Reality Is...Nobody Has An Answer

[CallawaySabres]

Is it the GM? Adams is awful but look at all the failures before him.

Is it the Coach? Ruff is no longer built for this. His fire has gone, and nobody else wanted him after the NJ firing.

Is it the owner? I say yes, definitively. He never had a true hockey guy here to find the proper GM who in turn found the right players and coach

Is it the players? What happened to the offense from 2 years ago? Where did all the scoring go? Do players like Power and Dahlin go from sure-fire superstars to being good players that never reach their potential?

Is it the assistant coaches? How the heck can a powerplay be this bad two years in a row? Now the penalty kill is disgusting to watch. How can a defense be THIS bad???

Is it goaltending? I don't see anything special in Levi or UPL.

Bottom line is that every phase of this organizations sucks and I see no solutions in sight.

Go Bills!!!!!!! We have the number one QBeast on the planet 🙂

[mjd1001]

14 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Is it the GM? Adams is awful but look at all the failures before him.

Is it the Coach? Ruff is no longer built for this. His fire has gone, and nobody else wanted him after the NJ firing.

Is it the owner? I say yes, definitively. He never had a true hockey guy here to find the proper GM who in turn found the right players and coach

Is it the players? What happened to the offense from 2 years ago? Where did all the scoring go? Do players like Power and Dahlin go from sure-fire superstars to being good players that never reach their potential?

Is it the assistant coaches? How the heck can a powerplay be this bad two years in a row? Now the penalty kill is disgusting to watch. How can a defense be THIS bad???

Is it goaltending? I don't see anything special in Levi or UPL.

Bottom line is that every phase of this organizations sucks and I see no solutions in sight.

Go Bills!!!!!!! We have the number one QBeast on the planet 🙂

I don't totally agree.

When things are bad everyone looks bad, but if one (or maybe 2) parties are bad, then its going to reflect bad on everyone.

Ruff may still be a good coach. Dahlin may be an elite player. There may be an assistant coach or two that are great. But their influence could totally be drowned out by the level of ineptitude around them.  It likely isn't every phase. Its likely more phases than it should be, but there are probably some very good to great people in this organization that are no where close to being enough to make a difference.

[7+6=13]

I'm surprised no one has brought up and said these same exact things, over and over, until now.

[SwampD]

1 minute ago, 7+6=13 said:

I'm surprised no one has brought up and said these same exact things, over and over, until now.

Hi. Welcome to a sports message board. Is this your first visit?

[SHAAAUGHT!!!]

Is it the GM? Yes.  He's not capable of signing high impact players without overpaying because he doesn't think he can.  Only if we had no taxes and some palm trees...  

Is it the Coach?  Not really, but it is Ruff's fault he didn't push to bring in some of his own assistant coaches.

Is it the owner? 100% doesn't know what it takes to put winning NHL team or organization together and we have 13 years of data to support this. Someone in this organization has to remove their head from TPs ass and tell him no one with the last name Pegula should have anything to do with this team besides writing checks.  

Is it the players? Yes. Millionaire babies that have the backbone of bean bag chair.  Figure it out you bums and tear that A off of Cozens jersey.  This message does not apply to Zucker, Benson, Malenstyn, or Dahlin.  They've played above expectations this year.  

Is it the assistant coaches? Probably.  Team is not prepared to play the full 60.  Lack of adjustments during the game causing blown leads.  This is where you need feedback from your assistants to properly manage a game.

Is it goaltending?  No.  While shaky the first couple weeks, UPL is the real deal and a starter in this league.

[HumanSlinky39]

Bottom line - this isn't a serious hockey organization. Cancelling practice the day before a game while ensnared in a 10 game losing streak tells us that. Who does such a thing? The Sabres, that's who. They have an owner who has proven time and again to be completely clueless about hiring the right people. They have a GM that never had any business being one and has terminal tunnel vision. I love Lindy, but he is very clearly NOT the right coach for this team and the "coaching search" this summer was a farce. Until they hire someone who is actually serious AND capable of building a winning hockey team it's just going to be groundhog day...over and over again. Each mounting loss and management debacle pushes more and more fans away and makes the task of winning them back more difficult.

Edited Wednesday at 03:19 PM by HumanSlinky39

[Flashsabre]

0 for 14 as owner.

The one thing Pegula hasn’t done in this awful period is hire a vet NHL guy to lead the franchise. It’s the one thing he has left to try. He has proven he has no idea how to identify and build a strong front office. Let a seasoned NHL guy give it a go.

