Matt Ellis to be Named Director of Player Development

[Curt]

7 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

A bit much, wouldn't you say? This is the Effin N.H.L. "Maybe he'll be good" doesn't cut it.

The hockey world is the Pegulas' oyster, and they cast a net just far enough to get hangers-on, alumni, fine young Pegula People, the otherwise unemployable. Garbage owners. It's clear that's never going to change.

(And I'd like to meet the "natural" player who curtsied his way into the professional ranks. I'd suggest he doesn't exist.)

Who would you have suggested as a hire?  Who do you know would have been good as Director of Player Development?

[LGR4GM]

14 hours ago, LTS said:

It's amazing how clueless people are and have to equate how a player played hockey to how a player can fulfill the role of assisting and leading others in developing their skills as a hockey player.

Who's better suited for the role? A person with natural gifts that they can't explain what they had done to make it to the NHL or someone who had to work really hard and examine every aspect of their game in order to be a marginal player in the NHL?

Maybe he'll do a good job, maybe he won't. No one knows, and people on this board sure as hell have no idea. The best you have available to you is having seen him play and somehow that makes you qualified to judge his ability to fulfill this position.

It boggles the mind.  Let's just make some ***** up about people and ***** all over them.  As long as you feel better about yourself, that's all that matters right?

I'm sorry but if you think Connor McDavid didn't work hard at his skills you're just wrong. The top guys do work hard and this is again that false idea that those who can't do are good teachers. Here's a thought, maybe good teachers are good teachers, almost like that's a different skill than being able to sport.

1 minute ago, Curt said:

Who would you have suggested as a hire?  Who do you know would have been good as Director of Player Development?

What guarentee does he have that his hire would be better. 

[Weave]

I’ll posit that you don’t see many superstars in coaching or administration because they are paid well enough in their short years that they don’t need to work at the end of their playing life.  The Matt Ellis’ of the NHL weren’t set up quite so nicely at the end of their 6-8 yrs, so they coach or take administrative roles in the only industry they know.

Regardless, this isn’t an inspiring hire.  It’s also not really indicative of anything else, positive or negative.  Good luck, Matt.  The fans need it.

[LabattBlue]

1 hour ago, Curt said:

Who would you have suggested as a hire?  Who do you know would have been good as Director of Player Development?

Here is a better question...did they even interview anyone else, or did they just pull another Adams?

[dudacek]

4 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

 

(And I'd like to meet the "natural" player who curtsied his way into the professional ranks. I'd suggest he doesn't exist.)

[Curt]

2 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

Here is a better question...did they even interview anyone else, or did they just pull another Adams?

Honestly, I bet this hire of Ellis is in large part about putting someone in place who is on the same page and can implement Adams vision for how he wants the player development department to run.

Probably more so about that than about how great of an instructor Ellis is.  As a director level position, I doubt Ellis will be spending a lot of time personally working with players anyway.  That’s for the development coaches to do.

[Stoner]

2 hours ago, Curt said:

Honestly, I bet this hire of Ellis is in large part about putting someone in place who is on the same page and can implement Adams vision for how he wants the player development department to run.

Probably more so about that than about how great of an instructor Ellis is.  As a director level position, I doubt Ellis will be spending a lot of time personally working with players anyway.  That’s for the development coaches to do.

You're really breaking some news here. The GM hires someone who's on his page? No kidding. There isn't a good hockey reason, or a vision factor, that justifies hiring Ellis. The vision that's being brought to life is the Pegulas' vision of hiring people they know and trust and like. Adams is already showing how feckless he is. But when you have a razor thin resume and end up as an NHL GM, you do everything you can to please your patrons.

Flat management structure? It's been a longtime joke, but the owners have just about managed to create a structure where they are on the same level as their managers. I mean, they've owned an NHL team for almost a decade. That holds up against a youth hockey academy director/instructor pretty well.

Absolute trash and insanity, which inkman knows the definition of.

Edited August 15, 2020 by PASabreFan

[Curt]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

You're really breaking some news here. The GM hires someone who's on his page? No kidding.

Thanks for the discussion.

[Stoner]

Just now, Curt said:

Thanks for the discussion.

