The end of Suffering?

[Stoner]

Get it while it's hot. I just had a thought I wouldn't have necessarily agreed with earlier today and might not agree with at 10 minutes to 11 tonight.

KA said something on the Instigators about how the Sabres need to be connected to the community again, as he harkened back to sitting in the oranges at the Aud, riding the train downtown, scalping tickets as a teen and watching the hardest working team in hockey as a young adult starting his career. He posed the question of how fans should feel leaving the arena, whether the team has won or lost. Did they find value in their two and a half hours? Did they have fun? Did they feel connected to the team?

The end of Suffering? Maybe, maybe not. But another dubious idea from that infamous Darcy presser is surely out the window, and that could at least signal the start of Happiness. Remember when he said, "It's not about making the playoffs..." — he had misspoken — "It's not about just making the playoffs." The Sabres would not lower themselves to what other teams had to do in a grubby quest for postseason cash. They would build the right way! Win a Cup and then win another one. I don't think those ideas have survived.

Adams has to put fannies in the seats (once the fannies can meet seats again). The team has to be fun to watch, and the cupboard is certainly not bare in that regard — Eichel, Dahlin, Olofsson, Skinner and others. If this offseason is all about doing whatever the hell it takes to push this team over the top and into the playoffs, sacrificing some of the glorious future, those 150 minutes at KBC could be worth something real again. Adams might even realize how terrible the in-game presentation has been and fix that at the same time, which would actually be huge.

They just can't let the fans continue to walk out onto Perry Street with indigestion from arena pizza and dreams of 2024-25.

 

[Randall Flagg]

I'm more optimistic than I've been since March/April 2016. 

[In The Buff]

The firing of Jbotts should have provided some optimism for all of us.

But after firing half the hockey department, some needed to go for sure but as a whole its pretty much done the opposite to me.

Hearing the Pegs talk about how they want to surround themselves with Non Hockey people, when they have no idea how to run a hockey franchise, doesnt sound like the recipe for success.

Sure our organization is leaner & more efficient today. But same thing happened to me after my house burnt down, i was leaner & more efficient, but everything was a mess & a huge pile of ash. Nothing the Pegs have done so far gives me any confidence whatsover to be optimistic about anything.

Only thing i hope for is that somehow we make 2 or 3 solid moves that gets us over the hump. After trying for so long, the law of averages has to swing in ur favor eventually right?

Maybe we'll get lucky, maybe we'll trade for the right player or win the draft lottery... thats pretty much where i'm at.

[inkman]

51 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

I'm more optimistic than I've been since March/April 2016. 

I feel exactly the opposite way 

[bunomatic]

I kind of feel like we just got passed by a whole bunch of veteran drivers and we’ve handed the wheel to a sixteen year old who just got his licence.

[Curt]

I kind of don’t know how to feel yet.  Adams seems good despite his resume, but the there are a lot questions about how they are going to re build the support structure.  I’m looking at a gutted house after the demo is done, but before any of the actual renovations have begun.  We’ll see what happens.

[BagBoy]

I have been increasingly pessimistic ever since the Pegs arrived.  Today I am even more pessimistic.  But I am just a piss-ant fan who doesn't even live in Buffalo.  I'll survive.  My thoughts go to the people who are still in the organization.  I'm sure there are a few there who are hopeful after today, but I would bet the vast remaining majority of players, staff, management, etc. are asking themselves WTF?  And not in a good way.  I imagine exit strategies being contemplated by many who now want nothing more than to be associated with some other -  ANY OTHER - organization.

[bunomatic]

48 minutes ago, BagBoy said:

I have been increasingly pessimistic ever since the Pegs arrived.  Today I am even more pessimistic.  But I am just a piss-ant fan who doesn't even live in Buffalo.  I'll survive.  My thoughts go to the people who are still in the organization.  I'm sure there are a few there who are hopeful after today, but I would bet the vast remaining majority of players, staff, management, etc. are asking themselves WTF?  And not in a good way.  I imagine exit strategies being contemplated by many who now want nothing more than to be associated with some other -  ANY OTHER - organization.

Yeah this crossed my mind as well. Hockey heaven indeed.

[nucci]

I don't get the optimism around here. 

[Tondas]

16 minutes ago, nucci said:

I don't get the optimism around here. 

I'm squarely in apathy mode trying very much to get into optimistic mode.  It's gonna take time.

[nucci]

2 hours ago, Tondas said:

I'm squarely in apathy mode trying very much to get into optimistic mode.  It's gonna take time.

We are always being told it will take time. They cleared out the FO again and said they would be leaner.....which to me says cheap and not spending 

5 hours ago, bunomatic said:

Yeah this crossed my mind as well. Hockey heaven indeed.

