What is the Sabres Greatest Hope of a Bright Future?

[WildCard]

Well when we sucked before we latched onto Eichel and Reinhart. Then we latched onto, well some of us, Byslma leaving; others onto Murray leaving. Now I'm asking, what do we look forward to as the finish line for when this team will be good again? What are we waiting for? Mittelstadt? Dhalin? A competent and strong farm system that grows and wins together?

[Brawndo]

The final choice

[Robviously]

Yeah, the last part. Build a good farm system that wins, and teaches the players to win together, and you've got something. The Sabres just seem miserable and lost right now.

 

Alex Nylander saying it's "fun" in Rochester after a win this past weekend gave me some actual hope.

[GASabresIUFAN]

That the next wave of prospects actually become good NHL players (Mittelstud, Nylander, Asplund, Pu, Guhle and hopefully one or two we don't expect.).

[Weave]

Eichel not giving up on games.

[ubkev]

That the next wave of prospects actually become good NHL players (Mittelstud, Nylander, Asplund, Pu, Guhle and hopefully one or two we don't expect.).

I think of we had 5 prospects hit in the next couple of years that would be extremely unlikely, and also extremely welcome.

 

But I'm not really looking forward to anything. This team really needs a miracle. They just don't have very much talent.

[Marvelo]

A new owner.

[ddaryl]

The farm system including JBot's future drafts and acquisitions coupled with shedding some dead weight and salary cap hogs off our roster and finding solid players to fill those gaps.

 

Basically all hopes ride on JBot's vision as our GM IMO.  

 

Fixing the Amerks is a good start but patience up here is wearing thin quickly

Edited November 21, 2017 by ddaryl

[Derrico]

Good thread Wildcard. I use to check this board atleast a half dozen times a day (even during the summer). Now I'm lucky if I log on once. It's the hope for a bright future that is lost on me. Sure I love the thought of what Casey can do but I've been burnt before. With the draft lottery system it could easily be 4th or 5th the Sabres select which is not enough to wow me. I donno, I've got tickets for another 5 games this year and will go but the hope is lost on me. I find myself fast forwarding through atleast half of the games which never happened in the past, including the tank years....

[Stoner]

A new owner.

Sometimes I think it wouldn't be a shocking play for Terry to sell. He'd make a nice chunk of change. It would be a sign that the Bills were the prize all along. I have to say, I think the "Terry as superfan" angle was strongly overplayed, but people bought it, so good for them. I guess I'd be shocked if it happened, but I wouldn't mind, as long as any sales agreement included a provision that the team can't be moved -- the same provision OSP put in his sale contract with Terry.

 

A more likely scenario would be Terry and Kim stepping away from the Sabres and letting Terry's older adult kids take over. For this to be my greatest hope for a bright future, they'd have to have decent heads on their shoulders and be smart enough to hire good, experienced hockey people to run things, then get out of the way. I could see Terry handing things off if Botterill and Housley don't work out and he realizes he can't screw the pooch again.

 

In reality, I would accept a John Davidson type as team president, with unfettered power to run things. No more first-timer, former Sabres. Yeah, I'm pretty much burying Botterill 21 games into his tenure.

[Stoner]

GREAT discussion at TBD. Should the Pegulas Cash Out?

 

https://www.twobillsdrive.com/community/topic/198772-should-the-pegulas-cash-out/

 

The folks are starting to catch on.

[nfreeman]

GREAT discussion at TBD. Should the Pegulas Cash Out?

 

https://www.twobillsdrive.com/community/topic/198772-should-the-pegulas-cash-out/

 

The folks are starting to catch on.

 

Catch on to what?

[inkman]

I honestly have no hope for either Buffalo sports franchises. There is nothing indicating light at the end of the tunnel. I'm starting to buy into the fact that the teams are following there owner's lead which to this point in time has been bumbling around the sports landscape with little direction.

 

I've never bought into the "he rich, so he must be smart" credo. Look at the POTUS, one of the stupidest people I've ever listened to yet he runs the most powerful nation in the world.

