JohnC

Wasn't Quinn Golisano's main franchise representative when he bought the team? And because the owner believed he did a sterling good job in guiding the franchise out of its financial peril that he gave him a chunk of money when he sold the team to Pegula?

With respected to your comment about being able to learn when dominating at a lower level, that isn't the issue. The primary issue is whether he would have benefited more in the juniors or playing in the NHL. @LTS gave a strong argument why it made a lot of sense for him to play in the NHL given the rules that would have prohibited him from playing in the AHL. And there is another element to whether Benson would have benefited more in the juniors than the NHL i.e. physical development. It's more likely that the workout and training facilities and staff would be at a higher level in the NHL than it would have been in the juniors where a lot of his time would have been spent on buses.

The takeaway in reading this thread is that there are many combinations that make sense. My preference would be for Tage to be 1C, Norris the 2C and McLeod the 3C. It’s also going to be interesting to see how our forwards get slotted for the top three lines. Currently, my first line preference is Zucker/Tage/Tuch. Needless to say, this is subject to change. This is going to be an interesting camp.

Thanks for the response. With respect to the football stadium in Orchard Park, from everything I read about it outlived its life span and the cost of upkeep wasn’t worth it. It was better to apply the upkeep money to a new facility.

As you yourself note that he is a confident kid. You act as if he was an overwhelmed player in the NHL. That was far from the actually case. As a player he was an asset and not a drag.

Not necessarily. Some players simply aren't suited for playing on the top two lines. However, Benson is.

In your opinion, has the arena reached the stage in its lifespan where putting more money into it is not worth it? Just as the Orchard Park stadium reached a diminishing return on rehabilitation investment, it seems that the Key Bank arena has gotten to that same point where it would be better to invest money in a new arena rather than re-patching the patches that already exist.

The one thing that his play indicated to me is that he had enough confidence where the lack of confidence issue was not a concern at all. Was his offensive game hindered by his lack of strength and weak shot? Of course it was. But that was primarily because of his lack of strength due to his age. However, when watching him play I never felt that he was a liability or hindered the other players on his line. There was a scrappiness to his game that many other players lacked. I don't know how much more physically developed he will be entering in this camp. It may take more than a few years for him to reach a physical maturity before his offense will be more developed. But I'm sure that based on what I saw last year that he will be a contributing player and not a fringe player for us. In making a judgment that can't be proved or disproved, I would say that he benefited more playing in the NHL last year than he would have if he stayed in the juniors and dominated. That's how I see it.

The Sabres just don’t have the depth to absorb injuries that is required when the inevitable injuries happen. And when a critical player such as Dahlin is sidelined, there is a cave in. Regarding your projected lineup, I would prefer Norris in the 2C spot and Tage in the 1C spot. I see Greenway more as a third or fourth line player. It’s going to be interesting to see how Ruff assembles the lines. I expect a lot of experimentation and jumbling of the lines in the beginning of the season.

The advantaged of staying longer in the lower league is that the prospects will be playing higher roles and more minutes than if they were more quickly brought up. That extra ice time will accelerate their development even more than if they played limited minutes with lesser roles with the big club. When you watch some of the young developing players play against experienced NHL men players you can see the contrast when boys play against men.

Bringing in young players from Rochester to replace vets on an already young roster will continue plaguing this roster i.e. inexperience. Let the upcoming young players continue maturing in the lower league so when they do move to the next level they will be better prepared.

I'm not sure if you are talking about Pegula or Golisano with the payroll cuts. When Golisano took over the Sabres in a bankruptcy setting the franchise was basically insolvent. The previous owner and his son ended up in jail due to intermingling the franchise money with his own money. The financial fraud was at such an egregious level that the feds got involved in an investigation that led to convictions and jail time. Let's not forget the context of the situation. Golisano took over an insolvent franchise and put it on a strict budget and required strict accounting recording. The chaotic financial books were relatively quickly straightened out by him. Did some staff have to be let go? Yes, he was dealing with a financial carcass where there was a negative cash flow. To his credit, he financially stabilized the franchise. And to his credit, he paid contractors that were stiffed by the previous owner and weren't required to be paid due to the bankruptcy rules. When asked why he paid the contractors when not legally obligated to do so: he simply said that it was the right thing to do. From a Sabre franchise historical perspective, I consider him to be a hero. Let's not forget what one of the primary reasons why Botterill was fired by Pegula. It was due to firing staff in the scouting department. Botterill refused to do so and was subsequently fired. (This is what I was originally referring to in my post on this topic.) https://www.nhlpa.com/news/2-22673/sabres-fire-gm-botterill-in-series-of-cost-cutting-moves

The point I made about the scouting issue is that from a broad perspective it wasn’t a major factor why this franchise has struggled for nearly a generation. I strongly believe thst Golisano would have hired better hockey staff and allowed them to do their jobs. And I’m sure he would have held them accountable for their performance.

I'm not sure that is the case. I believe that change in scouting happened under Pegula. But that isn't the primary reason why the franchise has struggled. The owner hasn't done a good job in hiring staff to run the hockey operation. The hiring of KA made little sense and the process to hire Ruff was a charade. I'm not discussing whether Ruff is a good HC or not. What I can say is that the hiring process was not a serious process for a critical position.

I believe that although Golisano was not much interested in hockey, he would have been much more adept at hiring staff to more competently run the franchise. I do agree with you that Golisano wouldn't have been inclined to injudiciously spend a lot of money on the franchise. But as an astute businessman, he would have had the foresight to recognize that in assembling a competitive team he would have generated more revenue and have a more self-sustaining business instead of debasing the product and causing the withering of the fanbase. I want to emphasize that I'm specifically directing my comments toward the current owner's stewardship of the hockey franchise and not to his other activities. I strongly believe that this hockey market, that includes southern Ontario area, is a strong hockey market. It has been laid to waste by less than stellar management. That's a shame.

The difference between Golisano and Pegula is that Golisano is smart enough to recognize what he doesn’t know and wise enough to hire people who know what they are doing. And I’m sure that he wouldn’t interfere too much while the hockey people were doing their jobs. That is not to say that he wouldn’t be so aloof that he wouldn’t hold the staff accountable.

I don’t want to deviate from the topic relating to his generosity however how much different would it have been if he continued to be the owner instead of selling it to Terry P?

They deserved Fs instead of Ds in the individual categories. The grades were higher than I would have given.

This grading is an example of grade inflation. When you fail for a generation and continue to do what you have been doing then you have demonstrated your obtuseness and magnified it with the character flaw of stubbornness.

Adding to what the government can do is better than not adding to it. The scale of Mr. G’s contributions in a number of different formats makes a difference to a lot of people’s lives.

Whether there is a progressive or regressive tax system billionaire philanthropy does wonderful deeds that goes beyond what the government can do.

This clip is a good metaphor for the state of affairs of this forsaken organization. You got to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

You really can't calculate the generational good in helping kids and families with his generous charitable contribution. People with great wealth can spend their money the way they want. That's their prerogative. He's taken a portion of his wealth and put it to good use. It's a testament to his generosity. He's a self-made man who has given back. Whether he is personally liked or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is that he should be respected for his good deeds.

Your description using words such as “rumblings” and “rumors” is a fairer representation than using the stronger word such as “report”. On the other hand, KA has stated/acknowledged on the radio that Buffalo is not an appealing destination for many players because of its perceived reputation. He then stated that the only way to change that perception is to win more.

Wasn't it reported or at least rumored that Ruff had replacements under consideration for Wilford but the option/s declined?