Kruppstahl

Not necessarily *failed* jocks, but yes, it's true. I have noted through my entire life the ex-Sabre player names that show up down the road as scouts. I honestly believe that system is a leftover from the days when NHLers didn't make anything close to what they make now, had no formal education (many still don't of course), and still needed to make a living for many years once their playing days were over. Teams sort of took care of their own with scouting positions. Mike Schopp, everyone's favorite radio announcer in Buffalo, has been harping on this forever. I.E., the "scouting" information is now available for free, all over the place and most people tend to agree on the pecking order. So then just take whoever is up at a given slot, and move on with it. On top of that, never trade UP giving up picks, trade DOWN and acquire more. The more swings of the wheel, the more probability your number will hit.

Is there optimism? There shouldn't be. One of the most dysfunctional organizations in hockey, if not N. American sports, just got worse. Adams doesn't need to worry about connecting the team to the community, per se. That will happen free of charge if he gets the hard working players he references and much better players. A lot of this comes down to the players, if not all of it. The fact that the organization has gone into a inbred management turtle shell focused on saving money doesn't bode well. Does it?

This ownership seems utterly blind to the interests/perspective of fans. A funny, clever, mascot sort of PR/marketing stunt is unlikely to happen. personally, I don't give a rat's ass about any mascot they may or may not have.

No, it wasn't the same. I really think he was there to function as hockey president. The fact that that all blew up as it did is likely the main reason why Pegula said the other day that he "doesn't believe in" a hockey president approach. I've long said we should have one, as we need a layer between Pegula and the GM. We can't trust Pegula (or the 2 of them) to make any correct decisions, and you can't trust the GM on his own either. The right guy in the president slot can try to keep things going down the middle of the road while not giving way to personal biases.

They are your classic, clueless, meddling sports owners, and they just doubled down on the entire process. As I mentioned in another thread, it is still possible that these moves have been made in preparation of selling the team. It's certainly possible, if not probable. For now, I'm holding out hope that's how this plays out. If they retain the franchise, you are now dealing with the Bills under an aging Ralph Wilson all over again. It won't get better with this ownership group in place. Well, unless they blindly luck into it. It's happened before with this franchise! So who knows.

I still hate the guy from that team. LOL. He is going to be absolutely overwhelmed in his position. There's a lot of huge decisions to be made in the very near term for this organization and the guy has zero experience doing any of it. I wish him all the luck in the world in the regard. Would not want to be in his shoes.

Mittelstadt is a bust and is going to remain that way. Looking back at Botterill's three years in Buffalo, we have very little fresh blood in the organization to show for it. Cozens looks like a solid hit, but who knows. Then there's UPL. Beyond that...

Black Tuesday is consistent with the Pegulas preparing to sell the team. Will they? I don't know. My gut says "no" actually. But I think if they were doing these things in preparation for a sale, it would come soon. If nothing happens over the summer, I'll forget about this. For now, it remains a very real possibility IMO. It's also probably the best outcome Sabres fans can hope for at this point.

Come on man. First and foremost, we don't have very many good hockey players on the team, and even fewer prospects in the system. Secondly, the organization is run by amateurs who don't have a clue as to what they are doing, and so the organization is rudderless. That's fundamentally a bigger problem than the current lack of talent IMO. On top of that, they are now solely concerned with monetary issues and have zero regard for on-ice product. The biggest outcome from Black Tuesday is the realization that the "If I want to make money, I'll dig a well" era is OVER. That's done. We right back to where this franchise has lived for most of its life pinching pennies.

Well, not good that the Sabres are currently the biggest clown show in the NHL. Good that Brian Burke and his Old Guard ilk are being crossed off the list. Though I would still take Babcock in a heartbeat. This organization isn't about to go with some young quant type and engage in a heavy analytics-based approach to running the team in any event. As Travis Yost said the other day, the Pegulas don't know what's important in hockey. So what does it really matter?

The Sabres are now well down the same path the Bills were on for many years. When Ralph Wilson was still alive and one of the worst owners in the NFL, the organization was a train wreck. As long as that situation remained the same, the train wreck was going to remain as well. I--and many others--made a point of mentioning this for years and years. We are now entering similar territory with Kim Pegula running the Sabres. I wouldn't expect things to greatly improve as long as she remains in charge. Only way this is going to improve is if the Sabres luck into hiring a really competent, strong GM who understands how to handle Kim and keep her happy while moving the hockey department down the right path. That is possible, but probably tough to pull off in reality. What concerns me is that Kim Pegula is probably un-fireable. Kim and Terry could wake up one day and say "this isn't working" and decide to move in a different direction, sure. But that is probably unlikely to happen, or at least not soon. As long as Terry and Kim are happy operating the Sabres as the hobby of amateurs, expect more of the same.

