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

[Archie Lee]

36 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

The idea of bringing in Lou as a senior advisor appeals to me in the same way Dudley did years ago but I think he's a little too old at this point. I do however firmly think we need someone in that role. Someone with a lot of experience. Someone who will sit in the room and say "hell no that's stupid" . A dissenting voice (or three). I think this Sabres group lives in a fantasy bubble of their own creating and they need dissenting voices and more arguments in the room instead of yes men. 

The problem is Terry doesn't believe in that role existing because he sees himself as the de facto director of hockey operations (or whatever you want to title it) and the GM just says yes to him out of fear or subservience or whatever. Unless he steps back and lets someone else have that role we are in trouble. 

Maybe latter part of the year as he experienced the failure Ruff started to speak up more and be more dissenting and maybe Terry respects his views but it's still a disconnect. 

If I was the owner?

1. Fires Adams and all the assistant coaches.

2. Elevate Ruff to Senior advisor/director of hockey operations.

3. Allow Ruff to choose the GM from the existing assistants but he will ultimately answer to Ruff.

4. Hire a coach like Pandolfo or Carle. new but also tested. Allow Ruff to have a say and choose the assistants (Peca, McKee, Ott maybe idk, his choices)

5. Spend to the cap adding D, more D, goaltending and toughness. 

6. Sit back and enjoy the winning. 

 

Why would you have Lindy Ruff as your POHO?  Also, why are you limiting Ruff to hiring a GM from within? Also, why are you hiring the coach. Finally, why are you saddling the head coach with former Sabres as assistants, who have been hand picked by Ruff?  

 

[HumanSlinky39]

32 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Ken Holland wants to work again.

Him or Lou as President brings instant credibility around the league.

Promoting the incompetent guy that ran the rink at Harbour Centre after 5 years failing as GM does not.

Pass on Holland. He torpedoed the Red Wings on his way out and they still haven't totally recovered. Couldn't win a cup with McDavid +Draisaitl and handed out numerous bad contracts in EDM (Darnell Nurse? Oofta). Also failed to get them a goalie that's any better than "average." Granted, they got close last year, but close is no cigar.

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Why is it gross lol 

Yes it’s mine 

Haha - between the implication that Lou's sorta maybe (?) what the Sabres need (ew) and the aspiring to a floor not a ceiling - it just back me the ick.

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Closer to a floor, than ceiling, even in recent years. Compared to Adams it’s a laugher 

wai -- ... wa -- wait a GOT DAM minute.

[That Aud Smell]

but even so -- 82 or 83 years old is too long in the tooth.

[Mr Peabody]

5 hours ago, Taro T said:

Kind of like teaching.  You have to work hard to get established, but once you get tenure you CAN skate on by.  Not saying that all or even more than a very small handful of them do it; but we've all had a teacher (or know of one) that was in that floating/skating until hitting retirement phase.  Friedman seems to be fast approaching that point if he hasn't already done so.

 

*

In the arena I worked in we’d call that ROAD.  Retired On Active Duty.

[Flashsabre]

25 minutes ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Pass on Holland. He torpedoed the Red Wings on his way out and they still haven't totally recovered. Couldn't win a cup with McDavid +Draisaitl and handed out numerous bad contracts in EDM (Darnell Nurse? Oofta). Also failed to get them a goalie that's any better than "average." Granted, they got close last year, but close is no cigar.

Who would you hire?

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Closer to a floor, than ceiling, even in recent years. Compared to Adams it’s a laugher 

The dude traded his 1st round pick away 4 years in a row and won 0 playoff series doing it. 

Hey I heard you booked a ticket on the Titanic but let me show you the Lusitania, it's more unsinkable.

[That Aud Smell]

34 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

but even so -- 82 or 83 years old is too long in the tooth.

@Stoner

[HumanSlinky39]

23 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Who would you hire?

I don't know, but I'm not paid to make these decisions. I just know that Holland didn't leave his last two stops in a great position. He wrecked Detroit (not that I mind that), and didn't do enough in EDM and has left them without a goalie and a number of bad contracts.

Edited 10 hours ago by HumanSlinky39

[Flashsabre]

3 minutes ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

I don't know, but I'm not paid to make these decisions. I just know that Holland didn't leave his last two stops in a great position. He wrecked Detroit, and didn't do enough in EDM and has left them without a goalie and a number of bad contracts.

He built Detroit. When you go for it every year eventually things will tumble down. Yzerman has helped it deteriorate it.

He helped Edmonton get to the Finals.

If you want to win you have to go for it. Sacrifice the future for the now. Thats the opposite of Buffalo. Sabres never make moves to improve now. Always hoard tons of picks and prospects and never are competitive.

Holland isn’t perfect and I don’t need him to be GM. I need him to be the respected hockey guy in the organization that knows how to become competitive.

Edited 10 hours ago by Flashsabre

[Stoner]

13 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

@Stoner

I am. You know I recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of my third quintile minus a league. You were there. You saved me. That Werthers was moving, baby. Age is just a number.

[HumanSlinky39]

9 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

He built Detroit. When you go for it every year eventually things will tumble down. Yzerman has helped it deteriorate it.

He helped Edmonton get to the Finals.

If you want to win you have to go for it. Sacrifice the future for the now. Thats the opposite of Buffalo. Sabres never make moves to improve now. Always hoard tons of picks and prospects and never are competitive.

