Is Botterill to blame for the Sabres Cap Troubles?

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Ruff Around The Edges said:

Agree, what this franchise really needs is a President at the top of the food chain. Its a shame the LaFontaine move was a disaster because someone needs to get in Terry's ear that is the way to go these days. Get someone in here to be the figurehead at the top and hire the right GM and coach and let Terry focus on being a fan and focus on that.

Kruger for Team President?

When I read posts advocating this, I always wonder how the president is going to fix Jason’s player evaluation and trade negotiating skills. And if he is going to guide Jason in that, why not just fire Jason and make him GM?

[Ruff Around The Edges]

14 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Which would solve nice part of the scoring problems. I also think/hope he will be better next year. 

Agree, just need to pair Skinner with a good play-making Center. Not sure if Skinner can get close to 50 again, but even if Skinner can consistently get to 35 goals  or so for the next 5 years, most of the contract can be justified.

[darksabre]

29 minutes ago, dudacek said:

When I read posts advocating this, I always wonder how the president is going to fix Jason’s player evaluation and trade negotiating skills. And if he is going to guide Jason in that, why not just fire Jason and make him GM?

If Krueger's position in the org changes it's going to be because Botterill was fired and the Pegulas wanted Krueger to stay. It's as simple as that.

I could see him ending up as the much invoked "hockey czar" who oversees the Sabres and Amerks. The guy who sets the mission, monitors goals, handles logistics to make sure his GMs have the tools they need, and provides a layer between the Pegulas and the day-to-day stuff.

His experience as Chairman of an EPL team basically makes him a good fit for that kind of role here.

I'd be fascinated to see what kind of structural re-organization he could come up with. I wonder if there's a better way to run a hockey team from top to bottom...

[kas23]

A lot of people are bashing the Pegulas and they certainly deserve it as the owners of the team. They’re meddling owners and they end up making the wrong choices. However, they also own the Bills and are fairly hands off. Well, at least they know when not to get in the way.
 

So, they are acting like Jekyll and Hyde with the Bills and Sabres. Why? My guess is that it takes a pattern of trust to be given independence. Anyone who is a supervisor of employees knows what I’m talking about. McBeane has earned it and did so relatively quickly. JBott has not, which is JBott’s fault for not proving he has a clue. Then the Pegs start messing with the team, in a bad way. Once we get a competent GM and start winning, I’m sure the Pegulas will step back. There won’t be a president of hockey operations because that will automatically demand that they back off. They won’t. 

[Taro T]

20 minutes ago, darksabre said:

If Krueger's position in the org changes it's going to be because Botterill was fired and the Pegulas wanted Krueger to stay. It's as simple as that.

I could see him ending up as the much invoked "hockey czar" who oversees the Sabres and Amerks. The guy who sets the mission, monitors goals, handles logistics to make sure his GMs have the tools they need, and provides a layer between the Pegulas and the day-to-day stuff.

His experience as Chairman of an EPL team basically makes him a good fit for that kind of role here.

I'd be fascinated to see what kind of structural re-organization he could come up with. I wonder if there's a better way to run a hockey team from top to bottom...

I'd be curious to see if, should it come to pass that he eventually becomes the Team President (or EVP of hockey operations should K Pegula not want to relinquish the title) if he would decide to remain the HC for a season or 2.  It would be nearly unprecedented in the modern era, but perhaps it could work before he tries of holding 2 jobs.

Simply don't have faith that the owners can pick a quality GM without someone knowledgable that holds their best interests advising them through the process.  Should he be bumped up to that role, he would be in position to give them guidance that they could trust.  (Nothing against the NHL execs helpingbthem with the search, but they don't necessarily have T&K's best interests as their guiding reasoning.)  But, if he remains solely as the coach, he wouldn't necessarily be as good of an advisor as he'd be recommending the hiring of a guy who could fire him.

My biggest reason for not being on the "fire Botterill now" bandwagon; the fear of them ending up in a worse position after firing him is palpable.

[darksabre]

6 minutes ago, Taro T said:

I'd be curious to see if, should it come to pass that he eventually becomes the Team President (or EVP of hockey operations should K Pegula not want to relinquish the title) if he would decide to remain the HC for a season or 2.  It would be nearly unprecedented in the modern era, but perhaps it could work before he tries of holding 2 jobs.

Simply don't have faith that the owners can pick a quality GM without someone knowledgable that holds their best interests advising them through the process.  Should he be bumped up to that role, he would be in position to give them guidance that they could trust.  (Nothing against the NHL execs helpingbthem with the search, but they don't necessarily have T&K's best interests as their guiding reasoning.)  But, if he remains solely as the coach, he wouldn't necessarily be as good of an advisor as he'd be recommending the hiring of a guy who could fire him.

