Mango

This is true of every team in each of the big 4 leagues in the United States. It is so generic you could put it on a Hallmark card.

Adams stuck with Ralph until he couldn’t. He had a faux coach search and kept Donnie. Then for no reason extended him. We just saw Adams plan as intended. This isn’t it. I fully believe Lindy was brought in to babysit and in 2 years Lindy will either still be coaching or working as an exec. Will it work? I don’t know. Adams has a new boss whether he remains employed through it is a different conversation. But he isn’t the captain anymore. Between Lindy and Adams the next person to leave the org is Adams.

Here’s the crazy part. They have been trying really really hard.

No we do not. We have some kids who might be good top 6 forwards in 3-6 years. At some point the Sabres need to field a capable roster today. Not a roster full of kids who might be more capable tomorrow. Edit: I will add that I think Sabres only had above average top 6 play from Tage, Mitts, and JJP this season. The rest were middling middle 6 at best this past season. I think we need help at the top of the roster too.

I think the "Move that defines Adams" will be compounding decisions not just a trade. It will be the allocation of resources to Tage, Cozens, Power at the expense of somebody like Mitts. Even if Byram works out and we want to extend him we are looking at it possibly costing a Quinn, Peterka, etc. I don't think any of this has to do with Byram and it has everything to do with the contracts he has recently given out and whether they outperform the guys we have to let walk because of it. Before the Mitts trade there were thoughts thrown out there that we could afford to let Mitts walk because of Cozens and Cozens "could" fill that role down the line because he is younger. Then we traded Mitts. Now I feel like I am starting to get the same vibe around some of the talk around JJP. "Well we have Savoie and Kulich who can fill in and they are young they could be better someday". I am hoping Lindy stops the bleeding of real life NHL players in exchange for "could be good someday".

Well the time between Lindy’s announcement and Granatos firing was 6 days. Anybody employed in season would need permission to interview so we know it that number doesn’t include the 16 teams currently to in the playoffs, or anybody on an NHL staff through the month of March. And we now know he didn’t call Berube. The more information that comes out seems to indicate the pool of people he spoke to was rather small with minimal NHL coaching experience and those with NHL experience would have to be bottom half of the league teams in the 5-6 days between firing Granato and hiring Lindy.

Right, totally. I addressed that in the "since he was let go from New Jersey" part. And again, what you are saying is fine. I don't disagree. Just say that. But the GM sat there and said he went through 10 candidates in 5 days before they hired Lindy.

I am not against Ruff. I have said why I think he makes sense since he was fired in NJD. I wish Adams stood up and said "We targeted Lindy for the role because A, B, C. We went into the process thinking he was the best fit and after the numerous conversations between him moving on from New Jersey he convinced us he pretty quickly he is the one to get this team right". Instead we got "We did a remarkably thorough search. We spoke with 10 candidates in the last 5 days for this role.". This wasn't thorough. We all know that. I think most fans just want a little more conviction rather than getting cute with verbiage and pedantics. This search feels about as thorough as removing the interim name from Meatballs. Just stand up there and say they targeted Lindy from the get go.

There is a chance he is telling the truth even if pedantic. And if that is the case who are the 10 candidates he talked to if Berube is not on the list? Half the coaches in the league are off the list because they are all still coaching in the playoffs and would need permission to interview. So the list likely starts off like this. 1. Ruff 2. Appert 3. Gallant (one would hope but apparently nobody called Berube) 4. Matt Ellis (I am not joking) 5. Carle (maybe, but also maybe not?) 6-10: ?????

Since the Kelce's are hockey fans, once Travis retires and marry's Taylor Swift, rumor has it they'll buy the Sabres. Which competing owner do you think Taylor will write a song throwing shade at first? I don't think it will be an owner at all. I think the first thing they'll do is buy out Jeff Skinner and she'll immediately drop a track called "Jesus, Eh? Forget Football I aint no pig SKINNER" My second guess is she comes after the Leafs and Bieber in one go.

Adams talked a ton about it after the firing and a bunch of players came out and were like "yeah, nobody held me accountable". Then when asked about it Ruff went 180 degrees the other way and said "Woah accountability starters with the individual, then his teammates and the locker room. I am the last one who should be holding anybody accountable". (Paraphrasing) I am keeping an eye on how the players who were vocal about "needing more accountability" perform under Ruff. I tend to agree with Lindy. If I need to teach you how to hold yourself accountable this team has a "you" problem. And if you aren't picking it up from your peers we have a locker room/roster problem.

