Mango
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Posts posted by Mango
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58 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:
The Leinonen pick is so alarming with what was left on the board.
The Byram Joker pairing was so bad, I've never seen a shot chart that horrendous.
This team needs to grow up and it starts in a front office that still makes dumb decisions.
You might be right. I read/posted after getting out of a late night at work.
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1 hour ago, Brawndo said:
As much as Adams has not done to push the team into the playoffs, there is an argument to be made that being that buffer maybe a more important job.
Without that buffer decisions such as taking Alex Nylander over Charlie McAvoy and trading Ryan O’Reilly after he loves his love for the game are made(rather then trying to work towards a resolution) are made. Jerry Forton would have a much larger say in the final decision on players and choices such Topias Leinonen would be the norm and not the exception.
Pegula is absolutely holding Adams back. Although he did agree to the 3 Es when he initially took over as GM, there was an understanding that this would cease this past season. Does anyone think that GMKA really wanted to not make any deals that required salary retention or cap dumps? How about the idea that the Bryam Trade would have been completed a lot sooner with Colorado’s First Round Pick coming to Buffalo had Adams been authorized to take Ryan Johansen as part of the deal. Also there is the matter of the team having only one official pro scout in Jeremiah Crowe.
Pegula still has a reputation around the league and there was some hesitation by some of outside front office hires to join the organization without reassurance they would be able to do their jobs without much interference.
As much as the team has fallen short of expectations, the one area the analytics department has been largely focused on has been the draft something that has demonstrated significant improvement. Adams is making sure they space they need to operate. They have given input on some of the free agent signings namely Clifton and Johnson. They did give advice about usage of both players which was promptly ignored by the coach.
I would like to see a scenario where Karmanos and the analytics staff are ones making the final decisions on roster construction in addition to drafting. The reason why I have always mentioned promoting Adams to POHO was so not to lose Karmanos or Ventura. Adams does a good job of keeping Pegula out of a large majority of hockey ops decisions. If they would be free to operate without ownership interference if Adams was no longer with the organization I would not shed a single tear.
I do believe there is reason for hope as the NHL has possibly turned its attention to organizations that have been performing subpar, now that the Coyotes are in Utah. There may have been a few friendly suggestions given to an organization we have a love/hate relationship with. Whether or not the advice is needed is another story.
Jerry Forton has known Terry Pegula since well before he owned the Sabres. He is a family friend and has been for decades. Terry doesn’t hold Jerry back. He’s hired to be lock step. The dude was hired to be a yes man from day 1.A lot to pick apart here, but your take on Jerry Forton is so far off the mark from any inside information (EEE coming off the books this year?) there clearly isn’t any actual connection to the Pegulas.
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2 hours ago, Taro T said:
Have said it before, but believe that if the team is unsuccessful the next 2 years then Adams is gone, but if they are then he bumps up to PoHO with probably Karmanos becoming the GM (maybe Ventura gets it) and Ruff sliding into an advisory role to Kevyn as soon as he's ready to be done coaching.
If things go kerplewy once again this year (or even if they don't this year but do spectacularly next year) then Adams is gone and Ruff becomes PoHO with probably Karmanos or Ventura becoming the GM but if Lindy has somebody from outside in mind then he brings in a GM.
Should things go well, Appert has the inside track to be Lindy's successor. If they don't, would guess the HC becomes Peca because, well, because.
Solid and fair take and seems probable.
That said, I think it’s best for the org long term that Lindy be the man at the top and not Adams.
I am just not sold on the guy. I have a lot more questions about the vision for this team now than I did 18 months ago. I don’t get it.
I am rooting for the Sabres success sooner rather than later. I think a 96 point season, first round loss, and moving Adams to POHO has the potential to be terrible long term.
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I have been pumped to go see moe. at Pier 17 in NYC. Very cool rooftop venue under the Brooklyn. But the bass players son just died and they cancelled their next couple of festivals already. If they cancel I will be bummed in a very minor way and if they play it will also be sad.
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2 hours ago, Brawndo said:
He acts as a buffer between Hockey Ops and Terry Pegula.
