Sabres announce Don Granato, Jason Christie and Matt Smith have been relieved of their duties

[Night Train]

48 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

Better not be seth appert

He's probably the betting favorite, IMO. 

[Mango]

24 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

I don't see a passionate hockey coach caring that much about the roof.  (Plus, didn't they announce a new roof, along with the scoreboard?)  Also, the Sabres are said by the national experts to have the top pipeline in the NHL (and if not the top, one of the best), so what they have in place for scouting the last few years seems to be working.

Also, not spending to the cap, in my opinion, is less about saving money than it is about letting the young core develop rather than displacing them with expensive veterans.  When they have tried to spend (Leino, Ehrhoff, Taylor Hall, etc. and arguably Okposo and Skinner) it has not typically gone well.  Given where the team is in the development cycle, I think they'll be willing to spend a little more this offseason to fill in some of the holes in the roster (RHD, veteran "power" forward types).  I also think that the new coach will have a lot of input on how they shape the roster.  That can certainly be discussed at the interview and/or laid out as terms for accepting the job.

It is not about "the roof" that has been leaking on fans in the upper deck for YEARS. It is about the willingness to invest and solve in the most basic solutions facing the team and the fanbase. 

The NHL is set up for bad teams to have great prospects and good teams to have bad prospects. It is because the worse you are the higher you draft and vica versa. Buffalo has been the worst franchise in the league by P% since Terry bought the team. They are supposed to have decent prospect. The only notably achievements are when teams like Ottawa have really bad prospects or last years NJ Devils were ranked super highly. These rankings also flip quickly. NJD went from a top prospect pool to a bottom prospect pool pretty quickly. If the Sabres don't get over the hump their prospect pool ranking will tank in short order. 

You can claim it is not about saving money all you want. But Pegula himself has said that the franchises goal is to be efficient, effective, and economic. It is really difficult to separate a failing building, minimal spending to the salary cap, and one of the smallest scouting departments in the league from that statement. That is a bridge too far for most people. 

 

Edited April 16 by Mango
grammar

[Second Line Center]

 

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, WhenWillItEnd66 said:

On GR it was stated that supposedly Ellis contract is up so does not need to be let go.

Ah.  Matt Ellis, the Victor Olofsson of Bench Coaches.

[That Aud Smell]

33 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:

Searching for my next head coach with shame

Shame! Shame! Shame!

34 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:

Some people (PASabres fan) claim that there's a woman to blame

But I know, it's always Terry’s fault

Possibly:

Some people claim that P Ayyy is to blame

[PickaPecaPickles]

I liked Granato a lot as a person and enjoyed listening to him on WGR when I could.  I certainly can't judge him on Xs and Os, but just as important, if not more so IMHO, is motivating players. They are pros and supposed to be motivated, but that belies human nature. They rarely looked motivated in the first period (it seems they'd only come to life when they were down or waited until the last period). In fact, the past 2 years, it also looked like the team would wait until the second half (or later) of the season to start playing in a manner showing they wanted to make the playoffs.  To me, that is all on the coaching staff. 

These players obviously need external motivation.  You don't necessarily need some guy who is going to crack the whip, as there are different ways to motivate people. But it seemed pretty clear that Granato either didn't think it was necessary or relied on a method that wasn't connecting.

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, Crusader1969 said:

The more I think about Lindy behind the bench game 1 next season, the more excited I get to see it happen.  Would be electric 

I worry he would go stale (especially to the fans) quickly.  If they're below NHL .500 on Thanksgiving the fans will turn on him.

[Stads]

10 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Ah.  Matt Ellis, the Victor Olofsson of Bench Coaches.

Not sure he ever understood what a power play was

[Mango]

For those who keep saying "There are only 32 NHL HC jobs in the world you always take it if offered". 

David Carle is saying exactly what I have in this thread, that for some coaches the right opportunity is more important than the next opportunity. 
 

 

[Flashsabre]

What is Adams going to say today?

If it is about taking the next step than it can’t be Appert.

Is he going to Atleast BS U.S. by throwing out the idea of an actual coaching search?

I mean Sullivan could shake loose in Pittsburgh. Guys like Berube, Quenneville, Boudreau, Gallant are all itching to get back behind a bench.

Brindamour is the unicorn dream right now.

If all that experience and talent is out there and they just go Appert than Terry’s pocket book is closed, the internal cap is staying and the future sucks.

[Broken Ankles]

15 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Ah.  Matt Ellis, the Victor Olofsson of Bench Coaches.

[#freejame]

Hiring Lindy would divide the fanbase just like hiring Nolan a second time did. We need a unifier, this fanbase is as much of a mess as the organization is. Gallant would have me excited. Not sure who else I would be excited about. There’s people that I’d be happy with though. 

[Doohicksie]

2 hours ago, erickompositör72 said:

Wondering why some are strongly opposed to Ruff. I'm not advocating either way, but he was the coach for the best Sabres teams I've ever watched.

