Recent Pegula press conf 3/26

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

1 hour ago, apuszczalowski said:

It happened, but it has also been proven to be  fluke and not representative of the actual team out there. The rest of the season has shown over long more consistent periods of time that this team is at best, as bad as the team last year, but because of a fluke 10 game win streak, will look better and improved on paper when it really isnt. This team cant even string together 2 wins in a row

10 game streaks whether bad or good aren't "flukes" and happen probably every year in the NHL. If Tampa had a 10 game win streak would it be a "fluke". It's been proven that a team with a 10 game win streak has missed the playoff before.

I don't necessarily totally disagree about the thought process and it's more of the continued unending use of it as if it never existed to "prove" a point. I have no problem including that streak and still saying that ....we suck.

[That Aud Smell]

@PASabreFan: The new thread title is a bit wonky, IMO. Might I suggest something more like Pegulas' Press Conference of March 26th.

[PotentPowerPlay21]

1 hour ago, ddaryl said:

There is no case left to keep Phil

 

The team has quit on him and he hasn't made many, if any, smart coaching decisions. This team is clearly better than their record IMO so Phil must go

I never saw a compelling case to hire Phil in the first place. The evidence suggests that he is not producing results. Objectively, every team could use more talent, but this coach doesn't seem to be very close to maximizing the talent available. I think the excuses being used to keep this coach are very weak. The record suggests that he is not up to the job.

[Ross Rhea]

Phils record in 2 years speaks for itself. 

Tampa currently has 122 pts with 5 games to play

Coaching Record

				Regular Season								Playoffs
Season	Age	Tm	Lg	GP	W	L	T	OL	PTS	PTS%	Finish	G	W	L	T	W-L%	Notes
Career			NHL	158	56	81		21	133	.421		0	0	0
2017-18	53	BUF	NHL	82	25	45		12	62	.378	8th	0	0	0
2018-19	54	BUF	NHL	76	31	36		9	71	.467	6th	0	0	0

 

[Cascade Youth]

57 minutes ago, LTS said:

You want an answer to something that has so many variables to it to consider that providing an answer may not be possible.  What you ask is the question to so many things.  When is the right time to make a change?  That's followed by, a change to what/whom?

The one certainty right now is that the Pegulas will continue to be owners of this franchise.  If any fan doesn't trust the Pegulas to do the right things to make the Sabres successful it would be advised to perhaps find something else to spend time with.  Simply because it's something that is not changing.  Any fan can call for Botterill or Housley to be fired or for other changes because those have some reasonable probability of happening.  The Pegulas selling the franchise, at this point, seems a near zero probability. 

 

Really though, is it as complicated as you're making it sound?  How about: "When I hired Jason Botterill I made it clear to him that he was authorized and expected to build this thing the right way, for the long-term.  And based upon our analysis of other, similar buildouts around the league, we expect to be gradually more competitive, with the expectation that within three to five years from his hiring we've laid the foundation for a consistent playoff contender.  If that hasn't happened, then we'll need to ask some really tough questions to figure out whether the plan, the execution, or both, have missed the mark."  I.e., Botterill was hired in May 2017.  If we're still not looking like a playoff team in May of 2020, after he's had three years to build his roster, I'm seriously considering starting over with a new person and/or new plan.

[dudacek]

Fact: Eichel, Reinhart and Ristolainen are old enough to officially be our veteran core, and have seen nothing but losing to the point where we are in danger of losing them.

Fact: losing Eichel not only pushes the rebuild back four years until Dahlin is a man, it risks repeating what is happening to Eichel with Dahlin.

Fact: the players appear to have stopped playing for their coach

Fact: The fan base is entirely fed up and without patience.

Given the above, there are extremely compelling competitive and financial reasons to make the playoffs a necessity next season.

 

Fact: the majority of the fan base blames Housley.

Fact: Very few young teams take a big steps without changing the coach.

It’s hard to see a scenario other than blind loyalty or rare faith where Phil is back.

[IKnowPhysics]

Lol, literally none of those are facts.

