Shake up in the office PAT LaFONTAINE RESIGNS

[jad1]

It doesn't matter what the hockey-related issue was. What matters is the structure of command within the upper ranks of the organization; PLF thought his role was one thing, Pegula, ostensibly, thought PLF's role was something else. The manner at which this was revealed was in such a way as to have clearly insulted PLF.

 

Who let this happen? Who were the players? Did Murray appeal directly to Pegula? Who, exactly was above PLF in the hierarchy? Did Patrick and Murray sit across from PLF in a boardroom, Pegula flanked by Benson and Sawyer, Black is digging through the bar refrigerator looking for oj or something, and disagree with PLF, leaving Pegula to make a decision right there, like a king in his court, but first consulting his advisors on each side, and the fool at the refrigerator? "We must tank, my lord..." "Yes, I agree, the tanketh must floweth..." "Only a FOOL would not stock OJ, my lord, and not tank, too.."

 

"Patty, Patty, I love you, you know that...but you hired these guys to make hockey decisions, and you're not agreeing already? Patty, we have to get this show on the road..."

 

"Terry, my lord, you gave me the keys to the army! You said I can do whatever it takes to win you victories and bring home glories! You must, sir, MUST trust my judgment."

 

"Patty...Patty reach over there and grab me an OJ, would you? Thanks, yeah. Patty, it's not that I don't trust your judgment, but my advisors tell me Murray and Patrick's plan is the way to go. You know? What's wrong with, you know, trusting our judgment here? We're pretty smart guys, I think."

 

"But, but, my lord, that is not what we talked about upon your ship, that wonderful day many months ago. You were to allow me to execute my vision..."

 

"Yeah, I know, but, Patty, aren't these guys your vision? Right? I mean, right?"

 

If Patrick is staying, I assume he's okay with whatever happened, and is, perhaps involved in opposition to PLF.

Yeah, maybe that happened. Or maybe Patty was working the phones at the same time that Murray was. Who knows.

[Andrew Amerk]

I think a lot of people are all in a huff over nothing.

 

Most of us have moved on after losing Pomm, Vanek, and now Miller (among others), and now we move on from someone who was only in his role for a couple of months.

 

Enough with the conspiracy theories.

[darksabre]

The longer the Sabres take to release any kind of real information the worse this thing looks. It's approaching quagmire status. They are dropping the PR ball hard. This is embarrassing.

[jad1]

The longer the Sabres take to release any kind of real information the worse this thing looks. It's approaching quagmire status. They are dropping the PR ball hard. This is embarrassing.

I don't know, I think this kind of thing is par for the course during a tank/rebuild. When the Penguins tanked to build their current core, they almost left town. Chicago completely alienated their fan base during their down period and then fired the GM who acquired the core of their championship squad. To think that a team can completely turn over their roster with no disagreement or conflict within the organization is just naïve. The real quagmire would have been if other teams in the league didn't know who that had to talk to to make a deal. That would have been a real mess. This is just hurt feelings. By Tuesday, it will be old news.

[darksabre]

I don't know, I think this kind of thing is par for the course during a tank/rebuild. When the Penguins tanked to build their current core, they almost left town. Chicago completely alienated their fan base during their down period and then fired the GM who acquired the core of their championship squad. To think that a team can completely turn over their roster with no disagreement or conflict within the organization is just naïve. The real quagmire would have been if other teams in the league didn't know who that had to talk to to make a deal. That would have been a real mess. This is just hurt feelings. By Tuesday, it will be old news.

 

But this new PLF front office was supposed to be honest and straight talkin. We all felt refreshed by it. Now I'm feeling betrayed.

 

I demand transparency.

[Doohicksie]

I demand transparency.

 

[TrueBlueGED]

The longer the Sabres take to release any kind of real information the worse this thing looks. It's approaching quagmire status. They are dropping the PR ball hard. This is embarrassing.