[JP51]

1 minute ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Bottom line - this isn't a serious hockey organization. Cancelling practice the day before a game while ensnared in a 10 game losing streak tells us that. They have an owner who has proven time and again to be completely clueless about hiring the right people. They have a GM that never had any business being one and has terminal tunnel vision. I love Lindy, but he is very clearly NOT the right coach for this team and the "coaching search" this summer was a farce. Until they hire someone who is actually serious AND capable of building a winning hockey team it's just going to be groundhog day...over and over again.

Lets look at this a little closer for more info... Was it Lindy that cancelled the practice? I some how doubt that.. Which means it was Pegula that cancelled the practice after likely Ruff was Voluntold to agree with it... talk about Meddling in the micro day to day.. I think we can see plainly that Pegula is actively engaged in the day to day dysfunction...  I did see Ruff in his press conference looking a combination of defeated, disgusted and helpless... I wonder how much , obviously not all, was TP stepping into his world and dictating the practice schedule... 

[HumanSlinky39]

4 minutes ago, JP51 said:

Lets look at this a little closer for more info... Was it Lindy that cancelled the practice? I some how doubt that.. Which means it was Pegula that cancelled the practice after likely Ruff was Voluntold to agree with it... talk about Meddling in the micro day to day.. I think we can see plainly that Pegula is actively engaged in the day to day dysfunction...  I did see Ruff in his press conference looking a combination of defeated, disgusted and helpless... I wonder how much , obviously not all, was TP stepping into his world and dictating the practice schedule... 

I don't know whose call it was initially, but there were multiple layers of failure in allowing it to happen. If it was TP's call, somebody/anybody that gives a damn should have had the balls to step in and say "appreciate that, boss, but we really NEED to practice." That could have been GMKA, Lindy, or if not one of them, somebody on the damn team, preferably a guy with a letter on his jersey. I have a hard time thinking that Pegula (if he made the call) would "punish" anybody for wanting to practice and try to get ***** better. That each of those levels failed to do so tells me there is a leadership void the size of ***** Siberia in this organization.

[GoPuckYourself]

Seriously you guys really think that practice would have made that big of a difference? So they would have been beat 4-1 or 5-1? 
 

This is on the owner, coaches, assistants for sure but at the end of the day the players play the game. We don’t have enough guys who win puck battles, don’t have enough guys who block shots, don’t have enough defensive defenseman, don’t have enough guys who stand in front of the opposing teams goalie and the list goes on and on.

I also think we need a veteran GM and a complete assistant coaching change because these guys are mediocre at best but that’s just my opinion.

 

[JohnC]

28 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Hi. Welcome to a sports message board. Is this your first visit?

What services do you offer? I heard the back room is where the most stimulating massages happen. Of course, I'm willing to pay the premium price for what your advertisements indicate are satisfying results. Can you schedule me sooner rather than later? After visiting a particular hocky forum I feel very tensed up.  Can you give me a guarantee that I will be satisfactorily serviced? 😀

[Stads]

22 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

0 for 14 as owner.

The one thing Pegula hasn’t done in this awful period is hire a vet NHL guy to lead the franchise. It’s the one thing he has left to try. He has proven he has no idea how to identify and build a strong front office. Let a seasoned NHL guy give it a go.

I feel like he doesn't want a guy like that. An actual NHL professional would want to spend to the cap and have total control. That doesn't sound like someone Terry would want based on the current iteration of this team

[HumanSlinky39]

4 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

Seriously you guys really think that practice would have made that big of a difference? So they would have been beat 4-1 or 5-1? 
 

This is on the owner, coaches, assistants for sure but at the end of the day the players play the game. We don’t have enough guys who win puck battles, don’t have enough guys who block shots, don’t have enough defensive defenseman, don’t have enough guys who stand in front of the opposing teams goalie and the list goes on and on.

I also think we need a veteran GM and a complete assistant coaching change because these guys are mediocre at best but that’s just my opinion.

 

It's not about the difference it would have made, it's the principle. The team is REELING and they get a day off? The sheer optics of that are wild. How do you get better from NOT practicing? IIRC they also cancelled practice last week after the Avs meltdown. This is not something a team that is serious about winning, or knows what needs to be done to win does.

[SwampD]

7 minutes ago, JohnC said:

What services do you offer? I heard the back room is where the most stimulating massages happen. Of course, I'm willing to pay the premium price for what your advertisements indicate are satisfying results. Can you schedule me sooner rather than later? After visiting a particular hocky forum I feel very tensed up.  Can you give me a guarantee that I will be satisfactorily serviced? 😀

I’m going to need you to fill out some paperwork first. You can sit over there to complete it. When you are finished, bring it back to me with your drivers license and insurance card. I’m going to need to make a copy for our files.

[DarthEbriate]

8 minutes ago, Stads said:

I feel like he doesn't want a guy like that. An actual NHL professional would want to spend to the cap and have total control. That doesn't sound like someone Terry would want based on the current iteration of this team

Even an unprofessional no-hockey ops background GM would want to spend to the cap and have control. Except Adams, of course.

