SabresVet

It sounds like Owen want to "be here." Just like Dylan Cozens, Casey Mittelstadt, and Tage Thompson. It's important players want to be here...until they hit UFA or even RFA. 😉

Owners impact the team far more than Jack Eichel ever could. If you can't see that, I'm sorry. The question every Sabres fan needs to ask is why does Jack want out? Because it'd be one thing if he was the lone voice of dissent, but with Reinhart making the same request, something systemic is wrong. If the Sabres are to move forward, that problem must be addressed. Without it, the same problems will continue.

Sure, those hires were seen as mainstream. But when Murray and Botterill didn't work out, going full late Ralph Wilson "need to hire someone I know regardless of qualifications" isn't how you send a message you're trying to win. That's one more element to the hockey community, players and agents included, that your franchise is not competitive. Wrong. We invest emotion, time and the price of tickets/merchandise into the Sabres. The players...well, they invest a little more into their career. I see fans all the time who don't know there's a difference between having a job or having a career.

I don't think some can set aside their fandom because it's a big part of their identity. It's why when even star players like Jack who display anything that goes against the team it becomes a personal attack. I won't understand it because the Sabres should be entertainment and not who an individual is. But to be totally objective, if I was an elite player who worked exceptionally hard at my trade and the team struggled through bad coaches, was operated on shoe-string budgets, featured crony GM hires, and ownership was what they are...I'd want out for a chance to win. After all, I would expect a player to want to win and not be locked in Terry and Kim's hockey hades.

Hate to break it to you, but it's likely they'll have a lot of 'young developing players' featured prominently in 2021-22. Those players you hope will improve, but that's a tall order in a very competitive division. Rebuilding teams largely have to play youth and lower end talent, especially in the NHL where careers are said to be on the decline around 30. I'm not assuming they'll have more talent next season, particularly when the trades will likely be for more youth and draft picks.

If this pumping up of DG continues, should we expect a Herb Brooks circa 1980 like effect with the 2021-22 Sabres? He should be an improvement on Krueger's bullheaded approach, but not the massive force-multiplier some are expecting. Especially with less talent this coming season. If they don't deal Risto I'd attribute that to the TP effect of there being the GM in the sky. Because if he's indifferent on being here, why would Buffalo keep Risto when Jack and Sam also want out? I thought they only want players who want to be here.

What can you say? Terry knows hockey.

I have a hard time believing that UFAs with options are interested in signing with a rebuilding team like Buffalo. KA would need to overpay and I'm not seeing how they want more bad contracts. I also can't see them wanting veterans coming back unless it's a salary dump. Because Terry saw what went down with ROR and doesn't want to repeat that experience and look bad again.

Health is kinda important too. If he thinks this surgery is the only option to maintaining his career, that'd be enough to drive anyone away. Talent and depth are essential. The Edmonton Oilers have proven that now the last few seasons. It's easier to acquire and/or develop depth...finding the talented top 2 lines and top 2 defensemen is more challenging.

I don't think the Sabres want to be that team known throughout the league as sticking it to a star player. And I don't think Adams wants the problem on his hands long term, because word gets out (and probably already has) that Buffalo treats players poorly if they choose that option. Youth movement or not, that makes a rebuild even more difficult.

I've never understood why some fans (not you) are so ready and willing to run a guy out of town like this. Happened with the Bills years ago too when fans would talk about the elite talent not giving full effort as the team essentially bottomed out. The question I'd like to ask those upset with his "effort" is...who replaces Jack right now? Because I don't see a player coming over in a trade that will provide 50% of the scoring he did while healthy. Trading Jack officially kicks off the rebuild and few are gonna be patient enough for another 1-2 seasons riding the bottom of the standings.

The only exception might be that they have to take on some contract unless they eat some of Jack's contract in the deal. Especially with his injury concerns. It's going to be hard accepting he and maybe Reinhart are gone. And no doubt by now, word has traveled that Buffalo isn't a destination to win. That likely means it's a rebuild with a few long term pieces in-place. Adams has a lot to prove that he can, with youth, put together a solid roster and do this without Eichel and Reinhart.

Aside from them having much better forward production, a Stanley Cup winning HC, and better goaltending, yes, it's a very similar situation comparing NYI to BUF.

I'm not here to discuss TPegs' business acumen. I know someone (take it FWIW) who has proximity to the team and had first-hand experience with him. The picture you paint is vastly different, at least in hockey, from what I've been told. The Pegula's took the word of NHL types for whom to hire and it all backfired. And, ownership is notorious for their role in hockey operations. Perhaps you believe that Jason Botterill wanted to offer Skinner an 8 year deal. Or the same term with Eichel. Maybe you know that Terry did not like Russian players and did not want to select them in the draft. Bottom line is you cannot overcome bad ownership, especially when it influences personnel so deeply.