 

There's nothing they will say beyond what they have. If the cover story is the truth, then that's that. If it's not, why would we expect the organization to publicize a front office power struggle? As far as I know there's zero precedent for anything like that.

Edited March 2, 2014 by TrueBluePhD

[TheFunPolice]

No two week notice?

 

What the hell?!

Edited March 2, 2014 by TheFunPolice

[darksabre]

 

 

There's nothing they will say beyond what they have. If the cover story is the truth, then that's that. If it's not, why would we expect the organization to publicize a front office power struggle? As far as I know there's zero precedent for anything like that.

 

Well they look like a f*ucking joke right now.

 

 

 

 

Ooooo cool!

[TheFunPolice]

What a circus. How did Pegula get so rich being so apparently clueless about how to run an organization?

 

It's a complete mess....

 

But don't worry! Jeremy White says everything is AWESOME right now! He tweeted as much. This is GREAT news! Things are AMAZING for Sabres fans! The future is SO BRIGHT!

 

God he is insufferable to listen to. Endless negativity is bad enough (but given the sorry state of the Bills and Sabres at least it makes sense). Endless pie in the sky optimism in the face of absolute icompentence is just insulting.

[...]

5 questions

 

1. Was PLF called to NY, and if so, why?

 

2. Were there complaints from other owners?

 

3. Were there professional boundaries breached?

 

4. What was the best thing before there was sliced bread?

 

5. How does PLF have a job the moment he resigns from his current one? Did Bettman make that call? Why was this arranged? Who hired PLF today?

 

6. Did this all leak out of league?

 

These are the questions I want to know.

 

Well....5 real questions.

 

 

Hey man, I like your questions. How much do you want for them? I give you 5 dollar.

[Doohicksie]

If you give me 5 dollar I love you long time

[Saudi Arabia Rob]

Scary how Pegula has been morphing into an almost Ralph-like individual.

[G-Daddy]

Scary how Pegula has been morphing into an almost Ralph-like individual.

I don't think so, Ralphs primary goal is to maximize net income on his franchise. The circus at OBD is a result of that.

[nucci]

It's been a long time since I've been here. Looks like I only post once a year, so let's make it a good one. From the outside, this seems to reflect more poorly on PLF than anyone else. Given his history in forcing a trade from Long Island, forcing a trade out of Buffalo, resigning from the Islanders after 40 days, and now abruptly resigning from the Sabres. It appears that while PLF is a very classy individual externally, his pattern of behavior indicates he's pretty temperamental and looks to dramatically leave a situation when things don't go his way.

 

Additionally, there were some rumors going around when Tim Murray was hired that apparently were planted by Jim Benning. So, it is not necessarily clear he is all that clean as an individual if planted rumors by competing GM candidates are to be believed.

 

Either way, while I am saddened by the trade of Miller and Ott, it was a huge haul for the Sabres and the right thing to do. Keeping Ted Nolan is also the right thing to do. I think Tim Murray is the right guy to lead the Sabres through this rebuild, and has remarkable candor that basically cuts through any and all BS is a welcome change from the previous regime that spoke primarily in ambiguity, excuses, and spin. I don't get much of that from Murray, which is nice.

 

Still would like to know why this all went down, but I imagine that this will largely remain a mystery for a while.

You should post more often. Well said.

[wjag]

Naturally, I blame TM. I don't care what the truth is, it's all TM's fault. :P TM must go. :w00t: He is not only destroying the on ice product but he is also destroying the front office too. :cry: He's cancer man. I tell you... :sick:

 

Now back to something you TM ball washers will actually listen to:

 

You just know Devine is next. I can't honestly believe that Devine outlasted PLF. He was the low hanging fruit. Doesn't it surprise you Devine has lasted this long?

Edited March 2, 2014 by wjag

[Chester Springs Rich]

From Bucky Gleason:

@TBNbucky: Working phones all night. I'm hearing LaFontaine did not resign, but was fired. Many, many theories out there with blame on both sides.

