TrueBlueGED

Pegula fired Rex in a meeting without Whaley. That is not the same thing as firing Rex without Whaley, or doing so behind Whaley's back.

I still completely disagree with this interpretation of events. I think Whaley was fully informed of, and involved with, the decision to fire Rex at the end of the season. All Pegula did was accelerate the timeline during a meeting with Rex, where I believe, Rex essentially said "if you're going to fire me, just do it now."

I think there's a fairly monumental difference between being the decider on who to hire after being brought candidates by your GM, and expressly overruling your GM when he's telling you a coaching change is needed to move forward.

The second round is the semifinals, no?

Murray would be complicit. I have a hard time believing that if Murray came to Pegula and made a forceful case that a coaching change is necessary, that he'd be prevented from making the move. We agree. Freeman and I agree. That means we're right.

I don't think Murray is willing and/or able to execute this kind of turnover at this point in the rebuild.

Them's the odds. Though we do have like a 23%ish chance of a top-3 pick.

Earlier in the year? Absolutely. I thought the injuries bought him the year. I think he subsequently flushed that down the drain by the team ending with the same record healthy as opposed to injured, and the epic collapse down the stretch, and the players quitting on him, and the locker room divide.

Athens, OH. Heading back to grad school for a couple years at Ohio University. I had fully planned on going to Columbus for a Sabres game, but if Bylsma is around, I may opt for Edmonton or Toronto instead. I could do this if Toews' general overratedness didn't irk the hell out of me. Also, I'm reasonably confident too many Sabres fans jumping ship would, in fact, cause the Hawks to spontaneously suck.

The player interviews will be our salvation. The player interviews will be our salvation. The player interviews will be our salvation.

Apparently Eichel lost a $2 million bonus because he got bounced from the top 10 in points per game yesterday. Draisaitl got 2, which moved him ahead of Eichel. Eichel closed out the year with 1G and 1A in 6 games. Quitting on his coach was costly, in a very literal sense.

I'm cheating, but the operative word is watch! I'll be out of the Buffalo media market, so I'll either have to pay, or put forth a concerted effort to, ahem, find access. Paying is definitely not happening, and the other is usually quality. quality video for hockey? No thanks. I'll still listen to many games on the radio, but that's not watching ;) :p

If Bylsma is back, you may get your wish....about 25 games too late, but still. Would you rather they both come back and potentially get fired together next season, or have Bylsma fired now and Murray get a year or two with a new coach?

Maybe, maybe not--can't be sure how that information gets filtered through Murray. Primary interview could be quite different than what he's gotten secondhand.

For whatever it's worth, the Stars had the second most points in the NHL last season, and got to game 7 of the semis. I can think of reasons not to bring him back (such as I think he's a good coach, and I want to find a great one....plays a system that exposes goaltenders to quality chances, and so on), but "doesn't know how to win in the modern NHL" isn't one of them.

Since we're playing the "what if" game, if Bylsma is fired and Murray only adds say 1 defenseman, and we're significantly improved...will you finally admit Bylsma was a big part of the problem? I mostly agree with this, though this plan is also pre-exit interviews from the players. I keep going back to Torts and the Rangers a few years back: Sather had no plans to fire Torts, but after player interviews, he felt he had to. The exit interviews will be our salvation.

I won't watch until he's fired unless they're hot out of the gate.

Yea, for sure. Frankly if we don't hear anything by Tuesday I'll lose most of my hope.

*whispers* I've been back to it for awhile now.

T-minus 24 hours ....we hope.

Sounds like the perfect guy if we want more heroic runs to 9th :p

Not a PC gamer, I take it?

I'd like to see Carrier-Eichel-Nylander. If Nylander isn't ready, then Baptiste.

If only we had some meaningless games with which to experiment with new things.

Or anything else in Sabres jersey.