jad1

The Sabres played hard, but they very rarely played well, and that was due to more than just a lack of talent. Arizona finished two points ahead of Buffalo, yet their Corsi number was nowhere near as catastrophic. Every veteran skater not named Ennis under-performed. Every young player aside from Girgensons stalled in their development. The only true bright spot this season was the goaltending. Despite the upheaval at the position, the goaltenders consistently played above their perceived skill level. For this reason Irbe was retained. If Nolan and his staff were able get similar results from the rest of the team, he'd probably still have a job.

The Sabres best young prospects are either with the big club, in the juniors , or in college. It's an in-between season for Rochester.

The Sabres also have first-rate facilites, a massive scouting budget, a top notch talent pipeline, a deep pocket owner, and a strong hockey environment that lacks the insane pressure of Toronto. And if Murray and Babcock are on the same page, there's opportunity to increase his role, all while making him the highest paid coach in the NHL.

I really doubt that there is a gap in communication between Murray and Pegula as there apparently was between Nolan and Murray. The only way for a GM to pull off a rebuild of this magnitude and survive is to ensure the consistent alignment of expectations with the owner. A very basic agreement between Pegula and Murray is that player acquisition and development takes priority over wins. My guess is that they also agree upon key metrics (analytics) to measure progress. If Murray and Pegula weren't in sync with Murray's direction, Tim would have been sent packing too. Nolan didn't seem too concerned with Murray's priorities. His M.O. throughout his career had been to do his own thing and let the chips fall where they may.

Has Nolan ever had a healthy working relationship with a GM? The guy seems to lack situational awareness when it comes to meeting the expectations of his boss.

Yeah. That and LAMP.

So what's the likelihood that GMTM can deal the third pick in the draft for young, established top six forward (O'Reilly?)?

I think it's absurd that there are so many division 1 teams. The company line from THE NCAA is that only a small percentage of teams make a profit from sports. Cool, take the top 40 revenue generating schools and put them in their own division. Pay the athletes and open all revenue streams to them. Fully fund the programs through self generated revenues and booster donations, no tax money. It's time to end the days of the basketball coach being the highest paid state employee. The players can be students or, if they choose, or just employees. Justify all the changes by positioning athletic programs as marketing and advertising ventures for the schools, instead of hiding behind the sham of the student athlete. For the schools outside the top 40, let them continue to develop as student athlete programs. Maybe give the players access to work study programs. Turn the NIT into their championship tournament. The focus of this league would be to create the best student athlete experience for all involved.

Agreed. He philosophically disagrees with the new lottery rules, admits that he voted against them, but recognizes that under a specific set of circumstances, his team can benefit greatly from them. Nowhere does he state that the goal is to finish 9th in the conference. Nowhere does he say the goal is to pick in the top three next season. He merely points out where his team can benefit from a set of rule he fundamentally disagrees with. If the Sabres are fighting for the 8th playoff spot next February, there is no reason to believe that Murray will tank the effort for the opportunity to win the lottery for a top 3 pick.

Nice job. Mission accomplished.

Agreed. Especially since Murray's quote pertains to the fairness of the lottery rules, and not to his overall management philosophy. His comments on dealing UFAs do pertain to his management philosophy, but the OP has chosen to ignore those statements.

The only thing he is missing is an organ grinder and a monkey.

Yes.

Amazing how this s### still works.

Kane is 23. He's part of the youth movement. Zadorov needs to be in Rochester. It's that simple. Unfortunately that's not possible this year.

And then offer Ehrhoff, #6, and a 2nd rounder to Florida for the #1 pick. I mean, as long as we're dreaming ;) .

After reading this artice by Bill Simmons, it appears that in addition to being his mistress,V. Stiviano worked as an assistant to Sterling. As his assistant, he asked her to record their conversations because he often forgot what they discussed. So he was aware that his conversations with her were being taped. So is Sterling admonishing his mistress or his employee, or in his mind, both? And did this happen during a business call or a personal one (or both). It also sounds like from the article, that Sterling probably generated animosity from the people that directly worked for him. So maybe this is a case of a gold digger trying to blackmail her doddering suger daddy, or perhaps a member of Sterling's disgruntled staff found the recording (maybe he has his recorded conversations transcribed) and decided to make it public. Anyway, here's the link to the artcle. It's an interesting read, just to learn that Sterling is a big fan of soup. http://grantland.com/features/sterlings-fold/

That's because this isn't an NHL team. They'll be lucky to win 2 games the rest of the year.

I don't know, I think this kind of thing is par for the course during a tank/rebuild. When the Penguins tanked to build their current core, they almost left town. Chicago completely alienated their fan base during their down period and then fired the GM who acquired the core of their championship squad. To think that a team can completely turn over their roster with no disagreement or conflict within the organization is just naïve. The real quagmire would have been if other teams in the league didn't know who that had to talk to to make a deal. That would have been a real mess. This is just hurt feelings. By Tuesday, it will be old news.

Yeah, maybe that happened. Or maybe Patty was working the phones at the same time that Murray was. Who knows.

PLF did quit his previous executive role with the Islanders after a short period of time; perhaps Pegula should have seen that as a red-flag. On the other hand, PLF has brought in some strong talent to run the organization in Murray, Patrick and Nolan. He built a good group, maybe he just couldn't manage them.

That implies that PLF is leaving because of conflicts in non-hockey decisions. Which is interesting, because I doubt that he's that concerned about the direction the Sabres are heading in the areas of pricing, marketing, or public relations to the extent that he would quit the organization the weekend before the trade deadline. More likely, he believed that Miller or Ott shouldn't have been traded, or that he could have negotiated a better deal than Murray.

If this fall-out was caused by the trade, the people whispering in Pegula's ear were Murray and Patrick. Do you think those guys have to be re-evaluated due to the trade?

That's difficult to believe when Patty claimed that Pegula offered him the GM position, but he turned it down because he felt he didn't have enough experience. The reports sure made it sound like PLF was given free reign to build the front office structure, but it seems that he didn't understand his own role in that organization.

See, nothing to worry about. :thumbsup: