Pimlach

Protest? What is this, Lord of the Flies? Their protest will start with anger and choice words, no doubt some comments about it not being fair. Then hopefully it dawns on them that this happens all the time in hockey and that they had a major role in their coach getting fired. After that they better grow from it and move on.

This is a great post. You are one of the best posters here so don't worry about it. I find myself getting too riled by all that has happened this year and that probably comes off as negative too. Especially frustrating when I can see it coming, and then watch it happen, and observe the organization say and do nothing. I had high hopes, I should have known that standing pat plus all those young players that just had career years was a recipe for a decline this season. I just posted in another thread that I think the slow roll rebuild is going to continue for awhile. That said, lots of rebuilds have a good year, followed by regression, and then make a jump. I just hope we have enough internal leadership, and enough accountability, to make it happen finally.

I think Pegula and Adams are going to continue to slow roll this rebuild using their own internally developed prospects almost exclusively. No more spending to the cap until they break through with their current core No more big free agent signings or major trades No more coaching changes when the next coach is going to be similarly hamstrung like the current No money to spend on the Arena until the Stadium progresses

The leaders missed a golden opportunity to lead and teach. That includes the coach and the GM.

And the irony of that statement is we still don't have a 4C that plays that role better.

Well this thread is specifically about Girgensons and I will never support an idea such as waiving a player that is tradeable, just to avoid getting a "Bjork" or a 7th round pick. Moving on from Girgensons and Okposo is not a stroke of genius by Schmoe. Everyone here already knows their time is up, and it was probably up last year. To my thinking Schmoe is just making an attack on a player that doesn't deserve it, and any message that comes from waiving Girgensons just screams to the rest of the league - "look at the Sabres, they are still idiots". If we want to talk rationally, without all the message sending bravado, then yes - It is time to move on from Skinner and Okposo and Girgensons. They will not be part of whatever fixes this mess. This team is not going to the playoffs. If they can't trade Z and KO at the deadline then you simply do not re-sign them. The Sabre cannot afford to treat these players like crap, and then say we are trying to fix the culture.

I can get behind moving Okposo and Z. Especially Okposo’s comments about not saluting. He blew a leadership opportunity right then and there. I specifically said add vets with tread on their tires. Young vets.

Maybe so. But then there is Torts. We lost because we sucked. We won because we had balls. 😅

I watched the postgame interview as well. Donnie is simply part psychologist and part hockey coach. No matter the question, he never talks about hockey tactics or X's and O's, never specific matchups, etc. He really is better as a coach of a player, more so than a team. He can help a player, but he struggles to get players to be consistent in a team format. Every Granato interview is a discussion on sports psychology with no real answers to anything.

The only way you send the message “country club is closing” is by closing it. Trading a player like Z is probably a good business decision, and it could be done as such. But it is not sending that message. You don’t make examples out of the wrong people and the easy targets. You want to close the country club - then Adam’s and DG should take the steps to close whatever this distraction is. I’m not sure exactly what the country club is, but the players should be doing nothing but work when they come to work. I do agree with that. You want them to play the right way - get a coaching staff that teaches it and demands it. It sure is not the way they play today. Girgensons is not the reason they play wrong Waiving Z and getting nothing for him isn’t going to change a damn thing accept to raise more eyebrows around the NHL. It’s another sign of dysfunction. He will get picked up, and he will be in a better place, and he gets all his money from the Sabres too. McDermott shut down the Rex Ryan country club. He got rid of the games, the video bull$hit and the TVs - all of it gone. Work is for work. He put up signs and he sent messages. He was and still is consistent. He brought in competent coaches and they made the players better, and they won, and they liked it. After awhile winning became a habit and now players want to play for the Bills McD also owned the 17 year drought. He said he wasn’t here for it, but once he took the job he owned it, because he said “it’s still there and the only way to end it is to own it”. Meaning he challenged them and they rose to it. None of players were there for 17 years either, but they listened. They ended it his first year with Tyrod Taylor and Nathan Peterman at QB. Lessons to be learned are right here. But they are ignored by the owner. Back to the Sabres - Based on this whole fan salute issue, it is clear that the vets on the team don’t own the drought, the coaches don’t own it, and the GM doesn’t own it. No wonder it continues and the team is in decline again. The kids should be challenged to own it and end it, but they are told by leadership that they don’t. This bad leadership is killing an opportunity for these kids to do something big and connect to the fan base, the opposite is happening Two teams with opposite approaches and owned by the same clueless guy. Ironic. The Sabres have sent messages like this before - We shipped out ROR, Risto, Eichel, Reinhart, Montour, Ulmark … they are all thriving now. The Sabres FO didn’t fix a thing other than get rid of the guys smart enough to want to leave. So go ahead and trade Z and KO, it’s really is time. I don’t see a problem. But don’t expect that will fix anything significant because the problems run so much deeper. The Sabres are run by amateurs right now. The owner is oblivious to it all.