 

I think Terry was one of those right place right time business owners who just happened into several boatloads of cash.

[Doohicksie]

Here's my problem with the Pegulas selling the team(s):  There's a very small Venn Diagram intersection of "has enough money to buy a sports team" and "knows how to run a sports team."  Add in a third factor:  "committed to the Buffalo market" and you will find a null set I think.

 

Each time the Sabres have been up for sale the primary concern has been whether the new owner would keep the team in Buffalo.  Ralph Wilson showed an almost unfounded faith in the Buffalo market (being that he was from Detroit himself).  I feel fortunate he kept the team here all these years.  The Knoxes were from Buffalo and it was obvious they would never move the team.  The Braves ownership was never Buffalo based and they had no loyalty to this market.  Instead he parleyed his ownership into a swap for the Celtics and the former Celtics owner moved the team to his home state of California.  We're lucky the Sabres and Bills are still both in Buffalo; the Braves showed this to be true.

 

Have the Pegulas won with their franchises?  No.  But they're smart people.  They will learn.  They have two of the three Venn Diagram factors and they can learn the third.  I trust them to preserve the Bills and Sabres as Buffalo institutions.

 

I keep coming back to this theme, but it just seems to ring true with me:  TP early on cited the example of the Detroit Red Wings as his model.  Mike Ilitch bought the team just before they drafted Steve Yzerman.  They weren't competitive for several years; they weren't contenders for 10 years after Stevie Y got there.  They finally bloomed into a perennial contender, winning three Stanley Cups.

 

If the Sabres follow a similar trajectory, we're still several years from the promised land.  I said it in another thread:  If you asked Red Wings fans in 1987 if they thought the team was heading in the right direction, it would have been a mixed bag at best.  If you asked all the same fans in 1997 if they were satisfied with the way things went, most would have answered in the affirmative.  By 2007 you'd be hard pressed to find any fan that thought they took the wrong course.

 

I know, patience my ass.  But whether you have patience or not, this could take some time.  Better grab a Snickers.

Edited November 21, 2017 by Doohickie

[dudacek]

Hiring Sabrespace posters to run things.

[Sabel79]

It has, in my opinion, become quite evident that the Sabres went all in on the tear down, and XGMTM attempted to cut too many corners on the rebuild. Leaving us where we are now (or at least where we were when JBOTs took over). Literally half of an actual NHL squad, with the prospect pipeline leaking as if it were cutting through an Indian Reservation in North Dakota.

 

He hemorrhaged picks/prospects, bought high on guys who didn't work out, giving the cap situation an extra degree of difficulty. In hindsight, this year was never going to go well, as much as I and many of us had hoped otherwise. Housley is safe, JBOTs is, presumably, doing a thing and should be given enough rope.

 

It sucks as a fan to have to watch this, but it's where we are. Team isn't getting sold, and honestly if it did I don't think we'd like how that would play out anyway.

[Stoner]

Hiring Sabrespace posters to run things.

Good one. But be honest. Would you rather TaroT own the Sabres or TeroP? See what I did there?

Catch on to what?

Exactly.

[WildCard]

Hiring Sabrespace posters to run things.

This....

[bob_sauve28]

Winning, talent and chemistry. Winning will create winning environment, talent will help in winning and chemistry is necessary on any team of anything 

[Stoner]

Here's my problem with the Pegulas selling the team(s):  There's a very small Venn Diagram intersection of "has enough money to buy a sports team" and "knows how to run a sports team."  Add in a third factor:  "committed to the Buffalo market" and you will find a null set I think.

 

Each time the Sabres have been up for sale the primary concern has been whether the new owner would keep the team in Buffalo.

This was only a concern before Tom sold to Terry. Terry doesn't deserve any credit for keeping the Sabres here. He has to.

 

Future Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula can never move the team from Buffalo under terms of his $189 million deal to buy the franchise.

 

Majority owner B. Thomas Golisano revealed Thursday he turned down an earlier purchase offer that would have involved shifting the team to another city -- even though the offer was for $70 million more.

