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I think after reading this its shows that there is nothing different going on than we have been opining on for a long long time... Pegula meddles, doesnt really care, outside of needing his ego boosted by oking routine decisions. Has Adams because Adams is just thankful to be here and allows Pegula to run the team... we are on a hamster wheel going round and round with no real change in sight... and the overall ineptness of this structure is driving consequential talent away and preventing others from walking thru the gates of hades to commence their suffering... Bottom line nothing changes until Pegula sells... or drastically changes his overall structure from Scouting right thru running the team... effectively, this is like calling an exterminator to a home ridden with termites in hopes of remediating the problem... his advice is the only way to fix the problem is to burn the house to ground.... and that is where we sit... the only fix is to burn the front office structure to the ground and bring in people that are qualified professionals.... this I fear means TP has to sell... but who knows maybe he comes around to understand what we have all known for years and years and years...

Like @dudaceksays he doesn’t seem particularly interested in moving Pegula in a different direction: I don’t think that’s a flaw it’s a feature Finkle is Einhorn. Adams is Pegula

I think he caters to the whims of Pegula because they are philosophically aligned, yes. It’s calculated in terms of job security which is Adams’ main goal and always has been but that’s sort of the point: Adams didn’t become Terry’s guy because he picked him, Terry picked him because he was his guy. They clearly agree about this stuff, they both don’t care about success in the now

For sure. Again, why launch the franchises biggest hire in a decade on a Friday? Especially when you know this piece is twisting in the wind. This is maybe the best article on the Sabres in recent memory.

This implies that this is calculated by Adams. I know Adams is proud to call himself a friend of Phred the Phoenix (this is actually how they spell it), but I don't believe that is the case. I think Pegula and Adams are on the same exact page. Kevyn isn't a yes man, he is in agreement. I think that difference in ineptitude is worth noting.

Any piece that involved 10 sources and an hour-long sit-down with Adams has been in the works for weeks and the Sabres were well-aware it was coming.

My reading is that the “every decision” thing is well overplayed, at least regarding how much of distinction that would represent relative to other teams. More damning to me is fact sabres are a distant second priority. That’s the lack of $, unqualified hires explained Poking his head in on every or most transactions strikes me more so as someone who wants to tell himself he’s on top of it all with the least energy committed possible rather that someone truly interested in prioritizing success If you don’t see neglect as the main issue with the documented lack of spending, we aren’t going to agree I feel like every few weeks you and me get back to this same spot, you keep getting back to disagreeing with everyone thst Terry doesn’t care and I cannot drive home enough that the lack of spending is a significant trump card beyond any other point you are alluding to If we aren’t spending to the cap, he doesn’t care enough. That’s it, that’s all

Sitting with this today. Sort of hilarious timing from the Sabres org. Curious if Fairburn was sitting on this waiting for the hire. From a new cycle perspective the Sabres botched this. They announced their most exciting FO move in maybe a decade on a Friday without any great mouth pieces to give it much spin. ...Which gave time for somebody to write/and or release an article detailing how your dumby GM, who is the most notorious failure currently employed by an NHL team, has been a sounding board for the dumbest NHL org since the day he bought the team. I am curious if this was always set for a 6/2 release and/or when it was written. Because if it wasn't they could have gotten a day or two of positive weekday press before this came out. And the next crazy (dumb) thing is that because Fairburn was sitting in KBC with employees, that somebody must have thought they all went well, like really well, otherwise you would think they would know an article about Adams qualifications as GM was coming.

I’d be afraid the blame Mr Playfair for anything!

