Shake up in the office PAT LaFONTAINE RESIGNS

[Sabres Fan in NS]

It's all BS from the best BSer ... TB.

 

For what it's worth, I'm with you on this one GoDD. This thing does not pass the sniff test. I hope I'm wrong.

[Weave]

I'm not concerned about Tim Murray.....his response given the uncertainty of the situation sheds light on THIS situation.

 

It's like when your parents get home from vacation and left the kids alone for 5 days. They walk in the door and ask,

 

"How is everything kids, did you miss us?"

 

And the first thing the kid says is..."Yeah, and we didn't have friends over or drink out of your liquor cabinet or nothin'!"

 

I would expect that response from my kid, even without suspicion of what his actions were in my absence.

[IKnowPhysics]

Stoic. Stoich is a chemistry term.

 

That's probably why one was in my mental spelling dictionary and the other one wasn't.

[Kelly the Dog]

That's what I'm seeing too--the guy just doesn't have a role to play. But, why this week? And why not leave more gracefully than this? That's what bugs me about my own thoughts.

Like everything, IMO, there usually isn't one reason or answer but a multitude. It could very well be that he realized he didn't have much to do anymore, outside of meddling into his GMs affairs. BUT, that said, if that were true, it wouldn't have come out like this. So there simply HAS to be more.

 

A huge fight over power, combined with already doing the important elements of his job, combined with the ability to go back to the league and do what he was doing, are likely all factors. The timing, however, makes it blatantly obvious that there was very bad blood first and foremost.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

Lulz @ Drano trying to psychoanalyze ten seconds of a stoich Tim Murray.

 

Double lulz @ people engaging in debate with it.

 

LOL at you not posting a 10 day span as Lafontaine and Nolan were being hired and lurking yesterday but not posting til today. :)

 

I have no idea what the truth is....but I don't buy for 1 second that Lafontaine decided to leave during the most crucial week of the season to go back to a patronage job after making major life changes. The Sabres sloppy and delayed response should say that this was not a cut and dry situation.

 

I'm perfectly willing to say PLF is capable of flying off the handle.....but even DB's don't do this to their enemies. Lafontaine would not want this public no matter what the true situation, this week.

 

 

[Doohicksie]

Maybe GMTM was (and is) still working the phones and asked Battista to handle this stuff for him. Lots of plausible scenarios that don't involve conflict (outside of an ass-hurt PLF).

 

...and GMTM said as much in the presser.

[IKnowPhysics]

Last question from the full-length audio:

 

"Would you characterize Terry as disappointed?"

Ted Black: "Yes, I would. I think we're all disappointed."

[Kelly the Dog]

"You can't do that!"

 

"Of course I can! I just did!"

 

"If you insist on doing that you're fired!"

 

"You can't fire me, I quit!"

 

"You can't quit now! Think of how it will look!"

 

"Either I do this my way or I am gone!"

 

"Buh-bye. You're fired. We'll announce it as you resigned."

 

Sometimes there is very little need for flies or walls, although I'm sure we would like to know what it was that he thought he could do that he couldn't do.

[qwksndmonster]

Read all of this in the voice of Mordin Solus, and it's absolutely hilarious (yeah, if you haven't played the Mass Effect series, this makes absolutely no sense at all) :flirt:

:worthy: If he can figure out who you're (railroaded by the plot into) working for in like 20 seconds based on next to nothing, he can probably Sherlock Holmes this Sabres story, too.

 

I was off the grid for most of yesterday and it's looking like that was a good thing.

 

I think yesterday was the day where begin a Sabres fan officially became akin to rooting for the good guys on Game of Thrones. Every time you think things can't possibly get worse, they do.

 

I've hated our roster for a while, but this is the first time I can say I have ZERO faith in Pegula. Right now everything feels like it's built on sand.

The Game of Thrones method of enjoying it from a bird's eye-view doesn't work for me in hockey, not even a little bit.

 

I'm concerned about the Sabres front office a bit. The plan was to have a brain trust, a balance of hockey opinions, but it already broke down. Was this a result of TP giving PLF not enough sway or honesty about what his position wold actually be? Was it a result of PLF having friction with another part of management? I wouldn't be worried if it was just between TM and PLF, as the GM should have the final say and if PLF wanted more power he shouldn't be here.

 

I'm with 11. This is still ######. Hopefully it's nothing, but I can't help but feel queasy about this whole thing.

[CallawaySabres]

Anyone who doesn't think there is more to this story is just completely blind. The timing alone SCREAMS there was a bombshell in there somewhere. Does anyone honestly think PLF would do this 4 days before the trade deadline? This was horrible timing at its finest....Think!

[Corp000085]

My speculative take? Nolan was upset because he has been out of the loop with the Olympic break and you know, coaching his team. Plus, he's the coach; he's not upper management. LaFontaine on the other hand was brought to this team to bring stability during the transition period. That transition period came to a crashing halt when he hired the best possible candidate in Tim Murray for GM. I think that he sniffed at resigning last week or sometime over the Olympics and was asked to "go away" till after the trade deadline when they would have allowed for an amicable departure. The stark reality of the trade deadline either caused LaFontaine to quit immediately OR someone got wind and posed on Twitter, which caused this uproar over the past 24 hours. In the end, Murray got value for Miller and Ott and is not done. Ted Black is still in charge of day-to-day operations. Pegula is still the active Sabres fan owner. I think the lesson learned here is that the Sabres PR department was forced to react away from the script and they failed. LaFontaine will have to answer the call eventually. I can't wait to hear what he has to say. Moving forward, we will have to see if trades are affected or what Nolan does with his supposed contract offer. Time will tell.

