Pimlach

Interesting points: 1. When Clifton got to Buffalo he was culture shocked, he was struggling playing on the left side playing with EJ, and he admits he struggled and did not understand the system (Granato). He figured it out after 25 games and had a decent finish. 2. Clifton was scratched in the game that Tage got hit. Scratched in a game with 7 defensemen dressed. Gilbert never saw the ice after Tage got hit. WTF Lindy!!! Do you want a tougher team or not. 3. Sabres are one of the most highly skilled teams he ever played on. 4. Was not surprised he was moved. Was not getting much ice in the end of the season 5. Scott sounded like a guy that never played for the Sabres. 6. Questions on Peterka were interesting. Clifton was very careful answering these. 7. Cliffy has an Mechanical Engineering degree - another reason to like him 🙂 Clifton is a stand up guy and I wish him the best. He made no excuses, was accountable for his play, he said nothing inflammatory. I sense he and Lindy were not on the same page. 2nd bottom line - John Scott is kind of an azz. Asking questions about what was said in the locker room is taboo and an ex-player should know that. Asking what his best hit was, and on who, and who he wanted to light up, was also bad form.

So keep trading the best players and hope for the best???? I was told by a trusted hockey man, one still coaching in the NHL, that the first guy to replace Granato was going to have a tough time. Peterka didn't respond to Ruff. Cozens fell apart. Samuelsson fell apart. Quinn regressed. UPL regressed. All players that were not blocked and were part of the master plan. I get it, Peterka was unhappy. I am not sold on the exhaustive coaching search that Adams talked about.

Especially since he picked Jarmo. If they don’t make playoffs, and Adams becomes POHO and Jarmo becomes GM, then you see more conclusive proof that winning is not a priority, as if we haven’t seen it since the lazy hiring of Krueger.

I must be blind because I didn’t see much bad body language or attitude from Peterka. Maybe some in the last two weeks which I chalked up to being sick of losing. He had a strong start, then he cooled off, and then he was pretty steady despite the constant line juggling, and the poorly coached power play, and playing in front of a goalie who’s confidence was shot. The team under Ruff played 3/4 of the season as if they didn’t know each other. Yet Peterka was a steady contributor.

I’m tired of the “Peterka is bad at defense” story. He is 23, and he is a goal scorer, and an emerging star player. Peterka is bad at defense just like almost every other player that came up the Sabres development path. Granato did not teach an NHL system, and Adams did not support his young players with his &hity methods of roster building. Peterka didn’t get along with Ruff. Something happened. Oh well. But I get the feeling Ruff is gone in a year and Peterka will be Sam Reinhart-lite on another team.

Byram has to move all his stuff back to Buffalo.

POHO is a title that comes with more money and more authority. Not all GMs are POHO's.

I agree. I take it you won’t be having Adams over for dinner anytime soon?

No doubt the early days of Adams tenure was under very tight financial constraints. The discussion was focused on the past few seasons and his inability to do enough to improve the 91 point roster.

He is 22 and should not be making $8.35M - that is a problem, especially with the general fan base perception of him. I agree that the Sabres gave him too much to swallow, and too fast - along with Cozens, he is another example of "no blockers" and big contracts that have gone wrong. Expectations heaped on a kid that are beyond reasonable. What is worse is that Power gets no top cover. Now they bring in 25 year old Kesselring (only 152 NHL games) to support 22 year old Power (242 NHL games). I like Kesselring, but I don't see the legitimate execution of a plan from the Sabres FO. Maybe a whole bunch of players will step up, grow up faster, and end this dam drought? It will take that and a goalie to emerge from the group of three.

It bothers me a little bit. Terry needs to inject something new into the organization, especially at the top of hockey operations. Shanny's results as an exec may be mixed, but he is a HoF player and well connected throughout the league. Buffalo is said to be a place players don't want to go to, stated by their own GM. If Shanny is calling the owner to talk about a position then invite him down to the yacht and talk. Maybe he can help? Maybe he knows others that can help? Maybe he can attract help? I am skeptical that this ever even happened.

I was just told this past week by some people close to the Sabres that Adams runs the hockey operations and the "run it by Terry" stuff is pretty much always met with an "ok" and that this practice is not so unusual in todays NHL. The draft picks, the "no blockers", ignoring of the goaltending, the lack of big trades, the poor roster construction - its all Adams, even the cap situation is Adams saving cap space for his prospects/trades. That is what I am hearing right now. The insiders were making it clear that Adams record is on him and if he were better at his job the team would have improved by now. Terry is not stopping the notion of improvement, but he wants to be informed of what is happening, same as he is with the Bills. Adams keeps him in the loop and listens to him, therefore he can fulfill his contract and then we shall see what happens. Terry has McBeane with the Bills, and they are quite good at their job, and keep him informed too. Terry just cannot figure out the NHL. If he really said this to Shanny, and if he closed that door so quickly, it confirms that he is lost in the NHL world.

I would agree with this but Lindy was apparently not a fan of Jokiharju. Probably because he no one on defense that was physical other than Dahlin and Clifton. There is the concept of Samuelsson which is wanning with each year. I see data showing that Kesselring and Timmins were not big hitters, they better bring something to improve the defense.

But Zito might have made better moves to build a team. It’s reasonable to think that Zito would have done better, he is better. Zito would have had a very nice Core with Eichel and Reinhart.

Overall scuffles and even arguments are very rare. Sounds like you have a good routine.