Agree. And for the record, Rick Martin was not treated with respect when he was traded. One of the nicest guys you can meet, and a Buffalo lifer, but he was treated very poorly before he was traded away. Great guy too. So far in the Pegula era we have very few wins, no playoff games, no respect around the league, no success at anything, a dark dump of an arena , no new hero’s, and down the road probably no alumni that will give a damm.

Then start with Skinner if your looking to send a message The players would understand that much better, believe me on that. Buy him out and clean up your salary structure - drill a well Pegula. He is ultimately the guy that paid him this stupid contract anyway. Don’t put an A on a guy like Z’s sweater, call him a steady role model and a hardworking professional, and then use him as a message for underperformance. The players will hate this because it’s obviously a stupid idea. Trade him, sure. Eat $1.5 M if you must, just no theatrics please. The team is already a joke. Adams is the person who contributed the most to this blown season. He had a lot of work to do.

Kane was never coming here. They talked once.

No? Why not? You said you want to “lay the hammer down and send a message”. Let these young punks know how things are going to be run. Waive him in the locker room after practice in front of the team. Eat his salary so we don’t have to pick up the next Bjork or suffer the indignity of another draft pick. These are just great ideas.

Let’s see as the deadline approaches. Waive him on the spot, how theatrical. What a positive emotional impact that will have. Should Adams call a team meeting and publicly waive him?

Z is not a symbol of failed leadership, but Adams and Pegula are though. Come on, you know better. They just paid him and put an A on him. Now they can eat some of his salary, trade him to a playoff team, wish him the best, and collect a draft pick. Mean spirited messages don’t help. This team is already fragile. Adam’s was supposed to fix the culture, not make it worse.

This is a terrible take. You don’t “lay the hammer” on Z after all these years and just cut him. He is not a problem. This team gets no benefit, and the FO looks bad. Cut him, you still pay him, and he gets picked up for nothing - all you did was show your team your a stupid GM. You can trade him at the deadline or toss him into a trade package. You get a draft pick. So what. The concept of not wanting a pick or “another Bjork” is childish and unprofessional.

I know. No blow up needed. Add a few vets with tread on their tires to help us now. Get a coach. That’s it!

Vatrano MacTavish Benson

What? Andrew Peters says he knows from sources within the organization that we are trading Mitts for Gibson. It could be happing right now. We never caught up. The big guys all took turns getting hurt, and the goalie tryout went on for another 2 months.

We should be caring about our playoff position and what player we could add at the deadline. But it takes competent leadership to get to that level.

But that is what will happen with Appert or Ellis. They will quit on those two immediately, and it will creep into some better players.

I agree with everything. I am still made at this team, don’t hate them, but I’m ready to replace a lot of them. I too ponder how having home ice and the final change is not a factor for Granato. It’s just not. Even me in my living room could see the Johnson’s were struggling, yet he kept sending them out against Vatrano-Terry-McTavish. That line scored on them 3 times in the 2nd, they played almost 12 minutes by the end of that period, way too much. It’s that time of year, just like last year. He does not have enough defense with Power and Muel out of the rotation. Who do you trust?

I don’t say fire Granato because they will put in Appert as interim and screw up Rochester, or worse, Ellis. Wait for the season to end and look for a coach. Offer Brind’Amour a ton. If not, talk to and interview Berube, Gallant, and all of the top candidates. DG did his best work already. Time for the next step.

Nothing comes together because of a handful of real bad players on this roster. A few should be in Rochester.