Kruppstahl

Folks, it's beyond official at this point. The Sabres, now, are exactly where the Bills were for about the last 20 years of Ralph Wilson's life. Back then, I told everyone I knew that the Bills would remain completely irrelevant until Ralph died. And that was 100% correct. Same now with the Sabres: expect no improvement until Pegula is NOT in the picture. I'm thinking selling the team, not dying, though both could happen at the same time. No idea if he intends to pass the team to his kids or what. If he is still the owner, focus on other things. You'll feel better. Just watch the games if you find that enjoyable (I do) spend nothing on the team in any way, and focus on other pleasures.

Happy? No. Ecstatic? Yes.

You're right to put the focus on Pegula. Ownership has been and is the problem. For a couple of years now I have been in "I just hope he sells the team" mode and I will remain there until he sells it. Long season to go though.

But by the same token, waiting for crap to blossom into a rose never gets you anywhere either. The idea is to first hire quality; then seek organizational stability. Trying a new GM/coach every few years is necessary if what you currently have is crap. Do you still wish we were all waiting for Ron Rolston or Ralph Krueger to put it all together in the name of stability?

I just don't think Pegula will pay a coach to not work for him anymore. We'll find out in a few days. Hope I'm wrong.

That's not their thing. They're skill guys mostly. The skill guys didn't do that stuff back in the '80s or '90s either. It was always the other guys who took care of that sort of thing. Our problem is "those other guys" don't exist on our current roster. What makes me laugh is the idea that Jordan Greenway was supposed to improve that situation. He is a GIANT out there and looks like a naturally very solid/strong guy. Problem is he plays like he's 5'7" and 160 lbs. If he had the feistiness of Krebs, he'd be a monster.

The overall makeup of our team is wrong; we have too many players that look exactly like one another in profile. The good news is we DO have a lot of good pieces, and it should be possible to make the right supporting cast moves to improve the team overall. Is the current administration going to do that? NO. Will they be fired? We'll find out in a few days. I predict they will NOT. I will be happy to be wrong.

He will STILL be here next year; can't afford to move on from him next season. The year after that, things look much better. I say he's gone after 2024/2025 season. The guy just refused to play defensively responsible hockey, and isn't enough of a mega sniper to get away with that.

That depends on whether or not he is taking the Sabres success (or lack thereof) personally. Is this is his personal mission to bring a Cup to Buffalo? If he thinks of it that way, I can totally see this torturing him. All depends on how he views things. It is worth noting that he has basically disappeared from the public eye for a period of YEARS, he never makes public comments about the big picture moving forward, and he doesn't even show for home games very often. You do wonder how invested he is at this stage of the game.

This is basically what I wrote in the thread asking will it be possible to make the playoffs next year...why expect things to change? The thing about Pegula is that he KNOWS just how much he interferes with the team, and how many or which decisions are coming directly from him. You would think after this much embarrassment and failure, he would have learned by now that whatever he personally is doing is not working. And yet he seems to be going about "owning the Sabres" the same way year after year. I genuinely hope that the whole experience reaches a point where the most sensible decision is to move on FROM the team....sell. He can focus on the real jewel in his ownership crown anyway, the NFL and the Bills. Remember, this whole Sabres ownership thing was supposed to be Kim's thing, at least as I understand it. Just sell, cut bait...hell, you'll make @ $600 million when when you do so, Terry. Sell!

I truly do not think Pegula will pay Granato to not work for the team, and he hasn't even started that 2 year extension yet. If he isn't gone 24 hours after season ends in a few days, we'll all know where we stand: waiting for Pegula to sell before things will get better. After those quick 3 goals in 1st period tonight, no pulling of UPL, no TO. No yelling at team from behind bench. I wanted Granato fired in that moment. He's out to lunch and whatever he is trying to do has failed. If the franchise is going to be like THIS, let them go. Let my Sabres life and memories die in peace. This is just horrible.

If you're trying to discount the value of experience, confidence, and leadership, I totally disagree with you. No need to make sweeping generalizations about life; its never simple, black and white stuff. In the specific case of Okposo, he has been shot for a number of years now and would have been gone a long time ago if not for financial complications. In the case of Johnson, he was just old and out of gas. Couldn't do it anymore. Not more complex than that. I will never forget Craig Rivet's last season with the Sabres. Somewhere right in the middle of the season, he went from a great but declining, long time, solid D-man who wore the C in Montreal for many years to a guy who literally could NOT keep up the pace of play. He aged out of the game in the matter of a few weeks. He was gone after that season.

On a recent podcast of "After the Whistle" JR said he used to work out with Simon, and that he was the "greatest guy ever" or something like that. Sorry to hear this happened.

This is a very real thing. We rightfully have a reputation around the league as being a dysfunctional organization with a "bad" ownership situation and top candidates don't want to touch a place like that with a 10 foot pole. I will repeat what I've been reduced to for the last 3 or 4 years: Mr. Pegula, please just sell my hockey team and move on with your life. Enjoy the Bills and their "success" and stick to hanging out in your 10,000 sq.ft. pleasure palace in Boca. This is VERY similar to where we all were with the Bills for a LONG TIME toward the end of Ralph's life. For about the last 20 years there, it got to a point where until Ralph died, NOTHING would change. That was an absolute fact and history proved that true. Until Pegula sells the team, don't expect much of a change either.

At the end of LAST year I said we WOULD make this playoffs this year, and then we got the season we just got. Without significant changes being made to how we do business, I do NOT think we make the playoffs next year either.' What would change? I'm assuming HC and GM remain, goaltending remains about the same, etc...