The Perfect Storm of Incompetence and the Coming Fan Revolt

[Stoner]

Haha. Nice.

 

:beer:

Yes. The asteroid was actually destroyed by the nuclear weapon. That's good. Season ticket prices are still going up, and the puffy shirt is definitely in the works. But last night didn't represent competence. A lot of my worries remain about this front office being sharp enough to complete the really hard work to come. If Terry has stopped meddling (too busy with the Bills, told GMTM "do what you think is right" re: Kane trade, has learned his lesson, etc.), that would bode well. The one thing I wonder is whether Murray is still here for a Cup, or if he gets replaced like Patrick did in Pittsburgh after Crosby's first season. Nolan takes us so far, Murray takes us so far and so on. It's a cold biz.

[SwampD]

Yes. The asteroid was actually destroyed by the nuclear weapon. That's good. Season ticket prices are still going up, and the puffy shirt is definitely in the works. But last night didn't represent competence. A lot of my worries remain about this front office being sharp enough to complete the really hard work to come. If Terry has stopped meddling (too busy with the Bills, told GMTM "do what you think is right" re: Kane trade, has learned his lesson, etc.), that would bode well. The one thing I wonder is whether Murray is still here for a Cup, or if he gets replaced like Patrick did in Pittsburgh after Crosby's first season. Nolan takes us so far, Murray takes us so far and so on. It's a cold biz.

It doesn't have to be two years. It just better not be sixteen.

[LTS]

Yes. The asteroid was actually destroyed by the nuclear weapon. That's good. Season ticket prices are still going up, and the puffy shirt is definitely in the works. But last night didn't represent competence. A lot of my worries remain about this front office being sharp enough to complete the really hard work to come. If Terry has stopped meddling (too busy with the Bills, told GMTM "do what you think is right" re: Kane trade, has learned his lesson, etc.), that would bode well. The one thing I wonder is whether Murray is still here for a Cup, or if he gets replaced like Patrick did in Pittsburgh after Crosby's first season. Nolan takes us so far, Murray takes us so far and so on. It's a cold biz.

 

It can be a cold biz.  Then you read stories where the CBJ GM trades Leopold to the Wild for a bag of pucks just so he can be close to home with his family.  It ain't always so bad.

 

Frankly I think Murray will be deemed one of the best GMs in the league.  He is the cold biz.  He's about as calculating as I have seen.  The Church of ZFG.

 

The real work of Murray is about to begin and I look at the Ducks as an example of what he can accomplish.

[Stoner]

It can be a cold biz.  Then you read stories where the CBJ GM trades Leopold to the Wild for a bag of pucks just so he can be close to home with his family.  It ain't always so bad.

 

Frankly I think Murray will be deemed one of the best GMs in the league.  He is the cold biz.  He's about as calculating as I have seen.  The Church of ZFG.

 

The real work of Murray is about to begin and I look at the Ducks as an example of what he can accomplish.

That's not why he traded Leopold, but it made for a nice story.

[LTS]

That's not why he traded Leopold, but it made for a nice story.

 

I must have missed the other reasons then.

[Stoner]

I must have missed the other reasons then.

The Columbus GM said he hadn't seen or heard of the letter before the trade. I don't know the hockey reasons for trading Leopold.

[LTS]

The Columbus GM said he hadn't seen or heard of the letter before the trade. I don't know the hockey reasons for trading Leopold.

 

I missed that to be certain.

[Eleven]

I missed that to be certain.

 

Just confirming (not piling on), I also remember the CBJGM saying that.

[PromoTheRobot]

 

What's at stake for this franchise if the doomsday scenario completely plays out? What would it take for the fans to reach a tipping point, a boiling point even?

 

Let's consider:

 

• TP comes into town talking Stanley Cup and saying, "Money? Pffft." He also says he likes gritty players and Lindy ain't goin' nowhere and Darcy? I can work with him.

 

• Same day, he goes to a Buffalo News editorial board meeting and asks what has Darcy done wrong? He blames the News for the quit in the team.

 

• He is accompanied to town by accountant friend Cliff Benson, Benson's client Ted Black, Black's old boss Ken Sawyer and later Sawyer's old boss Craig Patrick, as well as PSU pal Joe Battista. The Old Keystone Reacharound (Urban Dictionary).

 

• The Sabres lose in Game 7 to the Flyers, the last sight of a playoff game in Pegula's tenure.

 

• TP goes on a spending spree (the Sabres eventually have to buy out two of the prizes, including the reviled Ville Leino, and the third is traded.) "We tried some things and they didn't work," said Ted Black later. "It was my decision," Terry admits to Hockey Hotline while driving around town with his dog.

 

• After the lockout, the team's gesture of "thanks and sorry" to the fans is a discount in the Sabres Store, while other teams around the league are much more generous.

 

• The team continues to flop and the popular Lindy Ruff is fired and replaced by Ron Rolston. Terry starts to consider the extent of the rebuild that is at hand, according to Darcy, who has inexplicably been retained.

 

• The Sabres raise season ticket prices for the third straight offseason and the letter arrives on Fan Appreciation Day. One year, the increase is the highest in percentage in the league.

 

• Ted Black says since the Sabres can't land free agents, they have to find elite talent in the draft; the extent of this rebuild is going to be balls-deep.

 

• Black introduces a third jersey to wide disgust. He later calls it a turdburger but refuses to eat it as promised — he blames the fans for "jersey fatigue."

 

• Darcy is finally fired. Terry asks Pat LaFontaine over dinner if he wants to be GM. Pat says no, I'm not qualified. Terry offers him a more complicated job, team president. Facing a massive rebuild, and with former Penn State club hockey coach Battista in on the interview, LaFontaine hires first-time GM, GMTM. He also brings back coach Ted Nolan. With no official explanation, LaFontaine leaves four months later.