Right, but the team doesn't just need a buffer, that person needs to be capable of running a real life NHL front office as well.
As of today Adams is both the buffer and the hockey ops guy and I absolutely do not believe that Pegula is holding Adams back, I think they are both aligned. If others think highly enough of Adams to give him a go under a POHO, I won't kick and scream, but as of now he has not done anywhere near enough to prove he deserves a promotion.
I will flip it. If Adams were let go tomorrow, would he get another GM job? Not scout, not player personnel role, not assistant GM, but full on, head of the org, General Manager. I don't think he does and I don't think it is close. Promoting that person to POHO makes no sense no matter who the owner is. -
12 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
If successful.
If they fail to make the playoffs this year fire Adams and rearrange that.
Rick Dudley - Senior Advisor
Lindy Ruff - POHO/GM
Jason Karmanos - GM or Associate GM
and Sam Ventura - Assistant GM
with a new coaching hire unless they want to give Appert a one year shot first.
This.
At the moment I don’t see any reason to promote Kevyn Adams. And frankly, even if this team gets to 100+ points next year, promoting Adams to POHO would be a tough pill for me to swallow.
For me he needs some sustained success. Because right now he’s only sustained bad to mediocre.
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On 5/24/2024 at 4:57 PM, PerreaultForever said:
Pegula puts a guy above Adams or between himself and Adams if you prefer to look at it that way, I just don't see it. That goes against everything we've seen so far and would signal a major shift in terms of Pegula's involvement.
It's something most of us have advocated for for years but it doesn't fit with how Pegula does things. Unless that's changed.
I thought this person could be Ruff. But after seeing us bring in exactly ZERO people from the outside to fill the staff I’m fairly confident that this will never ever happen under Terry.
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Meh.
For me KO's legacy in Buffalo will be remembered as the dude who got all ornery with fans because they boo'ed at their low effort play.
For a guy who was brought in to "lead" the locker room all he seemed to lead was snarkiness to the fanbase and bad efforts.
I don't hate the guy, but I no longer really care about his opinion and I don't see any reason to every bring him back into the fold in a FO or coaching role. -
23 hours ago, Brawndo said:
This is strange. He was bottom rung with the US Dev Camp. He was TERRIBLE at RPI. Rochester has been meh.
So it seems odd to phrase this as "why he chose...." He is underqualified for his last two roles now has the chance to stand behind an NHL bench. Of course he takes it. It isn't like he had to choose between being the assistant here or in Boston.-
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35 minutes ago, Bangarang said:
It's hard being a fan of this ***** team.
Adams does a pseudo coaching search and just hires the guy that we all know who could inject a little excitement back into the fans. Instead of giving him free reign to assemble a quality coaching staff, we just do the easy and predictable things and bring his obvious replacement up to be an assistant.
Maybe one day we'll bring in someone credible to run this team instead of a yes man.
And hockey makes it harder.
At least during the Bills drought you commit a couple of Sundays. It was 16 days per year. Trying to be a fan of a bad hockey team for nearly a generation is 8 months of inconstancy:
Monday: 7pm
Tuesday : 10pm (WC)
Thursday: 9pm (WC)
Saturday: 1pm
Tuesday: 7pm
Then try and have kids or other hobbies or whatever. Sometimes after 13 years of this it is like "why bother" I would rather go on an extra couple of dates per month with my partner. -
2 minutes ago, Taro T said:
And though this board nearly unanimously would like to see Ellis punted into the sun, Ruff knows him well and knows exactly what he's getting with him. Can't recall if he has a history with Wilford or not, but doubt that he's been forced on Lindy either.
As for Bales, he still has a very solid reputation and it was under him that UPL finally got beyond the mental hurdle of the hips not feeling right when he tried to go cross crease.
Personally, was hoping Lindy would take that staff in a different direction, but we're getting to dead horse territory already and it's only a few hours since the entire coaching staff was announced.
I agree with you about the down staff thoughts.
The Appert promotion rubs me the wrong way. There were rumors swirling before the team hired Lindy. Then basically the same day Lindy was hired there were multiple reports that Appert would take over.
