GM Speculation

[dudacek]

In this mess of a season, has anyone considered what a plum job this really is for a wannabe GM?

 

Next summer the Sabres have just $30 million committed under the cap. They will have to spend $6-10 million to keep their RFAs.

Subtract Leino, add a rising cap and they could have about $35 million to play with in trades and free agency.

 

The team has a deep-pocketed owner willing to spend, a market that cares about hockey without the excess of a Toronto, one of the deeper prospect pools in the league, three prime UFA assets to move at the deadline, and nine picks in the first two rounds over the next two years — three of those that should be top 10 and could easily be top five.

 

I know I want the job.

[shrader]

In this mess of a season, has anyone considered what a plum job this really is for a wannabe GM?

 

Next summer the Sabres have just $30 million committed under the cap. They will have to spend $6-10 million to keep their RFAs.

Subtract Leino, add a rising cap and they could have about $35 million to play with in trades and free agency.

 

The team has a deep-pocketed owner willing to spend, a market that cares about hockey without the excess of a Toronto, one of the deeper prospect pools in the league, three prime UFA assets to move at the deadline, and nine picks in the first two rounds over the next two years — three of those that should be top 10 and could easily be top five.

 

I know I want the job.

 

And they still have two compliance buyouts that they can use. It isn't much, but it's another tool that a lot of other teams already burned up.

[LGR4GM]

And they still have two compliance buyouts that they can use. It isn't much, but it's another tool that a lot of other teams already burned up.

I think we may have lucked out with DR's incompetence. By not using those this past summer it gives the new GM and PLF additional options this summer. Not saying they will use them but at least they are available.

[shrader]

I think we may have lucked out with DR's incompetence. By not using those this past summer it gives the new GM and PLF additional options this summer. Not saying they will use them but at least they are available.

 

I wouldn't call it incompetence at all. I think that was the plan all along, to leave them for next year. Yes, the cap will go up next year, but come deadline time this year, teams may want to drop a bad contract to make room for their playoff run. A team like Buffalo can take on a bad multi-year contract in order to stay above the floor, and then buy it out in the offseason. I'm not so sure this winds up happening, but it is definitely another option to keep an eye on.

[dudacek]

I think we may have lucked out with DR's incompetence. By not using those this past summer it gives the new GM and PLF additional options this summer. Not saying they will use them but at least they are available.

 

Further to Schrader's post, I think putting the team in the position it is in — buyouts and beyond — was exactly Darcy's plan.

Darcy was always good at finding pieces, just never at assembling the puzzle.

[bunomatic]

I wouldn't call it incompetence at all. I think that was the plan all along, to leave them for next year. Yes, the cap will go up next year, but come deadline time this year, teams may want to drop a bad contract to make room for their playoff run. A team like Buffalo can take on a bad multi-year contract in order to stay above the floor, and then buy it out in the offseason. I'm not so sure this winds up happening, but it is definitely another option to keep an eye on.

 

It was still Darcys incompetence that signed those bad contracts in the first place (e.g.Leino,Staff). The compliance buyout was a gift that fell into Darcys lap. The fact that he saved it to save his own skin doesn't make him smart. Just lucky.

[nfreeman]

In this mess of a season, has anyone considered what a plum job this really is for a wannabe GM?

 

Next summer the Sabres have just $30 million committed under the cap. They will have to spend $6-10 million to keep their RFAs.

Subtract Leino, add a rising cap and they could have about $35 million to play with in trades and free agency.

 

The team has a deep-pocketed owner willing to spend, a market that cares about hockey without the excess of a Toronto, one of the deeper prospect pools in the league, three prime UFA assets to move at the deadline, and nine picks in the first two rounds over the next two years — three of those that should be top 10 and could easily be top five.

 

I know I want the job.

 

It is absolutely a plum job. PLF will almost certainly land his first choice.

 

I too would like the gig. I'm also fairly confident that a committee of 4-5 posters from this board would have done a much better job than DR did starting in 2008.

[shrader]

It is absolutely a plum job. PLF will almost certainly land his first choice.

 

I too would like the gig. I'm also fairly confident that a committee of 4-5 posters from this board would have done a much better job than DR did starting in 2008.

 

I know it is made mostly tongue in cheek, but these type of thoughts always bug me. I don't think anyone realizes just how much goes into what they do. Most people here can't even be bothered to read two pages of the CBA, let alone get to the point where they know the thing like the back of their hand.

