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So I guess now we're onto the question - when the team puts up 75 points and misses the playoffs for the 15th straight year next year, will THAT be enough to get KA fired? Nobody kicks the can down the road like the Buffalo Sabres.

I agree with this; it also makes me think competent and successful people with any GM experience would want to steer clear of such an organization.

Wouldn't that be jumping OFF the bandwagon?? 🤔

I wonder what the S&C coach's salary is compared to the defense assistant coach and the PP coach, and the Appert assistant coach. Don't want to be paying too much for the old coach and the replacement.

I don't think it's pride, I think he's tired of looking like the one sowing chaos by firing so many different GMs, coaches, etc. over his time as owner. I think he sees himself as a victim. A victim of bad advice from outsiders, a victim of bad staffing internally, etc. So now he's digging in. "The NHL is a development league" I want to take those rumors with a huge grain of salt. If Adams was doing presentations, I have to assume they were scheduled and may have even been his idea. That kinda stuff is his background. I don't believe he is in any kind of danger whatsoever.

That's not my issue with O'Brien. He's 3rd on his team in points, so how much of his assist total is inflated by playing with 71g Lardus? I think Martin and Bear just have more of the jam I'm looking for. I'd roll the dice on McQueen at 9 depending on his medicals too.

Send this to cold takes exposed.

I am still shocked he survived the palm trees and taxes speech. That was such an anti-leadership moment. Should have been fired almost immediately after that bit of leadership failure. This sounds to me like a short leash situation. Those kind of presentations usually contain milestones that need to be met. I would expect a change as soon as a planned item gets missed. Then again, I said at the time I don’t see how he survives palm trees and taxes, so my prediction rate is not looking good.

I have seen numerous PIPs in my corporate days. Never saw one that helped "fix" a persons performance unfortunately. They may be intended to help but the reality is that it is a tool to prevent a lawsuit. I doubt Terry is worried about a lawsuit. I think he truly likes Adams. Terry could still be spooked about his reputation around the league as being impatient. He must be counting on Lindy to make a difference. Promoting Adams higher into the FO to get him out of the way was never going to work. If you don't want Adams involved in the FO decisions anymore you release him.

it's because he broke his ass on the door to the bench, if memory serves. oh - don't misunderstand me. the guy's a winner. dirty as f*ck. but a winner.

Any system that allows a team to jump up 9 or 10 places is just plain dumb and unfair. Period.

What resonated with me is your comment that at least Stevie Y is trying. I have more respect for people who try to correct a problem and fail, as opposed to someone who stubbornly goes on the same pathway that is wrong. That's what is so exasperating with how KA and the owner have conducted themselves.

Yeah, sure it will be different if the results are essentially same. EVENTUALLY that'll be true, ..., most likely.

Imagine last offseason saying it is playoffs or bust this year and there are no more excuses. Then assembling a team that is last in the conference for most of the season and missing the playoffs for the 5th straight year under your leadership. And the boss says “Nice presentation, give it another shot this year” 🤪

So Jack Quinn got the strength and conditioning guy fired?

At least they finally ID'd the biggest problem. Now fire Skip the Usher in section 104 and the turnaround is real !

https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/hosts/sabres-live Within the above link is a 13 minute segment with Kris Baker on the show and talking about some prospects in the draft within our drafting range. More interesting, is his commentary about what we should do with our pick and with players in our system. His views on Kris Baker provided sound advice and concise opinions on how the Sabres should handle this offseason. He was emphatic that this team needs to get older. His response about Ryan Johnson was very sensible.

So change is coming, just a year too late, probably 2? With the very real risk of completely alienating the fans and the good players. Seriously, what hope does Kevyn have? Trading Byram and Cozens ain’t going to do it. Seems to me no matter what they spend on the margins, it’s going to be about putting most of his coin on Owen Power and Devon Levi again.

It's a great question. We all have our theories. I think it is simply that Adams is the first guy Pegula has hired to manage the Sabres, who he truly likes and trusts. Had Murray or Botterill had the sort of success that McBeane is having with the Bills, then maybe they are still with the Sabres, whether Pegula liked and trusted them or not. But neither had any real success, so they were fired. Adams also hasn't had success, but the combination of Pegula liking and trusting Adams along with Pegula also being, I think, sensitive to the perception that he is too quick to fire people, has lead him to be far more patient with Adams than is warranted. I don't think it has anything to do with micromanaging or not being committed to winning*. I think Pegula just failed to get it right the first 3 times, and now that he finally has a person in the role who he likes and trusts, he is going to give Adams a very long leash. *I understand that many, me included, will rightfully say that this is the same thing as not being committed to winning. I just mean that I don't think he has consciously determined that winning doesn't matter or that pinching pennies is more important. I think that Pegula thinks/hopes that they will eventually win with Adams. As a fan, there may be no point in distinguishing between the motivations.

KA giving Terry a presentation and all I can picture is this:

3 days of presentations to Pegula tells me he wanted to see a detailed explanation of where we went wrong, and the path out. In my experience in the corporate world, this is the management equivalent of a performance improvement plan. And everyone in the corporate world knows a performance improvement plan is usually a hand on the exit door. Frankly, Adams hasn’t earned the opportunity to dig his way out, but here we are.

Another playoff team making moves

Was this the rugby guy they brought in, or am I misremembering?

The driving force for Pegula retaining KA has little to do with performance as it does with his own hubris and stubbornness. The owner made an out of the box hire with KA. He made the hire with little consultation from anyone else. This was the man he chose and if he acknowledges his failing to do the job then he is also acknowledging that he made a mistake. Why was KA hired? He was hired because he presented a plan that was cheaper than following the standard approach to managing a franchise. At that time, that was a big appeal to the owner who was hemorhaging money on his franchise. The mindset became, if I'm not winning and losing a bounty of money then, it would be better to lose less money while starting over. Cam anything be salvaged with the KA retention? Maybe. My sense is that the GM will have pressure on him to make some moves this offseason to be more competitive sooner rather than later. I really don't see this as a status quo offseason. (My opinion/hope.)This offseason should be interesting. TBD.

Oh, that absolutely seems to be the plan. Yeah, they swapped Cozens out but it was for another guy that's essentially on the same timeline. It's what we hear directly from people within the organization - the plan is good, it just takes time. That ISN'T the message Ruff puts out, but he's about the only one. Before "hearing" today's non-announcement announcement, was hopeful that we'd at least see Adams pulled out of a direct day-to-day hands on running of things and that Ruff's thoughts about getting the team a bit older were going to take hold. (Now, not overly hopeful they'll even have THAT level of a change in direction.)