How will you react to no offseason structure changes to FO/Coaching

[Taro T]

10 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Both Seravalli and Friedman are expecting changes and really there HAS to be. And if both are saying it, it is because there is legit chatter about it. No way anyone has hope if it is the status quo.

Even if both those 2 weren't saying it; there HAS to be change.  

But, since Brandon and a few others got let go from the Pegula Empire, there hasn't been much accurate info regarding trades and draft picks coming out of that Empire since.  Chatter is just that; doubt any of it is sourced from within 1SHKIIIP.

[Broken Ankles]

22 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Even if both those 2 weren't saying it; there HAS to be change.  

But, since Brandon and a few others got let go from the Pegula Empire, there hasn't been much accurate info regarding trades and draft picks coming out of that Empire since.  Chatter is just that; doubt any of it is sourced from within 1SHKIIIP.

  Almost an anagram for Sinking Ship. 

[KC Scouts]

Sigh...........my two cents.....

Your brain tells you no real changes are coming.

Your heart tells you:

1) Assistant coaches need to go (We all know the reasons why)

2) Front Office needs an experienced hockey leader and needs to be held accountable for poor performance (We all know Terry interferes way to much)

3) The Sabres need to become a bigger priority for Pegula (time, energy and real money, not players salaries)....

As far as those 3 things goes....

Assistant coaches should be an no brainer....it would go along way to extend an olive branch to the disgruntled

Front office.....again would help quiet some of us

Overall organizational outlook....We should be realize that this has little chance of happening until the new Stadium is behind us. I feel that the moment the new stadium is behind us,. Pegula's pivot to this includes "Key Bank Center is inadequate" and then and only then do things start to really change for the Sabres organization.   

 

Edited Saturday at 03:07 PM by KC Scouts

[Flashsabre]

They HAVE to make changes.

Who in their right mind is buying seasons tickets to this dumpster fire at this point?

Have to sell hope at the very least and the status quo ain’t it.

[Taro T]

24 minutes ago, KC Scouts said:

Sigh...........my two cents.....

Your brain tells you no real changes are coming.

Your heart tells you:

1) Assistant coaches need to go (We all know the reasons why)

2) Front Office needs an experienced hockey leader and needs to be held accountable for poor performance (We all know Terry interferes way to much)

3) The Sabres need to become a bigger priority for Pegula (time, energy and real money, not players salaries)....

As far as those 3 things goes....

Assistant coaches should be an no brainer....it would go along way to extend an olive branch to the disgruntled

Front office.....again would help quiet some of us

Overall organizational outlook....We should be realize that this has little chance of happening until the new Stadium is behind us. I feel that the moment the new stadium is behind us,. Pegula's pivot to this includes "Key Bank Center is inadequate" and then and only then do things start to really change for the Sabres organization.   

 

You may already know this, if so, apologies for the repeated info, but back before Covid struck, the Sabres were having a design firm work up concepts for a MAJOR reworking of the MMArena.  So, that pivot is more of a turning back towards where they wanted to be anyway.

[JP51]

On 4/19/2025 at 11:07 AM, Flashsabre said:

They HAVE to make changes.

Who in their right mind is buying seasons tickets to this dumpster fire at this point?

Have to sell hope at the very least and the status quo ain’t it.

My fear is Pegula is in the I am not paying any more coaches not to coach and managers not to manage... at least until I am done paying Christian Erhoff... lol.... and does absolutely zero. 

[irregularly irregular]

I just stopped by to hopefully see that Terry has sold a controlling interest in the team to someone or a group that actually cares. The byproduct of that would be GMKA is gone and systemic changes are going to be made in every aspect of the team, from the front office to the janitorial staff. Until these things happen I will continue to be a fan from as great a distance as possible. They are not worth my time or my money. The pain is not worth it. That said, I will aways be a fan of the Buffalo Sabres to the greatest extent of my ability. Please Terry, it's long past time to step back. I know you will never sell as long as you are alive and I wish you many more years of great health and happiness. It is time to take your payday and give the reins to someone who has the time and energy this team needs to succeed and ultimately bring the Stanley Cup to Buffalo. 