 

But really, the wookie damn well better be on that committee. We need more people who can trade Stafford for Crosby and Malkin.

[apuszczalowski]

I know it is made mostly tongue in cheek, but these type of thoughts always bug me. I don't think anyone realizes just how much goes into what they do. Most people here can't even be bothered to read two pages of the CBA, let alone get to the point where they know the thing like the back of their hand.

 

But really, the wookie damn well better be on that committee. We need more people who can trade Stafford for Crosby and Malkin.

Do you really believe that NHL GMs know the entire CBA like the back of their hands? They have lower level staff in the office that can check into things for them if they need to question things, and I'm sure that the guys who know most of it are the teams lawyers who draft up the contracts. Most of the CBA is basic stuff that alot of hardcore fans even know, The GMs just have to be good negotiators, and talent evaluators.

[nfreeman]

I know it is made mostly tongue in cheek, but these type of thoughts always bug me. I don't think anyone realizes just how much goes into what they do. Most people here can't even be bothered to read two pages of the CBA, let alone get to the point where they know the thing like the back of their hand.

 

But really, the wookie damn well better be on that committee. We need more people who can trade Stafford for Crosby and Malkin.

 

I have no doubt that it is a challenging job. But I also have no doubt that my committee would have done a better job. (Of course, the bar is pretty low, since I am talking about 2008 and later, a period in which the Sabres missed the playoffs 4 out of 6 years, won zero playoff series and are now the worst team in the NHL.)

 

Let's examine some of the blunders that my committee would probably not have committed (and I'm omitting the losses of Drury, Briere and Soupy as I believe those were attributable to TG/LQ):

 

- fat extension for Hecht

- relying on TC and Roy as top 2 centers

- insufficient team toughness resulting in playoff loss to Bruins and team immolation following Lucic-Miller

- substandard backup goaltending (remember Pat Lalime?)

- letting Tallinder walk after Myers' rookie season, precipitating Myers' decline

- fat extension for Stafford

- Leino

- not landing any of the very-good-to-elite players that changed teams via trade in last 5 years (Carter, Richards, Van Riemsdyk, Pronger, Phaneuf, Seguin, etc.)

- sitting on hands while team sleepwalked through first half of 2011-2012 season following Lucic-Miller, resulting in missed playoffs

- desperately drafting Griggy and then wasting his first year

- Rolston

 

...and I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting.

[Derrico]

And they still have two compliance buyouts that they can use. It isn't much, but it's another tool that a lot of other teams already burned up.

 

I believe they only have one remaining after buying out Gerbe last summer.

 

Still, it is a very appealing position for a new GM to be in. Maybe that's why we hear about the guy in Nashville jumping up and down for it. For some reason I've had the old Buffalo feeling in my gut that potential candidates would not want to come to Buffalo ala the Bills coaching search a few years ago. However, I've not heard any of that nor should I with the obvious appeal.

[26CornerBlitz]

I believe they only have one remaining after buying out Gerbe last summer.

 

Still, it is a very appealing position for a new GM to be in. Maybe that's why we hear about the guy in Nashville jumping up and down for it. For some reason I've had the old Buffalo feeling in my gut that potential candidates would not want to come to Buffalo ala the Bills coaching search a few years ago. However, I've not heard any of that nor should I with the obvious appeal.

 

They still have two CBOs that can be used since Gerbe was an RBO. http://capgeek.com/sabres

[Robviously]

I believe they only have one remaining after buying out Gerbe last summer.

 

Still, it is a very appealing position for a new GM to be in. Maybe that's why we hear about the guy in Nashville jumping up and down for it. For some reason I've had the old Buffalo feeling in my gut that potential candidates would not want to come to Buffalo ala the Bills coaching search a few years ago. However, I've not heard any of that nor should I with the obvious appeal.

I thought we figured out that the Gerbe buyout was not one of those two.

 

I wouldn't mind the Sabres taking on someone else's bad contract and then buying that guy out if that's what it takes to make a trade happen.

[Derrico]

I thought we figured out that the Gerbe buyout was not one of those two.

 

I wouldn't mind the Sabres taking on someone else's bad contract and then buying that guy out if that's what it takes to make a trade happen.

 

I must have missed that convo, my mistake.

