Ruff and Adams end-of-season press conference: Saturday, April 19, 4:30pm

[Flashsabre]

Paul Hamilton mentions how much the Pegula’s love Forton. Oh Boy they are just going to reshuffle the deck and not cost Terry a dime.

[dudacek]

28 minutes ago, kas23 said:

I’ll be happy with Ruff going to POHO. All ACs gone or the decision of the next HC. And Kevyn donning the Sabretooth costume. 

Serious question: why do you want a 65-year-old coach who has won exactly 2 playoff series in the past 18 years and never worked in management to take over your hockey operations department?

[kas23]

1 minute ago, dudacek said:

Serious question: why do you want a 65-year-old coach who has won exactly 2 playoff series in the past 18 years and never worked in management to take over your hockey operations department?

I think he knows a lot about hockey and is well connected. Your stats provide good reason on why he shouldn’t remain as head coach. Is a winning record as a head coach a requirement to be POHO? I do believe he should also help name a GM with more knowledge as well. 

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

And the weird thing is... they had the veteran average-but-stable goalie this year. Reimer ended with .899 with the Sabres this year, the same as MA Fleury with the Wild. MAF played in 26 games with 22 starts at age 40. With those numbers, Fleury ended the season 14-9-1. Better team defense around him, yes. But .900 is average. The Sabres had exactly what they needed behind a young starter.

Then they did two things: 

1) Adams waived him, sacrificing 6 starts to two young goalies behind a shaky/learning defensive team.

2) Ruff didn't play him. I won't count November because they didn't get him back until later in the month. But Reimer had two starts in December and two more in January. That's it. Two starts in February, but it had the tournament break. Spread out the starts, don't waive him, and give him 30 starts to UPL's 52 and maybe keep the young guy sharper and structured.*

This season, they had the right plan and then Adams and Ruff both cast it aside to the detriment of the team.

 

*And before anyone yells that he stinks, in his November-January starts, Reimer was solid. 5 GA in a SO loss to Detroit was the poor game, and he got road starts at Vegas and at Edmonton in which he gave up 3 on 30 shots -- which is fine. Everything else was 2 GA or fewer -- enough to win.

That's fair but I wanted even more than Reimer. A lot of goalies have switched teams over Adams tenure. A lot. Some of them were given away for next to nothing. They might not all have worked out, but trying to get one that would is what you should have been doing. Look how Colorado makes moves even when they are already good. That's how a GM is supposed to work. Doing his job, constantly trying to be better rather than just "believing in this group". 

[dudacek]

6 minutes ago, kas23 said:

I think he knows a lot about hockey and is well connected. Your stats provide good reason on why he shouldn’t remain as head coach. Is a winning record as a head coach a requirement to be POHO? I do believe he should also help name a GM with more knowledge as well. 

Can’t argue with the first sentence, although I wonder how current his knowledge and connections are.

I think management experience should be a POHO requirement.

[Archie Lee]

3 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Serious question: why do you want a 65-year-old coach who has won exactly 2 playoff series in the past 18 years and never worked in management to take over your hockey operations department?

I have listened to multiple podcasts in the last few days, hosted by Buffalo media, and the deference paid to Ruff is really surprising to me. I get that he is a local legend and means a lot to the community, but nobody in the media seems to have noticed that Ruff has really not been a good head coach for a while now.  Yes, he has had a couple of amazing seasons (one in Dallas and one in NJ), but in both cases his teams regressed quickly and he was fired within a year.

The biggest frustration I have with the Ruff hiring/situation, is in how he continues to be presented and sold as the anti-Granato. Neither coaches a sound defensive structure, in my view. The players are taking a lot of heat for the team's defensive shortcomings, when I really don't think our coaches have positioned them to be successful.

 

 

[JohnC]

30 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

I have listened to multiple podcasts in the last few days, hosted by Buffalo media, and the deference paid to Ruff is really surprising to me. I get that he is a local legend and means a lot to the community, but nobody in the media seems to have noticed that Ruff has really not been a good head coach for a while now.  Yes, he has had a couple of amazing seasons (one in Dallas and one in NJ), but in both cases his teams regressed quickly and he was fired within a year.

The biggest frustration I have with the Ruff hiring/situation, is in how he continues to be presented and sold as the anti-Granato. Neither coaches a sound defensive structure, in my view. The players are taking a lot of heat for the team's defensive shortcomings, when I really don't think our coaches have positioned them to be successful.

 

 

There is nothing mystical or innovative about coaching defensive structure. The concept/s is similar for most teams. The real issue is do you have the players (or enough of them) to play the harder and tougher brand of defense. The problem with the Sabres on the defensive end has more to do with roster construction and consistent goaltending. I'm not against upgrading the staff. But even with an upgraded staff you have to have the right mix of players to be able to execute the defensive plan. 

[kas23]

1 hour ago, Archie Lee said:

I have listened to multiple podcasts in the last few days, hosted by Buffalo media, and the deference paid to Ruff is really surprising to me. I get that he is a local legend and means a lot to the community, but nobody in the media seems to have noticed that Ruff has really not been a good head coach for a while now.  Yes, he has had a couple of amazing seasons (one in Dallas and one in NJ), but in both cases his teams regressed quickly and he was fired within a year.

The biggest frustration I have with the Ruff hiring/situation, is in how he continues to be presented and sold as the anti-Granato. Neither coaches a sound defensive structure, in my view. The players are taking a lot of heat for the team's defensive shortcomings, when I really don't think our coaches have positioned them to be successful.

 

 

Maybe this is because Ruff being handed the keys is the most likely thing that will happen. Pegula isn’t going to can the whole front office and bring in some strangers, no matter how well-regarded they are. He abandoned that strategy a while ago. Trust is above competence. 
 

That said, while I don’t think Ruff knows how to coach them to be better, it would be astonishing if he didn’t know what the problems are. I don’t see a POHO as one who is dealing with the day to day management of the team, a GM does that. Although they may have veto power, I see Ruff as more of an advisor. I would rather him have this role given Terry has held this role since forever. 

[LGR4GM]

If your GM needed a POHO, your gm is *****. 

[JohnC]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

If your GM needed a POHO, your gm is *****. 

Who has the last say on personnel decisions? The GM or POHO?