Hockey Heaven!

[7+6=13]

21 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Yes, you do “simply think”.   What do you contribute?  

Ok hero, Terry is stupid and you're amazing.  I'll say it again tomorrow.  Am I one of the cool kids now?

 

Beta!

[Pimlach]

18 minutes ago, 7+6=13 said:

Ok hero, Terry is stupid and you're amazing.  I'll say it again tomorrow.  Am I one of the cool kids now?

 

Beta!

[K-9]

5 hours ago, EM88 said:

A good GM as you described would not have been hired by Pegula, and if he was he would not be long for the job.

It  is an issue because on the hockey side of things, the last GM got fired for not listening to the owner.  Whether it was about roster decisions, not spending money, or firing scouts and staff, both Botts and Pegula himself said he was let go because Pegula was not being listened to. 

Pegula: "Do as I say or get fired."   

Botts: "No" 

Pegula: "You're fired, now I'm hiring someone with the condition they will listen to me."

Adams was around. He knows that is how he got his job.  He knows its likely that with the team not doing well, he might get fired real quick if he tries to tell Terry where his 'boundries' are.  It happened just a few years ago.

If you are Adams, its basically this.  Let Terry talk to you. Don't set boundries.  Take his suggestions. Make him feel he is an important part of hockey and roster decisions.   OR, end up like the last guy, that actually happened and you were first-hand witness to it.

Botterill was fired for one specific instance of not following orders when he refused to fire 20 or so people in the operations department, including nearly all of his scouts. It was part of their austerity program during the pandemic when teams all around the league were implementing severe cost cutting measures in the face of anticipated heavy losses of revenue. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

[HumanSlinky39]

[EM88]

41 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Botterill was fired for one specific instance of not following orders when he refused to fire 20 or so people in the operations department, including nearly all of his scouts. It was part of their austerity program during the pandemic when teams all around the league were implementing severe cost cutting measures in the face of anticipated heavy losses of revenue. 

It has been well documented at this point, that there were other teams that did not make those cuts to the same degree the Sabres did.  Also, Pegula continued that austerity program even after the Pandemic wound down and many other teams were spending and hiring again. I do not have the quotes and articles at my fingeritps at the moment for this post, but a quick search will show many of them posted on this very forum.

  Once Pegula soured on Eichel (yes, there are articles and quotes that have been posted on this very forum that show Pegula was not happy with Eichel), he was more than happy to get rid of his salary.  Why did Reinhart end up leaving? The Sabres would not pay him long term, pnly giving him short term, short money deals.  Mitts was a critical part of this team last year, and he said the Sabres did not even approach him with a long term offer, which the Sabres did not deny either. He was traded in part, probably largely,  because they did not want to pay him money long term while well under the cap.

They bought out Jeff Skinner and they didn't seem to use that free cap space to spend real money to fill out the roster. That is more on Pegula than the Hockey department.

I highly doubt Adams, nor anyone in the hockey department, was thinking they don't want to pay these guys even when they had much cap space. That came from Pegula, not the hockey department.  I also remember Pegula saying when he bought the team something like "there is no salary cap on scouting or coaching" or something like that, saying how the team would work to win the cup.  If everyone was cutting back on Staff and scouts after the Pandemic, wouldn't a smart business person, a multi-billionaire that wanted his team to win, a smart leader, use that opportunity to grab and sign as many good people as you could when others were letting them go?   Pegula did the opposite. He gutted the Sabres scouting and development programs and was certainly not in a hurry to rebuild those programs for a few years. Several of the guys that were purged were picked up by other teams instead of the other way around.

This is on Pegula.  Most of what his franchise is right now in a negative way, its on Terry Pegula.

[PerreaultForever]

I hate the Bills/Sabres comparison. I get it, but I hate it. I really don't think Pegula did anything differently or brilliantly with the Bills, he just got lucky. He got Josh Allen. If the Sabres had gotten McJesus everything might have played out differently. Ultimately though I think Pegula doesn't meddle in the Bills decisions because he isn't a football guy and so he lets them do whatever they suggest and since he got lucky and hired competent management there it works, but only around the stud QB. 

If somehow one of our GMs got us in the playoffs would Pegula back off his meddling and trust them? Maybe. But we may never know. 

[bunomatic]

7 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Is in it fun watching the Avs and NYR get deals done to help their teams while KA is counting palm fronds?  

 

The Rangers were boo’d off the ice tonight.

[GASabresIUFAN]

15 minutes ago, bunomatic said:

The Rangers were boo’d off the ice tonight.

They’re 2-6 in their last 8, but at least Drury is trying to do something.  Where is Kevyn “Palm” Adams?

[EM88]

18 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

They’re 2-6 in their last 8, but at least Drury is trying to do something.  Where is Kevyn “Palm” Adams?

Taking orders and advice from Pegula, which was the condition he was hired upon.

[GASabresIUFAN]

By the way, despite my loathing of what Pegula and Adams have done to this team, there are 3 roster moves that might salvage this team.  