I'm hating that we're going to be sold on a rebuild that features "guys who want to be here." You have to question a franchise that has alienated its best two forwards. Still, there's something deeper going on beyond the losing which is driving trade demands. I think promoting Adams to be GM, gutting the front office, and other cost-cutting demonstrate a lack of willingness to win. That doesn't get fixed by hiring a first time NHL HC or young players with potential he's coaching. It's been 14 years since Drury and Briere departed. This off-season will rival that one for organizational ineptitude.

Jack does not get the surgery because the team says no. Buffalo seeks a trade but receives less than ideal offers. Jack begins 2021-22 on the team, proves that he's healthy, and is traded during the season.

Reading between the lines on Vogl's tweet...how could it be anything but a pending trade? Conversations "happening every day" points in only one direction especially considering the team is not budging on the surgery Jack wants.

No front office is going to be purely in-house hires. Key is that the decision makers, i.e. the GM and above, are found inside.

The Pegula's are beginning to mirror the decisions of the late Ralph Bills years. After hiring outside their universe executives and coaches who didn't produce, the circle of trust narrowed. GM and HC searches were then limited to people whose relationship to ownership is already strong or they're a known entity. Avoid outside candidates at all costs. Mediocrity ensues. Except this time, owners are likely there for the long haul. I'd love to see Don Granato win as much as anyone, but it's hard to trust the Pegula's or their hand-picked leaders anymore. Adams still comes off as the "we knew him" hire and it's clear owners are laser-focused on reducing costs. Much like those late Ralph years. It's also likely they're not considering outside people because they're not interested. Meddling ownership combined with reduced staff budgets are not the scenario I would think proven GM's and HC's would seek out. Especially when the best players want out.

With the franchise deteriorating from the inside out and players wanting to leave, it's going to be less than stellar results first. I suspect the mantra in 2021-22 will center around how they have a great young core of talent that needs to develop. Certainly. But the team isn't better with, most likely, Eichel and Reinhart leaving. I'm not sure that a new HC who uses his players' strengths is enough to overcome a drop in talent. The NHL is too competitive. As to Munger's point...my expectations were that these owners would get out of the way (for the most part), hire good hockey people, and the team would succeed. 10+ years later ownership hasn't improved. Everything flows from there...which is why we're doing the very Billsy circa 2006-2010 era in-house hire dance.

Owners cutting costs in the front office, the top 2 forwards on the way out, and a youth movement in process. Of course their options at HC were limited. I had hopes they would hire someone with a NHL track record, but that would probably threaten a rookie GM and ever-insulated owners who don't see how much of a cluster they are. Granato won't be the problem, because it goes up the ladder for that.

Nothing wrong with that. At the same time, hiring Granato tells me they're going with the youth movement and that's gonna require some patience from the fans. It's likely the roster will be younger, led by a first-time NHL HC, and all under the watchful eye of a first-time GM without any experience building a roster as an executive.

Any decent HC interviewee was interviewing KA to see what his plan was. DG had some results with young kids and that's nice. But teams have more film on him and results don't always carry over from one season to another. Underwhelming hire, but not surprising.

If this were a real franchise, they'd have the org structure in place beginning at the top first. But they don't. It reminds me of the Islanders during the summer Tavares was moved. Lamoriello was hired, who in turn hired Trotz and NYI made a 23 point improvement the following season despite losing their best player. It takes high organizational aptitude do turn things around. There needs to be stability above the HC level to produce a winning team and the Sabres don't have that. It doesn't help to have Adams as the GM when he's seen as the owners' pet hire who doesn't have the latitude to act as a GM should.

Long time lurker, but here goes. The torches and pitchforks out for Jack are aiming a little low. He's not perfect, but definitely not the root cause to all the dysfunction either. Management and the people who hire them impact an organization more than your best player does. To that point... Ownership's influence over personnel decisions on and off-ice makes it all but impossible to assemble a winning team. Imagine being a GM and you're told whom to re-sign, the terms of a contract and then watch as the scouting staff all but purged. What franchise can win with that level of meddling? And what decent hockey executive type would work under those conditions? Getting rid of Jack seems inevitable, but it won't repair what's wrong. Nor will recycling good or better players for younger ones that have "potential." The team is where they are because ownership doesn't have a clue and remain locked in their echo chamber.