Perreault is the defacto face of the overall organization for us fans who remember him and maybe for those it was passed down to, but outside of Buffalo he's not even a thought to most hockey fans in general. A part of that is lack of the ultimate prize success, a part of that is anyone's guess, but he was, is and always will be the gold standard of performance the Sabres skill players should aspire to imho.
As for Pegula's Era, well meaning as such as it is, yes, it's been a complete disaster. I'd go so far as to say the Sabres organization has been a top 5 sports franchise all time nose dive with him as owner. But that's just my assessment of it, others may and most assuredly do view it differently.
All that said, to @Spoonman op, I'm sure there are several avenues to take to climb out of this mess. New ownership? Maybe. But I'm looking at the here and now, and in that regards the answer is in the existing roster currently here. Play better hockey, set the bar high for players performances and hold them accountable, same for coaching staff and management team. This organization lacks current accountability imho. They are going the patience route, and ya, I get why. But that isn't going to bring immediate end to the fan base frustrations. It is however, what we are going to endure, like it or not.