I sort of dismissed it because I thought Lindy had enough NHL and Buffalo cache to slow down Pegula/Adams. But now I don't know and I dislike that this feels like a forced decision.
I also don't get the hype around Appert? I have been critical about roster construction, and it is certainly flawed. But when I catch the occasional Amerks game I just don't see what is so exciting about the guy. Appert has been a tier 2 or 3 coach every level he has coached. Just a guy at best. He was never on a junior worlds staff. Only on the Hlinka Gretzky staff, which a tournament that USA hockey no longer considers an official part of their development. He stunk at RPI. Rochester is just fine. And now he is the heir apparent to take over an NHL team?
Granato IMO was a much more exciting coaching prospect.
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4 minutes ago, tom webster said:
I would bet that assistant coaching staffs would be about 39th on a list of 40 as a reason a player came to a specific team.
I meant future coaching candidates. In a system where the HC isn't given the autonomy to bring in a single outside assistant the likely outcome is failure. And when that happens it will be 2x more difficult to find a worthy replacement.
But to your point about UFA's I think you are focusing on the symptom not the disease. The selection of the staff is the symptom and not a reason why a UFA would or would not choose a team. But the disease is that ownership either does not provide enough bandwidth to let professional hockey people do their jobs, or they are too cheap to allow professional hockey people bring in the proper support to win games. Either of which would be an excellent reason for any free agent to look elsewhere. -
8 minutes ago, ... said:
This is so transparently premeditated.
Why didn't they all save us the time and announce Lindy's hiring, Appert's "promotion", and the retention of Ellis and Wilford the day they announced Meatballs was fired?
Not just that. This org has been very open about how difficult it has become for them to get talent to come to Buffalo. Lindy may not be a world beater, but he is a well respected hockey man across the league. Forcing an assistant staff on any coach, but particularly on a coach like Lindy, will only make it more difficult for this team to climb out of the hole Terry Pegula has dug for them.
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I thought the biggest positive of the Ruff hire was pulling the franchise from the grips of Terry and Kevy. But this assistant line up makes it clear that Lindy doesn’t even have enough say to hire his own assistants.
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2 hours ago, Porous Five Hole said:
That’s why arbitration makes sense. Still an RFA after next year and you will better know what you really have.
The long term answer is Levi anyway. Devon already has nothing left to prove in the AHL (.927 save percentage in his 26 games here this year—and even better so far in the playoffs).
For this UPL negotiation, you have to consider the fact that he may be a backup before the end of next year.
Unsure of the numbers post covid, but pre-covid the vast majority of players who saw arbitration cut ties with their teams afterwards.
So if you want the odds of UPL only being a rental for a year arbitration is the right path.
I would rather overpay a half mil per year over 4 years than to lose another goaltender. We would just be repeating the Ullmark situation. We let him walk, forced UPL into action too early, struggled through it for a season, now possibly refuse to pay him and give Levi the starting role too early. -
1 minute ago, Thorny said:
I’m so lost
OH bottom half spending?
Sorry about that. Brain is faster than my fingers.
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4 minutes ago, Thorny said:
7 of 9? Which 2 years did we finish 16th or up?
2018-19 they were 14th.
2019-20 they were 9th. -
47 minutes ago, Thorny said:
You are framing your argument to me as if I was one who was arguing UPL was ready. I was not.Are you just professionally carrying water now again because it’s the offseason? Are we going to get another rah-rah about actually needing to have expectations, chastising the fans who don’t, and then another full retraction if we miss? JK.
Anointing Levi the starter was bad. Is this an argument I have to strain to make? The comp isn’t just sabres relative: it’s league relative. Levi ended up an AHLer this year. The guy we anointed with the starting job (BEFORE CAMP. Camp battles need not apply I guess) ended up an AHLer this season in actuality. A big part of the reason we missed the playoffs was the handling of the goaltending in the first few months of the season.
