Revisiting TMP's Four Freedoms speech, two years on

[Stoner]

Communication, discipline, structure, character. Terry talked about these four principles in April of 2017 as bedrocks of a new Sabres organization moving forward. He had just fired Murray and Bylsma and was meeting the media.

"It's how you win," Pegula said. "All of that stuff goes together with character. You have to have character throughout the organization, on the the ice, and they have to be in a disciplined, structured environment where everybody knows what everybody's doing and everybody's talking. That's how you win."

The character piece — that's why O'Reilly was traded, right, and why Kane and Lehner didn't fit in? And discipline and character are why Botterill was so attractive. Housley would bring the structure.

Two years and another coach later, what have the words meant? What do they mean moving forward? Where have they gotten us? Is it really how you win in the NHL?

Edited June 14, 2019 by PASabreFan

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Your Honour, if it pleases the court; the defense presents exhibit A ... the 2018/19 St. Louis Blues.

Your honour, the defense rests.

[dudacek]

I think the moves that have been made reflect those principles.

I remember how disgusted Terry was at that presser and wonder how deep his disdain for Murray became and how thoroughly he wanted Botterill to wash that off the organization.

The turnover behind the scenes has been immense, and on the ice it has been fairly dramatic too. Was it a factor in the O’Reilly deal.

[LGR4GM]

 

[nfreeman]

I think it's likely that TP believes that:

- the 4 principles are critical to having a quality organization that is built for sustained success over the long term.

- JB agrees with the 4 principles, is capable of implementing them and is in fact implementing them.

- it takes time for newly-implemented core principles to bear fruit, so JB isn't on the hot seat yet.

I hope TP also believes that:

- the 4 principles may be necessary, but they aren't sufficient -- i.e. you also need guys who, in addition to believing in the 4 principles, are also talented at playing/coaching/scouting/evaluating/dealmaking.

- JB may be one of those guys who believes in the 4 principles and is capable of implementing them, but is also not good enough at the talent part

- at some point there will be enough info for TP to make the critical determination on whether JB has the right stuff.

- when TP does make that determination, it will be in his best interests to seek input from experienced hockey people.

We'll see.

[SABRES 0311]

GMTM tried to fix it by shelling out money at names and now JBOTT is building the future in Rochester. We did get some good hockey during the Ruff/DR years. Maybe the answer is stick to one plan, be flexible when needed but true to the plan. 

So what if ROR was traded? The trade isn’t why the season went to hell in the second half. Just like the trade had nothing to do with the streak or how many goals Skinner scored. 

To answer your question words mean nothing. Only on ice actions. TP riled everyone because we allowed ourselves to get riled up because we want to be riled up. 

[jsb]

The reason I'm giving JB the benefit of the doubt is because I think he's trying to instill these priciples and build the roster from the bottom up as opposed to the previous regime that tried it from the top down. Time will tell if he's successful but we'll find out if TP is ok with the slow growth or he wants some immediate action.