 

Seems like he was only fired to facilitate the tank.

To the bold:  Because while I loved Lindy, it seemed that by the time he left he'd lost the room.  We've seen him lose the room in NJ, and it didn't take 16 years.  I fear that the fire Lindy used to bring is more based in nostalgia than reality.

I would love to see him come here and succeed, but again, I think that's more nostalgia for the past than current reality.

And to your second line... Lindy was stale and no one was listening to him anymore.  That was as important as the tank as far as why he was let go. 

A further thought:  Of course maybe the tank itself was a factor that contributed to Lindy lost the room.

Edited April 16 by Doohickie
added a further thought

[msw2112]

10 minutes ago, Mango said:

It is not about "the roof" that has been leaking on fans in the upper deck for YEARS. It is about the willingness to invest and solve in the most basic solutions facing the team and the fanbase. 

The NHL is set up for bad teams to have great prospects and good teams to have bad prospects. It is because the worse you are the higher you draft and vica versa. Buffalo has been the worst franchise in the league by P% since Terry bought the team. They are supposed to have decent prospect. The only notably achievements are when teams like Ottawa have really bad prospects or last years NJ Devils were ranked super highly. These rankings also flip quickly. NJD went from a top prospect pool to a bottom prospect pool pretty quickly. If the Sabres don't get over the hump their prospect pool ranking will tank in short order. 

You can claim think it is not about saving money all you want. But Pegula himself has said that the franchises goal is to be efficient, effective, and economic. It is really difficult to separate a failing building, minimal spending to the salary cap, and one of the smallest scouting departments in the league from that statement. That is a bridge too far for most people. 

 

I see where you are coming from, but I still differ in opinion on a couple of topics.  First, I fully understand that with a draft system in professional sports that the worst teams draft higher than the better teams and that the top teams draft later.  The Sabres have been drafting in the top 10 for a long time and have made a lot of bad picks.  Good teams maximize their picks wherever they draft, and also find talent later in the first and second rounds and also hit on later picks from time to time.  I believe that the Sabres have been better in the last couple of drafts than they had been a few years prior.  They have also committed to a their AHL program after ignoring it for years.  They have not traded away young talent like Tim Murray did.  Solid middle-tier players like Compher, McNabb, and others were not given time to develop and were shipped off to other teams too early, whereas they've given the current prospects more time.  So there are many factors that go into the pipeline.

As to the poor quality of the building, I think that it goes hand in hand with the product on the ice.  When Pegula was pumping a lot of money into the team and they kept losing year after year, he decided to change his approach.  I don't think he wanted to pump a lot of money into an empty building.  Even if he did, and the team kept losing, the seats would have remained empty.  As the one-ice product improves and the fans start coming back, more money will be invested into the building.  Now that the team is out of the basement and in the middle of the pack with a chance to be a playoff team soon with the right coach (again, my opinion), more money is being invested in the building (roof, scoreboard, etc.)  In full disclosure, I don't live in Buffalo anymore and have only been to the building once in the last few years.  I sat in the 100 level and my experience was fine.  Things were a little dated, but otherwise fine.  If I was a season ticket holder in the 300 level and having water drip on my head every game, my perspective might be completely different.

[Flashsabre]

“Welcome to the club Donny”

[erickompositör72]

2 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

“Welcome to the club Donny”

He's waiting at the bar for him with Doug Whaley and Tim Murray

[That Aud Smell]

8 minutes ago, erickompositör72 said:

He's waiting at the bar for him with Doug Whaley and Tim Murray

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, ska-T Chitown said:

Is this the slide deck they will be passing around to potential candidates? How's the insurance? Dental? What about 401k matching? lol

That will be handled by the HR presentation. 😉

[sabrefanday1]

Would adding LIndy not put people in the seats? That may be the main reason for this...

[Doohicksie]

22 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:

Thank you.  I feel that was some of my best work on the forum.

[Malazan]

1 hour ago, eman said:

and we know how adept this organization is at hiring "the right guy"! 13 seasons strong!!!

ok? Not sure of the point here. Should we just not discuss candidates or traits we think are relevant/irrelevant because the Sabres suck at finding the right coaches?

[#freejame]

5 minutes ago, sabrefanday1 said:

Would adding LIndy not put people in the seats? That may be the main reason for this...

It wouldn’t get me to go

[sabrefanday1]

4 minutes ago, #freejame said:

It wouldn’t get me to go

maybe not you but many stil love LIndy 

[#freejame]

Just now, sabrefanday1 said:

maybe not you but many stil love LIndy 

And many loved Ted Nolan and that didn’t move the needle attendance wise. I have plenty of respect for Lindy, but others have done a great job of explaining my opinion for me as to why he shouldn’t be here. 

[Big Guava]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

With all the excitement going on, I'm getting tripped up by stuff like there being both Mango and Guava poster accounts.

Someone needs to come in with Pineapple