Shake up in the office PAT LaFONTAINE RESIGNS

[LastPommerFan]

Fixed it for you. ;)

 

GCoP? what's the P?

[Eleven]

GCoP? what's the P?

 

Pemotion. It's like a penis demotion.

[Weave]

Pemotion. It's like a penis demotion.

 

GCoC?

[Darryl Shannon's +/-]

The thing gnawing at me is this.....obviously getting in front of the cameras and saying all is well, there was no power struggle whatsoever has not worked. If they told what we believe is closer to the truth, would it look better? Is it really that difficult to say something along the lines of, "In the past few weeks, Pat and the rest of the leadership team had different opinions in terms of decision making abilities. After trying to mediate this for a few weeks, we found it best to move forward without Pat in the role of president, but we wish him all the best in his future endeavors."

 

Any probing questions could be deflected saying that we want to keep this in house. Right?

 

I hate the current path because it's as if the braintrust thinks that we are all dumb enough to believe the spin. But let's be serious. There will be more trades, the team will have huge turnover. We will all move on and continue watching because we don't pay money or post on this message board for a management team. All this does is make us skeptical every time they speak.

[Kelly the Dog]

The thing gnawing at me is this.....obviously getting in front of the cameras and saying all is well, there was no power struggle whatsoever has not worked. If they told what we believe is closer to the truth, would it look better? Is it really that difficult to say something along the lines of, "In the past few weeks, Pat and the rest of the leadership team had different opinions in terms of decision making abilities. After trying to mediate this for a few weeks, we found it best to move forward without Pat in the role of president, but we wish him all the best in his future endeavors."

 

Any probing questions could be deflected saying that we want to keep this in house. Right?

 

I hate the current path because it's as if the braintrust thinks that we are all dumb enough to believe the spin. But let's be serious. There will be more trades, the team will have huge turnover. We will all move on and continue watching because we don't pay money or post on this message board for a management team. All this does is make us skeptical every time they speak.

We all would have asked, "What were they?!" Tell us. Was it the Miller trade? PLF wanted to keep Miller and Murray didn't! What the hell is wrong with Nolan?! Why doesnt he take that extension offer?! Something is ###### up about this. There is something they are not telling us. If they were just philosophical differences, why didnt he wait until after the deadline?!

 

It would have been the same thing.

[Jsixspd]

Just hope it doesn't hurt whatever additional trades Tim Murray might have in the works.

[Taro T]

GCoP? what's the P?

Why Pominville of course. ;)

[Doohicksie]

I am really starting to like Murray. Just ruthless, no BS personality.

 

"I'm not begging someone to be here, I want players that want to be here and coaches that want to be here"

 

"I appreciate him hiring me but I can't make choice for him, everyone makes their own choices and this doesn't change anything"

 

This dude is EXACTLY what we need as our GM...ruthless, calculating, "Your only as good as your last season" GM...

 

He's ruthless but he doesn't strike me as an ######. Just a blunt guy. Here it is, like it or not, but here it is. Watching his comments about Nolan and watching Nolan's presser, I think both men have spoken their mind, and Nolan wisely didn't quite speak his heart (which is kind of messed up at the moment).

 

I hate the current path because it's as if the braintrust thinks that we are all dumb enough to believe the spin. But let's be serious. There will be more trades, the team will have huge turnover. We will all move on and continue watching because we don't pay money or post on this message board for a management team. All this does is make us skeptical every time they speak.

 

I like the current path just fine. They announced it. They talked about it. Now it's past history and let's run a team here. It's not so much "Nothing to see here, move along," but more of a "There was a bump in the road but we're not going to let it derail this team."

 

Excelsior.

 

There is something they are not telling us.

 

And I don't wanna know. It could be something personal. Just let it go.

[Iron Crotch]

Murray made the Miller/Ott trade on his own without Pat's blessing (I assume Murray got the okay from Pegula) and Pat felt slighted. With it clear that he had no real power to affect personnel decisions, Pat quit. Might be that simple.

 

To me the interesting piece is what happens with Nolan. Could go either way...