Don't be mad. You stepped in it. Adams could have hired hundreds of people who were on his page.

[Curt]

Just now, PASabreFan said:

Don't be mad. You stepped in it. Adams could have hired hundreds of people who were on his page.

Yeah, but they have already been working together.  Adams has seen Ellis in action, not just going off what someone says in an interview.  That’s my point.

I didn’t step in anything.  Your being dismissive.

[LGR4GM]

3 hours ago, Curt said:

Yeah, but they have already been working together.  Adams has seen Ellis in action, not just going off what someone says in an interview.  That’s my point.

I didn’t step in anything.  Your being dismissive.

I agree with you. 

Adams could be wrong but he is trusting that he knows what Ellis brings to the table as opposed to buying into someone elses hype. It could fail but the doom and gloom around here that it is a failure immediately because they know eachother seems stupid. Botterill brought in a bunch of ppl he knew and a bunch of players he knew (Sheary for example) and yet wasn't dismissed outright. 

[Curt]

24 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I agree with you. 

Adams could be wrong but he is trusting that he knows what Ellis brings to the table as opposed to buying into someone elses hype. It could fail but the doom and gloom around here that it is a failure immediately because they know eachother seems stupid. Botterill brought in a bunch of ppl he knew and a bunch of players he knew (Sheary for example) and yet wasn't dismissed outright. 

Seriously, it’s Director of Player Development.  Who the F knows if Ellis is good at organizing the activities of a player development staff. It’s something so far removed from even hardcore fans that our insight on the subject is basically zero.  

[Zamboni]

How I look at it ... Like every hire on the Sabres ... I give every hire a generous window of opportunity to do a good job, before slamming the action of hiring him. I’m glad for Ellis. Hope he does well in his new role.

[stinky finger]

22 hours ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

And then there's Maude.

 

Right on!

[Radar]

44 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I agree with you. 

Adams could be wrong but he is trusting that he knows what Ellis brings to the table as opposed to buying into someone elses hype. It could fail but the doom and gloom around here that it is a failure immediately because they know eachother seems stupid. Botterill brought in a bunch of ppl he knew and a bunch of players he knew (Sheary for example) and yet wasn't dismissed outright. 

I think for me it's appearance more than a hard judgement. Pegulas operations appear to be hiring people based on familiarity. It's true that they tried hiring "hockey" people without success but that could simply be  bad judgement not wrong route taken. I really hope it all works out but I'm one who's moved from Pegulas supporter to real doubt about their ownership.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nfreeman]

Do the skeptics of this hire think the Pegulas were involved in choosing Ellis for this role?  I would be pretty surprised if their involvement was anything more than a 1-minute conversation with KA in which KA told them what he wanted to do and they said yes.  

[SwampD]

I have always liked Matt Ellis.

I think he could be excellent in this position.

That's about all I have to say about that.

[LTS]

On 8/15/2020 at 8:32 AM, PASabreFan said:

A bit much, wouldn't you say? This is the Effin N.H.L. "Maybe he'll be good" doesn't cut it.

The hockey world is the Pegulas' oyster, and they cast a net just far enough to get hangers-on, alumni, fine young Pegula People, the otherwise unemployable. Garbage owners. It's clear that's never going to change.

(And I'd like to meet the "natural" player who curtsied his way into the professional ranks. I'd suggest he doesn't exist.)

Yeah yeah.. whatever. How many "good" hires blow up?  It's a crap shoot... always, with all teams.  But those who have to think more about how they accomplish things might have a more constructed approach to the game in helping point out what it takes.

As for the natural player?  They are all over, in every sport, and in every walk of life.  As though you've never heard anyone say 'he's a natural" or "I'm not sure how she does it, but she just gets it."  "They make it look so easy."  

"He sees the ice."  "He knows where the play will be"

I could keep going on and on here.

On 8/15/2020 at 8:42 AM, LGR4GM said:

I'm sorry but if you think Connor McDavid didn't work hard at his skills you're just wrong. The top guys do work hard and this is again that false idea that those who can't do are good teachers. Here's a thought, maybe good teachers are good teachers, almost like that's a different skill than being able to sport.