 

Although Pegula, a self-described die-hard Sabres fan with ties to western New York, has never indicated he'd want to leave, the no-move provision was a must, said Golisano, who is credited with keeping the Sabres from folding or relocating when he purchased the team out of bankruptcy in 2003.

http://www.espn.com/nhl/news/story?id=6087856

Edited November 21, 2017 by PASabreFan

[dudacek]

Speaking of Taro, haven’t seen a post for awhile.

The way the perpetual malaise of the franchise affects the board affecting him too?

[GASabresIUFAN]

The Pegula’s aren’t the problem right now. They have finally (we hope) hired the right people to run their toys.

The Bills after decades of mis-management are finally on the right track. They have cleared out the old failed Big $ players and are building properly. 6 picks in next years draft in the first 3 rounds. They should get the QB, RB and other pieces they need to build a club.

 

Jbot has to do the same thing here. This year is a transition year. Did anyone think it would be this bad. No! But playing with 50% of an real NHL roster will do that. There are signs that he has a clue. Rochester is a good team. When was the last time we said that? He has found a good value player (Pouliot) and made a hockey trade without emptying the prospect pipeline to do it. Two things TM never did. He also had to clear out (and still does) the mistakes of the past administration. This is much harder in hockey then football because of guaranteed contracts. Moulson still has a year left, Gorges is getting 3.9 to ride the pine. TM guys Bogo and Ko are earning 11 mill + and producing nothing. Bogo hasn’t even played. Seriously what does Jbot have to work with? Scandella, Risto, ROR, Jack and Kane. Risto is hurt and Kane is a UFA at seasons’s end. McCabe, Pouliot, and Sam are complementary players and replaceable. Depth guys like Z and Larsson contribute nothing. Sadly, Jbot really has no choice but to tear it down and start again there just isn’t enough of a foundation here to build on.

 

As I wrote earlier, they only way this turns around within the next few years is if our top prospects (Ullmark, Guhle, Pu, Asplund, Nylander and Mittelstadt) and whomever we get in the top 5 this year, earn roles in Buffalo and succeed within the next two years. If not, this team is dead for the foreseeable future.

 

By the way local businessman Paul Snyder founded the Braves. He sold the team to John Y Brown. He sold the team because of lease issues with the Aud. The Sabres and college basketball were the priorities for the arena. The Braves were getting the 3rd choice of dates which hurt attendance. Brown sold off all the players to pay Snyder and sink the team to get out of the lease. Then David Stern arranged a franchise swap. Brown got the Celtics and Levin got the Braves and moved them to San Diego.

Edited November 21, 2017 by GASabresIUFAN

[Stoner]

I keep coming back to this theme, but it just seems to ring true with me:  TP early on cited the example of the Detroit Red Wings as his model.  Mike Ilitch bought the team just before they drafted Steve Yzerman.  They weren't competitive for several years; they weren't contenders for 10 years after Stevie Y got there.  They finally bloomed into a perennial contender, winning three Stanley Cups.

Do you know who the GM of the Wings was when Ilitch bought them? Me either, until I just googled it. Jimmy Skinner. Ilitch immediately replaced him with another Jimmy. Devellano. The rest is history. Terry Pegula is no Mike Ilitch.

[nfreeman]

Do you know who the GM of the Wings was when Ilitch bought them? Me either, until I just googled it. Jimmy Skinner. Ilitch immediately replaced him with another Jimmy. Devellano. The rest is history. Terry Pegula is no Mike Ilitch.

 

What is the basis for your determination that JBott will not succeed?

[Doohicksie]

Do you know who the GM of the Wings was when Ilitch bought them? Me either, until I just googled it. Jimmy Skinner. Ilitch immediately replaced him with another Jimmy. Devellano. The rest is history. Terry Pegula is no Mike Ilitch.

What is the basis for your determination that JBott will not succeed?

 

Right, but even with Devellano it took YEARS until the team was successful.... like 10 years.

And if you look at Jimmy. Devellano's body of work prior to Ilitch hiring him, JBot's is similar.