[Radar]

5 hours ago, MakeSabresGrr8Again said:

I'm so sick of the "take the streak out and" comments. It happened and there's 82 games in a season, not 72...get over it. the team is better over the 82g than last year with the same coach and less talent if your one to believe that ROR trade was a bad thing.

Sick or not go back and look at those ten games. We didn't look as good as the record. Even the organization admits that. Sorry it makes you sick but this team,in my opinion , has underachieved this whole season. Ten game streak was an an aberration in an otherwise bad season. Further, I'm sick of using the ROR trade as an excuse. Top to bottom this team is more talented than a year ago and much more than the tank team and our record is slightly better due to the streak at the beginning of the year. I'll judge the whole not ten games. Do you think the players think there as bad as their record?

 

Edited March 27, 2019 by Radar

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

2 minutes ago, Radar said:

Sick or not go back and look at those ten games. We didn't look as good as the record. Even the organization admits that. Sorry it makes you sick but this team,in my opinion , has underachieved this whole season. Ten game streak was an an aberration in an otherwise bad season. Further, I'm sick of using the ROR trade as an excuse. Top to bottom this team is more talented than a year ago and much more than the tank team and our record is slightly better due to the streak at the beginning of the year. I'll judge the whole not ten games.

 

Easy.....this is all I ask. 

They may be far and few between but you could look at some games that they played well and lost too, some Tampa games come to mind. But yeah, all in all I'm with ya.

[Stoner]

3 hours ago, LTS said:

You want an answer to something that has so many variables to it to consider that providing an answer may not be possible.  What you ask is the question to so many things.  When is the right time to make a change?  That's followed by, a change to what/whom?

The one certainty right now is that the Pegulas will continue to be owners of this franchise.  If any fan doesn't trust the Pegulas to do the right things to make the Sabres successful it would be advised to perhaps find something else to spend time with.  Simply because it's something that is not changing.  Any fan can call for Botterill or Housley to be fired or for other changes because those have some reasonable probability of happening.  The Pegulas selling the franchise, at this point, seems a near zero probability. 

 

And you wonder why "positivity" is met with something less than grace? This is awful.

2 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

@PASabreFan: The new thread title is a bit wonky, IMO. Might I suggest something more like Pegulas' Press Conference of March 26th.

Yeah, I don't even know what new title you're referring to. I didn't change it to the current one. I'm not sure what happened to "The Case for Phil" posts after Friday, or what the first post in this thread has to do with Terry's presser. I also don't really care. I've gone limp in the trap. Tired of chewing at my leg.

[Stoner]

3 hours ago, LTS said:

You want an answer to something that has so many variables to it to consider that providing an answer may not be possible.  What you ask is the question to so many things.  When is the right time to make a change?  That's followed by, a change to what/whom?

The one certainty right now is that the Pegulas will continue to be owners of this franchise.  If any fan doesn't trust the Pegulas to do the right things to make the Sabres successful it would be advised to perhaps find something else to spend time with.  Simply because it's something that is not changing.  Any fan can call for Botterill or Housley to be fired or for other changes because those have some reasonable probability of happening.  The Pegulas selling the franchise, at this point, seems a near zero probability. 

Selling? I agree. Somehow transferring it to his kids? That's going to happen eventually, I think. When Terry was asked at his intro presser how long he planned on owning the team he gestured toward his kids and said something to the effect of there's the answer to your question. When Ted Black was answering questions once about a ticket price increase/revenue sharing he said he couldn't assume Terry and his money would always be around — that is, the franchise had to be run in a financially responsible way, in part with an eye toward some non-Terry owner.

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

5 hours ago, Tondas said:

I think Terry sees the Bills on the upswing with Beane and McDermott and thinks Jbot and Housley will eventually perform the same way.  Problem is McDermott had both his teams overachieve given the talent on hand, PH has not.  Plus, McDermott and Beane had a prior relationship in Carolina.  Jbot and PH did not.  I give Jbot a pass on hiring PH as his first coach.  PH was dubbed as an up-and-comer.  But as history has shown over the years, the best players don't necessarily make the best coaches.  I think Taylor in Rochester would be a better fit with Jbot and could at least display some semblance of continuity.  I'm not saying Taylor is the best candidate because I don't know who is available.  But I do feel PH has lost the team and the fan base.  I'm not willing to retool players for another year with PH at the helm only to find out it was poor coaching all along.  That puts us back ANOTHER year.