I think the ineptitude of Terry Pegula makes Lindy a good candidate for this team. This team is dysfunctional at the owner and GM level. More than a coach we need somebody with the trust of the owner to separate him from hockey meetings. Berube and Gallant may be better coaches, but they would but heads with the organization dysfunction just like every other person who has come into the KBC. I am not psyched about Lindy the coach. I am psyched because he might literally be the only person on the planet to provide a long term solution to the biggest plague for the Sabres and that is Pegula. EDIT: Other orgs don't have to save the on ice product from ownership. The Sabres do. So while this may not solve coaching, it could very well solve for ownership.

I wish somebody would be blunt about asking about team spending. "Kevyn, you mention you have the resources. This team has been bottom half of the league in roster spend 7 of the last 9 years. You have 60% of the scouts and 50% of the analytics and player development personnel compared to the top teams in the league. When you say you "have the resources" to win are you saying that having half the support staff compared to other is by your own design? That this is the ideal set up to win the most hockey games possible" Kevyn has a new boss.

Somehow George Costanza's clothes fit better here in 1989 than Kevyn Adams suit fits at a planned press conference to introduce a hire he made. Everytime I see Adams in the teams Embedded videos he reminds me of a kid pretending to be an adult in his dads suite.

Adams looks rough. Just like...dude, you make a lot of money, get a shirt that fits properly. The Seinfeld second button episode comes to mind.

Shots fired at the locker room by Lindy. "The first part of accountability is holding yourself accountable. Did you show up to training camp in shape. Did you do everything you could to make sure you were prepared. The last person to hold somebody accountable is the coach". (Paraphrasing)*

Despite the Appert succession plan rumors I really believe that Adams just hired his new boss. Because if this goes exceedingly well Lindy will still be employed by the org in some senior advisor/POHO role. And if this thing fails, Lindy will be leading the search for a new GM and Adams is out the door.

I would assume W% is just straight win/loss otherwise it just becomes a weird variation of P% For reference here is the P% of the same guys plus a few some wanted: Craig Berube .584 Gerard Gallant .576 Pat Burns .573 Darryl Sutter .570 Al Arbour .564 Jacques Lemaire .563 Dick Irvin .557 Pat Quinn .556 Lindy Ruff .552 Mike Keenan .551 John Tortorella .542 Paul Maurice ..536

I would be shocked if ti wasn't live on Twitter and FB too.

I think the short answer is “it depends”. The long answer is that if somebody is getting fired it will 100% be Adams first. And Lindy will likely either hire his own GM or move to some POHO or Senior Advisor role. And if this is successful Lindy likely eventually moves into a POHO or Senior Advisor role and picks his replacement. I think Adams neutered himself.

This is a "fine" hire. I am not super excited and not unhappy with it. I think we definitely could have done worse. Outside of actual coaching I like this because I hope it sets the tone for a POH and push Pegula a little further away from hockey meetings. Either everything works great, Adams completes this roster, we are competitors, and Lindy eventually retires in some senior advisor role. OR the roster crashes and burns, Adams is fired and Lindy is moved to President of Hockey Ops and hires a real life NHL GM and runs the org. Both of scenarios are upgrades to the current. I will say it for the 100th time, but any hire for HC has to meet the center of a venn diagram between 1. Best candidate 2. Willing to take the job 3. Terry is willing to offer the job. And under that criteria I think Lindy is likely in the top tier of candidates available. What I am upset about is that there seemed to be no legitimate coaching search. Granato was fired 6 days ago. It feels like Adams didn't even effing try and put together a stack of candidates. Either that or nobody wants to work here. Probably a little bit of both.

I haven’t looked into for the NHL. But the threshold for a positive test for USATF is literally “Don’t be high at the event”. I would imagine the NHL is similar at this point.

Nothing says "I don't care" like bringing up a conversation you aren't having just to tell everybody it is a topic you don't care about.

In the last 7.5 moths Pegula told Rochester that - Dissolving PSE would be a change in name only and wouldn't effect the operation of BCA. (August 28,2023) - Backing out of the lease didn't have anything to do with his commitment to Rochester. Both teams would be staying. (April 2, 2023) - He is selling the Knighthawks but only because he doesn't want 2 NLL teams so close to each other (April 18, 2024) Based on that it seems like the Buffalo Sabres are very likely open to hearing offers.