[Doohicksie]

And honestly, I'm okay whichever way it goes. I like Nolan, but if he has serious reservations about staying after PLF's departure, he should leave. That said, I think he will stay the season and by then it will be clear to him whether his future is with the Sabres.

[pi2000]

I got it. Murray is low balling Nolan on the contract offer and it pissed off PLF. That explains why Nolan hasn't jumped at the chance to sign the deal and why Murray is saying he just wants a coach who wants to be here. Probably offered him a one year extension, which I think is fair. TN probably told PLF he wants more money/term and PLF told TN he was powerless to do anything about it.... PLF prolly took a stand against Murray and Black saying you either sweeten the deal for my BFF TN or I'm outta here. Which explains why a contract offer has been sitting around unsigned for almost a week now. The timing lines up too.

 

IMO TN should be thankful he even has an offer on the table. However, I always got the sense, even back in the 90's, that TN thinks awfully highly of himself. He's probably taking the offer as an insult as did PLF, and he's shaken at the fact that his BFF put his own job on the line as a sign of loyalty.

[Andrew Amerk]

Who cares. He is gone.

[thesportsbuff]

Pretty crazy stuff. Obviously something happened. If Pat left on good terms he would have been at the presser, or at least made some indication of why he made the decision by now. Also Ted Nolan's comments are pretty telling. Very interesting, I wish I could know more, but it is unlikely the full story comes out any time soon I guess.

[Peppy22]

Actually I like what has happened in the past few days. If this all happened because of Tim Murray, then I gotta say I love this guy!

 

It always occured to me that the Sabres used to be a franchise holding on to things for way too long. For example certain players. "Well he is not that good at the moment but he did so much for us we can't really let him go and trade him, right!?"

 

If Tim Murray walked in and said: "Enough with this, trade him, get assets, trade him, get assets and move on do this and we are starting fresh", then this is the best thing that could have ever happened to the Sabres.

 

If that's what people call dysfunctional, then I love dysfunctional. It is about time, that someone from the outside walks in, looks at everything and says... "guys don't hold on to these memories because you are blocking your own process of getting better."

Edited March 3, 2014 by Peppy22

[Bob Malooga]

Actually I like what has happened in the past few days. If this all happened because of Tim Murray, then I gotta say I love this guy!

 

It always occured to me that the Sabres used to be a franchise holding on to things for way too long. For example certain players. "Well he is not that good at the moment but he did so much for us we can't really let him go and trade him, right!?"

 

If Tim Murray walked in and said: "Enough with this, trade him, get assets, trade him, get assets and move on do this and we are starting fresh", then this is the best thing that could have ever happened to the Sabres.

 

If that's what people call dysfunctional, then I love dysfunctional. It is about time, that someone from the outside walks in, looks at everything and says... "guys don't hold on to these memories because you are blocking your own process of getting better."

I agree with this.

 

Like I was telling a friend, Lafontaine has never built a hockey team, or even had a hand in part of doing so. Craig Patrick and Tim Murray, on the other hand, have done so with pretty good, if not great results. The right guys are still on the job, as far as I'm concerned...I just hope Patrick stays long enough to see it through.

 

Which also leads me to believe, Pegula, Black, Patrick and Murray are all on board with the "Tank." 2 of them, I believe (Black & Patrick) have already been a part of such a re-building project in Pittsburgh. They are manipulating the team for losing purposes. I don't know if it was mentioned here, but Bryan Colangelo talked about doing it in the NBA. We have heard some of these guys talk about it, but Lafontaine and Nolan do not seem to want to do things that way. If you don't want to be here and do what is best for the logo, then I don't think there is any place for you...executive, down to the fans.

 

http://www.cbssports...mits-to-tanking-

Edited March 3, 2014 by Bob Malooga

[kishoph]

Pat LaFontaine has post concussion syndrome. It explains ALL of this in a single swing.

 

Maybe he had a moment of clarity and ran away from this cluster f**k as fast as he could.

 

I really believe that if it was PLF's decision to resign, he would of held a press conference or announced it through the media someway himself. Even after he left the Islanders, he gave an explanation and that was just as a job as an unpaid adviser, here he was President of hockey operations, I can't believe he would leave amicably without an explanation to the fans.

