Rick Dudley Unlikely to Join Sabres

[Stoner]

3 hours ago, Indabuff said:

What kind of wine does he like?! 

Don't let him leave the building (when he gets in the building)!!! 

I wonder if Duds is a "fine" older man?

[Tondas]

FFS Pegulas.  The fracking industry dropped into your laps and made you billionaires.  Now Dudley drops into your laps, FFS hire him.  Who else knows more about hockey operations than Dudley?  This is a no brainer, and if he doesn't get hired, I will be CONVINCED the Pegulas don't know what they are doing and the suffering will continue.

Edited July 1, 2020 by Tondas

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

Spinner?  :huh: 

 

What the hell was I thinking?

 

DUH.

 

(I guess that shows how long I've been a fan.... they were, after all, on the team at the same time.)

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Doohickie

[Tondas]

5 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

What the hell was I thinking?

 

DUH.

 

(I guess that shows how long I've been a fan.... they were, after all, on the team at the same time.)

 

Brian "Duds" Spencer.  I got your back Doohickie.  It's how us Buffalonians roll.

[Indabuff]

50 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I wonder if Duds is a "fine" older man?

We'll never find out unless we get him in the goddam building!

Edited July 1, 2020 by Indabuff
Get him in the goddam building!

[Andrew Amerk]

2 hours ago, Tondas said:

FFS Pegulas.  The fracking industry dropped into you laps and made you billionaires.  Now Dudley drops into your laps, FFS hire him.  Who else knows more about hockey operations than Dudley?  This is a no brainer, and if he doesn't get hired, I will be CONVINCED the Pegulas don't know what they are doing and the suffering will continue.

Of all the time I’ve wasted on this site, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comment I’ve agreed with more than this one. 

[PerreaultForever]

I've thought of Dudley as the perfect man at the top of things (director of hockey operations or whatever the title would be) for a long time and would love to see him join the Sabres but I just don't see him working below Adams. Above sure, but not below, and I doubt they sign a guy above Adams after all the lean organization talk but fingers crossed and hope I guess. 

[Tondas]

18 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I've thought of Dudley as the perfect man at the top of things (director of hockey operations or whatever the title would be) for a long time and would love to see him join the Sabres but I just don't see him working below Adams. Above sure, but not below, and I doubt they sign a guy above Adams after all the lean organization talk but fingers crossed and hope I guess. 

At this point, to get Dudley, I'm willing to drill another well.  Does anyone think Dudley would put up with this crap we've seen for 9 years?  It would make for interesting good cop/bad cop situation.  

Kreuger: "Jeff, we may need you to score a little more often if that's not too much of a burden."

Dudley;  "Skinner, score here or in Rochester, or Cincinnati for that matter.. I don't give a rats ass"

And by the way, I have never met Rick Dudley, but even at 71 years old, he scares the bejesus out of me.

Edited July 1, 2020 by Tondas

[Eleven]

14 hours ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

*This is a press conference ... the last thing I want to do is answer a lot of questions*

The incubator!

[LabattBlue]

Ask yourself...do you think Dudley wants to work with Adams, when every time they have a conversation, Adams excuses himself to run the idea past Kimmy and Terry?

 

If I was a betting man, I’d guess there is ZERO chance Dudley accepts a job with the Sabres FO....and this is assuming they are even smart enough to offer him a job...which is doubtful. 

Edited July 1, 2020 by LabattBlue

[That Aud Smell]

2 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

Ask yourself...do you think Dudley wants to work with Adams, when every time they have a conversation, Adams excuses himself to run the idea past Kimmy and Terry?

 

if I was a betting man, I’d guess there is ZERO chance Dudley accepts a job with the Sabres FO....and this is assuming they are even smart enough to offer him a job...which is doubtful. 

[That Aud Smell]

2 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

Ask yourself...do you think Dudley wants to work with Adams, when every time they have a conversation, Adams excuses himself to run the idea past Kimmy and Terry?

More seriously, I can see a scenario in which a guy like Dudley decides to semi-retire to the city where he makes his permanent home. I think we tend to overstate how unusual the Pegulas' involvement is in a FO's decision making processes. I think they're on the higher end of being involved, but I don't think it's different by an order of magnitude. I don't think that would scare off Dudley, who could just as easily be of the mind -- "hey, one last challenge from the comfort of my own home. If they're not smart enough to listen to me? Eff 'em." 

[Brawndo]

 

[nfreeman]

8 hours ago, Tondas said:

And by the way, I have never met Rick Dudley, but at 71 years old, he scares the bejesus out of me.