First of all, I wish you good luck in your continued recovery. Regarding the Sabres’ reluctance to approve of the ADR process for Eichel, it wasn’t that they thought it was some unproven, new age procedure in the least. It was that it had never been performed on an NHL player before. There simply wasn’t enough of a sample size across athletes in all contact sports to conclusively say it was medical best practice and Eichel was the first NHL player to have the surgery. As it is, there are now only three but the results are promising. And it’s worth noting that the leading proponent for not recommending the ADR for Eichel was none other than Dr. Andrew Cappuccino, a Sabres (and Bills) medical consultant, one of the first to perform ADR surgeries in the world and who teaches spinal surgery techniques to doctors around the globe. His opinion certainly carried a lot of weight at the time. Unfortunately, care givers don’t have the luxury of hindsight. Anyway, continued good luck in your recovery.

I'm guessing Promo is Sunshine, but I think Kittens is now posting over on Mammothspace We have a GM whose goal is to lean in to the owner's whims and cater to his ego, rather than manage and steer it down the proper paths, as I perceive Beane has been doing, and I believe most GMs do. It's the most essential GM skill that no one ever talks much about and it's totally absent in the Sabres heirarchy. I struggle to buy into "neglect" as the overriding issue due to one quote from a nameless former staffer in a lengthy article that paints a pretty clear picture of a GM that has attached himself to the owner like a barnacle and spends every day telling him what he wants to hear. Unless you're referring to neglect in the context of neglecting to formulate a clear-headed appraisal of the actual job Adams is doing? Then I can get on board. I don't see neglect in the more traditional sense of being absent, or uncaring due to giving all his attention to a favoured child. I thought it was handled very well in terms of simply allowing the facts to speak. In the modern media environment that's increasingly hard to find. This piece was far more resonant (and depressing) to me than the calculated Jerry Sullivan-style rant some seem to favour.

Yeah, I got that, and was questioning if being under Adams spell is less damaging than simply being a patsy (and therefore prone to keep being put under a spell, I guess),

fair play, fair play. this version sounds more accurate than the one i'd adopted over time.

And a non-skating coach to boot.

When were you the villain? Your interpretation on the subtleties of how the media covers this team is pretty good stuff.

I’ve been saying that for a few years now but many would say nooooo hockey is Terrys first love. No, money is his first love and the Sabres is a money pit. Buying the Sabres was a stepping stone to buy the Bills. The extreme cost cutting with the Sabres was (along with dumping other business ventures) was to consolidate his finances to fund the Bills new stadium

There was stuff about Reimer too

I just find it interesting the guff about Staal and we didn't hear anything (that I recall) about Reimer who also didn't wear one.

Beane was all in on Allen. He said after the pick and upon hearing all the resistance (the wrong Josh stuff) - "this guy is Buffalo". Terry may have also been all in on it but Beane is the guy that that gets credit and blame for the drafting.

Knew that. But that fact alone didn't really seem to explain the response to Tom's post. Pretty sure @Dr. Who's response which gave some more insight into Staal is correct.

I don't think there can be any debate the flaws arise from the top of the pile: an owner who wants a GM to implement the owner's "vision" who has been unable to find a GM who can both do that, and be successful at the same time. I don't doubt he can find one; just look at Brandon Beane. But it's not been Kevyn Adams, and it's hard to find hope he will ever figure it out, no matter how many people Terry lets him hire.

Beane tried to move up to 5 and had a deal set with the Broncos before Elway backed out to draft Chubb. If Cleveland drafted Chubb instead of Ward, the Broncos would have made the deal and Beane would have taken Allen at 5. So Terry did nothing to hold the Bills at 7.

The issue isn't the quantity of staff as much as it is the quality of the top decision makers, including the owner. You can have the best staff in the business but still fail if the top of the top of the operation isn't functioning smartly. I understand why the owner went into austerity mode during the covid period. His hockey and hospitality business were hemorrhaging money. So his belt tightening response was understandable. But after that challenging period, his decision-making on staff and hockey decisions have been very inadequate (to put it mildly), to the point of relegating this flailing franchise to being an expected back of the pack franchise by others in the business. This organization has handcuffed itself due to its own foolishness. (I'm not suggesting that you are saying otherwise.) It just so tiresome. On the bright side, the hiring of an experienced person to join the upper staff is encouraging. There needs to be more follow-up.