JohnC

The issue I'm still undecided about with Cozens is whether he is more suited as a winger or center. When he plays in the international tournaments and plays the wing, he seems to excel. No question that playing with elite talent elevates his game. But where is he most suited? As you point out, intermittently, he flashes a lot of potential. I'm confident that if he was traded to a professionally run franchise, he would thrive like a number of our former players have done.

It's not hard to know what needs to be done. The challenge is in executing the plan to make the change. When you have a shooter who has a tendency to shoot himself in the feet, it shouldn't be a surprised that he walks with a limp.

You are preaching to the choir. Tell that to the apathetic owner who is hiding behind the curtain of shame!

Even if Byram gets a new rich deal, there is no need to trade either player. That makes little sense to me. There comes a point where you need to add talent, not subtract your better players from this roster. The financial adjustment can be made by bringing in a veteran defensive defenseman. Teams are constructed in a variety of ways. There is no one way to configure your roster. My recommendation would be to sign Byram to an upgraded contract and see if you can add another couple of Zucker like veteran talents to this insufficient and poorly constructed roster. Our dullard GM should have made the additions this past offseason. As the saying goes: Snooze and you lose!

The franchise has already been burned to a crisp. The ashes are what is left of this smoking carcass. ☠️

What you are basically saying, that I agree with, is that there were plenty of assets within the system due to the accumulation of high draft picks that could have been marketed for more contributing veterans in return. The problem then becomes how do you overcome the manifest deficiencies of this GM who would be tasked to make the deals? It's a catch-22 that can't be resolved until there is a change at the GM position.

The stench of losing is contaminating everyone, veterans and rookies. Adding another couple of solid Zuker-like veterans would have benefited everyone. The one thing that I can say about Benson is that I have never seen him coast while being subjected to this cesspool situation. The source of this franchise's failure is not so much about particular players as it is about a hollow organization run by a sycophantic GM that is set up to fail. When you have a clueless and non-committed owner what did you expect the outcome to be? The owner weirdly selected the pygmy GM and the created the organizational structure that kneeled to his whimsical desires. The outcome should not be surprising. It's an outrageous and sad situation.

If the Sabres were a more normally run NHL operation, a player like Savoie would have had more time to develop and increase his value, whether kept or parlayed for other talent. However, that is expecting too much from this stultifying franchise. This GM lacks the vision to project talent and utilize it to the maximum. When you are hanging on out of desperation it isn't a surprise that you make short-sighted decisions to hang on a little longer. When you are blind and competing against others in your profession that can see, you usually end up walking into walls and bumping your hard and empty head. This is a roadmap to going nowhere.

In general, I agree with you that the Sabre organization is not very adept at developing young players. Clearly, too many prospects are rushed to the big league before being ready. But Benson is not an example where going back to the juniors would have better served his development than the course that was taken with him. There is no question that he needs more physical development before he becomes a more reliable NHL player. But even with that consideration, no one can argue that his dogged play and willingness to go net are unsatisfactory. In fact, other than Zucker, Benson puts to shame his older teammates in the proper way to play. The point I'm making here is that because of the junior rule requirement keeping him in the NHL was the right approach to take. In my mind, he's an exception to the standard process that applies to most young prospects.

There was an excess of players who were in the same tier as Savoie in the system. Not all of them were going to make it to the big club even after more minor league seasoning. Basically, an excess piece/asset was dealt for an NHL ready player. Even if one wants to categorize McCleod as a little better than pedestrian, at least there is some NHL utility to his addition. Our Mr. McGoo GM has made a lot of blunders during his tenure. At least this transaction is defensible whether one agrees or not with it.

Unless there is a structural change in how the organization is allowed to function, then the best/qualified candidates won't come here. I'm not worried about no one willing to come here so much as I'm more concerned about the caliber of candidates willing to come here under the current restrictions. There are always flunkies and ill-equipped candidates (such as KA) who would take a job with restrictive conditions. To unsort the generational mess created by our inept owner, it will take a highly qualified person to work in a proper situation to succeed.

He's the guy on the roof.

It's a circular argument that can't be broken unless there is a new cast of characters taking over the hockey operation. What's so futile about this situation is that the owner got the organizational system and staff in place that he wanted. Is he willing to allow an independent and strong voice take over from the acquiescing Howdy Doody GM he personally installed? Another issue is whether any competent GM candidate would be willing to work for this peculiar owner? Our sphynx owner has said little and has been mostly invisible during this historical descent. I have followed sports all of my extended life. I have never seen an owner who isn't at a senile stage act as indifferently as this baffling owner. There is a saying: The shameless can't be shamed!

