Pimlach
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Posts posted by Pimlach
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1 hour ago, Flashsabre said:
Go back and watch the Blue and Gold of when he was hired. He states he doesn’t know what he’s doing so he has a little book with him and he says he asks a lot of questions and writes the answers down in the book. It was embarrassing at the time and hasn’t improved.
I do not recall this from Adams but I have seen this recently in real life and it is not good for anyone. An inexperienced and unqualified person is running a $375M project that a company I consult for has a contract with.
In meetings he asks us to repeat things over and over again, he constantly stops the meeting and paraphrase's what was just said, then he writes it all down so he can repeat it up his leadership chain. He is not well versed in any part of this business so he does this for survival and we comply as he is the customer and a pretty good guy and well intended person too. I do worry about his ability to correctly answer follow up questions.
One morning he called me for help, even though I contract through his supplier. He wanted me to call him back later to explain something in more detail for him. When I did call him back he was working from home, and there were two babies crying loudly. He was taking take of them while asking me to help him figure out some pretty basic things. His stress was going through the roof.
Sometimes in business we identify smart people, or people we "like", and we move them along too fast and we hurt them in the long run.
Adams has been a GM for 5 years and he was most likely fed with a gigantic firehose. Adams is like this young manager that I know. He was never a scout, only an assistant coach for 1 year, never worked player personnel, never worked in the AHL, never an AGM, never even held a hockey operations job at all, and his first job as GM was to conduct a large layoff of his staff and slowly (over several years) rebuild it.
So we can place a lot of the blame on Adams for the teams recent performance, and he appears to be stubborn on doing it his way, but the root cause of the problem is the guy above Adams. The hiring of Staal and Jarmo seem to be steps to get him some help him. With one year on his contract the stakes should be high for him and his staff. But this is the Sabres under Pegula, so maybe they are not.
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12 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:
No but they opposite can be true. The whole "Adams overvalues his players" thing. Imagine you're a GM of a team targeting a top Sabres player/prospect. You essentially offer a bag of pucks hoping to swindle Adams who you see as inexperienced. But he doesn't bite. What do you do next?
You run to the Dregers, Friedmans or Seravellis with the hot tip that Adams overvalues his players because you know the fanbase will go bonkers, and maybe put pressure on the Sabres. You'll notice we don't hear that trope anymore.
As to your point, I don't think the Sabres talk to any press. Note how no one knew about the Kekalainen hire before it happened. Not Dregers. Not Paul Hamilton.
"Adams overvalues his players" came about by Adams himself when he bragged about his prospect pool and said many GMs are dying to steal his prospects. Adams decided to keep his picks and prospects and not trade them for players that would block them. He said that. He wanted to build sustained winning but he can figure out you have to win first to sustain winning. This came from the league and media because it was true, not because fans made it up. Do you think hockey people in St Louis, Carolina, Los Angeles, or anywhere else listen to Sabres fans?
But go ahead and blame the fans. The team has been bad for 14 years because of the fans, and it has nothing to do with how Terry and Kim ran things. You love to remind us that Terry wins with the Bills and the Bandits - so it must be the fans.
Coaches and players don't want to come here because of the fans and the city right? Not because they have been inept for 14+ years and counting.
Edit - @PromoTheRobot upon further review, I do not think you mean “blame the fans”, you imply that the media can use the fanbase to manipulate trades.
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6 hours ago, Demoted said:
I highly doubt the Sabres are doing that since they are the "Desperate" team in the NHL and everyone knows it. This wouldn't move the market at all for a team like this.
There is no market to move. This is a saying that really does not apply.
You don't increase the value of a player by announcing you want to trade him, many times that lowers his value.
IF the Sabres actually do anything, they will likely be trading current players, prospects and picks in combination.
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33 minutes ago, Mr. Allen said:
My problem is so many of you guys are really rooting for the Sabres to trade picks and prospects for players who help us win now. Almost like “screw the future, I want to win now”. And that’s cool.
But it’s probably some of the same people who absolutely chastised Tim Murray for doing exactly that during his time. Now, Murray’s plan didn’t work, but he mortgaged our future to bring in players to help the team win now just like what you’re asking Adams to do.Except Murray did not do the exact same thing. He traded NHL players with the goal to lose on purpose. Then he acquired the wrong players and coaches.
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13 hours ago, JoeSchmoe said:
Friedman says he has sources telling him the Sabres are looking to deal prospects for players.
Hopefully this is right. We're playoff bound if we can get a starting goalie that can give us 50-60 games at the level Reimer played at last year, and a partner for Power. Hopefully that will put some butts in seats and Pegula makes us a cap team again.
From there we'll have a good window to continue to build the core.
Three full off seasons later .... let trade some prospects for players! OK. Looking forward to seeing results.
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7 minutes ago, Doohickie said:
On the other hand, he's unemployed right now in a field that has exactly 32 such positions.
yup, and a team that wants to win right now will make a move to get him.
