Does the fact there has been no movement actually signal hope?

[SwampD]

Similar to the late Aughts, we just need to wait for our new core to mature. Ya know, youngest team in hockey’n’all.

[JP51]

59 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Ok, now a real response. I think Terry doesn't really care unless it impacts his rich guy yacht money. Adams, isn't good at making moves and other GMs keep waiting to fleece him. So when they can't, they tend to hold. 

So you have 2 factors, Terry doesn't care enough to put pressure on, especially with the Bills still going. And 2, Adams isn't competent enough in his job regardless of the limits Terry has on him. 

Very fair analysis and has got to be truth in here.  I do find peculiar that Terry says the answer is in this room essentially we are not doing anything... could be bs windows dressing and an attempt to settle things down with Adams working behind the scenes to find a worthy trade and not wanting to get fleeced. I think it is more likely that what he is being offered is picks and prospects because top 6 players with NMCs won't come here thus his palm tree comment.

[GASabresIUFAN]

6 hours ago, JP51 said:

thats sounds optimistic if the current management stays...  but I guess you never know... 

Hope can really only grow if Adams is gone.  His plan is crap and everyone in the NHL knows it including him.

[JP51]

12 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Hope can really only grow if Adams is gone.  His plan is crap and everyone in the NHL knows it including him.

I do not disagree i would go as far as saying hope can only grow if Terry commits to winning AND hires a competent GM and POHO

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Ok, now a real response. I think Terry doesn't really care unless it impacts his rich guy yacht money. Adams, isn't good at making moves and other GMs keep waiting to fleece him. So when they can't, they tend to hold. 

So you have 2 factors, Terry doesn't care enough to put pressure on, especially with the Bills still going. And 2, Adams isn't competent enough in his job regardless of the limits Terry has on him. 

Ya 

[Pimlach]

10 hours ago, JP51 said:

So, I have been pretty vocal saying I do not want Adams to have a say over our assets or lack thereof... I just don't find him capable... so is the issue simply there is no one that will come here via trade... or at least not that we have to over pay in both assets and compensation (and you know TP isnt having that) or Adams simply doesnt see a problem... (not likely)

OR  is it possible TP's "we are running with who we have" and "the solution is in this locker room" is his way of constraining Adams from making moves because he is contemplating a change (most likely at this point in the off season) . I honestly don't know... But I am hoping it is the latter... 

as always interested in the views of the board ... 

Movement?  

[Pimlach]

55 minutes ago, JP51 said:

Very fair analysis and has got to be truth in here.  I do find peculiar that Terry says the answer is in this room essentially we are not doing anything... could be bs windows dressing and an attempt to settle things down with Adams working behind the scenes to find a worthy trade and not wanting to get fleeced. I think it is more likely that what he is being offered is picks and prospects because top 6 players with NMCs won't come here thus his palm tree comment.

It was a Terryish way of supporting the team after the disastrous Adams Presser were he focused on how hard it is to get better players to come to Buffalo   

It was Terry being supportive to Adams.  He has no intention on spending money on a loser.  They have to get better on their own. 

[JP51]

5 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Movement?  

Omg 😆 and I am due for the big C in a few months too! Prep sucks 😆 

[Scottysabres]

Everyone is overlooking the one piece of evidence from that Montreal meeting. Not 1 of you noticed both Terry and Kevyn were carrying baby palm tree planters in to the meeting room.

[JP51]

1 hour ago, Scottysabres said:

Everyone is overlooking the one piece of evidence from that Montreal meeting. Not 1 of you noticed both Terry and Kevyn were carrying baby palm tree planters in to the meeting room.

I heard they were passing out Mango's too! 

[Cranky old man]

No.

[French Collection]

TP and KA agree that the next contracts for JJP and Quinn are down from 23/24 projections so they can have $10M in unused cap next year and let us dream of big moves.

[Weave]

The premise of the thread title question is flawed.  There is no hope.

[Flashsabre]

Someone on hfboards wrote this line and I like it so much I thought I would share it here:

”In my life following pro sports, 4 decades plus, I cannot recall a larger gap between the expectations set by a GM and the reality delivered”

Probably one of the worst GM performances of modern times. If Adams isn’t fired at season’s end then there is absolutely no accountability or hope that Pegula is treating the Sabres as a serious sports franchise.

[Weave]

For those on Reddit, there is an interesting thread on Ted Nolan’s most recent book.  He had some pretty damning things to say about the way he thinks Pegula is running the team.

He talked about the futility of playing green players without enough veterans and claimed Pegula once told him, “if you are going to be bad, be xxxxing bad”.

 

 

Edited Friday at 11:08 PM by Weave

[thewookie1]

20 minutes ago, Weave said:

For those on Reddit, there is an interesting thread on Ted Nolan’s most recent book.  He had some pretty damning things to say about the way he thinks Pegula is running the team.

He talked about the futility of playing green players without enough veterans and claimed Pegula once told him, “if you are going to be bad, be xxxxing bad”.

