PotentPowerPlay21

I hope they get a good return for Eichel in a trade, but I don't think KA is up to it. Clearly, the combo of Jack,Sam and Risto was unsuccessful for the team so I don't regret turning the page entirely. However, the team has been severely mismanaged for many years now. Personnel decisions, both players and front office, have been terrible. We can all quote the bad free agent signings (Skinner,Okposo) and the bad trades (too numerous), but in fairness it was a team effort to fail this badly. The question now is whether the team has the structure in place to turn the franchise around. Is the leadership and vision from ownership capable of winning in this league? All indications are, "NO". It has been a decade since the Pegulas have run the team. Maybe some positive signs should have shown themselves by now if they were competent? Nothing but failure so far! Do they have the personnel management team in place to succeed i.e. GM,scouts,coaches? It doesn't look like it, but they get a little more time to prove themselves. Sometimes you find something good in the bargain bin. Do they have the players to compete for the Stanley Cup? No! Some day the core of the current players on the roster might develop into something good, but right now it looks bleak for the short term. If this analysis is wrong, I will be very happy. I hope it is wrong, but they have to convince me with results. Time will tell.

I think KA works for the Pegulas. The salary dump, aka "rebuilding", is saving the Pegulas a lot of money. If you add in the 20+ million the Pegulas got from the league expansion then you can see that Terry and Kim are quite happy. In the event KA trades away Eichel, the Pegulas will be popping some of their best champagne! They are saving money with a bargain basement GM and coach too. I don't believe KA is a qualified GM. I don't believe Kim Pegula is a qualified team president. I'm a bit discouraged. I was wondering if anybody in Sabres management watches the NHL playoffs? If they did they might realize that the top teams are gritty and tough with good size. If you consider the Sabres are drafting tiny wingers near the top of the draft it makes me scratch my head in disbelief. How many more years will the Sabres exist in the land of irrelevancy? My guess is they will be bottom feeders for 4-5 more years.

I pretty much have lost interest in the Sabres for the last few years. I was reminded of all the posts that mercilessly ripped Darcy Regier even though he actually won the majority of his trades. I am reminded of all the "I trust GM Tim Murray" posts as he devastated the team with horrible trades and squandered all the assets at his disposal. In addition, the "I trust Botterill" posts still sting my eyes. The bottom line is the Pegulas have made some really poor personnel decisions regarding the Sabres. The hiring of Kevyn Adams looks very uninspiring and unpromising based on recent events. I hope some day the Sabres will become relevant again. A quick review of the posts here during the last 24 hours suggest that most are willing to accept bad decisions as inevitable. Excuses like KA did the best he could given the circumstances. It reminds me of the apocryphal story of the child who killed his parents asking the judge to show mercy on him because he is an orphan. The Sabres management is the cause of the horrible situation they are in. The situation you caused yourself cannot be used as an excuse to keep making more bad decisions.

It's not an insult. I liked Pysyk. I just know how Buffalo completely mishandled him and then got rid of him. GM Tim Murray, the human dumpster fire, couldn't wait to trade him for Kulikov. Ryan Johnson reminds me of Pysyk. From what I have read, he may not be as good as Pysyk. Only time will tell. My doubt is: what has Botterill done to make Sabres fans confident in the future? Trade Ryan O'Reilly (winner of the Conn Smythe and Selke trophies) for Ryan Johnson and a bag of pucks.

It sounds like they drafted a less talented Mark Pysyk 2.0 How did that work out for Buffalo?

It was a horrible trade of epic proportions. I said so at the time. It wasn't that I disagreed with trading him, but the return was pathetic. The Blues unloaded two overpaid mediocre veterans who were proven to be inadequate in St. Louis and a mediocre prospect who had little future there. The Sabres needed to get a premium young prospect or two (at a minimum) along with some premium picks and they didn't. Congrats to Botterill for helping to build a winner.... in St. Louis!!! What makes a champion is winning these type of trades and so far Botterill has failed miserably. Congrats to ROR for winning the Conn Smythe. Watching ex-Sabres doing well around the league makes me ill. Management wins championships by building a worthy team and hiring top coaches. The Sabres have failed. Hopefully, in the future this will change.

On the bright side, a really good coach can turn around a team in a short time. Look at Trotz and the Islanders as an example. Botterill can still redeem himself with a good hire. He should be feeling the heat for some really bad deals though. His record is poor to this point, but he has one last chance to save himself with a good head coach, smart free agent moves, and a very good draft. There are a lot of ex-Sabres doing well around the league with smart coaching.

I never saw a compelling case to hire Phil in the first place. The evidence suggests that he is not producing results. Objectively, every team could use more talent, but this coach doesn't seem to be very close to maximizing the talent available. I think the excuses being used to keep this coach are very weak. The record suggests that he is not up to the job.

They kept both teams in Buffalo. I give them big credit for that reality. However, they have failed miserably running the teams. Look at the cumulative performance of both teams since they took over. Piss poor!