Friedman believes changes are coming to Sabres Front Office; UPL Available?

[DarthEbriate]

++ Hey, KO, we're going to send you upstairs.

-- There are stairs? I don't see any stairs...

Edited Saturday at 04:01 PM by DarthEbriate

[Brawndo]

My prediction

Adams-POHO (Sorry Pi)-or Special Advisor to the Owner

Karmanos-GM

Ventura-AGM 

Forton, Nightengale stay in the their roles

Jermiah Crowe and all Assistant Coaches with the exception of Appert are fired 

[bob_sauve28]

8 minutes ago, Taro T said:

No.  Next year's presumptive starter can not currently be in house.  It MIGHT work, running it back, but after 14 years (5 of which is owned by the current GM) they CAN'T be building a team that MIGHT make the playoffs if ONLY at least 8 of these 10 things all happen.

Have said somewhere here (probably in the Reimer thread) that am OK with Reimer being back IF they've brought in a legit starter and he's clearly the backup.  Am OK with keeping UPL and Levi both in system, provided they've brought somebody else in that those 2 will have to actually beat out to grab the starter's role.

I think we just keep running up against the fact a starting goalie is SO hard to find. I would be ok with over paying for a guy who will be the number 1, though. Over pay in a good player, or salary or whatever, but we need a goalie. 

Levi and Reimer would be really taking a chance. Keeping all three would be strange 

[HumanSlinky39]

I'll believe any of this when I see it. And if true, Adams fails in one area so he gets Peter Principle'd into another? Sounds about right for this outfit.

[Brawndo]

Friedman also mentioned in the Boston recap he wonders if Swayman is moved before his NMC starts 

[dudacek]

7 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

My prediction

Adams-POHO (Sorry Pi)-or Special Advisor to the Owner

Karmanos-GM

Ventura-AGM 

Forton, Nightengale stay in the their roles

Jermiah Crowe and all Assistant Coaches with the exception of Appert are fired 

This feels about right

[Taro T]

8 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

My prediction

Adams-POHO (Sorry Pi)-or Special Advisor to the Owner

Karmanos-GM

Ventura-AGM 

Forton, Nightengale stay in the their roles

Jermiah Crowe and all Assistant Coaches with the exception of Appert are fired 

Sooooo close to (a realistic version of) a dream scenario working out.

Add Appert and call it a wrap.

On to new personnel and evaluating the players.

[Taro T]

5 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Friedman also mentioned in the Boston recap he wonders if Swayman is moved before his NMC starts 

Wonder if, considering how both played this past season and with where the B's are in their retooling, they'd be open to a swap.  Obviously other pieces would be included to get it to what both teams consider fair value; but they've been surprisingly willing to swap out goalies, even with rivals, in the past.

Personally, would say that'd be the next piece of the dream scenario.

[DarthEbriate]

9 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Friedman also mentioned in the Boston recap he wonders if Swayman is moved before his NMC starts 

If I'm Boston and already have Korpisalo on a bad contract, and Buffalo were keen to make a deal, then I'm taking Levi, not UPL (in addition to drafting a top goalie).

[Archie Lee]

17 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

My prediction

Adams-POHO (Sorry Pi)-or Special Advisor to the Owner

Karmanos-GM

Ventura-AGM 

Forton, Nightengale stay in the their roles

Jermiah Crowe and all Assistant Coaches with the exception of Appert are fired 

My dream scenario (that assumes Adams, Ruff, and Appert aren't outright fired) also has Ruff going to a Senior Advisor role and Appert becoming GM of the Amerks.  This opens up the coaching staff to a complete makeover.  Too much to ask for though.

As I don't think Adams, Ruff, or Appert, are getting fired, I like your predictions. 

 

[Pimlach]

24 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

My prediction

Adams-POHO (Sorry Pi)-or Special Advisor to the Owner

Karmanos-GM

Ventura-AGM 

Forton, Nightengale stay in the their roles

Jermiah Crowe and all Assistant Coaches with the exception of Appert are fired 

yes, close enough.   

But - Forton (reminds me of Fortran)  was just promoted to AGM, so beware.  

[bob_sauve28]

 

[Broken Ankles]

33 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

My prediction

Adams-POHO (Sorry Pi)-or Special Advisor to the Owner

Karmanos-GM

Ventura-AGM 

Forton, Nightengale stay in the their roles

Jermiah Crowe and all Assistant Coaches with the exception of Appert are fired 

[No Goal]

Jason Karmanos promoted to GM ?

Would still need a president of hockey operations to have more input. There's too many yes men in the front office right now.

[Taro T]

21 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

If I'm Boston and already have Korpisalo on a bad contract, and Buffalo were keen to make a deal, then I'm taking Levi, not UPL (in addition to drafting a top goalie).

They can ask for Levi; but he likely isn't ready to be a starter (and personally don't see Korpisalo as a starter) and they're already shaving ~$4MM/yr off their goaltending battery by having UPL rather than Swayman; so UPL would likely be more of what they'd look for (MHO ymmv).  And Buffalo would likely want/need some good low cost player(s) included to make the Cap work for them if Levi goes out the door leaving the Sabres with over $12MM in goalie cost (at least until UPL gets traded in a separate trade).