What's there to re-tool? With the Rasmi, Montour, Pilut and others coming up the pipeline, the D looks set to be an attacking type D no matter who the coach will be. The bottom 9 forwards need upgrading no matter what and I don't see that as being as much of an issue with putting a system in place. I'm not sure, but I would think that it's much easier to change a system with the forwards than the D, could be wrong though. Any experts out there that could confirm? 

The biggest issues might be teaching a new coach to "communicate" with upper management or finding one that's good at it.

[LTS]

3 hours ago, Cascade Youth said:

Really though, is it as complicated as you're making it sound?  How about: "When I hired Jason Botterill I made it clear to him that he was authorized and expected to build this thing the right way, for the long-term.  And based upon our analysis of other, similar buildouts around the league, we expect to be gradually more competitive, with the expectation that within three to five years from his hiring we've laid the foundation for a consistent playoff contender.  If that hasn't happened, then we'll need to ask some really tough questions to figure out whether the plan, the execution, or both, have missed the mark."  I.e., Botterill was hired in May 2017.  If we're still not looking like a playoff team in May of 2020, after he's had three years to build his roster, I'm seriously considering starting over with a new person and/or new plan.

The only complication to saying things is how people react to them.  Those words are usually the kind of speaking points given at the end of the season.  I can only imagine how people would react if he were to say that now.  It might please you, but I could see others tearing him apart.

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

Selling? I agree. Somehow transferring it to his kids? That's going to happen eventually, I think. When Terry was asked at his intro presser how long he planned on owning the team he gestured toward his kids and said something to the effect of there's the answer to your question. When Ted Black was answering questions once about a ticket price increase/revenue sharing he said he couldn't assume Terry and his money would always be around — that is, the franchise had to be run in a financially responsible way, in part with an eye toward some non-Terry owner.

Transfer?  Very plausible.  Who knows if it's a good thing.

[PerreaultForever]

I wonder what he will say next year when Eichel asks to be traded from this s@@tshow. 

[LTS]

6 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I wonder what he will say next year when Eichel asks to be traded from this s@@tshow. 

Maybe they'll trade him before he asks.

[Weave]

4 hours ago, dudacek said:

Given the above, there are extremely compelling competitive and financial reasons to make the playoffs a necessity next season.

Abso-freaking-lutely.  I'll go as far as saying it should have been a priority immediately after Jack was drafted.  To prevent the exact thing we are seeing today.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Weave

[Eleven]

9 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

 I wish you'd be more explicit when you say these things. I feel like you're being deliberately vague. What are you saying exactly? One should never fire a good coach because you will never be able to find another good coach? (Same with goalie.) Lindy was literally irreplaceable? I hope you saw my post last night. I'm fine with rehiring Lindy. Let's keep trying until something clicks.

I didn,t read the whole thread because I am away but we are on the same page it seems.

[etiennep99]

7 hours ago, Formerly Allan in MD said:

From the start, the Pegula's have failed to invest in expertise they clearly lack.  It's led to years of spinning wheels with both the Sabres and Bills, although the Bills wheels have appeared to dramatically slowed down.  The Sabres remain a nightmare, the spinning wheels almost off at this point.  Housley can't coach; that's clear.  Botterill is hot and cold, the latter predominating given the trade of one of the better centers in the league for a quitter, a loser, and a kid who should have been in Rochester most of the year.  Plenty of elder statesmen, with solid experience, know hockey.  Pay them for their advice and expertise instead of paying failed projects like Phil Housley.

