JohnC

I don't know much about Forton. Does he currently much sway in personnel decisions?

Isn't Karmanos still living in Pittsburgh? If so, if elevated to the GM position I would think that he would have to relocate to the Buffalo area? As a GM I don't see him working remotely a lot from out of town.

I don’t believe the big challenge is to identify what our critical needs are. Most people recognize what they are. Regardless who wields the influence, the challenge is to get deals done this offseason to address those needs. It will be interesting to see if a partner can be brought in for Power, another first or second line forward added to the mix (In addition to Norris) and another goaltender added just in case UPlL doesn’t work out. With a little creativity and moderate boldness, these additions should be doable.

I don’t want to belabor my point but I don’t believe he is the defacto director of hockey operations, (My opinion.) His failings are related to his bad judgment in hiring critical staff. As an owner he is inept. His record as an owner demonstrates that.

If the owner wants to be in the room then he is going to be in the room. As an owner that is his prerogative. You and I might not be enamored with his omni-presence but that's his choice. As I stated in a prior post, I'm not sure that he is as involved with player discussions and decisions as many think. My main criticism of him is less about that than about his judgment in hiring critical staff. On that issue, his record is less than impressive and bordering on self-defeating.

The problem isn’t he being in the meetings. It’s he having input when decisions are made. We really don’t know about the inner workings of the operation but in my (opinion) his sabotaging failure is in selecting the staff. That’s where he has miserably failed.

The inability to understand basic economics is stunningly low. And the inability to process information and then make a commonsense judgment/analysis is at a frightening low level. In medicine, one of the most important concepts drilled into people entering that profession is: "do no harm". When doing nothing is a successful strategy it is not too difficult to carry out. Some disasters you can't avoid. Man made and self-inflected disasters like what is going on now are stupendously idiotic.

You are right that KA did make some good moves, such as you noted with the McCleod and Byram trades and Zucker acquisition. But you are not dealing with a static situation. All GMs for every team work to improve their teams mostly in the offseason and sometimes during the season. If KA is making some good personnel moves yet most other GMs are also doing it on a larger scale and at a faster rate, then you fall behind. KA has a five-year record. It's unimpressive by all standards. The Sabres are less than a second-rate organization because substandard performers are allowed to remain on the job. I'm confident in saying that no other owner/franchise would have kept a person at the top of the hockey operation with a similar record. Until there is more accountability within the organization this franchise will remain stuck in the muck of mediocrity. It's way past time for a shakeup at the top.

I’m going to make a prediction that may make you half satisfied. I think that our owner with the enormous boat will kick KA up/down ?? in the organization and give the GM position to someone else. My guess is Karmonos. With that maneuver the owner and his failed GM can save some face.

The owner better be careful in allowing this saboteur on his boat. In the dead of night he will puncture some holes below the sea line and sink it. 😃

I'm not trying to be snarky in asking this question: Is that really his boat?

At this stage of his career, he should not have been playing on the first line. The offensive production was inadequate as a top line player. I also like Kulich a lot. Again, with him at this stage of his career, he should not have been playing on the first line. I like both of these young players and do believe that both have the talent to eventually be top two-line players. But I doubt that other than for a few bottom feeding teams that either one of these players would be playing on the top line. It seems that because there was a dearth of top line talent that both players were pushed up higher than they needed to be. That's why the Sabres are on the couch watching the playoffs instead of participating in them.

I really don't know if time has passed Lindy by or not as an NHL coach. Are his coaching views much different from most other NHL coaches? I don't think so but can't say for sure. There are a lot of different coaching styles and personalities that have succeeded. It just seems to be that the biggest problems for anyone standing behind our bench is the talent level and roster construction. And those would be tough challenges for any coach.

That’s like saying water is wet. Not very illuminating because everyone is aware of it except for the oblivious owner.

Do you know what happens to people who look in the mirror instead of looking forward when driving? They crash.