 

This is where I got my info. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=99026

[shrader]

I have no doubt that it is a challenging job. But I also have no doubt that my committee would have done a better job. (Of course, the bar is pretty low, since I am talking about 2008 and later, a period in which the Sabres missed the playoffs 4 out of 6 years, won zero playoff series and are now the worst team in the NHL.)

 

Let's examine some of the blunders that my committee would probably not have committed (and I'm omitting the losses of Drury, Briere and Soupy as I believe those were attributable to TG/LQ):

 

- fat extension for Hecht

- relying on TC and Roy as top 2 centers

- insufficient team toughness resulting in playoff loss to Bruins and team immolation following Lucic-Miller

- substandard backup goaltending (remember Pat Lalime?)

- letting Tallinder walk after Myers' rookie season, precipitating Myers' decline

- fat extension for Stafford

- Leino

- not landing any of the very-good-to-elite players that changed teams via trade in last 5 years (Carter, Richards, Van Riemsdyk, Pronger, Phaneuf, Seguin, etc.)

- sitting on hands while team sleepwalked through first half of 2011-2012 season following Lucic-Miller, resulting in missed playoffs

- desperately drafting Griggy and then wasting his first year

- Rolston

 

...and I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting.

 

That's all well and good but it ignores the long list of suggestions made around here that would have been equally bad. Really, if you go back and look at the ideas of the fanbase as a whole, I think they would have put the team very close to where they are right now. How long have we been listening to the cries about getting tougher and adding this grinder and that grinder? That would have lead us down the same exact path, to a team with zero skill.

[Hoss]

In this mess of a season, has anyone considered what a plum job this really is for a wannabe GM?

 

Next summer the Sabres have just $30 million committed under the cap. They will have to spend $6-10 million to keep their RFAs.

Subtract Leino, add a rising cap and they could have about $35 million to play with in trades and free agency.

 

The team has a deep-pocketed owner willing to spend, a market that cares about hockey without the excess of a Toronto, one of the deeper prospect pools in the league, three prime UFA assets to move at the deadline, and nine picks in the first two rounds over the next two years — three of those that should be top 10 and could easily be top five.

 

I know I want the job.

 

Been saying this for a while. A whole lot of prospects to see how they fit into your roster/trades. A nearly clean cap to work with. Picks coming from everywhere. Likely two top five picks the next two years.

[nfreeman]

That's all well and good but it ignores the long list of suggestions made around here that would have been equally bad. Really, if you go back and look at the ideas of the fanbase as a whole, I think they would have put the team very close to where they are right now. How long have we been listening to the cries about getting tougher and adding this grinder and that grinder? That would have lead us down the same exact path, to a team with zero skill.

 

No question about this, but this is why my committee would be very selective.

 

Here's another way of looking at it: Darcy is a hockey lifer. He went through the junior hockey system, had a cup of coffee at the professional level, never went to college (at least I don't see one in his bio) and never even had another senior hockey guy in the organization to be accountable to or even to bounce things off of.

 

While he certainly had to deal with plenty of handicaps during his tenure here, he also didn't deliver much in the way of innovation or out-of-the-box thinking. And there were very few handicaps, and plenty of advantages, in the last 5 years of his tenure and he delivered increasingly poor results.

 

Obviously my committee would've needed to bring in the right scouts and real hockey guys to discuss things with, but given ultimate decision-making authority, we would've delivered better results.

 

How's that for an unprovable claim?

[sicknfla]

DR will end up somewhere. I truly think his best attributes would be in a position above GM. I wouldn't be surprised if he is not a team president someday. GM- I don't think so.

 

In all fairness who is more qualified? DR or PL to be a team president? Who do you think truly knows the league better today? I think if you took a poll of all top league execs it would overwhelmingly be DR.

 

Trust me I was as much about getting DR out of here as anyone. I am simply just stating that he will resurface and I would not be surprised if it wasn't a high profile position.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

DR will end up somewhere. I truly think his best attributes would be in a position above GM. I wouldn't be surprised if he is not a team president someday. GM- I don't think so.

 

In all fairness who is more qualified? DR or PL to be a team president? Who do you think truly knows the league better today? I think if you took a poll of all top league execs it would overwhelmingly be DR.

 

Trust me I was as much about getting DR out of here as anyone. I am simply just stating that he will resurface and I would not be surprised if it wasn't a high profile position.