[...]

 

 

Murray offered that as the first thing off the top of his head. That is psych 201....he's an honest dude...it's weighing on him.

 

So the story is that Lafontaine missed his 120K a year job in NYC after he moved the family and committed the high school kid for 4 years....even though he makes more in interest per year on his net worth and can make the same amount from that job in 6 public speaking engagements?

 

Exactly. You're missing pieces.

[IKnowPhysics]

I think unless Pat opens up later at some point in time, this will go down as a Sabres story that very few will know the details of, sort of like the story of what started the Hasek-Nolan feud.

 

And it may not have any appreciable impact on how the team operates.

[Corp000085]

"You can't do that!"

 

"Of course I can! I just did!"

 

"If you insist on doing that you're fired!"

 

"You can't fire me, I quit!"

 

"You can't quit now! Think of how it will look!"

 

"Either I do this my way or I am gone!"

 

"Buh-bye. You're fired. We'll announce it as you resigned."

 

Sometimes there is very little need for flies or walls, although I'm sure we would like to know what it was that he thought he could do that he couldn't do.

 

This happens all the time in the real world. "Here's a termination letter dated for tomorrow, which will be sent to HR tomorrow. Here's a resignation letter dated tomorrow. Sign the resignation letter now or I send the termination letter to HR."

[bunomatic]

Anyone who doesn't think there is more to this story is just completely blind. The timing alone SCREAMS there was a bombshell in there somewhere. Does anyone honestly think PLF would do this 4 days before the trade deadline? This was horrible timing at its finest....Think!

 

You're right. This smells like a shitthouse door on a tunaboat.

[...]

THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!

[Kelly the Dog]

This happens all the time in the real world. "Here's a termination letter dated for tomorrow, which will be sent to HR tomorrow. Here's a resignation letter dated tomorrow. Sign the resignation letter now or I send the termination letter to HR."

Of course. It's the only reasonable explanation of what happened, combined with the timing. It's possible, of course, this isn't what happened. But I would bet that it did, and I can't think of another reasonable scenario if it didn't.

[Cityo'Rasmii]

I think unless Pat opens up later at some point in time, this will go down as a Sabres story that very few will know the details of, sort of like the story of what started the Hasek-Nolan feud.

 

And it may not have any appreciable impact on how the team operates.

 

Excellent!

[darksabre]

Anyone who doesn't think there is more to this story is just completely blind. The timing alone SCREAMS there was a bombshell in there somewhere. Does anyone honestly think PLF would do this 4 days before the trade deadline? This was horrible timing at its finest....Think!

 

I'm under the impression that they wanted to keep this under wraps until after the deadline but someone leaked it and they had to preform damage control.

 

I think the preformed damage control poorly though.

[26CornerBlitz]

Sabres.com Video: Black/Murray press conference (3/2/2014) <12:20>

 

Ted Black & Tim Murray met with the media on March 2 at First Niagara Center.

[Nitro60]

I am curious. Pat resigns to go back to the NHL job. 2nd time in a school year to up root his family? My wife would be all over me. Maybe Pat will have his own press conference or a one on one interview with a local sports guys. Forget anyone with the Buffalo News, they are hacks. Likeable hacks but hacks nonetheless. One thing that I would point out is Pat has had a history of concussions. The post concussion syndrome problems include headaches, cognitive difficulties, irritability and other issues. The stress and pressure of the job may have aggravated his condition. The NHL gig could be more to his liking. This is only a theory and supposition I wish Pat well and good luck. I don't want t reason be infighting, diva attitudes, and other crap. This just does not make sense to me until all parties are heard from.

[...]

Harrington is a doooooooooooosh.

[Doohicksie]

that TN presser didn't help me feel any warmer or fuzzier about this mess. I got the feeling he's not sure he wants to accept a contract offer.

 

WTF is going on?

 

He and PLF are besties.

 

I had a boss at work that I got along great with, who pulled me along behind him not once but twice, both times giving me pretty cool assignments. Then he just left the company. It gave me pause, but here it is about five years later and I'm still with the company.

 

I'm sure with the departure of PLF, Teddy is doubling down on his decision, making sure it's the right way to go. His career so far has been greatly affected (positively and negatively) by personal relationships, but he's also good enough for his coaching to stand on its own merits. His hesitance probably has to do with him doing a gut check, convincing himself he can really do the job. It was an easy decision when PLF was there pulling for him, but with Patty gone, he's doing some soul searching to make sure he wants to work with the personalities left. I think he will, but there's no real reason why he has to say yes or no right this minute.

 

I like to think he'll be successful as a coach for the Sabres going forward, but if he decides the situation isn't right for him, I think GMTM will be able to find and bring in a capable replacement. Who knows, maybe this whole interim tag thing was Nolan's preference, not wanting to commit to the job until he was sure it was the right thing for him to do at this point in his life.

[...]

I guarantee PLF is telling Nolan to sign the contract.

[stenbaro]

I can only imagine what Tim Murray was thinking while being bombarded with questions:

 

I cant believe I am going thru this BS when I have a million productive things I could be doing right now instead of this crap...

 

 

The more I hear Tim Murray speak I cant help but draw comparisons to the way Jimmy Johnson from the Dallas Cowboys in the year of 1989 talked....Folks we have a GM who if he really knows Hockey Players is gonna make this team really great...He answers questions with authority and conclusion, the way he is handling every speed bump or potential one is just dead nuts on. He has taken the steam out of any future Nolan fallback for not hiring him by offering him an extension and putting the ball in Teds court. Our team is at the bottom of the barrel right now and we will be for another year but once we get thru this its gonna be a great ride i think...