JohnC

The franchise deserved to be crapped on during that extended drought, especially in a system designed for competitive balance.

The reporter was born a curmudgeon and reported throughout his career as a curmudgeon. That was always his persona and act. And he would be the first person to tell you that it is so.

Most of us recognize that he was posting a rule.

A curmudgeon may fade away but he will always be a curmudgeon needling until he exists no more.

@Brawndo is our resident mole. If you don’t know where he is at the first place to check is behind one of the curtains. He’s our in-house sneak. 😎

I have no complaints with the front office of the Bills . I do have complaints with the front office/GM of the Sabres. Why the different views? The body of work that goes beyond one game. This game demonstrated the importance of goaltending. Lyon was stellar. Hats 🎩 off to the team for playing hard throughout the last game of an extended road trip.

I’m just giving my opinion that I don’t think a coaching change will be made during the season. Will that come to pass? I don’t know. Will there soon be a GM change? I think so but really don’t know.

None of us know how the staff is going to be reshuffled, assuming there will a change at the GM position. I do believe that Ruff could be elevated to the POHO position, but in mind it is more likely to happen after the season. We’ll just have to see how things shake out. Your guess is as good as any other other.

KA was not good selection as a GM. That doesn’t mean that he should be automatically pre-judged. He didn’t do everything wrong but he definitely do enough right things to make the Sabres a serious team. He was given more time on the job than most other owners would have allowed. His body of work was inadequate. And that’s an easy and fair judgment to make.

Everything he did wasn’t wrong. But he didn’t do enough to get the job done. He didn’t support the new core adequately enough with experienced players. An incomplete job resulted in a failed job.

You didn't fully accurately read my response to @PASabreFan. I made it clear that it was evident almost from the start that Pegula was chaotically steering the franchise ship. He was constantly lurching back and forth with no foundational strategy to build upon. That's accurate. And I was an open Granato supporter. He took over for Krueger who was an unmitigated failure. Granato's talent was with working with young players. He was the right coach for young players. To be candid, I would rather have kept Granato than bring in Ruff. In my view, Granato was a scapegoat for a failed GM. He did his best with what he had to work with. I was never on board with KA. I've had scathing criticisms for him since he was bizarrely hired. And once he assumed the reins he had a publicly stated rebuild strategy to go mostly with their own drafted and develop approach. I'm not against emphasizing young players once that approach is established as policy. However, his execution has been dismal because he doesn't have the imagination and ability to successfully carry it out. I hope this clears up your misconception about my position.

The Sabres' record with Eichel and Reinhart and without was not too sterling. They got dealt and ended up with their names on the Cup, Reinhart for multiple times. The lesson to be learned is that improving the overall talent base of the team is the right course to take rather than setting yourself further back by getting rid of your best players who end up being good players on championship caliber teams.

Absolutely. That goes with the territory. That doesn't mean that one can't have some compassion for someone who most likely (hopefully) will lose his job.

I remember that episode. Be careful, I’m a Sicilian. If you upset me, I’ll shoot in the kneecap and watch you dance/hobble.😎

I’m aware of the tradition. I’m not totally against it. But I’ve heard of stories where some inconsiderate players take advantage of the tradition by buying bottles of the most expensive liquor (champagne) just because it is free and don’t even consume all of it. I agree with you that it is a time honored NHL tradition. It shouldn’t be a surprise that sometimes a few people take advantage of it.