That we “didn’t have anyone better” isn’t a mitigating factor in mistakenly annoying a child as the starter
the goalie output (up to and including the good results in the second half of the year) are a product of Adams *4 years* in office not just a product of the daily decisions of training camp 2023
If Adams made the right decision by the prism of the moment, which is arguable, the prism itself was poorly constructed and faulty: that’s the entire point. At least by way of the goal of making the playoffs: which we are supposed to be measuring by. If that’s not the case anymore, just let me know
I think similar to Levi, UPL would be a bit further in his development if he wasn't yoinked around the AHL and NHL. A fully committed season or two as an AHL starter would have gone a long way.
Being better than a bad goal NHL goaltender isn't a great reason to force a kid into playing full time in the NHL. Part of having proper development is having a quality onboarding plan into the NHL. "We don't have anybody better' isn't a plan. -
23 hours ago, Pimlach said:
What? This is soft and more soft.
When did he get skipped over? The Sabres refused to bring in a real NHL for several seasons waiting for someone to take the job.
I think this is Adams speak. Kind of like when he says "We have enough resources to win" when asked about whether or not Terry will spend
The fact of the matter is that this franchise has been bottom half of the league in spending 7 of the last 9 years. At this point I think that the "developing youth" is a convenient answer rather than a design. I am tempted to think it is the reverse and that the design is low spend and the result is a young team. -
56 minutes ago, JohnC said:
The issue isn't so much trying hard as it is being wise and smart. The accumulation of good decisions are more likely going to give you good results; and the accumulation of offsetting bad decisions are correspondingly not going to give you good results. No organization in any sport is always going to make the right decisions. However, on balance front offices that are more astute than their competitors win out.
What is frustrating about the Sabres and how they have been run is that the system is designed for the less talented teams to have advantages over the more talented teams. This is primarily done through the draft and by having first preference in the waiver system. We still have been mired in the much of mediocrity. That's not acceptable.
I'm not a hardened pessimist. I really believe that if our front office makes a number of good personnel decisions this offseason, this team will do well next year. I honestly don't believe that this team is far away from being a good team. The Sabres have been intermittently good. That's not good enough.
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.
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On 4/27/2024 at 4:16 PM, Thorny said:
Ya I mean if this is the do or die year for Adams, playoffs or canning, might as well let him have the coach he wants the most and that’s Lindy. We should get to see his full intended plan
That Lindy is the coach it turns out I also really wanted is a nice plus
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.
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3 hours ago, JohnC said:
I recently watched the Bandits play on TV in a playoff game. The house was full and the fans were engaged. The Bandits won the game in overtime in a dramatic fashion. It's a shame that the hockey fanbase has been subjected to such a lengthy period of mediocre hockey. The organization has to make a concerted effort this offseason to improve the team and give the fans a realistic chance for success. I'm confident the fanbase will positively respond if the organization demonstrates that it is serious about putting out a worthy product.
Here’s the crazy part. They have been trying really really hard.
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On 4/28/2024 at 2:28 PM, seer775 said:
How?
We have a surplus at Top 6 F and a lack of Top 4 D. Top 4 D is more important than Top 6 F. Trade for Dmen makes sense here.
I'm not one to defend the Sabres organization, but this is one of the times the team did something logical.
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.
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5 hours ago, dudacek said:
I’m starting to think I’m the only person on here who thinks Byram was brought in because they wanted to add a long-term top-4 defenceman and they think he can be that guy.
And the vibe I’m getting is “they can’t be stupid enough to think ^^^ therefore it must be about contracts, or a prelude to another trade down the road.”
When the trade happened I called it a boom or bust depending on Byram’s ceiling, because he’s got more upside, but Mitts is better right now.
But now I’m starting to see it more as the move that defines Adams: if it fails, it will be the one that everyone points to when they are explaining why Adams had to be fired.
Sabre fans liked the player who was traded, they don’t think he’s going to be easy to replace, they don’t think the player acquired is a good fit, and they’re not sure even if he’s any good.
Then you’ve got that whole undercurrent of “we needed to get tougher and this didn’t do it” combined with the stronger undercurrent of “you told us to be patient and then you traded away a guy who was worth being patient for, only to tell us to be patient with the new guy.”
Sounds like a recipe for pitchforks.
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".
Don Waddell hired by Columbus
in The Aud Club
Posted
Sorry, I was just getting out of a late night shift. My bad.