The only issue there is he’s no longer trying to be bad by all accounts. Though it also shows that Pegula does have some degree of input on the team. Especially after watching Tim Murray’s goaltending carousel 

[Weave]

3 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

The only issue there is he’s no longer trying to be bad by all accounts. Though it also shows that Pegula does have some degree of input on the team. Especially after watching Tim Murray’s goaltending carousel 

The beginning of the year rosters make it plainly clear they are not committed to winning, I don’t care what KA says in an interview.

”and if you are going to be bad, may as well be xxxxing bad”.

Edited Friday at 11:33 PM by Weave

[Thorner]

10 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

The only issue there is he’s no longer trying to be bad by all accounts. Though it also shows that Pegula does have some degree of input on the team. Especially after watching Tim Murray’s goaltending carousel 

It seems like a variation of how I keep saying Pegula framed this to Adams: “if you are going to be bad, you can do it while spending less.” 

Terry spent and the team didn’t win and it appears for whatever reason he’s locked into the idea he’s ok with losing money (and games) as long as we aren’t spending what we were. Ensure one “W” by controlling what we can (spending), sell the future, hope for the best. Maybe some sort of cost calculation reflective of both his obscene wealth and overall reputation hits both positive (bills - much larger fan base) and negative (sabres - smaller fan base) 

Edited Friday at 11:41 PM by Thorner

[Slack_in_MA]

2 hours ago, Thorner said:

It seems like a variation of how I keep saying Pegula framed this to Adams: “if you are going to be bad, you can do it while spending less.” 

Terry spent and the team didn’t win and it appears for whatever reason he’s locked into the idea he’s ok with losing money (and games) as long as we aren’t spending what we were. Ensure one “W” by controlling what we can (spending), sell the future, hope for the best. Maybe some sort of cost calculation reflective of both his obscene wealth and overall reputation hits both positive (bills - much larger fan base) and negative (sabres - smaller fan base) 

I'm close to this line of thinking. As I've said in other posts, I believe TP looks at the Sabres as part of an overall portfolio. He certainly doesn't look at it like fans like you and I do (I know, no sh!t). There's some financial prerogative he's operating the team under that's not completely clear to me, but has had my (and a lot of) antennae up for quite a while.

[GoPuckYourself]

If they fired every scout, GM, all the assistant coaches and replaced them with upgrades then it would show this thing is headed in the right direction. I'm fully expecting the Sabres to hire Fortin as GM and Appert as HC and this will set us back at least another 5 years. Hire a legit GM who has won in some cpacity, keep Lindy as HC, get all new assistants who again have won something. Or if you're going to hire a first time GM, poach someone who is on a winning organization.

[mjd1001]

9 hours ago, GoPuckYourself said:

If they fired every scout, GM, all the assistant coaches and replaced them with upgrades then it would show this thing is headed in the right direction. I'm fully expecting the Sabres to hire Fortin as GM and Appert as HC and this will set us back at least another 5 years. Hire a legit GM who has won in some cpacity, keep Lindy as HC, get all new assistants who again have won something. Or if you're going to hire a first time GM, poach someone who is on a winning organization.

Agree, in part because those guys might not be much of an upgrade.

But more importantly if that happened it would show Pegula wants the status quo....and by status quo I mean the part where nothing too radical happens that he doesn't like, that everything runs through him, etc.  If you are going to make front office changes, you need something major.

[Thorner]

A lot of owners want eveything run by them. Most, I’d say. That’s not what makes Terry stand out from the majority. That’s not a variable that on it’s own comes close to distinguishing us from the rest of the league and thus explaining our inability to make the playoffs 

42 minutes ago, Sidc3000 said:

Average age of 23. Youngest team in the league three years running, cool 🤬

Youngest.

Young teams are cheap. Cheap teams don’t win. Teams that don’t SPEND don’t make the playoffs. 2 of the last 160 spent bottom 10 and made it. A lot of meddling owners made it within that time frame. 

We have the data: Pegula is failing because of self-imposed restrictions. He’s not forcing Adams to assemble a team of young players because he thinks that’s the best way to win, that doesn’t make any sense. The mandate is to keep costs down - and when that’s the mandate teams don’t make the playoffs. And when the GM is inept you get what we are seeing: 5 years of averaging like 70 points 

Edited Saturday at 02:24 PM by Thorner

[Thorner]

When only unqualified candidates are willing to take the job because the opening requirement is firing a bunch of staff and operating within a self imposed budget, (and shining the shoes of the owner) - the mystery of why said GM can’t produce good results explains itself. An unqualified hire operating under restrictions that demonstrably prevent teams from making the playoffs 

The restrictions need to change regardless of GM 

Edited Saturday at 02:26 PM by Thorner

[DarthEbriate]

1 hour ago, Thorner said:

When only unqualified candidates are willing to take the job because the opening requirement is firing a bunch of staff and operating within a self imposed budget, (and shining the shoes of the owner) - the mystery of why said GM can’t produce good results explains itself. An unqualified hire operating under restrictions that demonstrably prevent teams from making the playoffs 

The restrictions need to change regardless of GM 

Always two there are: the master and the apprentice. The fool and the fool who follows him.

[Thorner]

20 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Always two there are: the master and the apprentice. The fool and the fool who follows him.

Soon, Terry will have himself a new apprentice….one younger, and with an eye to the future far more powerful 

Edited Saturday at 04:05 PM by Thorner