[JP51]

33 minutes ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

I don't know whose call it was initially, but there were multiple layers of failure in allowing it to happen. If it was TP's call, somebody/anybody that gives a damn should have had the balls to step in and say "appreciate that, boss, but we really NEED to practice." That could have been GMKA, Lindy, or if not one of them, somebody on the damn team, preferably a guy with a letter on his jersey. I have a hard time thinking that Pegula (if he made the call) would "punish" anybody for wanting to practice and try to get ***** better. That each of those levels failed to do so tells me there is a leadership void the size of ***** Siberia in this organization.

Who knows... I just cant believe Lindy would say no practice today... so maybe it was him... but I just struggle with that approach, it would be awfully ballsy for him to cancel practice for an underperforming team when the owner is flying out to talk to them...  but maybe... we will never know. 

[mjd1001]

Ok I'm going to take a stab at this....what reasonably has a chance of happening merged with what might help things:

-Adams gets a 'promotion' to a higher level/more business side of things. 

-Lindy is either moved to GM or more likely head of hockey operation/president role.

-Lindy stays on as coach temporarily, or Appert takes over while Lindy takes his new role and leads the 'search for a new GM'.

-New GM his hired. Lindy and the new GM are hopefully on the same page (it being in large party Lindy's hire), and only after that hire is made a new permanent coach (Appert or someone outside the organizations is picked) and the new GM picks his hockey people (Karmanos, Forton, Jakubowski, etc have to interview and are not guaranteed jobs)

-Roster evaluation happens immediately after that hire.  With Lindy in a role of 'president of hockey operations', and the GM he picks is someone who he agrees with, he can have input into a lot of the players seeing how he actually coached them.

I would not do all of the above, but some I could live with.

[Jorcus]

46 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Is it the GM? Adams is awful but look at all the failures before him.

I won't say everything Adams has done is bad. There was a plan and he put it in motion. The bottom line is he is too married to his players and plan even when it all goes south. The team needs a new set of eyes and an overall vision reset. There is a lot to work with talent wise. At least enough to be respectable but it comes down to having a system to maximize the talent that is here and shore up the weak points.

46 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Is it the Coach? Ruff is no longer built for this. His fire has gone, and nobody else wanted him after the NJ firing.

The hiring of Ruff is turning into a big mistake. I can't honestly say I know what his offensive game plan is but no way is it working. On defense they want to hurry out of the zone. When they have 3 good puck moving D men I can see why but it just has not worked. The down side is all this hurry motion tires the team out. Your lucky to get 30 min of good game out of this group. They have to be more efficient. Ruff took the thing that was working well in the second half of last year and broke it. He has also made the power play worse. If there was one thing that needed fixing It was that. The head coach is in charge of the power play not Appert, he just puts in what the coach wants. 

46 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Is it the owner? I say yes, definitively. He never had a true hockey guy here to find the proper GM who in turn found the right players and coach

I blame the owner a lot less than most. A lot of people say's he meddles but other than approving massive money outlays does anyone really know if he is telling the GM and coach what to do? At the end of the day though he is the only one who can change the situation so you can blame him for that. 

46 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Is it the players? What happened to the offense from 2 years ago? Where did all the scoring go? Do players like Power and Dahlin go from sure-fire superstars to being good players that never reach their potential?

This comes down to utilization. It's what Granato for the most part was good at. Find out what a player can do well and let him do it. I think Lindy is trying to make some of these players into something they are not to fit a system. There are some players that are not as good as we think they are because they can only do certain things. Maybe Lindy can change players into something else. It seems like he has lost the room before he has even started.

 

46 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Is it the assistant coaches? How the heck can a powerplay be this bad two years in a row? Now the penalty kill is disgusting to watch. How can a defense be THIS bad???

I don't know if the the assistant coaches are bad or good but It's up to the head coach and GM to decide so they are the ones to blame if it's not working. If the power play was good last year Granato would have been the Sabres coach to start the season. It has to be fixed or the the black hole of this team will just suck more coaches and player's into it. 

46 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Is it goaltending? I don't see anything special in Levi or UPL.

Goaltending was fine under the Granato system at 2nd half of last year. There was a style of defense that boxed out, allowed one shot from outside then cleared all rebounds mostly to the corners where puck possession could be obtained then worked it's way out of the zone. With the hurry out of the zone offense they are giving up a lot of rush chances on turnovers entering the other zone where the players are in not in position to cover. They give up too many rebounds. Some of what made UPL better was Granato's system. Maybe those goaltenders are not special but they can be effective. 

[SDS]

51 minutes ago, JP51 said:

Which means it was Pegula that cancelled the practice after likely Ruff was Voluntold to agree with it... talk about Meddling in the micro day to day.. 

