Mango

We traded a current top 6C for a potential top 4D. It is a maddening trade for me, not because of BB. But because based on everything this org preaches about committing to and developing our own talent, Mitts is a slam dunk extension and we traded him for “might be better later”. Just like we keep calling the 2C role Cozens even though Mitts has been much better for 1.5 years.

Byram went to the “Dylan Cozens School for Hickey Fights”. That was sad. Surprised the refs let it go so long. They almost never let one sided fights go that long.

The Flyers game sealed this loss. This team always seems to need to get embarrassed to adjust. Buffalo got away with one against Philly. Way outshot and way too many high danger chances. No business burying 4 on 20 shots or whatever it was. Anytime that happens it’s like this team thinks that level of play was good enough and then they get punched in the face.

This team doesn’t miss the playoffs by a point, or a game, or goal. It is an 82 game season, they’ll miss because of tendencies. It isn’t a league where a bad bounce here or there is an excuse. The sample size is too large. Every time there is an opportunity to get some positive traction they lose/fall on their face. Happened last year. Happening this year.

Biz looks like he has the same hair, makeup, and wardrobe person as Razor. Did he role in in last nights close like 6 minutes before he went on the air? #78

Where is the Benny Hill music when you need it?

It’s weird they both collapse AND leave a Flyer alone on the backside of UPL in the crease. One would think that having more guys standing around the same spot might mean one Sabre might take the man in front of a wide open net?

Maybe the most consistent poster on the board. Game 1 vs NYR all the way to game 77 vs the Flyers. Must win, baby!

I disagree. Adams and Donnie cannot afford to let another Ullmark walk. And frankly neither can the team. This team is in no place to walk away over a $0.5M -$1.5 AAV difference for a goalie who was close to the very best in the league since January 1.

I think Terry really did and maybe even does want to win a Stanley Cup with the Sabres, but I think he is coming to terms with his failures. I won't be mad if he sells, but I won't ever forgive him if he sells the team and it moves. There are some rumors that Golisano put some language around the teams permanency. I don't know if that is true, but I do know that Terry could certainly prevent it if he wanted to, and if he takes $850M from the people in this community to then moves the Sabres he will be dead to me.

The arena isn't the story per se. At the very least it is the tip of the iceberg. It is that the local billionaire owner who just received $850M in public subsidy has divested in almost all of his hockey ops, failed to keep up with general maintenance with the KBC, and now pulled out of the 15 year lease he signed just a few years ago. Now he is either trying to bend Rochester over a barrel after signing an agreement he said wouldn't change just a few months ago or he is prepping to sell his hockey teams.

I just don't understand how they can roll it back? The team vs fans is at an all time toxic level. They are quick to boo and the team is quick to chirp back through the media and on the ice. Rolling it back again is likely the most dangerous business decision Pegula and Co. have made since buying the team 13 years ago. More dangerous than the tank. Even a mediocre start is going to create a super tense atmosphere for everybody involved. So what happens then? Fans get worse, players start pushing back, each one-upping each other, driving this franchise further into the ground. I have to start wondering if there is some "Major League" to it all? No more spending, don't hire competent staff, refuse to replace the worst ones, stop taking care of the KBC, pull out of the lease in Rochester. I don't know if the team leaves Buffalo or changes ownership, but the only thing Terry is doing well is alienating hockey fans in this region. Under those circumstances selling makes a lot of sense as a next move.

I think the opposite. They only win games when there is almost nothing on the line for them. They aren’t making the playoffs. This team has won 3 games in a row only twice this year. Stringing together wins now is meaningless. In fact this group the last two years has basically only been able to string wins together at the most meaningless times. They don’t like playing with their backs against the wall. They loathe it. I don’t understand why he is still up with this team and not in Rochester. It is baffling.

He just signed a new lease out to 2033.

