JohnC

You and I have the same view about this weird owner. His non-responsiveness is a demonstration of his contempt for the fans and paying customers. He’s essentially giving us the finger. His arrogance is tough to stomach.

It’s a futile exercise to go into detail about which players are not contributing to this poorly matched roster. The sabotaging problem isn’t about any particular player as it is the hollow organization led by the invisible owner and his handpicked clueless GM. It doesn’t matter in what field of endeavor you are in. When the organization’s primary decision makers are grotesquely incompetent, the outcome is very predictable. When you have an owner who doesn’t recognize his own hockey ignorance that is glaringly evident to everyone else, then you will continue to fail. The worst thing that happened to this franchise is that it was bought by Terry Pegula. He may own a big boat but ever since he took over this franchise has been sinking. You don’t have to make a deep analysis to come up with such an obvious conclusion. The owner’s obtuseness and stubbornness is enraging.

If KA is elevated to a position with a loftier title without much authority, then I would be fine with that. He can have whatever title he wants as long as another GM is the one authorized to make the hockey decisions. Will that be the case in this weird Pegula organization? I don't know.

I wouldn't be bothered if KA was promoted to the POHO position. The issue then becomes is he still making the hockey decisions or would the next GM be making the personnel decisions. The issue isn't what position he has as it is how empowered is he.

I disagree. It wasn't a secret to him or anyone involved in the league that the Sabre organization was and is dysfunctional. He probably thought he would have more say into personnel and staffing decisions. But clearly, he isn't as influential and empowered as he thought he would be. There were and are a lot of qualified people who wouldn't have an interest in taking the coaching job if offered because they know what they would be encountering here in this Pegula toxic dump.

As you acknowledge, the Sabres will not get much of a return for this impending free agent player. With respect to the cap space made available by not signing him, it shouldn't be forgotten that Buffalo is not an attractive franchise for players on the market. It shouldn't be forgotten that Buffalo is one of the most cited franchises on NTCs. If Tuch is dealt, the end result, even after utilizing the cap space, the Sabres will be a lesser team. And what a Tuch departure due to him not wanting to be here is another sign that this organization is so contaminated that not only players don't want to come here but also players here want out. That's an ugly situation to be in. And don't kid yourself that players such as Dahlin and Tage will also want to get the freak out.

Ruff was at the end of his extended and overall successful coaching career with multiple teams. He was basically retired. He was hired after a blatantly nonexistent search directed by the owner to the GM. At that stage of his career no other franchise would have even considered him for a HC job. KA was hired by the silent owner to rebuild the roster and basically start over. No other organization in the league would have considered such a Howdy Doody candidate for the most important position for a franchise let alone hire him. How many other owners would have kept on their GMs with the record that our shallow GM has? The Pegula constructed organization is an unserious organization. The outcome should not be a surprise. And the owner remains silent! Abnormality has become this franchise’s normality.

I wouldn't be bothered if a dealt goalie is serviceable or even does well on another team. So what? The strategy that the shallow GM is taking with respect to determining which goalie or goalies to keep is self-defeating. By keeping three of them instead of the usual two goalies on the roster, he is putting all of them in a position to fail because of the lack of steady work. UPL has had enough time to demonstrate what level of goalie he is. There will be games where he will shine, just enough to tantalize you. Then he will revert into true his baseline level of being a pedestrian goalie. If I had to make a judgment on which goalie will turn out to be the best of the current trio, I would say Ellis. But I don't say it with much conviction. It should also be noted that Levi is in Rochester, and it appears he has recently been on a bumpy road. But even so, if the dullard GM keeps two instead of three goalies on the big club roster, he still has a fallback position of bringing up Levi if a goalie is hurt. It shouldn't be a surprise that a third-rate organization with third-rate decision makers make third-rate decisions. When you shoot yourself in the foot it shouldn't be surprising that you limp. A lot of people don't know that the Sabres were the inspiration for the making of a movie. It was called: Dumb and dumber. And unsurprisingly, it had more box office success than the Sabres have had on the ice.

Was it Adams or Pegula who made the hire? I lean towards the owner but simply don't know for sure. The less than genuine coaching search bothered me more than the selection.

The usual avenue for a GM departure is by being fired. It's not very often that a failed GM volunteers to leave his position. Usually, the POHO and/or the owner make the decision for the staffing change. In a sense, the owner is also the acting POHO. The onus is on the owner to take the step that is obvious to most everyone. It shouldn't be a surprise that this particular reclusive owner hasn't done so.

There is another aspect to this systemic failure that I worry about: the persistent losing and being a part of an irrelevant team (from a player's perspective) having a demoralizing effect. I see it in the periodic spiritless play of Tuch, Dahlin and Tage and others. Players are not stupid. They can recognize what a quality organization is compared to a what a mediocre franchise is in the hockey business they work in. Unless they are stupendously obtuse (and they are not), they can recognize that they are stuck in a mediocre organization. You don't think that when they are watching the playoffs on their couches and see players they know participating in meaningful playoff games, they ask themselves: I would love to be on a team and be part of that playoff experience? I recognize that I often, to the understandable irritation of many, repeatedly blame this unreachable owner for the failure of this franchise during his ownership tenure. However, when a franchise has never gotten on a serious track yet continues to do what it has been doing without meaningfully attempting to get on another course, then that it is outright stupid and outrageous. This silent owner makes me angry. We deserve better.

Tage is not a center. He needs space to be effective. The problem isn't that the players are unfamiliar with each other as it is a bad fit. The Sabres needed to add another top 6 player to the roster. The scrawny GM didn't do it. He's a small-minded staffer who's an incrementalist in a big picture position. In other words, he's a typical Pegula bizarre bad hire who he is comfortable with. Hiring him for the position was bad enough. But keeping him on after five plus years is an inexcusable malfeasance by the owner who appears to simply not care. The Ruff coaching era should have concluded with his Jersey stint. He had a good career that ran its course. This was a nostalgic hire made in a fraudulent search process by the impenetrable owner. It's bad enough that the owner makes bad decisions, but it goes beyond that to the point of making weird decisions. That's where we are at. The Sabres have a third-rate owner with a third-rate GM (being kind) with a third-rate coaching staff. This bozo hockey brain-trust has put together an ill-fitting roster. And no matter how you manipulate it will not be suitable fit. That's where we are at.

Where I only disagree with your post is the unfairness of earning a point for an OT and SO loss. What’s so unfair with a format that applies to all teams? What I do find unfair and aggravating is the arbitrary way the goalie interference rule is applied by the referees. (As noted by a previous poster.)

Just googled. Absolutely, LFGFFS!!!

I'm a troglodyte. What does LFGFFS mean? I know that the first three letters translate to Let's freaking (sanitized word) go but the FFS letters have me puzzled.