I was at the '70s night game in HSBC last fall when they brought back all those guys.  Dudley walked pretty close to me.  As I've mentioned here previously, he looked like someone not to be messed with under any circumstances.

[kas23]

14 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

Take this Tweet with a grain-of-salt. Dudley certainly was not let go prior to the Sabres firing (despite it being “in the works”), so who is to know if the shakeup tipped the scales towards him definitely leaving. The question I have is whether the Sabres could have even legally contacted him prior to be let go? Probably not. 

[Drag0nDan]

1 minute ago, kas23 said:

Take this Tweet with a grain-of-salt. Dudley certainly was not let go prior to the Sabres firing (despite it being “in the works”), so who is to know if the shakeup tipped the scales towards him definitely leaving. The question I have is whether the Sabres could have even legally contacted him prior to be let go? Probably not. 

I feel like his contract was up though or something along those lines.  

[Sabres Fan in NS]

3 hours ago, Eleven said:

The incubator!

Thaaarrr, she blows!!

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

50 minutes ago, Drag0nDan said:

I feel like his contract was up though or something along those lines.  

But, didn't one of the posts up thread include something like..."still negotiating"?

That would hardly mean it was decided long before Sabres shake-up.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

 

Does anybody find this to be news, or did they & Vogl really expect someone close to the Sabres or Dudley to admit to tampering? 

It makes a ton of sense for Dudley to take a job here as an advisor or an EVP, similarly to when Yzerman went back to Detroit.  There was no "tampering" there because everybody knew he wanted to be back & they wanted him back so there was no need to work out any details before he was out of his contract.

Will be surprised if Dudley isn't on board by the end of July.

[MattPie]

14 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

I wonder if Duds is a "fine" older man?

He's very clean.

[Marvin]

13 minutes ago, MattPie said:

He's very clean.

Who's that little old man?

He belongs to Paul.

[Tondas]

9 hours ago, nfreeman said:

I was at the '70s night game in HSBC last fall when they brought back all those guys.  Dudley walked pretty close to me.  As I've mentioned here previously, he looked like someone not to be messed with under any circumstances.

Check out Duds at 1:06 of the video.  Now that's the passion I want to see from the Sabres.  He was one of my all-time favorites.  He embodied Buffalo.  I can almost hear Duds saying to the refs. "The fight's over when I say it's over."

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Tondas

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

13 minutes ago, Tondas said:

Check out Duds at 1:06 of the video.  Now that's the passion I want to see from the Sabres.  He was one of my all-time favorites.  He embodied Buffalo.

 

I always loved his ability to pick passes out of the air and figured his lacrosse activity had helped him. Great fore-checker.

[IKnowPhysics]

When Ron Francis left after the ownership change in CAR, Don Waddell moved from team president to team team president and GM in 2018, and his first move was to hire longtime friend Rick Dudley as Sr VP of Hockey Operations.  Duds' contract with CAR was up today.

Dudley has done just about every job in hockey. He's also worked with just about every NHL team in the league at some point or another.  He's a wealth of knowledge.  His resume is borderline silly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Dudley; https://www.eliteprospects.com/staff/1265/rick-dudley

He's also self-admitted to be a very intense personality.  Knowing that Krueger, the Pegulas, and potentially Adams, highly value trust, honesty, communication skills, and interpersonal skills, they should definitely be talking with Dudley to see how the fit is.  He has hockey knowledge that'd definitely be useful for Adams and Krueger, but everyone needs to be on the same page with regard to vision and communication in order for his hire to benefit the organization.

Who else with that level of hockey knowledge is floating around out there that's not already retired?   Jacque Demers, John Muckler, and Scotty Bowman are all retired.  Craig Patrick has come and gone (he's a scout with PIT now).  I sifted through the list of recent former GMs and pulled names.  Of the those that are not currently NHL-employed, not many, if any, of them seem like good fits: Burke, Chiarelli, Howson, Nieuwendyk, Rowe, Gauthier, Pleau, Gillis.  Dudley may be the best bet.

 

 

[shrader]

2 hours ago, Taro T said:

Does anybody find this to be news, or did they & Vogl really expect someone close to the Sabres or Dudley to admit to tampering? 

It makes a ton of sense for Dudley to take a job here as an advisor or an EVP, similarly to when Yzerman went back to Detroit.  There was no "tampering" there because everybody knew he wanted to be back & they wanted him back so there was no need to work out any details before he was out of his contract.

Will be surprised if Dudley isn't on board by the end of July.

Did Dudley actually have a contract though?  I know they had the issue last offseason where their owner doesn't like having actual contracts, but then was forced to give one to Waddell due to league rules.  I have no idea if that rule actually covers these other executive roles, particularly because each team has different titles for any of those positions.