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8 minutes ago, JohnC said:
Terrific analysis that is fair and objective and corresponds to what most of us believe to be the case. I will drink an extra glass of vino to salute you.
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Thanks @Archie Lee, upon further review Adams does indeed indicate that Lindy wanted to "get to know" the staff and he could have made changes.
Given that no changes have been made so far we can assume Lindy is on board with this group.
I should have taken your advice and not re-watched the rest of it.
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2 hours ago, Archie Lee said:
It would never happen, but the Sabres are more-well-positioned to make such a move than most other teams. Adams and Ruff are in the final years of their contracts. There have been rumors, or at least speculation, that both could move into other roles (Adams to POHO, Ruff to an advisory role). A veteran GM, Kekalainan, was recently hired as a Senior Advisor. Heck, you could make an argument that, looking ahead to the future, Adams, Ruff, and Kekalainan, would just be doing their jobs if they put there heads together and concluded that the Sabre organization would be foolish to not take a run at DeBoer. Together they could recommend speeding up the transition of Adams to POHO, Ruff to Senior Advisor, Kekalainan to GM, and hiring DeBoer as head coach. Requires someone with a vision though.
Would love to hire DeBoer but they won't for many reasons and money is just one.
DeBoer would want to run things his way, he will not like the roster as constructed, he would not like the layers you describe (Jarmo/Lindy/Kevyn/Terry) to have to navigate through just to make roster moves.
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14 hours ago, Taro T said:
Yes. And they were in 4th place in their division in a WC spot (by points; they were 9th overall in point %age and made the expanded playoffs that season) when the league stopped playing after 70 or so games. And they won their 1st round series, so the "officially" qualified for the playoffs that year too.
So, wth Zito and without Bobrovsky and Panarin they still made the playoffs. Wtihout Zito, they've pretty much been the Sabres.
Good intel Taro!
No doubt that Zito has been very good. There was probably more going on with C-Bus and you can also assume that Zito learned some things from Jarmo too.
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4 hours ago, JohnC said:
Is Terry P as out of touch as it appears? Has he simply become so exasperated with his failed toy that he has given up being emotionally involved and no longer willing to focus his attention trying to make his aberrant franchise into a normal functioning franchise?
I’m not trying to be snarky with these questions. You seem to have some sources and insights into this infected franchise and the odd behavior of this silent owner. My sense is that he has checked out???? Am I off the mark? I hope so.
I would not say he checked out, he is still very involved and he cares. Covid was a catalyst that led him to scale back the PSE empire. He unloaded their bars/restaurants and some other businesses, on the sports side the Sabres took the brunt of the cost cuts leading to Boterill's exit and a massive layoff in Sabreland.
The Bills are successful and thankfully he supports them full throttle. We should all thank McDermott and Beane for knowing how to run a football team.
Adams has since re-built the Sabres FO and he carefully built it back with people that cannot (or will not) challenge him. In the past he eschewed the need for senior advisors and more experienced people in the FO ranks. That changed two seasons ago when he said he would look for an "NHL veteran coach that will hold the players accountable". That coach search was nothing more than Terry reuniting with Lindy, a guy he knows and likes (so they say).
Two more significant items regarding Adams:
1. Adams has said Terry is not preventing him to spend to the cap, so he is taking the heat on that. (Although according to Fairburn every roster move gets run by Terry, even the Jokiharju trade for a 4th rounder).
2. Adams has now taken on an assistant (Staal) and also brought in a Sr Advisor to report to him (Jarmo). Adams has prior relationships with both of these men. Both hires would get little attention on a normal team, but in Buffalo they are significant moves.
Adams has 1 year left on his contract, a successful year could lead to a move up to a "President of something" position, hopefully out of Hockey Operations but more likely a POHO buffer between Terry and the rest of the FO. In Jarmo they have a good hockey guy that may be getting a tryout as the next GM.
It's easy to blame it all on Terry since he is the one truly accountable, but I think we are seeing that Adams inexperience as a GM, highlighted by bad moves and non-moves, has been just as big a factor in the problems surrounding the team. The later comes as no surprise. Adams past reluctance to get help in the form of FO senior execs a (common practice in the NHL) could have been initially due to budget constraints, but maybe not entirely.
So is Terry out of touch? To a degree yes, it is well documented that he over-estimates his hockey knowledge, and it is exacerbated by his selection of a GM that was on no teams radar as an up and coming NHL Executive. He and Adams set the strategy that is failing, and its a strategy that no other team use.
The hope is that Lindy can still coach, and that Jarmo can help them sort out which players/prospects to keep and what roster moves to make.
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The Rat does it again.
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Maurice said the F word many times in that rant.
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Oh my, Reinhart with a clean breakaway and no score. Then Kane gets one - but no shot.