#pegulaville

[bob_sauve28]

9 hours ago, inkman said:

I feel exactly the opposite way 

I’m in the middle. The Pagulas seem clueless which is disturbing. But on the other hand I still think the team is close to being a winner. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I completely agree and am with you 100% @PASabreFan.

This is exactly what needs to happen and I have a feeling the KA, who is really one of us, will get us there.

[Cascade Youth]

Accountability is much easier in a small organization - there is nobody to shift the blame to.  Misspelled jerseys on alumni night?  Now you’ll know exactly whose fault it is.  Same thing applies to the personnel side.  Funny enough, many of us were saying “burn the whole thing down” during the last two years and now we got our wish and folks are still upset.  PSE was a bloated, directionless gravy train filled with cush jobs, legacy hires, and seemingly unfireable lifers.  Now, at the very least, everyone knows there are actual consequences to not doing your job well.  Like any other well-run business, in theory.  I’m not optimistic or pessimistic but I prefer this approach to the status quo.

[Pimlach]

I feel no optimism at all.  
 

When an owner publicly endorses her GM, then fires him and his entire staff three weeks later, that tells me she way is out of touch.  If she expected Botterill to fire his staff without pushback it tells me that after 3 years she didn’t get to know him.   Another red flag.   It only takes street smarts, not business smarts, to know you have that “candid conversation” before you endorse a person publicly.  
 

From what I’m getting on Adams is that he is a known entity, a favorite, and a yes ma’am.  He will run a stripped down version of a hockey team and will try to get us good enough to not lose money.   Her preference in hiring “non hockey people” to run a hockey team is out of touch.  

What is most unsettling is Adams, not Pegula,  fired a dozen people in his first hours on the job.  The few Scouts and staff that remain have been selected by him   Adams was part of a secretive plan to lean this down, a coop attempt perhaps.  I don’t like it   

Kim has no connection to this hockey team and just wants peace and a steady cash flow while they sail around on their yacht ...  I don’t see this turning out well. 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Pimlach

[dudacek]

I’m getting the sense that everybody wanted it burned down, but only if the Pegulas were among the logs on the fire.

I get where it comes from, but the angst over getting what you’ve been asking for is ironic.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

3 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I’m getting the sense that everybody wanted it burned down, but only if the Pegulas were among the logs on the fire.

I get where it comes from, but the angst over getting what you’ve been asking for is ironic.

I also think there is rampant speculation going on here.  I think many are reading way too much into this.  It is pretty obvious that after a lengthy review the owners decided to go in another completely different direction.  Not unlike what happened when they got rid of Murray.

IMO, the non-hockey people hot quote is directed more at the NHL powers that be and concerns the owners not going to listen to NHL advisors any more in making these kinds of hires.

[IKnowPhysics]

7 hours ago, nucci said:

I don't get the optimism around here. 

It's the way of the Buffalo sports fan.

We can investigate and argue and strategize and banter and keyboard mash all the live long day, but none of changes the single inevitable truth:

We're going to ***** win it all.

[Stoner]

7 hours ago, nucci said:

I don't get the optimism around here. 

And I'm leading the way! In the final scene, I'm wearing a sailor uniform and IKP is bent over backwards at the waist.

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

I’m getting the sense that everybody wanted it burned down, but only if the Pegulas were among the logs on the fire.

I get where it comes from, but the angst over getting what you’ve been asking for is ironic.

I might be misreading everything, but most of the angst is about who replaced Botterill and why.

[Kruppstahl]

7 hours ago, nucci said:

I don't get the optimism around here. 

Is there optimism?  There shouldn't be.  One of the most dysfunctional organizations in hockey, if not N. American sports, just got worse.  

Adams doesn't need to worry about connecting the team to the community, per se.  That will happen free of charge if he gets the hard working players he references and much better players.

A lot of this comes down to the players, if not all of it. The fact that the organization has gone into a inbred management turtle shell focused on saving money doesn't bode well.  Does it?

 

 

 

 

 

[Gatorman0519]

I would be a lot more optimistic if RK was moved upstairs and they brought in a proven NHL coach like Gallant or Laviolette.

[IKnowPhysics]

1 minute ago, Gatorman0519 said:

 Laviolette.

[Gatorman0519]

2 minutes ago, IKnowPhysics said:

More competent than anyone we've had behind the bench since Lindy left.

[Mustache of God]

7 hours ago, Tondas said:

I'm squarely in apathy mode trying very much to get into optimistic mode.  It's gonna take time.

Agree, won't be optimistic until I see the moves GMKA starts making

 

[stinky finger]

20 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

More competent than anyone we've had behind the bench since Lindy left.

By leaps and bounds