Possibly the single dumbest assertion that has been made during the Pegula years. Go touch some grass.

[Mr Peabody]

16 minutes ago, JP51 said:

Who knows... I just cant believe Lindy would say no practice today... so maybe it was him... but I just struggle with that approach, it would be awfully ballsy for him to cancel practice for an underperforming team when the owner is flying out to talk to them...  but maybe... we will never know. 

Maybe Lindy needed a mental health day off

Edited Wednesday at 04:22 PM by Mr Peabody

[JP51]

2 minutes ago, SDS said:

Possibly the single dumbest assertion that has been made during the Pegula years. Go touch some grass.

Well LOL... I can go with you dont agree that it wasnt Pegula that suggested this and it was Ruff cause that is very possible... I just thought it wasnt  Lindy like to cancel a practice on a 10 game losing streak... again certainly a possibility... However, for it to be in almost 14 years to be the dumbest thing ever said on this forum... thats quite a take... then to throw a personal insult at me because I thought it was a possibility?  Guess that is your choice... are you really an administrator of this board may I ask? 

1 minute ago, Mr Peabody said:

Maybe Lindy needed a mental health day off

Now for that literally I could not blame him... we can throw that into the jar of possibilities LOL 

[WhenWillItEnd66]

Which means the fault lies with the Owner. Putting the wrong hockey people in the wrong spots for so long gives you this hot mess. I mean WE SCREWED UP A TANK WITH A GENERATIONAL PLAYER!!!! Hell we gave away a stanley cup team.  Just my opinion but this is what we need to do:

KA - GONE!!!! 

Lindy - Promoted to GM

Seth - Make HC. 

Hire a real PP guy (Or girl!)

Trade Cozens!! Supposedly there is a lot of interest in him! Get a rugged physical scorer that goes to the front of the net

Trade either Byrum or Power for a top 2 defensive physical dman! How many freaking puck moving dmen do you need???? 

[JohnC]

22 minutes ago, SwampD said:

I’m going to need you to fill out some paperwork first. You can sit over there to complete it. When you are finished, bring it back to me with your drivers license and insurance card. I’m going to need to make a copy for our files.

You sound like a trustworthy fellow. I'll get right on it. 

On a serious note, I did have personal experience with stolen identities and fraud. Someone stole a credit card from my wallet out of a locked locker at the gym I used to go to. In less than an hour, over five thousand $$$ worth of goods were bought from a number of stores. As it turned out, this was a theft by a multi-state theft ring. I was really pisssed off at the brazenness of the theft. I had a police background, so I really pushed the issue with the police department/s involved and the credit card company. 

This case ended up with multi-agency involvements, search warrants and seizures from stash houses that held the goods purchased by stolen credit cards. It first went to a lower Maryland court, and as the case developed it continued to get bigger and more complex, ending up in a higher court. 

Part of the group was arrested. Some of the members flipped on the honcho. He ended up being arrested and taken to court.  After more than a year or so of wrangling, he ended up pleading guilty, resulting in jail time. 

What was aggravating about the case is that the credit card company offered me no cooperation. So the records were subpoenaed and turned over. What perturbed me the most about this theft is that not only was my credit card taken but also my house key was taken out of a wallet compartment. So until I got the lock changed. I slept on the couch on a lower level with my gun nearby. 

Moral of the story: Criminals create havoc and disruption for victims. 

[EM88]

40 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Ok I'm going to take a stab at this....what reasonably has a chance of happening merged with what might help things:

-Adams gets a 'promotion' to a higher level/more business side of things. 

-Lindy is either moved to GM or more likely head of hockey operation/president role.

-Lindy stays on as coach temporarily, or Appert takes over while Lindy takes his new role and leads the 'search for a new GM'.

-New GM his hired. Lindy and the new GM are hopefully on the same page (it being in large party Lindy's hire), and only after that hire is made a new permanent coach (Appert or someone outside the organizations is picked) and the new GM picks his hockey people (Karmanos, Forton, Jakubowski, etc have to interview and are not guaranteed jobs)

-Roster evaluation happens immediately after that hire.  With Lindy in a role of 'president of hockey operations', and the GM he picks is someone who he agrees with, he can have input into a lot of the players seeing how he actually coached them.

I would not do all of the above, but some I could live with.

The timing of those transition items might be tough.

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, 7+6=13 said:

I'm surprised no one has brought up and said these same exact things, over and over, until now.

If the team plays good hockey we talk about good hockey. 

If the teams plays bad hockey we talk about bad hockey. 

If the owner and GM continue to embarrass and stain the organization then we talk about that.  Especially when the hockey media outside of Buffalo is talking about it, and hockey discussion videos are popping up all over the internet on this topic.