ZZ Stop

As the son of a career newspaperman, I find the continued evolution of all this fascinating. As Jerry Sullivan said not too long ago, it is getting to the point where you can't necessarily expect to be paid to write about sports anymore. And if you try to go down that path, it's going to be a tough career, like pursuing a career in acting.

Don't be so hard on your self. Most people who are paid to evaluate talent in the sporting world aren't very good at it either.

Never say never. I can easily see them selling the Sabres, if the whole thing becomes to big a pain in their ass. I would not see them replace the team with another. I.E., they will retain the Bills and no more. 2 teams is too big a load, as they are finding out now. And they will never keep an NHL franchise over an NFL franchise. The NFL ownership is the big game these sorts of people are after. In fact, had the 2 Buffalo teams become available in reverse order, I think Pegula would have gone for the Bills, and then declined to buy the Sabres.

I would say no b/c all 4 series are going to be 7 games. Nothing unusual in that regard. However, this remains a crazy season and if they actually get around to playing hockey, if there was ever going to be a chance for a team to "steal" a Cup, it's now. Hockey teams can be very streaky and whoever is lucky enough to be locked into the right groove when they start playing again will have a solid shot at the Cup. That doesn't necessarily have to have anything to do with which team is best. I'm thinking of the Kings when they won their first Cup. They may actually have been the best team in the league, but they were just locked into a groove where they were tight within their system, playing very consistently, and they weren't even hardly losing any games, let alone series. It all came together for them just at the right time. I can see another team doing something similar this year. Of course, this all assumes they actually play hockey. I'm not convinced they will.

"Toughness" remains an enormous part of this game, particularly in the playoffs. It's worth noting we are going to need to win on a regular basis for 2 months during playoff hockey, if we are ever going to win the Cup. The weak, timid, passive players our lineup is filled with aren't going to get that job done. If they ever go back to playing, watch how many times Reinhart will have the puck on his stick and literally get knocked to the ice, while the guy doing the knocking takes the puck and goes in the other direction with it. Reinhart is a clever player and has good value and has his place on the team, but if you think he's going to grind out 2 months of playoff hockey and hoist a Cup, well... I think some fans now latch onto the word "toughness" and think people are talking about getting in a fight or laying someone out in open ice with a clean hit. That's not it anymore, unfortunately! Our problem is that Botterill has demonstrated that he has no idea how to properly value players, and seems to have a fondness for weak, soft players. He's not going to change who he is at this point. That's why he is a dead man walking, and we could have moved things along much more efficiently by moving on from him now. Get ready for "9 years" to become 10.

He'll be gone in 1 year or less, along with Botterill. You would hope. It's a shame the fans have to patiently sit on the sidelines waiting for the Pegulas to get a clue. It's been a while now! And to top it off, I think they are pretty solidly in "save money" mode now, whereby Botterill might hang around even longer. Who knows. I think saving money is (for now; may be temporary) a bigger concern than winning. Just like the good old days! ? ?

Yes, Milbury was suggested, as a joke and facetious reference to the fact that things can't really get much worse than retaining Botterill for another year.

Couldn't disagree more. His misuse has been horrible, and further proof of this administration's utter inability to properly assess talent. Hopefully he is doing this KHL thing as a ploy, but honestly, it doesn't matter. Our problems greatly outweigh the status of any single player, maybe with the exception of Jack or Dahlin.

We haven't won a series since the spring of 2007. So that's 13 years ago. So there's your first generation of dead dogs right there. Let's make this a thing. We can start to quantify Sabres failure in dog lives...and deaths. ? ? ?

If that's the best he's got, fire him now.

Talked about communication, huh? We seem to hear a lot about that these days. Don't ever recall it being a thing, say, 10 years ago. I thought Risto's comments about Ralph were interesting. He gave him a big vote of confidence and suggests he's just the coach we needed in Buffalo. He likes his approach, they way he treats individual players, and his system on the ice with more of an emphasis on the O coming back to help the D get out of the D zone. Ralph is too stubborn for my taste, and the way he threw away Skinner's talents last year is tough to forgive.

I personally blame Botterill for everything, including climate change and Covid 19.

*imminent* I agree with you comments 100%.