Mango

I am listening to this podcast now and I am fairly confident Rivet and Peters are regulars on this board. Ha. With all the talk about about, FA's, trades, and roster composition I am curious how much blame falls on pro scouting as well as the GM. Also, it is weird to me that there is another director level position in this FO who is a Buffalo guy. Crowe went to St. Joe's. He has been around hockey forever, but it is weird to me that we have two home grown guys sitting right behind the GM. The odds seem so low.

Not to pile on, but Cozens looked like he had cement skates on in the final two minutes against Preds last night. When you mentioned him not only being late to the corner but it also causing him to get caught out of position over and over again, I heard myself yelling at my TV18 hours ago.

I actually think Terry cares and he tries. The problem is he sucks at it. He knew enough to hire a business partner to act as an admin in oil and gas. (It is Jerry Fortons brother in law) This is his rich guy play toy. He’s entitled to it. He has FU money even when compared to people with FU money. But as fans were also entitled to ridicule him for sucking at it. If it wasn’t my football/hockey team I’d almost feel bad for the guy. He’s like reverse Dan Snyder. It’s borderline embarrassing to care so much about something but sucks so much at it at such a high level.

I think the league likely has a huge gripe with Pegula. We are one of the best TV markets in the country. Buffalo was the 4th most winning (P%) before he bought the team. Now we can’t get more than a couple dozen people in the arena and have been the worst franchise in the league for a decade. Terry is costing the league money.

I think the issue is the vision for the team/roster. Any change in coach will only be a band aid. The fact that the last 4 years have been full bore "stay the course" very much worries me that we have no idea how to pivot, or how to fill the holes in this roster. I think any change in coach or trade will be performative and take ammunition away from a GM who knows WTF they are doing.

My depressing thought of the day: That the Sabres pre-Pegula were the 4th most winning (point percentage) franchise in the league. We are now 12th. It takes a whole lot to trash a teams 40 year history in the following 10 years. We had a .564 P% before Terry bought the team and .445 after he bought the team. The Sabres would have to go on a historical 10 year run to counter act how bad we have been. The damage that Terry Pegula has done to this fan base cannot possibly be understated.

https://apnews.com/article/nhl-sports-buffalo-sabres-don-granato-f766f866a094d2ae84fc307f6be4ffef

I believe it is $2M per year.

This last stretch of games hurts a bit. 2017-2021 was just brutal hockey from this team. We haven't just been losing for 12 years, there have been stretches that have been really hard to even follow. Unwatchable at times. The last few weeks feel like we have been stringing together games that are starting to flirt with that same level. I like the core of this team, I think they are in a better spot than they have been. But their game is triggering some PTSD at the moment.

In general I was thinking that this franchise has had so much turnover that he would push for some stability, and firing coaches mid-season isn't attractive. In the grand scheme of things DG isn't all that expensive, his extension is something like $2M per. Eating his contract at the end of the year would only cost $4M. The relative cost to a family living in Clarence would be not getting your brakes done because you want to put in an inground pool. Sure, brake jobs are totally overpriced and the whole thing is a pain. But you can totally afford it. It will cost way more if you wait and have to get your rotors and calipers done.

I agree. I think (hope?) that there is a sliver of a chance. The Kevyn Adams connection is an interesting one. But ultimately I think the guy is an empty suit for the org. At the end of the day Raleigh is a couple hours from Charlotte. I am not sure he even knows Sean McDermott or Brandon Bean, making this one DOA.

The McDermott-Carolina connection is everywhere.

I am coming to terms with staying put. Our problems are more than a coach and a move. We have an issue with roster construction and a GM trying to save face. Those two things combined means we’ll overpay for minimal improvement. I think the team is close to imploding for the year. Just clean house in the spring and have somebody who knows what they’re doing piece this thing together with as much ammo as possible.

Yes man. Fall guy…it’s really splitting hairs. Im not advocating hiring Forton. I’d like to move out of Terry’s network of buddies. But in terms of value to the FO of a hockey org Forton has provided more value to date than GMKA did when he was hired. Forton deserves a good portion of the credit for our recent drafts.

I think RB is maybe the only saving Grace. But this team isn’t built for that style of hockey. I think that move buys Adams a season or two. But I’d be OK with a coach to help us get over the hump, and replace the GM later. Somebody just reminded me that on day 1 Adams had to fire like 20 people. Then a season later he brokered the Eichel trade. That’s the job he was hired for. I’m actually not sure he was ever supposed to make it this far. I think the intent was for him to be the fall guy. I still think that Adams replacement is in the building and Pegula eventually hires Jerry Forton for the role. He is a long time family friend. (Since well before he bought the team. Like decades before)

These are the only guys I need to protect. Thompson, Tuch, Mitts, Greenway, Benson, JJP, Dahlin, R.Johnson, Power/Muel, Levi. That’s it. That’s the list. Everybody else I’d be open to taking calls on.

Here’s a totally crazy thought, Brind’Amour hasn’t signed an extension yet…

I’m open to cleaning house behind the bench and in the FO. If Terry is on the page I’d actually stay put this season and let the new regime make any roster moves. At this point I have a lot of questions around the vision for this team. And if this is currently the vision of the FO, I don’t want that guy making performative moves to save his job.

The team doesn’t have enough versatility. It’s why some really liked Mitts on the first line when Tommers went down last year, Tuch has been so important, and Greenway is very much a top 6 guy here. Our skill players need a physical presence on each line. The league isn’t playing the game the way the Sabres want them to and this roster gets abused for stretches because of it. If this team could get another Greenway and a Mitts-lite it would go a long way. They won’t get over the hump this year, next year, or any other year until the vision for this team changes. I’m not sure Mitts came off the ice the last 2:30 minutes.

I really think next steps for this franchise starts with Terry asking GMKA what the plan is this year and next year. If Adams says “patience” or anything resembling “run it back”. We have to move on immediately. Because if that’s the case the problem here is vision not coaching and all we will be doing is delaying the inevitable.

Cozens has been playing bad hockey since before he was punched in the face. The injury is way over played.

Not a lot of patience? The Sabres hold the NHL drought record at 12 years. The next longest active drought is 7 years. If the KA misses the playoffs for a 4th time, he’ll be starting his tenure risking a 5th year. 5 years would be 4th longest active drought in the league. The NHL isn’t the NFL. I get it. There is no magic wand (QB). But the league isn’t some magic 5 year process either. This is as much a KA process issue as it is a roster construction and coaching issue.

I actually think this is way overstated. That line was Jekyll and Hyde last year. JJP came back an animal and Cozens has been no better than “middle 6” on his best day this year, and bottom 6 on his worst. Cozens -> JJP is the spectrum for that line in 2023-24. I have no idea why anybody would have any expectations for Quinn this year coming off of an achilles. That’s crazy. If missing Quinn based on 22-23 after rupturing his achilles totally details this team we don’t have much of a team at all.

I agree with this.

I was answering the question that was asked which was “why isn’t Cozens with JJP anymore?” To which the answer is Mitts is a better player. Also I don’t think Cozens game would be helpful for Benson right now either. Not to mention that Mitts/Peterka have also been a lights out pairing. I don’t get wanting to move Mitts away from guys he’s both helping and playing lights out with. I think Cozens best spot is at RW in the coming years as Tuch ages and moves down the line up. I foresee it as Skinner - Thompson - Tuch Skinner - Thompson - Cozens Peterka - Thompson - Cozens