[Night Train]

I'm working on my billboard..

 

 

[JP51]

56 minutes ago, Night Train said:

I'm working on my billboard..

 

 

Bet you get a lot of posters to Zelle you 5 bucks lol 🤣

[MISabresFan]

On 4/16/2025 at 9:05 AM, LGR4GM said:

It is totally unacceptable. Adams has repeatedly and continuously dragged his feet, shown favoritism, made bad contract choices, and blatantly refused to improve the very obvious issues with the roster. Marty Wilford is clearly not good enough. Seth Appert's powerplay is trash. Running this back is like if the Titanic had crashed into the ice berg, then circled around to hit it again. 

How do I feel - another year of not making the playoffs.

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

I’m going play devil’s advocate for a minute.  What if Adams and the coaches stay, but Adams gets aggressive this summer and does the following (or something like it)?

1) trades UPL and other assets (Wahlberg?) to Van for Demko

2) Signs Orlov and acquires another proven D (Fabbro, Ceci, Perbix?)

3) Buyout of Samuelsson and trades Quinn.

4) Trades Byram for Zegras

Would these moves change your opinion on lack of management changes? I agree there is no reason to believe that Adams can or will be that aggressive or that he could convince any of the FAs to come here.  However, he has been more aggressive lately whether we liked the moves or not.  

Since March of 24, slightly over a year ago, he has traded Mitts for Byram, Savoie+ for McLeod, Cozens+ for Norris and JBD, a 2nd for Malenstyn, signed Zucker, re-signed Zucker and Greenway.  That’s two young “core” forward pieces and a top 10 draftee traded away.  He also finally dumped Joki opening up a slot for JBD which was a net positive.  He talked about the poor defense and goaltending at his end of year presser and despite a vote of confidence in UPL rumors persist that he is on the trading block.  

 If Terry puts him squarely on the hot seat, could we get the changes we want and need even with Adams remaining?  Granted no one here trusts him to make good decisions, but last offseason’s McLeod and Zucker moves have been the best of his tenure.

Edited yesterday at 04:08 PM by GASabresIUFAN

[Cascade Youth]

IMO the most shocking thing would be if Adams is retained AND Terry doesn't address the media in a PC but just puts out a press release saying "We're not where we want to be but I have full faith that Kevyn is the right man for the job" etc.  That would be insane - but also totally believable.

If Terry hides under his blanket and Adams is retained, I don't see how the brand recovers.

[dudacek]

I think Adams body of work means he should be replaced and gives me little hope he can turn things around.

That doesnt mean he can’t. There’s a huge amount of luck tied to running sports teams; they unexpectedly improve for unanticipated reasons all the time.

The Habs just had exactly the season we had in ‘23, except in their case 91 points was good enough to make it.

As @Thorner frequently points out, the most mind-blowing element of the drought is that we’ve never even been good enough to get lucky.

[Taro T]

27 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I’m going play devil’s advocate for a minute.  What if Adams and the coaches stay, but Adams gets aggressive this summer and does the following (or something like it)?

1) trades UPL and other assets (Wahlberg?) to Van for Demko

2) Signs Orlov and acquires another proven D (Fabbro, Ceci, Perbix?)

3) Buyout of Samuelsson and trades Quinn.

4) Trades Byram for Zegras

Would these moves change your opinion on lack of management changes? I agree there is no reason to believe that Adams can or will be that aggressive or that he could convince any of the FAs to come here.  However, he has been more aggressive lately whether we liked the moves or not.  

Since March of 24, slightly over a year ago, he has traded Mitts for Byram, Savoie+ for McLeod, Cozens+ for Norris and JBD, a 2nd for Malenstyn, signed Zucker, re-signed Zucker and Greenway.  That’s two young “core” forward pieces and a top 10 draftee traded away.  He also finally dumped Joki opening up a slot for JBD which was a net positive.  He talked about the poor defense and goaltending at his end of year presser and despite a vote of confidence in UPL rumors persist that he is on the trading block.  

 If Terry puts him squarely on the hot seat, could we get the changes we want and need even with Adams remaining?  Granted no one here trusts him to make good decisions, but last offseason’s McLeod and Zucker moves have been the best of his tenure.