Those moves are finding 2 good defensive D to play with our top 2 puck movers.  The 3rd move is acquiring a top 6 playmaking center.  We move out whomever we need to make room for those 3 players including but not limited to Power, Cozens, Joki, Bryson, and others.  
 

Adams is not the man to make the right deals, but the 3 players we need are out there. 

 

[BMWR100RT]

A GM is part of the sales and marketing effort with some sales skills. They need to convince (sell) other teams GMs and players that Buffalo is where they want to be. They also need to foist (sell) our bad assets in trade. If Kevin Adams grilling in front of the media produced that press conference, imagine him in the last two sentences.  

 

[Flashsabre]

Sadly this checks out with this organization.

[Pimlach]

2 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Sadly this checks out with this organization.

Please God no.   

[Scottysabres]

All hope is lost. Sell the team Terry. 

[caseydean]

Like it or not, without Pegula we likely would have no sports teams at all.  Bad comes with the good.  But Jeez, after 14 years and his success with the Bills-- lucky or not-- you would think he could do the same thing with the Sabres or at least give it another try.

[bob_sauve28]

 

Come on, if the team is talented enough to take big leads on other teams then they are talented enough to hold the lead.

 

Sorry, this one is on the coach. Why does he still have the left over on his staff from the last (failed) regime?

 

New coach with a big broom. Sweep it clean

 

[#freejame]

Lindy was nothing more than a marketing hire. He’s always been a 2nd/3rd tier coach in the league. Expecting him to right the ship was always a pipe dream. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Repeat after me, we have no competent D on this roster.  A team cannot win with D who can’t actually play D.  It’s called defense for a reason.   Sure Reimer sucks.  Sure Lindy hasn’t done a good job, but no one can win with this D group.  
 

Byram, Power, Joki, and Bryson don’t or can’t play D.  Dahlin is hurt.  Samuelsson is hurt.  Clifton runs hot and mostly cold and Gilbert isn’t an NHLer any longer.  It is the worst D group in the NHL.

Edited December 10 by GASabresIUFAN

[Indabuff]

[Stoner]

I mean, if Adams goes, doesn't Lindy?

[Pimlach]

38 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

 

Come on, if the team is talented enough to take big leads on other teams then they are talented enough to hold the lead.

 

Sorry, this one is on the coach. Why does he still have the left over on his staff from the last (failed) regime?

 

New coach with a big broom. Sweep it clean

 

One of the knocks on the Sabres organization is the high level of turnover.  They tried to stop that perception when they gave Granato a good look. Firing Lindy after 30 games will only keep the really good coaches and GMs further away. 

Besides, do you think Terry and Adams can run a coach search?  They just showed us last off season that they are not willing, or able to perform a proper  coach search.  Berube was out there, he publicly said that he never got a call from Adams.  He seems to be doing ok in Toronto.  I have no desire to turn it over to Seth Appert either.   Which is likely to be Adams next move.  

If Lindy goes then I want to see Adams go before him.   I prefer they finish the season before they blow up another regime.  After that - Hire a POHO.  Let him hire the GM.  Let the GM hire the coach.  Let the coach hire his staff.  Do it like normal teams do it for a change.  

Losing leads at home is a mental and physical weakness by the players.  It was there before Lindy.  

Edited December 10 by Pimlach

[EM88]

No, this is not on Lindy.  It starts with Pegula first. Adams and the hockey department 2nd.  Players playing to their ability 3rd.  Lindy as of now is at the bottom of the list of who is at fault in this organization.

The problem is the rot starts at the top.  You have the weakest part of the organizations impacting everything below him.

The only hope I have this team ever gets good is pure luck, because that is the only way Pegula doesn't mess up everything below him. And everything is below him.

Firing Lindy won't solve the issue. His replacement will just be picked by Pegula, or by someone at a different level Pegula picked.

[Hawerchuk]

Wrong. Read Harringtons article today in the Buffalo News. This lies squarely on Pegula who refuses to inject proven hockey minds in the front office.

From the article: "And since social media and TV are only concerned about those kind of clips and not any real depth, what’s missed is the most important takeaway from the news conference: Adams speaks to Pegula every day. It’s well-known by those of us who cover this team but lots of you probably needed to hear that in the open. There’s your organizational red flag, the siren wailing to signify the real problem here."

 

 

[Stoner]

5 minutes ago, Hawerchuk said:

Wrong. Read Harringtons article today in the Buffalo News. This lies squarely on Pegula who refuses to inject proven hockey minds in the front office.

From the article: "And since social media and TV are only concerned about those kind of clips and not any real depth, what’s missed is the most important takeaway from the news conference: Adams speaks to Pegula every day. It’s well-known by those of us who cover this team but lots of you probably needed to hear that in the open. There’s your organizational red flag, the siren wailing to signify the real problem here."

 

 

Yeah Mike that was no slip of the tongue. He has said it before. I am certain GMs before him said it.

GMTM's Uncle Bryan had the money quote of this whole situation. Tim said his uncle told him, "Remember, everyone has a boss." They knew the score in Buffalo.