kas23

Who did we pick in their re-draft?

But, it takes 2 to sign a contract. What if Skinner really doesn’t want to sign with Buffalo? I’m sure the players understand this and all the blame won’t solely fall onto the FOs shoulders. Skinner can choose not to sign here without directly telling the Sabres “no, I’m leaving”. It’s all in his actions.

I bet this is just posturing (ie intentional leak) of the Sabres to let Skinner know there is a plan B. Lee would probably look just as good on Jack’s wing as Skinner has. He’s a tad older though.

I like this idea. If he really wants $9M, then give him close to it, but shorten the length to 6-7 years, which is what he would get if he hits FA. The 8 year deal automatically comes off the table once FA hits. Only elite/franchise players should be given max length contracts. I’m unsure if Skinner fits this criteria.

This brings up an interesting point. Is the NHL season too long? To me, it seems like there are 2 parts to the current season. The 1st half and 2nd half, where the 2nd half is the only one that means anything. Then the playoffs get stretched-out for another 2 months. But, the reasoning behind this has to do with money. More games played, more money made. And it goes both ways too. I’m not sure the players would want to take a substantial pay cut if the season was shortened.

Here’s some examples: Greg Cronin, Rick Wilson and Tim Army. Newell Brown is another, but he had 4 years of being an AHL HC before becoming an assistant of the Blackhawks. It’s not “unheard” that an NCAA HC becomes an assistant HC.

I wonder what the numbers say. Do college head coaches entering the NHL more often initially end up as assistants or jump right to HC? I know I’ve heard of both occurring.

Apparently is was mentioned that Jbot interviewed 7 people during the HC search. Does that mean that all 7 were specifically for the HC job, or were some of these interviews for possible assistants? For example, I wonder if the talks with Leaman were to get him to come on as an assistant. Same for Jacques Martin.

I doubt Kim would appreciate the subject of this article, nor the details within it. Interesting that we’ll never know exactly what role Keefe played here, as he was a minor and the law forbids releasing this info, but the women involved here got their reputations destroyed.

I read the reddit more carefully for you, which I’ll post below:

I do a lot of whole body MRIs. They have limited clinical use, but do offer a nice overall view of bone/joint health. I don’t think a CT would be the appropriate test for a soft tissue injury, but I don’t have any knowledge of the specifics of Pilut’s injury.

There’s also the possibility that Babcock doesn’t get canned...for a long time. They’re still a developing team and could pull it together.

This is inaccurate, unless the injury was within the last 2 weeks. No one needs a CT to exclude metal in the body. Swelling usually subsides with 2 weeks. If this was a chronic injury (which it may not be), there would be no acute swelling. Testing a serum creatinine for gad administration takes less than 24 hours and we don’t live in Canada, extremity MRs can be obtained also within 24 hours, especially if you have the insurance the Sabres have. Why do I know this? Because I order extremity MRs a few times per week. I do agree with the conservative management of PT though, but it can waste time. Usually the team ortho will lay it out realistically. Usually PT is kicking the can down the road is not definitive treatment.

If this is the person, then I guess he is the person. But, I don’t know how you can justify hiring Krueger while not even bothering to interview Grönborg. Really, how can you do that?

Since you’ve had “first hand experience with the guy”, did you ask him about why he’s remaining silent about Frost forcing an underaged boy to have sex at gunpoint? There’s pictures, it’s not like it didn’t happen, but the case went nowhere without witnesses speaking up. Should he get a 2nd or 3rd chance for that? I don’t really care about the unsportsmanlike behavior, but the other stuff is disgusting.

How many teenagers do you know, or have known, that have made similar poor decisions? This wasn’t a teenager going out for a night of joyriding in their parents’ car or smoking pot. It was a pattern over the span of years. Many of these things are clearly immoral, not just illegal. A misguided, but overall good kid, wouldn’t have let those events at the cabin go buried. This has nothing to do with his ability to coach, but it shows a lack of critical decision making, a basic inability to distinguish right from wrong, and the propensity to be easily manipulated. These are things that don’t easily fade into adulthood and I doubt the Pegulas would hire such a person.

After reading this, I think I’ll pass on Keefe

Yep. The meeting between Tippet and Jbot was probably just Jbot following up on Doan’s job application references.

This is a good point and often overlooked. Obviously players that we signed for professional deals have a good degree of talent. That is, our FO agrees that everyone they sign has a chance (maybe small though) of making an an NHL roster someday. It’s then up to the coach to nurture this talent and put them in the right position to succeed. Or, the coach is a very big factor of whether a player has “talent” (in the way fans judge it) or not. There are exceptions though. One big one is if a team is trying to tank or the owner is overhanded in having younger, less developed players on a roster instead of more established players.

It’s very commendable he has turned a horrible program into a perennial winner. Maybe that is the type of coach we should be seeking. One that built up a program, not continued to win within an organization that has a history of winning. An example of a coach NOT like this would be Babcock.

It’s not unheard of for NFL “hot assistants” to turn down NFL coaching jobs/interviews. Some even quit before even starting (McDaniels). Why? Maybe they are afraid of failure, that their incompetences will get exposed. Maybe they want the perfect situation for their first time. Maybe they only want to go to a stable organization with a history of winning. One thing is sure, their old jobs won’t be held for them if they decide to come back and it’s possible they may never get another chance to be an NHL HC again. This is just for rookie coaches. The retreads we are looking are probably already financially set and are likely still getting paid by the team that fired them.

Agreed. Due to Botterill being moving closer to the hot seat, maybe candidates are seeing that 5 year contract as really a 2 year one. The rebuild is nearly done. I’d say Botts has 2 years to be a decent playoff contender or he’s out. Sure, coaching contracts are guaranteed money, but who really wants to uproot their family for 2 years into an unstable situation.

Unfortunately, I just JBotts knows he’s on the hot seat now. This is his last coaching hire. People in these types of situations usually act differently than they did when they were hired. There’s no more taking chances, like Housley. I bet he goes for a self-preservation safe pick, like JM. He’s not spectacular or a sexy pick, but he won’t likely get you fired because they’ll make the playoffs (and that’s about it).

I don’t think there would be any animosity towards the Sabres organization, he should understand the hiring. But if the Sabres hire Keefe, then the writing is on the wall. That he basically has no future in the organization above his current position. Maybe he’s OK with that. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if he jumped to another AHL team where he could build a career.

Agreed. It would be a very tricky situation to hire Keefe, but not promote Taylor from within. That said, after looking at their coaching experiences and past success, you can see that Keefe has had more sustained success at multiple levels. Plus, he has 2 years more experience coaching in the AHL as a HC and has won a Calder Cup. He’s definitely more qualified than Taylor, but it also sends Taylor a clear message; that Taylor will never have a chance to be promoted to HC in Buffalo. If Keefe becomes successful, then he’ll be locked in at HC for a long time. If Keefe bombs out, we definitely won’t be hiring an AHL coach next time around and besides, the whole organization (including Jbot and likely Taylor too) will likely be cleaned out as well.