[Pimlach]

24 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Friedman also mentioned in the Boston recap he wonders if Swayman is moved before his NMC starts 

Ullmark wins a Vezina for Boston in 22-23, but they commit to Swayman in 23-24  and they trade Ullmark, and now Swayman is toast in Boston.

Hmm?  Boston also fires their coach Jim Montgomery, who won the Jack Adams Trophy  in 22-23 and took them to the 2nd round in 23-24.  Montgomery went 120-41-23 with the Bruins, but now they miss the playoffs and they quickly fall into rebuild mode.   

The Blues immediately acquired Montgomery and he takes them from 6th place in their  division to a playoff spot in a rebuild year for them.  

Yikes!  Good move for St Louis. 

Boston spinning their wheels right now.  It will be interesting to see how quickly they rebuild this team.  

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, Pimlach said:

Ullmark wins a Vezina for Boston in 22-23, but they commit to Swayman in 23-24  and they trade Ullmark, and now Swayman is toast in Boston.

Hmm?  Boston also fires their coach Jim Montgomery, who won the Jack Adams Trophy  in 22-23 and took them to the 2nd round in 23-24.  Montgomery went 120-41-23 with the Bruins, but now they miss the playoffs and they quickly fall into rebuild mode.   

The Blues immediately acquired Montgomery and he takes them from 6th place in their  division to a playoff spot in a rebuild year for them.  

Yikes!  Good move for St Louis. 

Boston spinning their wheels right now.  It will be interesting to see how quickly they rebuild this team.  

Or hopefully how badly they don't.  (Hey, it's dream big day.)

[Pimlach]

1 minute ago, Taro T said:

Or hopefully how badly they don't.  (Hey, it's dream big day.)

Would like to see Boston wallow in the basement for years.  But when does that ever happen?   Same with Pittsburgh.   

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Would like to see Boston wallow in the basement for years.  But when does that ever happen?   Same with Pittsburgh.   

Umm, pre-Bobby Orr for the former; the mid-80's and the mid-00's for the latter.  Personally, don't really want the Pens in the true basement again.  They always seem to find a generational player or 2 when they're actually down there.

[Carmel Corn]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

Why do you quickly assume Jason Karmanos is incompetent?  Based on his past and on Rochester’s record he is not incompetent.  He is actually very qualified and ready.   
 

We don’t know if he can succeed as an NHL GM, especially under this ownership.  But compare his resume to tne one Adams had when Adams was handed the GM job.  Karmanos was far more qualified than Adams was to be the Sabres GM.  I always thought it was odd that he came to work for the Sabres.  

Karmanos had 15 seasons with the Canes, including 13 seasons as an AGM.  He then had 6 seasons with Pens, 3 as AGM  and 3 as VP to the POHO.  His name is on 3 Stanley Cups.   In addition to running Rochester, he helped the Sabres rebuild the  scouting department, oversee  player development,  and support the analytics department.  

Karmanos is the first and ONLY person within this current organization that I would consider to be GM.  So if they go internal to replace Adams as GM, I want it to be Karmanos.  My only concern is how much autonomy he will get with Adams/Pegula above him, but that is always a factor in every organization    

 

Some points are valid and I agree, but what the overarching intent of my post is that nothing changes as long as Pegula and Adams are still in charge.  The fish stinks at the head and I don’t see Karmanos or any other GM (even from the outside) having the autonomy to operate independently.  A new GM (Karmanos, etc.) is still nothing but a figure head having a GM title, but no real position power to make sweeping changes.

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

My prediction

Adams-POHO (Sorry Pi)-or Special Advisor to the Owner

Karmanos-GM

Ventura-AGM 

Forton, Nightengale stay in the their roles

Jermiah Crowe and all Assistant Coaches with the exception of Appert are fired 

If most of your predictions come true, I will anoint you as our resident Oracle! And I will give you credit for making an irascible dinosaur temporarily happy.

[bob_sauve28]

Swaymen is a cancer, let the Bruin keep him 

[Mr. Allen]

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

My prediction

Adams-POHO (Sorry Pi)-or Special Advisor to the Owner

Karmanos-GM

Ventura-AGM 

Forton, Nightengale stay in the their roles

Jermiah Crowe and all Assistant Coaches with the exception of Appert are fired 

Leave Leone alone in Rochester.  

[mjd1001]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

Would like to see Boston wallow in the basement for years.  But when does that ever happen?   Same with Pittsburgh.   

A rebuild/retool has to be done the right way, but Boston is going to have a shot at it where they can turn things around quickly.

I don't think its a coincidence they totally fell apart once McAvoy was out..he is back next year...and him and Pastrnak are still in the primes of their careers. They have a high first rounder this year (probably top 5), 2 firsts next year, and probably most importantly, they have a lot of guys up on their contracts next year. Pastrnak, Lindholm, Mitts, and Zacha are the ONLY forwards getting paid over $1.5m per year that are under contract, so they have a chance to reshape the team while still keeping their 'core'.

If they execute their retool/rebuild like the Sabres it'll be bad.  But if they make some good choice, they can turn this around REALLY quick.

[Indabuff]

4 hours ago, sabresouth said:

ka needs a demotion not a title change. I like the janitor idea given above.

"It’s hard to win against dust bunnies in this league.  There's a lot of Dysons in this league that we’re on their no-trade list.  We don’t have bidets here, we have manual flush toilets.  But I have faith in our cleaning supplies.  The answer is in this janitorial closet."