He hired Pat Lafontaine as president and  Craig Patrick senior advisor, right?  Patty hired Tim Murray who had paid his dues in Anaheim as a scout and an assistant GM in Ottawa.  They hired former Jack Adams coach of the year Ted Nolan.   So, no, Pegula is _not_ fail to hire experienced people from the start. 

The problems began when Patty got squeeze out and Patrick decided to jump ship.  That left GMTM in control, and GMTM went Christmas Shopping with all of Regier's

murrancy.

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

1 hour ago, etiennep99 said:

He hired Pat Lafontaine as president and  Craig Patrick senior advisor, right?  Patty hired Tim Murray who had paid his dues in Anaheim as a scout and an assistant GM in Ottawa.  They hired former Jack Adams coach of the year Ted Nolan.   So, no, Pegula is _not_ fail to hire experienced people from the start. 

The problems began when Patty got squeeze out and Patrick decided to jump ship.  That left GMTM in control, and GMTM went Christmas Shopping with all of Regier's

murrancy.

Not to mention but, he also retained Darcy and Lindy which he didn't have to do.

[Sabel79]

TG getting a bit salty.  Looking at the Snooze website, I’d say Harrington’s latest wholly unsourced screed prompted this... and he’s not wrong.  

 

[PerreaultForever]

I think this may be right, the question would be who? 

https://buffalonews.com/2019/03/27/sabres-terry-kim-pegula-bills-buffalo-jason-botterill-phil-housley-opinion-2019/

 

[calti]

22 hours ago, Kruppstahl said:

I've said it a thousand times in the context of both the Bills and Sabres, but Terry Pegula is the lowest information sports fan you will ever come across.  His level of insight and perception is horrifically basic.

That is a massive problem if you are a fan of either team and would like to see them be anything other than mediocre.

Overcoming bad ownership is almost impossible.

 

 

its completely impossible. i am not 100% sure pegula is awful yet or just unlucky/average....jerry j and little danny come to mind....Come on Pegs turn it around.

[Pimlach]

9 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I think this may be right, the question would be who? 

https://buffalonews.com/2019/03/27/sabres-terry-kim-pegula-bills-buffalo-jason-botterill-phil-housley-opinion-2019/

 

That article is a hatchet job.  It one of the most scathing pieces I’ve seen in quite awhile.  

Get Bots help in the form of a new boss, fire Phil, point fingers at the PSE dysfunction and tell Terry and Kim to fix it   Wow.  

Harrington has balls.  I’m not sure he is wrong either but surely he is burning bridges.    

What will he say or do the next time he interviews someone in the Sabres organization.  I would imagine the players read this stuff.  

[That Aud Smell]

9 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I think this may be right, the question would be who? 

https://buffalonews.com/2019/03/27/sabres-terry-kim-pegula-bills-buffalo-jason-botterill-phil-housley-opinion-2019/

That's the first thing I've read of Harrington's in a long, long time.

25 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

That article is a hatchet job.  It one of the most scathing pieces I’ve seen in quite awhile.  

Get Bots help in the form of a new boss, fire Phil, point fingers at the PSE dysfunction and tell Terry and Kim to fix it   Wow.  

Harrington has balls.  I’m not sure he is wrong either but surely he is burning bridges.    

What will he say or do the next time he interviews someone in the Sabres organization.  I would imagine the players read this stuff.  

It certainly is. But far from being unjustified. A little unfair in spots, but defensibly so.

I read the thing, reflexively prepared to shake my head yet again and dismiss Harrington, but found myself agreeing with it over and over again.

I don't read Graham anymore either (mostly because I'm too cheap for The Athletic). But his Twitter presence is somehow more repugnant , toxic than Harrington's ever was.

[Stoner]

53 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

That's the first thing I've read of Harrington's in a long, long time.

It certainly is. But far from being unjustified. A little unfair in spots, but defensibly so.

I read the thing, reflexively prepared to shake my head yet again and dismiss Harrington, but found myself agreeing with it over and over again.

I don't read Graham anymore either (mostly because I'm too cheap for The Athletic). But his Twitter presence is somehow more repugnant , toxic than Harrington's ever was.

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