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46 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:
Here's a quote from DeBoer...
I can't think of a lake in Ontario that has Walleye and Salmon. I know there's the odd Salmon in Erie, but I've never heard of a salmon "run" there. That said, Lake Erie / the Grand River (in Dunnville) would probably be the best choice out of any lake in Ontario that I can think of that is known for Walleye, but still has "some" salmon.
DeBoer should come to Buffalo. He can get to Dunnville in about an hour.
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Marchand knockin’ on the door.
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First Marchand, now Corey Perry. The old guys are out.
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2 hours ago, thewookie1 said:
That was definitely a part of it
There were also disagreements on how much ownership had access to the players. A specific example was from a Sabres team visit to the Pegula music label venue in Nashville the night prior to an 8pm game. Kim pulled the wife of owner card on Lafontaine who refused to let the players go. (Quite honestly from what I know of this story, the Pegulas weren’t in the wrong in this instance; however it may have soured them on Presidents of Hockey Ops)
Apparently LaFontaine did have some, likely CTE caused, issues which caused further friction with Kim Pegula. Particularly in terms of interpersonal interactions between the two in regards to non-direct hockey related matters.
Tim Murray would later sink his own ship in part thanks to his own personal interactions with Kim. She was seen as a Black Widow to some but was respected by others.
Terry has looked at the Sabres franchise as a privileged fan. He hired Lafontaine based on a dinner with one of his favorite players. Like us, he wants the whole behind the scenes experience and all but demands it outright. How many here, given the option, wouldn’t want to be in on all the going’s and comings of the team while also not having any particular job responsibilities? Like many fans however he’s lost some interest in the Sabres “toy” and doesn’t quite grasp how he is part of the problem with the team.
I know the Nashville story and I avoid it. “Out of her league” is the term for Kim’s tenure.
Terry is too. It’s another clown show story I try to avoid.-
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1 hour ago, Archie Lee said:
At one point this season, Adams was asked about this during a press conference (I think it was the infamous Palm Trees and Taxes presser). He stated that Ruff was free to make changes to the coaching staff but decided to go with the existing coaches to see how it worked out (I'm paraphrasing). Many people dismissed this as Adams lying. I just can't personally imagine that if Ruff (Sabre legend, savior hand picked by Adams/Pegula, 3rd most coached games in NHL history) went to Adams and Pegula and said I need to bring in my guy or guys, that they would quibble over the $600-$700k that it would take to payout the contract of Wilford or Ellis. Why would Ruff let Adams lie and lay the blame on him for the lack of staff changes?
I do not recall hearing this, not saying you are wrong, but if it happened it would have caused an uproar in SabreSpace.
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57 minutes ago, JohnC said:
I’m more inclined to keep Quinn over JJP. The rumors that Peterka would like to be somewhere else makes me less committed to keeping him and more open to dangling him on the market to see what his value is.
So you want to remain committed to our home grown young players until they decide that they want out? Understandable to a point, until it all caves in on itself.
We don't know how true the rumors are, they are certainly strong rumors and probably true, but without knowing the specifics of why he wants out it is hard to say if they should accommodate him.
Trading players upon their request once they reach RFA status is a very dangerous precedent to continue upon. They really bungled up the Reinhart RFA deal, so this time I would like to see them offer JJP a fair bridge contract and he will work hard and look towards the day he becomes a UFA. Unless he doesn't get along and is a distraction he should remain a Sabre - nothing tells he is that guy. He is not special and he should not get to decide where he plays until he is a UFA.
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1 hour ago, Archie Lee said:
I should clarify that DeBoer would get to change assistants, just like Ruff can but has chosen not to.
Do you know that Ruff chose to stay with the assistants he has? I have heard nothing either way but that seems unusual and unlikely.
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21 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:
It seems odd that LaFontaine hasn't sniffed another NHL (EDIT) team job since his abrupt departure from the Sabres in March 2014.
I looked at his Wiki to get that date. There, I learned that LaFontaine's tenure with the Islanders' FO was even shorter than it was in Buffalo -- a mere 6 weeks during the summer of 2006.
Right or wrong his legacy is to quit at the first signs of controversy, and was he ever really qualified to be a POHO?
I do believed he was wronged by both Terry and Murray and the rest of the Sabres clown show at the time, but nothing in his post career indicates that he was ready to be a POHO.
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10 minutes ago, French Collection said:
Handcuff DeBoer with the existing assistants, goalies and they probably still miss.
And DeBoer will publicly blame the assistants and the goalies, much to Terry's chagrin.
Are there major changes coming this summer and who will make them?
in The Aud Club
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The young man is worthy of helping and my phone is open.
The point I’m making is Adams was in a similar position to this young man just 4 and 5 years ago.
Qualified or not at the time he took the GM position, he was being asked to do perform a very difficult job with little experience to draw from and only a few others to help. Climbing fast can be painful.