Holland isn’t perfect and I don’t need him to be GM. I need him to be the respected hockey guy in the organization that knows how to become competitive.

Fair points. I still don't get what Detroit is doing. Yzerman has done a solid job drafting and made a couple nice signings/trades with DeBrincat and Kane, but most of his FA signings have been terrible and his inaction in-season has torpedoed multiple seasons where they could/should have made the playoffs. Apparently 6 years of failure gets you fired anywhere but Detroit and Buffalo. Re: Edmonton - Winning there shouldn't be hard when you have 2 of the best players in the world. He failed to get them a goalie. He handed out some awful contracts that has limited what they've been able to put around McDavid/Draisaitl (guys like Conner Brown/Arvidsson/Henrique/Skinner, Jeff). 

If he was brought in as a POHO and his power was limited to consulting, fine. I just wouldn't want him having too much influence on roster decisions. He has won, so I guess it wouldn't be a bad thing having him around in a limited role.

Edited 10 hours ago by HumanSlinky39

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Archie Lee said:

Why would you have Lindy Ruff as your POHO?  Also, why are you limiting Ruff to hiring a GM from within? Also, why are you hiring the coach. Finally, why are you saddling the head coach with former Sabres as assistants, who have been hand picked by Ruff?  

 

Because that's what we have. I suppose this is what I'm hoping Terry would do. I mean I would never have gone down these roads period but for this discussion I'm kind of saying if I was Terry. Terry trusts and respects Ruff (apparently) so why not give him the power? 

[thewookie1]

34 minutes ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Fair points. I still don't get what Detroit is doing. Yzerman has done a solid job drafting and made a couple nice signings/trades with DeBrincat and Kane, but most of his FA signings have been terrible and his inaction in-season has torpedoed multiple seasons where they could/should have made the playoffs. Apparently 6 years of failure gets you fired anywhere but Detroit and Buffalo. Re: Edmonton - Winning there shouldn't be hard when you have 2 of the best players in the world. He failed to get them a goalie. He handed out some awful contracts that has limited what they've been able to put around McDavid/Draisaitl (guys like Conner Brown/Arvidsson/Henrique/Skinner, Jeff). 

If he was brought in as a POHO and his power was limited to consulting, fine. I just wouldn't want him having too much influence on roster decisions. He has won, so I guess it wouldn't be a bad thing having him around in a limited role.

Detroit’s issue is similar to ours but in a different manner of cause.

We relied far too much on young players with talent naturally improving without giving them much of a veteran core to cover and teach them. We needed at least a couple more vets through the years to help steady the team through the ups and downs of each season. We needed more Zuckers.

Detroit took an approach somewhat closer to how you are supposed to fix a team with vet insulation but instead suffocated their youth under a large contingent of redundant veteran players. Copp and Compher are very similar players with very similar age, size and abilities and contracts given to them. Both are middle six forwards that can play center or wing. Kane and Tarasenko are both veteran Cup winning players not known for their defensive prowess but for their past offensive exploits. Again similar contracts although Tarasenko got 2 years. This sort of redundancy created a situation whereas any young player would need to not only outplay 1 guy but 2 guys to gain the needed confidence of the coach. Part of vet insulation is that it’s meant to protect and teach a younger player waiting in the wings. Not create a nigh-impenetrable wall to scale. Additionally due to the similarities in the vets, only specific types of players are served by their presence while other players are effectively on their own. Effectively prospects filling in for vets getting hurt tends to be their opportunity to blossom and garner some confidence to continue to grow. Because Compher and Copp can be the 2C and the coach is going to have bias towards that; Marco Kasper is trapped in the Bottom 6 unless both get hurt. 
 

The Sabres overly gifted young players opportunities by baking them into the plans each year. Detroit made them seem insurmountable for some and easy for others. 

[LabattBlue]

I would be shocked if they bring in anyone in a senior advisor/poho position.  They could have brought a great local experienced guy here over the last few years in Dudley, but nope. 
 

Disclaimer…For all I know Dudley was offered a position and the response was…

 

NO F***ING WAY!

[shrader]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

The dude traded his 1st round pick away 4 years in a row and won 0 playoff series doing it. 

Hey I heard you booked a ticket on the Titanic but let me show you the Lusitania, it's more unsinkable.

And the result is a middling team lacking in high end talent, heading into a rebuild. But hey, he made the conference finals in the COVID season. Like I said earlier, the Sabres need a change, but he’s not the right guy. 

[That Aud Smell]

4 hours ago, Stoner said:

I am. You know I recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of my third quintile minus a league. You were there. You saved me. That Werthers was moving, baby. Age is just a number.

so good.

[Dr. Who]

3 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

so good.

I agree, impressive wordsmithing.

[sabremike]

5 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

wai -- ... wa -- wait a GOT DAM minute.

That was literally Trotz being so great he could overcome Lou's horrid decisions and make chicken salad out of chicken *****. The Isles roster sucks ass, none of them can be moved with ntc's and they have a barren prospect base. Bridgeport won FOUR ***** GAMES AT HOME THIS ENTIRE SEASON.

Lou absolutely sucks.

[steveoath]

Lou is done. Islanders are now heading towards a very long plays drought impo.  Old guys on immovable contracts. AHL team is a shambles.  Have a look at Bridgeport’s record. The isles have nothing.