My biggest reason for not being on the "fire Botterill now" bandwagon; the fear of them ending up in a worse position after firing him is palpable.

I can't imagine Krueger would stay in the HC position if he were moved up the chain. The only way that would happen is if the hierarchy didn't have an actual GM, just a management board of various people taking care of GM and AGM duties, that he is the head of.

I wonder if the whole GM/Coach split in the NHL even needs to exist. Why not just have the coach overseeing a management group. Wouldn't a coach directing the people who build the team make more sense than the people who build the team directing the coach?

[dudacek]

49 minutes ago, Taro T said:

..

My biggest reason for not being on the "fire Botterill now" bandwagon; the fear of them ending up in a worse position after firing him is palpable.

I get this, and the thought of blowing it up and starting again is so repugnant it’s part of the reason why I stayed off the fire Jason train As long as I did. But the verdict is in: it might not get better, but how can it get worse?

31 minutes ago, darksabre said:

I wonder if the whole GM/Coach split in the NHL even needs to exist. Why not just have the coach overseeing a management group. Wouldn't a coach directing the people who build the team make more sense than the people who build the team directing the coach?

Head coach and director of operations is a model that would work, IMO, if the right person was in charge of the right staff.

Edited May 29, 2020 by dudacek

[Radar]

Is Botterill to blame. Yes but secondarily to the Pegulas . What's that saying about the buck stops here.

[Drag0nDan]

19 minutes ago, Radar said:

Is Botterill to blame. Yes but secondarily to the Pegulas . What's that saying about the buck stops here.

I would say yes.  Berglund/sobotka, sheary (not terrible, but when you tack on hunwick its a bad deal), pominville, scandella, etc.  

I thought he did a better job this year in bringing in expiring contracts (simmonds, vesey, frolik) to try and jumpstart scoring.  Didn't work, but it also didn't bring along bad money.  There aren't any major buyout candidates that he's brought in.  Johansson isn't an inherently bad deal, and i didn't feel like he overpaid.  Even dumping off the remainder of sheary/rodrigues contracts for kahun was a smart move - saves some dollars, and brings in a player you can use beyond the season. 

[Thorner]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

I get this, and the thought of blowing it up and starting again is so repugnant it’s part of the reason why I stayed off the fire Jason train As long as I did. But the verdict is in: it might not get better, but how can it get worse?

Exactly. 

Edited May 29, 2020 by Thorny

[nfreeman]

On 5/29/2020 at 3:29 PM, dudacek said:

I get this, and the thought of blowing it up and starting again is so repugnant it’s part of the reason why I stayed off the fire Jason train As long as I did. But the verdict is in: it might not get better, but how can it get worse?

Head coach and director of operations is a model that would work, IMO, if the right person was in charge of the right staff.

I think this is in the ballpark with the Bills' model -- i.e. I think McD's role is pretty similar to this.

[Thorner]

39 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I think this is in the ballpark with the Bills' model -- i.e. I think McD's role is pretty similar to this.

This is much more of a football thing, no? Thinking of Belichick. Seems to be more traditional in the NFL. 

[nfreeman]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

This is much more of a football thing, no? Thinking of Belichick. Seems to be more traditional in the NFL. 

Well, I think there are only a handful of NFL coaches with as much authority as McD, and none with as much as the dark lord Belichick. 

However, I can't think of any NHL coaches who are similarly situated, so I agree that it would be pretty unusual if RK were to take on that kind of role.

[Thorner]

I’m thinking of the movie Draft Day where the coach makes all the picks ?

In college football too, the programs often seem to be moulded around the coach. 

Edited May 31, 2020 by Thorny

[Rasmus_]

In terms of the cap, the Sabres can easily get out of several of the contracts.  The main contracts you're stuck with are Skinner and Okposo.  Montour, Ristolainen, Miller, Johansson, can all potentially be moved rather easily to some degree.  I'm still in belief that Skinner will have a huge rebound year in 2020-21 (next season).  He's always been a streaky on year on, one year off type of player.   As long as Krueger gives him prime opportunities (aka playing with Jack), he will score his fair share of goals.  

Edited June 2, 2020 by TheCerebral1

[Brawndo]

The NHL Owners do not appear to be too keen on the idea of compliance buyouts,  another idea that has been floated per LeBrun is allowing each team to designate one contract to have it’s AAV only count 50% towards the cap for a specific amount of time, thereby freeing up more cap space, it would require approval from the Board of Governors and NHLPA though. Also I have no idea how this would work with the CBA. 

[steveoath]

How does that even work. E.g the Oilers get to save 6.25M if they apply it to McDs contract? And get to save the most?