 

• Battista, not Murray, tells Nolan that Ryan Miller has been traded. Battista brags on Twitter that he signed Ryan Vinz, a Sabres staffer and former high school goalie, to be the team's backup goalie that night.

 

• The Sabres fail to win the lottery despite finishing 30th.

 

• Murray has to go on his own spending spree to get the Sabres to the cap floor.

 

• The Sabres host Connor McDavid and the Erie Otters in an OHL game at the arena.

 

• Draft pick Sam Reinhart, apparently not physically ready for the NHL, is a mild disappointment.

 

• Dominik Hasek Night is roundly criticized. At one point Hasek references the kids from Hockey Heroes, then looks around to realize they are not on the ice yet. "I must see… the children!"

 

• Murray trades Tyler Myers and Drew Stafford and prospects for Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian. The former Sabres play well, the Jets make the playoffs and Bogosian, often injured in Winnipeg, misses time in Buffalo.

 

• Prized PSU player Casey Bailey goes to Toronto. The Sabres, who burned a year of Mikhail Grigorenko's entry level contract, won't do it again for the highly regarded Bailey.

 

• Murray says he thinks too much about McDavid; he can't help himself. Previously he had said he hopes the team is better next year while still being a lottery team.

 

• For the second straight year, the Sabres are epically, historically bad. Some fans openly cheer for opponents at FNC.

 

• The Sabres can't seal the deal on dead last.

 

But wait, there might be more! Let's say we add:

 

• GMTM is unwilling or unable to do the dirty work to ensure a last place finish, and the Sabres finish 29th and lose out on McEichel at the lottery.

 

• The braintrust tells the fans it was never about McEichel, just about getting top talent at the draft, and they never expected the team to be this bad.

 

• GMTM shitcans Ted Nolan one year into his contract.

 

• Season ticket prices go up again, because, of course, the Sabres have no choice!

 

• The ticket price letter arrives on the day of the lottery.

 

• Kim Pegula unveils a blue and gold flecked puffy jersey.

 

• At a church service, Terry tells an Aristocrats joke that involves a quadriplegic, Byron Brown and the widow Paterno.

 

In all seriousness...

 

In all seriousness...

 

How much would the fans reasonably be expected to take? No one has cheered in that building since 2007. Exciting, entertaining hockey is only played on TV screens in Buffalo, which probably explains the healthy ratings for national games. Attendance is a house of cards built on a ton of STHs who view their tickets as an economic investment. How much would it take for a butterfly to flutter in southeast Asia and start a fan revolt, and not just among STHs, in Buffalo?

In all seriousness, you need to take a break.

[North Buffalo]

A fan revolt? Ya, whatever...

PA you are clairvoyant!

That's not why he traded Leopold, but it made for a nice story.

We will see, his Uncle sucked while he was at Washington in the 90s and he was always considered a bit of a Bastag....  Don't like his style nor his Uncle's back then.

[Stoner]

In all seriousness, you need to take a break.

I am taking the playoffs off. Thanks for your concern.

[LTS]

Just confirming (not piling on), I also remember the CBJGM saying that.

 

No worries.. thanks. I shall not use that story again. :)

[That Aud Smell]

I lol'd.

[Stoner]

I lol'd.

Toni Lydman winks at Darcy Regier?

[That Aud Smell]

Toni Lydman winks at Darcy Regier?

[too long; didn't read]

[Weave]

In all seriousness, you need to take a break.

 

Not just you but, there is wayyyyyyy too many people telling other people that they need to go away/root for other teams. 

[Stoner]

Not just you but, there is wayyyyyyy too many people telling other people that they need to go away/root for other teams. 

Ehhh, I didn't take it as a slam. My heart is kind of warmed that he cares. It was a manic post at a manic time in team history.

[bunomatic]

Ehhh, I didn't take it as a slam. My heart is kind of warmed that he cares. It was a manic post at a manic time in team history.

A few short days ago many on SS were jockying for position up on the ledge. Strange days indeed.

[Trettioåtta]

Sadly I can't find the source, but unconfirmed reports suggest Terry Pegula is actually a 7ft lizard alien bent on destroying West New York's hockey teams

[PromoTheRobot]

Not just you but, there is wayyyyyyy too many people telling other people that they need to go away/root for other teams.

I didn't tell Fake Gorby to get lost, just take a breather from his tiresome crusade.

[X. Benedict]

Sadly I can't find the source, but unconfirmed reports suggest Terry Pegula is actually a 7ft lizard alien bent on destroying West New York's hockey teams

That's an exaggeration. He's only 6ft. 

[Weave]

I didn't tell Fake Gorby to get lost, just take a breather from his tiresome crusade.

 

 

His tiresome crusade is just as important to the discussion here as yours is.

[MBHockey13]

His tiresome crusade is just as important to the discussion here as yours is.

No,it isn't. It's repetitive and annoying and irrational and obsessive and kind of creepy.

[Patty16]

His tiresome crusade is just as important to the discussion here as yours is.

 

No its not. His tiresome crusade infiltrates way too many threads and he simply tries to incorporate it into any topic.  

 

It's tiresome and most people don't want to read it as it really adds nothing to the discussion.

No,it isn't. It's repetitive and annoying and irrational and obsessive and kind of creepy.

 

Exactly. It's  almost like the big lebowski and walter.... this one time in 'Nam.....

 

No Walter this literally has nothing to do with Nam.... well not literally.. 

 

That's what PA's posts are like.  He's Walter from Big Lebowski.

[matter2003]

Who cares what happened in the past. What separates good leaders from bad ones is the bad ones try and hope things will change when things obviously aren't working. Pegula is not afraid to admit when something isnt working and pull the trigger.

 

We are on the right path now and should see the fruits of our labor within a few years