What is frustrating about this franchise and the way it is run is that there doesn't need to be a major reconstruction of the roster to make it a more competitive roster. It could have been done this offseason, but instead our Howdy Doody GM with the consent of our Mr. McGoo owner tinkered with his offseason additions, which I considered to be on the right track but insufficient. Just think, if another Zucker-like or two caliber players were added to the roster and another veteran defensive defenseman were added to the blueline, the storyline for this embarrassing season would be so different. This was doable! The opportunity to better balance and season this fledging roster was attainable this offseason, even with the handicap of having to deal with this franchise's well-deserved scorn by available players on the market. Before we can even talk about what players will make this team credible the issue becomes who is going to make those decisions. If our GM continues in his current role, this franchise will continue to repeat the never-ending loop of stupidity that it currently is on. The person who is most at fault for the debasement of this once proud team and fanbase is the owner. He should be ashamed of himself.

He doesn't need to read this particular blog to recognize that anyone involved with the NHL, media, hockey community and fan base have little regard for him and the franchise he presides over. He may be clueless but those who follow hockey recognize his incompetence. You don't have to be an analytical maven to recognize that a generation of failure is not a performance that should be highly regarded. There are plenty of reasons why this fanbase is substantially diminished. All of them relate to his bumbling stewardship as an owner. Who is the person who hired a person no one in the league would have even considered for the GM position?

I'm not arguing for Pegula to sell the team. What I want him to do is act like an owner who cares and is willing to do what needs to do to get this sunk franchise floating again. Or another way of saying that is to hire a competent GM and allow him to do his/her job without interference.

The arena will be 80% or more filled with Toronto fans. How embarrassing! The state of affairs for this franchise is outrageously bad. So sad.

The process was an insulting charade. I'm not even criticizing the Ruff hiring. It would have been a reasonable hire if it came from a legitimate coaching search. If he was the selection right from the start, then just hire him. No one's being fooled. It was a shambolic hiring process in a shambolically run franchise. The lack of professionalism is evident to all. It's a stupidly run franchise. It's embarrassing.

What drives the futility in this absurd situation is that the origin of the problem relates to the owner. He's the person who has made the consequential hires. Until he comes to the realization that he is in over his head and needs outside guidance, this insular organization will continue to chase its own chewed up tail. My sense is that TP doesn't have many meaningful relationships with the other owners or experienced hockey people. The consequences of having an operation that is so parochial is reflected in its generation of failure during the Pegula ownership. People here are yelling we need to do this or that. If the owner is too stubborn to seek and consider outside advice, then the cycle of futility will continue on. What's perplexing is that the owner has models for success within in his own sports businesses: the Bills and Bandits. What the owner has to recognize is that stubbornness is self-sabotaging trait.

What makes the situation even worse is that the GM put this franchise in such a precarious position that it has a lot less leverage to get a fair-value deal done to any interested parties. The sharks are circulating. And they are the ones who are going to get the bigger and better bite out of any proposed deal. When you are in the ring and leave yourself exposed, it shouldn't be surprised that you will come out bloodied. The time to have acted was in the offseason. The GM grossly miscalculated on what he had.

When the owner is obtuse it shouldn't be a surprise that the organization is obtuse. Basic logic. At least we can take pride in claiming to be the most consistent franchise over the past generation.

You sound like a trustworthy fellow. I'll get right on it. On a serious note, I did have personal experience with stolen identities and fraud. Someone stole a credit card from my wallet out of a locked locker at the gym I used to go to. In less than an hour, over five thousand $$$ worth of goods were bought from a number of stores. As it turned out, this was a theft by a multi-state theft ring. I was really pisssed off at the brazenness of the theft. I had a police background, so I really pushed the issue with the police department/s involved and the credit card company. This case ended up with multi-agency involvements, search warrants and seizures from stash houses that held the goods purchased by stolen credit cards. It first went to a lower Maryland court, and as the case developed it continued to get bigger and more complex, ending up in a higher court. Part of the group was arrested. Some of the members flipped on the honcho. He ended up being arrested and taken to court. After more than a year or so of wrangling, he ended up pleading guilty, resulting in jail time. What was aggravating about the case is that the credit card company offered me no cooperation. So the records were subpoenaed and turned over. What perturbed me the most about this theft is that not only was my credit card taken but also my house key was taken out of a wallet compartment. So until I got the lock changed. I slept on the couch on a lower level with my gun nearby. Moral of the story: Criminals create havoc and disruption for victims.

What services do you offer? I heard the back room is where the most stimulating massages happen. Of course, I'm willing to pay the premium price for what your advertisements indicate are satisfying results. Can you schedule me sooner rather than later? After visiting a particular hocky forum I feel very tensed up. Can you give me a guarantee that I will be satisfactorily serviced? 😀

It's stunning to see so much disorganized play at this level. Chaotic play leads to more chaotic play. There is such a stark difference when you watch a Sabre game compared to when you watch other games. You can be unschooled in the game of hockey and still recognize that qualitative difference in play. Pathetic!

The owner doesn't skate. But what he did do is hire an ill-equipped person to be his GM, and kept him on the job for five years. During that interlude, his franchise has degenerated to being a laughingstock franchise in the league. He elevated a person that no organization would have even considered for the position, let alone allow to interview for the job. Common sense 101: If you put an incapable driver in your race care, expect a crash and casualties!