This is really odd. I have argued both that the Sabres will and won’t leave. Terry’s divestment from Rochester, the Sabres, and his lack of upkeep of the KBC keep nagging me that he’d like to sell his hockey teams. I think the team stays, maybe even under Pegulas ownership, but every-time he pulls back I can’t help but think… EDIT: Very strange the article is titled and opens with "Owner of..." I don't understand why it doesn't say "Terry Pegula". Also less than a year ago when they dissolved PSE they said "No no, don't worry Rochester nothing will change. We just won't be PSE anymore". Now this.

On the flip side, for all the "the defense is better" folks the Sabres are near the worst in the league in xGA and high danger chances against. UPL has saved this team from being bottom 5.

I know a bunch of people who work at Labatt and shared an office with PSE. I also know a few of the players in Terry's OG career. Yes, PSE was not a good place to work. That has been documented a bit in the news as well. It has also been reported that McBeane have worked hard to keep the Bills separate from PSE, which is part of the reason things are different at OBD. It has been speculated that they both also have a no meddling clause in their contracts, something Pegula has refused to do on the hockey side. Worth noting that Pegula's most successful franchise, The Bandits, have a director of lacrosse. A position he will not fill with the Sabres. Of course any owner is "allowed to meddle", but there have been too many reports of Leino, Skinner, asking Botterill to lay a ton of people off. He is of course welcome to do those things as owners. He also bares the weight of the criticism as well. And when the solution is clear as day, that you need to GTFO of the way and you refuse to do so, you deserve your motives questioned as a leader. I am unsure what your point is here. Terry Pegula is literally the worst owner in the history of the NHL. This is the worst run any owner in the history of the league has ever had. He inherited the 4th most winning team in league history and has turned it into the worst franchise ever during that time. It isn't really debatable.

I agree with all of this, but it’s also worth noting that in that time he’s named himself president of both orgs, been to nearly every Bills training camp practice, been in town for the ground breaking of the stadium, and still not stood in front of a microphone for 4-5 years. While I certainly feel for him and Kim it’s tough for me to definitively draw the line. He’s been around and named himself at the top both organizations.

The xGA, odd man rush, and high danger chance metrics are amongst the worst in the league.

I don't think he even showed up for the memorial service they did for him either. Kim's health issues are a valid reason, but it was odd he was a call in, hold the phone up to the mic, type speaker. Even if he was in the middle of something, it is weird he wasn't plugged into the arena's AV. It is almost as if he is in charge of a professional hockey team that misspells their alumni jerseys.

I was at this game and this moment has always stuck with me. Bills fans spent a decade scared and wondering what would happen to the Bills when an aging Ralph Wilson passed. Terry's first words to a cheering packed house were "OK guys, that's enough". It was a very heavy wet blanket for us in our section. https://www.buffalobills.com/video/watch-terry-pegula-on-field-ceremony-13989551

That is one way to look at it. The other is that I think this years goaltending is worth about 10-15 points more than last years goaltending. If you adjust for UPL's emergence this year then that means this team would be picking top 5 without him. A bottom 5 NHL roster is a sad place to be.

Always worth mentioning that "taxes" were written right next to "lifestyle".

We don't really "know" anybody on the internet, or any professional athletes, or any billionaires at all. We can certainly make some educated guesses based on local interactions, interviews and decisions regarding the franchise. - We know for a fact that Terry likes to meddle. It has been questioned and defended by Terry across nearly every hockey hire he has made. - We know he would rather make a decisions himself rather than professional consensus; he literally said owners thought he was crazy for the Ville Leino deal. - We know that this organization has a toxic work culture. That has been been said since before the pandemic. - We know the Sabres model is all about economics, efficiency, his family lifestyle and tax breaks. This is a definitive shift from when he bought the team. Most importantly we know that Terry is really, really, really, really bad at being the owner of an NHL team. Like historically bad. We also know that his greatest successes in business come as an engineer/geologist, not as a people manager. So it isn't crazy to be on an internet message board and attribute bad leadership qualities to somebody who has shown to be.....a historically terrible leader. Some may be more accurate than others, but most are likely not super far off base.

Shocked this one was sponsored by Bud Light. Such a Buffalo Holiday/Event seems like low hanging fruit for this to be a Labatt Blue event/game/coozie. Yuengling is also the sponsor for the on screen score.