[Marvelo]

My Islander fan friend told me PLF resigned the Islanders job after 40 days because they fired his buddy Neil Smith. Wonder if all this talk extending TN is true or if Pat left again because one of his cronies was about to get jettisoned?

Edited March 3, 2014 by 716

[North Buffalo]

And now Ted Nolan is hemming and hawing. TPegs screwed the pooch on this one letting Murray go around Lafontaine. As I said before if the Sabres lose Nolan, this is more than a P.R. blunder. It is a major screw up. Nuts this is very disappointing.

[Weave]

And now Ted Nolan is hemming and hawing. TPegs screwed the pooch on this one letting Murray go around Lafontaine. As I said before if the Sabres lose Nolan, this is more than a P.R. blunder. It is a major screw up. Nuts this is very disappointing.

 

We don't know that Murray went around PLF for anything. 1. PLF said awhile ago that he was open to moving Miller and 2. the ball seemed to have started rolling on his resignation before Miller and Ott were dealt. When the deal for Miller went down PLF was already not in office.

[wacollin]

Here's one...

 

Maybe PLF just doesn't like to show up for work every day? Hell he's probably board since he hired TM. If his family is still in NYC, he may have taken a few too many long weekends.

 

So he was AWOL the last week? He could have gotten a call after a few days telling him to get his azz into the office. So this pisses him off and he calls his old buddy Bettman, gets his old job back. When he does come back to Buffalo he gets beat down for missing too much work, pulls his trump card with the NHL and quits. TN doesn't think he did anything wrong and feels the team slighted him.

 

We may never know what happened. But my point is that it didn't have to be a power struggle. Hell maybe he was on a bender last week.

 

If it/was something personal like this the team shouldn't tell us. But that doesn't mean it was a power struggle even if TN is irked by whatever happened.

 

I do agree that anything like that isn't as news breaking, doesn't have the drama of a power struggle and isn't as much fun as trying to figure out what happened or who we should blame.

 

.

[North Buffalo]

We don't know that Murray went around PLF for anything. 1. PLF said awhile ago that he was open to moving Miller and 2. the ball seemed to have started rolling on his resignation before Miller and Ott were dealt. When the deal for Miller went down PLF was already not in office.

 

I agree it sounds like Murray was probably not involved. I am just wonder who or what and if it was PLF personal deal or someone else like Battista. Nolan seems to reacting like is was more than something personal to PLF, but like I said, if the Sabres lose Nolan as a result of any problem with PLF, this is more than a P.R. mess, it is a major screw up not having kept Nolan in the loop. His reaction obviously shows he wasn't kept in the loop and that was and is stupid.

 

Coalition building doesn't seem to be a strong suit of the new business class which is why you get these kind of foul ups with greater fall-out than should be.

Edited March 3, 2014 by Icehole

[sicknfla]

IMO, if it was something more than what was said at the PC they would have to address it more directly. Having said it the way they did opens them up to look even more foolish and disfunctional if PLF comes out with a totally different reason.

 

Can't see PLF taking one for the team as the bad guy here. Quitting for a second time without valid explaination is career suicide IMO. He must be content with his NHL role and realized the daily grind of the FO was not for him.

 

Here is to hoping anyhow.

[Chester Springs Rich]

One could also argue this - since LaF came on board, no arguing he made a number of solid hires in Murray, Patrick and Nolan. Maybe LaF failed to recognize just how much responsibility he possbily was delegating to Murray and Patrick and realized that, for himself, there was minimul left over responsibilty that lacked any substance. Recognizing this late, maybe he made a play for one of the other Executive Positions that report directly to TP and TP respectively said no. This unusual scenario includes the fact that he was hired back so quickly by the NHL.

 

Until we learn more, anything is possbile, yet fun to speculate on!

[nucci]

And now Ted Nolan is hemming and hawing. TPegs screwed the pooch on this one letting Murray go around Lafontaine. As I said before if the Sabres lose Nolan, this is more than a P.R. blunder. It is a major screw up. Nuts this is very disappointing.

Respectfully disagree. I have nothing against Nolan and think he's a good coach but if he wants to leave because his friend quit, then I say goodbye.

[That Aud Smell]

So this topic no longer warrants a pin?

 

Huh.