fans are happy when an Amerks team full of AHL lifers gets swept in the first round of the playoffs. If you look at the three choices at their peak, Regier is the obvious choice. At their nadirs, they're all pretty much the same.

And I thought I was engaging somebody with a worthwhile opinion more than 'go Google it.' Oh well. I HAVE learned that Krueger has a career of middling results that somehow has resulted in a myth that he's a hidden genius in both the tactics and economics of two different sports. I just don't buy it. The team under him is a mess. And yet some people want to not only give him a pass, but promote him to a front office position. It's a kind of Stockholm syndrome from watching a bad team for 10 years.

Despite what these articles might claim, he hasn't been very impressive with this edition of the Sabres. His career results in hockey and the EPL have been 'meh.' Seriously, outside of Eichel, what's the character of this team? Where has the Kruger influence shown itself (aside from the team's uncanny grasp on Keynesian economics)?

When has Krueger ever proven that he is one of the most brilliant minds in sports, or an economics genius?

$3.9 million on Colin Miller. The whole cap space argument is irrelevant. Aside from displaying the overall incompetence of the Sabres recent GMs, who haven't the Sabres signed because of cap space? Who are the targets that Botterill missed because the team couldn't afford them? Give Botterill an extra $10 million in cap space the last three seasons; who does he sign? Tavares? Duchene? Probably not. Even with the extra money, the guy still would sign dregs like Miller, Frolik, and Simmons. He'd still stuff the roster with borderline third liners. While it's frustrating to have one of the worst teams in the league over the last decade pressed up against the cap, giving a guy who has no idea how to evaluate talent or build a NHL roster more money will do nothing to improve the Sabres.

I agree with you, but in addition to these signings, the GM needs to build the NHL roster too. If Botterill spent the last three years building a playoff roster, this signing would be under the radar or a gotten a comment of 'good job.' But it's also fair to point out that the Amerks under Botterill are well-stocked with AHL lifers, and under-stocked with legitimate NHL prospects.