At SOME point, even if Adams is the GM, this team will make the playoffs.  Heck, he came within a kneed in puck of it happening 2 years ago.

BUT after 5 years and overall 14, at some point they just have to cut bait.  MAYBE this'll be the year it all comes together.  MAYBE the revamped core will finally be old enough, experienced enough, and close enough to their primes to have a 100 point season.  Firing or redeploying into an different role Adams doesn't guarantee that they do make the dance.

The players seem to believe in themselves and 2 vets that had other options open to them decided to stick around.  So, the players seem to have hope or belief or whatever else one wants to call it.  (Though it very well may be they believe in themselves and not management.  Or maybe they do believe in management too.  Don't know, haven't spoken directly to any of them.  😉 )

But, right now, the fans need hope.  And keeping things status quo doesn't provide that.

[tom webster]

50 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I’m going play devil’s advocate for a minute.  What if Adams and the coaches stay, but Adams gets aggressive this summer and does the following (or something like it)?

1) trades UPL and other assets (Wahlberg?) to Van for Demko

2) Signs Orlov and acquires another proven D (Fabbro, Ceci, Perbix?)

3) Buyout of Samuelsson and trades Quinn.

4) Trades Byram for Zegras

Would these moves change your opinion on lack of management changes? I agree there is no reason to believe that Adams can or will be that aggressive or that he could convince any of the FAs to come here.  However, he has been more aggressive lately whether we liked the moves or not.  

Since March of 24, slightly over a year ago, he has traded Mitts for Byram, Savoie+ for McLeod, Cozens+ for Norris and JBD, a 2nd for Malenstyn, signed Zucker, re-signed Zucker and Greenway.  That’s two young “core” forward pieces and a top 10 draftee traded away.  He also finally dumped Joki opening up a slot for JBD which was a net positive.  He talked about the poor defense and goaltending at his end of year presser and despite a vote of confidence in UPL rumors persist that he is on the trading block.  

 If Terry puts him squarely on the hot seat, could we get the changes we want and need even with Adams remaining?  Granted no one here trusts him to make good decisions, but last offseason’s McLeod and Zucker moves have been the best of his tenure.

I like some of these but as for the last one, I’d take a flyer on Zegras resurrecting his career but they can get a lot more for Byram.

[GASabresIUFAN]

16 minutes ago, tom webster said:

I like some of these but as for the last one, I’d take a flyer on Zegras resurrecting his career but they can get a lot more for Byram.

The exact move was less important than the concept of the move, which is subtracting a redundant offensive blueliner and possibly expensive to re-sign D for a playmaking forward under contract and control.  

[GASabresIUFAN]

55 minutes ago, Taro T said:

But, right now, the fans need hope.  And keeping things status quo doesn't provide that.

That goes to the heart or my question.  I grant that keeping the status quo coaches and management offers little hope for the franchise today.  However, would you gain hope if Adams is able to pull off an offseason similar to what I described which adds a playmaker to the offense, while improving the goaltending and defensive skillset of the D group?  

Edited yesterday at 05:34 PM by GASabresIUFAN

[Thorny]

59 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I think Adams body of work means he should be replaced and gives me little hope he can turn things around.

That doesnt mean he can’t. There’s a huge amount of luck tied to running sports teams; they unexpectedly improve for unanticipated reasons all the time.

The Habs just had exactly the season we had in ‘23, except in their case 91 points was good enough to make it.

As @Thorner frequently points out, the most mind-blowing element of the drought is that we’ve never even been good enough to get lucky.

Who? 

[Taro T]

11 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

That goes to the heart or my question.  I grant that keeping the status quo coaches and management offers little hope for the franchise today.  However, would you gain hope if Adams is able to pull off an offseason similar to what I described which adds a playmaker to the offense, while improving the goaltending and defensive skillset of the D group?  

If ALL of the current coaches are still here, even with improvements to the roster, no, hope doesn't appreciably rise.  