 

@TBNbucky: One thing that is consistent: LaF and Murray agreed Nolan should stay. Power struggle was higher than Murray but not all execs involved.

 

Hopefully this was the case and not a situation of LaF and Murray already butting heads. This has the smell of LaF and the members of the Executive Level butting heads.

[G-Daddy]

Hopefully this shake up does not affect GMTMs deadline deal negotiations. He still has to move Moulson, Stewart & Halak.

Edited March 2, 2014 by DGW54321

[wjag]

Hopefully this shake up does not affect GMTMs deadline deal negotiations. He still has to move Moulson, Stewart & Halak.

 

Don't stop there, he also has Ehrhoff, Stafford, Tallinder, Ennis, Dags, Myers, Weber, Foligno, Leino....

 

I just finished watching his B&G segment. You know the one, where PLF hails him as a conquering hero and draft guru, It is never more clear to me that he genuinely believes he can build this team through the draft and he needs as many picks as possible to play poker with on draft day

 

It will be very interesting to watch this team on draft day.

Edited March 2, 2014 by wjag

[bcsaberks]

5 questions

 

Well....5 real questions.

Excellent questions.

 

Terrible timing too. Murray and team need to be clear headed in the coming days. Instead this sideshow.

 

 

[LaLaLaFontaine]

It is a sad day/ morning for me. I did not check this page for12 hours ans hell breaks loose.

 

I am sad, because I am big fan of PLF. I loved him as player, as classy individuum and also as president of hockes operations.

 

I believe he hired a good GM and I also believe he resigns not because he had a disagreement with TM, because he could have fired him easily. Or maybe he tried and he was fired instead, I do not know.

 

I had the dream of a glory rebirth of the Buffalo Sabres, today this dream still exists, but its glory is already fading.

 

I hope the Sabres will calm down after this catastrophe and won't tear themselves apart. If the office is not calm and is spitting poison at each other the team won't be unaffected by this.

 

This could be the beginning of a very turbulent time, which won't lead us too achievement, glory and championships.

 

It is a sad day today.

[G-Daddy]

 

 

Don't stop there, he also has Ehrhoff, Tallinder, Ennis, Dags, Myers, Weber, Foligno, Leino....

 

I just finished watching his B&G segment. You know the one, where PLF hails him as a conquering hero and draft guru, It is never more clear to me that he genuinely believes he can build this team through the draft and he needs as many picks as possible to play poker with on draft day

 

It will be very interesting to watch this team on draft day.

 

Vinz will be the last man standing.

[Eleven]

Respectfully 11, ###### Lafontaine. What kind of ###### bailout is he pulling here? There is a way to professionally handle these things and it doesn't look like he's doing anything close to that. Buh-Bye patty, it was nice knowing ya.

 

Oh, you may very well be right. I still have no idea what happened. But one thing I do know: this is ######.

 

No two week notice?

 

What the hell?!

 

Now this is funny.

[inkman]

Oh, you may very well be right. I still have no idea what happened. But one thing I do know: this is ######.

 

Now this is funny.

At the very least it won't be boring around here

[TrueBlueGED]

What a circus. How did Pegula get so rich being so apparently clueless about how to run an organization?

 

It's a complete mess....

 

But don't worry! Jeremy White says everything is AWESOME right now! He tweeted as much. This is GREAT news! Things are AMAZING for Sabres fans! The future is SO BRIGHT!

 

God he is insufferable to listen to. Endless negativity is bad enough (but given the sorry state of the Bills and Sabres at least it makes sense). Endless pie in the sky optimism in the face of absolute icompentence is just insulting.

 

Subtract out the radio host's need to drive ratings through hyperbole, and all he really means is the more important person is still here.

 

Well they look like a f*ucking joke right now.

 

Sure, it doesn't look good. But there's still no way they air the dirty laundry in any sort of official capacity.