What guarentee does he have that his hire would be better. 

Who said he didn't work hard?  Being a natural doesn't equate success, it just means you can do things others cannot. If you are a natural and don't work hard you are still not going to get anywhere.

The idea about who can't do are good teachers is false.  The good teachers are those who can do, but not well enough. 

Overall it boils down to knowing why you know something as opposed to just knowing it. If you know why you know it, then you can explain it to others. It doesn't mean the other person will get it, but if you can't explain it at all there's more than a fair shot that the other person will not get it.

Also, keep in mind, Connor McDavid, and others are usually taught how to develop skills by those who were never the top athletes in the game. So, how did they get so good if they didn't have Wayne Gretzky telling them what to do?

Oh yeah, they were taught by those who understood what to do and what it takes to do it.

[Stoner]

2 hours ago, nfreeman said:

Do the skeptics of this hire think the Pegulas were involved in choosing Ellis for this role?  I would be pretty surprised if their involvement was anything more than a 1-minute conversation with KA in which KA told them what he wanted to do and they said yes.  

You can't be cereal. Is there any plausible scenario where Matt Ellis is your director of player development if the Sabres had a real GM and the owners hadn't laid down the template for what kind of people they want working for them?

I'll lay 50-50 odds that the Pegs recommended Ellis to Adams, with the other 50 filed under, "I know what I have to do here." And in both cases, it's clearly involvement.

Edited August 16, 2020 by PASabreFan

[Two or less]

On 8/14/2020 at 9:28 PM, Andrew Amerk said:

How come any job I’ve ever applied for wanted me to have experience in that particular job, but the Sabres don’t do the same?

 

Because his resume has 19 years of hockey on it.

 

[Stoner]

Think Jack's impressed by this hire? Does it tell him this organization finally is getting its ***** together?

[Two or less]

Just now, PASabreFan said:

You can't be cereal. Is there any plausible scenario where Matt Ellis is your director of player development if the Sabres had a real GM and the owners hadn't laid down the template for what kind of people they want working for them?

I'll lay 50-50 odds that the Pegs recommended Ellis to Adams, with the other 50 filed under, "I know what I have to do here."

?

You've been a troll ever since i joined this web site so i don't expect anything less, but obviously with the team being trash for 9 years and hiring wrong people and fans having their conspiracy theories so anything they do will be criticized heavily. They did that to themselves. Even when the rumors floated around about John Chyuka joining the Sabres, there was a handful of people pointing out of all his bad moves with the Coyotes and arguing that he would be a popular hire but not a good hire. Point is, the only way all of this negativity will go away is if the Sabres break their drought and make the playoffs. Until then, every hire, every trade, every draft pick will be looked at under a microscope.

2 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Think Jack's impressed by this hire? Does it tell him this organization finally is getting its ***** together?

I don't know, go ask him.

[dudacek]

What do Todd Marchant, Mark Bell, Jamie Langenbrunner, Brian McGrattan, David Oliver, Chris Clark, Shawn Horcoff, Rick Carriere, Mike Ryan and a whole bunch of other average to mediocre former hockey players have in common?

They are NHL directors/managers of player development and have cronies in NHL upper management.

Edited August 16, 2020 by dudacek

[Thorner]

Prediction and hot take - how well Matt Ellis does at developing players will depend almost exclusively on the quality of players our GM brings in. 

[nucci]

On 8/14/2020 at 6:20 PM, LTS said:

It's amazing how clueless people are and have to equate how a player played hockey to how a player can fulfill the role of assisting and leading others in developing their skills as a hockey player.

Who's better suited for the role? A person with natural gifts that they can't explain what they had done to make it to the NHL or someone who had to work really hard and examine every aspect of their game in order to be a marginal player in the NHL?

Maybe he'll do a good job, maybe he won't. No one knows, and people on this board sure as hell have no idea. The best you have available to you is having seen him play and somehow that makes you qualified to judge his ability to fulfill this position.

It boggles the mind.  Let's just make some ***** up about people and ***** all over them.  As long as you feel better about yourself, that's all that matters right?

I'm not judging but does he have any experience in this? Are they hiring the most qualified people they can find?