On a macro level, there were 3 things that doomed this season: too much youth, too poor of a coaching job at the X's and O's (poor defensive structure; ridiculously bad PP design; etc.), and too inconsistent of goaltending.  The moves you suggest, (at a minimum for arguments sake will say they) in large part allievate the 1st issue (as does the simple passage of time in large degree; 3 regulars that are vets in/just past their primes, an experienced goalie in his prime, and father time making everyone still here a year older); and on paper it also allieviates the 3rd issue. 

But the 2nd issue remains and that 2nd issue remaining could go a long way towards scuttling the perceived improvement of the 3rd issue.  Remember how awful Miller was in St. Louis even though he was still a very good goalie?  In large part that was because the system they used expected the players to take away as many shots as possible leaving the goalie with pretty much an equal chance of facing a shot from the current puck carrier or someone he'd passed to whereas he was used to Buffalo's system at the time which left the puck carrier the goalie's responsibility and taking away the passing lanes was the defender's responsibility.  Having the team do the same dumb things they currently do doesn't inspire confidence that the next "good" goalie actually will be any better than what they currently have.

Personally, expect that by the time the puck drops for real in October, will have hope they've finally gotten to a point they can do it (at least to a level that gets them in the dance), but if nothing has changed in the coaching staff then realize it'll almost certainly have been a hope derived from searching for things to be hopeful about rather than one derived from what has actually transpired.

[Thorny]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

I think Adams body of work means he should be replaced and gives me little hope he can turn things around.

That doesnt mean he can’t. There’s a huge amount of luck tied to running sports teams; they unexpectedly improve for unanticipated reasons all the time.

The Habs just had exactly the season we had in ‘23, except in their case 91 points was good enough to make it.

As @Thorner frequently points out, the most mind-blowing element of the drought is that we’ve never even been good enough to get lucky.

Considering how utterly opposed I am to Adams on a professional level when it comes to my beloved hockey team, I’d be lying if I said I haven’t done some painfully candid personal inspection re: a looming conflict of rooting interest should Adams’ be granted the opportunity to complete the final year of his deal. It’s a factor in my 5 years line. 

[Mr Peabody]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I’m going play devil’s advocate for a minute.  What if Adams and the coaches stay, but Adams gets aggressive this summer and does the following (or something like it)?

1) trades UPL and other assets (Wahlberg?) to Van for Demko

2) Signs Orlov and acquires another proven D (Fabbro, Ceci, Perbix?)

3) Buyout of Samuelsson and trades Quinn.

4) Trades Byram for Zegras

Would these moves change your opinion on lack of management changes? I agree there is no reason to believe that Adams can or will be that aggressive or that he could convince any of the FAs to come here.  However, he has been more aggressive lately whether we liked the moves or not.  

Since March of 24, slightly over a year ago, he has traded Mitts for Byram, Savoie+ for McLeod, Cozens+ for Norris and JBD, a 2nd for Malenstyn, signed Zucker, re-signed Zucker and Greenway.  That’s two young “core” forward pieces and a top 10 draftee traded away.  He also finally dumped Joki opening up a slot for JBD which was a net positive.  He talked about the poor defense and goaltending at his end of year presser and despite a vote of confidence in UPL rumors persist that he is on the trading block.  

 If Terry puts him squarely on the hot seat, could we get the changes we want and need even with Adams remaining?  Granted no one here trusts him to make good decisions, but last offseason’s McLeod and Zucker moves have been the best of his tenure.

Wouldn’t you out Muel on waivers prior to a buyout?

[GASabresIUFAN]

13 minutes ago, Mr Peabody said:

Wouldn’t you out Muel on waivers prior to a buyout?

Absolutely.  It’s a 3 step process.  First you’d try to trade him even if you have to retain to get a deal done.  If no trade, then waive him and see if someone will take him, when that fails you buy him out and move on.  

I utilized the buyout in the example as it’s a clean move with a specific low $ amount.  I do think someone might trade for him if we retain some of his deal. The question is how much do you have to retain before the buyout, which is less than 800k becomes a better option.

Edited yesterday at 06:13 PM by GASabresIUFAN

[tom webster]

2 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

The exact move was less important than the concept of the move, which is subtracting a redundant offensive blueliner and possibly expensive to re-sign D for a playmaking forward under contract and control.  

That I agree with