 

Chz knows plenty of sailors.......that doesn't mean she's qualified to run the Navy.....

[sicknfla]

 

 

Chz knows plenty of sailors.......that doesn't mean she's qualified to run the Navy.....

 

Lol. I am not saying he is qualified - just saying someone is going to put him in a high profile position. My comparison is simply because other than his name and his playing career what makes PL qualified?

 

PL is no more qualified than Richie freaking Dunn. Other than he had a better career. Believe me nobody is rooting for PL more than me. It just kills me how all these owners turn their operations over to ex-players all the time. Unless he can figure out how to score goals from the press box his name means nothing more than PR.

[Derrico]

 

 

Lol. I am not saying he is qualified - just saying someone is going to put him in a high profile position. My comparison is simply because other than his name and his playing career what makes PL qualified?

 

PL is no more qualified than Richie freaking Dunn. Other than he had a better career. Believe me nobody is rooting for PL more than me. It just kills me how all these owners turn their operations over to ex-players all the time. Unless he can figure out how to score goals from the press box his name means nothing more than PR.

 

Don't under estimate pr when it comes to attracting free agent players and management.

[sicknfla]

 

 

Don't under estimate pr when it comes to attracting free agent players and management.

 

Don't overestimate it either. Going to be a tough sell to FA's around here for awhile. Listen I like the hire. His name gives us instant recognition. However, recognition and credibility are far from the same thing.

 

I do wish he would have hired a GM by now. For no other reason than to get this thing stabilized and moving forward.

[Derrico]

 

 

Don't overestimate it either. Going to be a tough sell to FA's around here for awhile. Listen I like the hire. His name gives us instant recognition. However, recognition and credibility are far from the same thing.

 

I do wish he would have hired a GM by now. For no other reason than to get this thing stabilized and moving forward.

 

We can haggle about pl all day but I really disagree with ur point about a gm. Let him take all the time he needs, we need this to be a great hire. If we r bottoming out which is obvious we have to have the right guy in place. Let him interview any and all on his list until he finds the right choice.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

 

 

Lol. I am not saying he is qualified - just saying someone is going to put him in a high profile position. My comparison is simply because other than his name and his playing career what makes PL qualified?

 

PL is no more qualified than Richie freaking Dunn. Other than he had a better career. Believe me nobody is rooting for PL more than me. It just kills me how all these owners turn their operations over to ex-players all the time. Unless he can figure out how to score goals from the press box his name means nothing more than PR.

 

Patty said more in the first 24 hours than Regier has in 16 years.

 

He said you don't build teams for the first 82 games. You need competitive and gritty players to get it done in the playoffs. He was stressing balance. He said sure, top draft picks usually have an impact, but you need quality, experienced winning veterans to help show them the way.

 

He knows the formula.....70% of the league knows the formula.

 

If Darcy gets a decent job, it will be with a team that he has done favors for in the past. Nashville...I would have said Calgary before, but Burke is there....I can't see any serious team putting him in any role but administrative. Let him oversee a finance department for a cash strapped team with all his spreadsheets.

 

I think he gets a league job.

 

Isn't it funny we haven't heard 1 peep from the guy? Chan Gailey called a press conference to thank the team, the players, the fans, the reporters, then cried his way off saying he will always root for the Buffalo Bills. I don't expect that from Darcy, but not even a , "take care...see y'all someday."

 

 

[darksabre]

 

 

Patty said more in the first 24 hours than Regier has in 16 years.

 

He said you don't build teams for the first 82 games. You need competitive and gritty players to get it done in the playoffs. He was stressing balance. He said sure, top draft picks usually have an impact, but you need quality, experienced winning veterans to help show them the way.

 

He knows the formula.....70% of the league knows the formula.

 

If Darcy gets a decent job, it will be with a team that he has done favors for in the past. Nashville...I would have said Calgary before, but Burke is there....I can't see any serious team putting him in any role but administrative. Let him oversee a finance department for a cash strapped team with all his spreadsheets.

 

I think he gets a league job.

 

Isn't it funny we haven't heard 1 peep from the guy? Chan Gailey called a press conference to thank the team, the players, the fans, the reporters, then cried his way off saying he will always root for the Buffalo Bills. I don't expect that from Darcy, but not even a , "take care...see y'all someday."

 

I hope we never hear from Darcy again. Shunnnnnn shunnnnnn...