JohnC

I understand what you are saying but strongly disagree agree with it. Successful franchises in all sports succeed because they have strong and stable organizations with high quality staffing. Both the Bills and KC ended up with future HOF qbs because their staffs did their research and identified the players that they wanted. It wasn't happenstance that resulted in these franchise altering players. Under McDermott and Beane, the Bills have been successful for an extended period of time. It wasn't due to taking big gambles on players. It was a result of due diligence by a quality staff. Compare the Bills stability to the Sabres instability? There should be no surprise where the Bills are and have been and where the Sabres are and have been. It's not due to luck and gambling; it's due to competency exhibited over a long period of time.

If KC didn't have Mahomes they wouldn't be multiple SB winners. The Bills are very fortunate to have Allen as their qb in this era. (As you indicated.) Both elite qbs have elevated their teams to the top tier of the league. And without a doubt as @That Aud Smell stated Allen will be a future HOFer.

If the scenario plays out with KA elevated to a ceremonial position with Karmonos elevated to the GM position, then I'll take that as a positive step. It's very likely that Ruff will remain as HC and have more say on the roster. After being the HC for a year, he should have a better grasp of the talent of his players and who they are as competitors/people. The bigger issue, regardless how the staffing shakes up, is what players are going to be added and what players are going to be subtracted from the roster? To state the obvious, the status quo on the roster is unacceptable. The signs do indicate that there will be some organizational changes. Maybe not as dramatic as many want, but at least a step in the right direction.

I get so angry and disgusted thinking what this fool owner has done to degrade the potential of this hockey market. He, more than anyone else, is responsible for the current state of affairs of this franchise. And he acting with some basic common sense can right the sunken ship by getting the right people to steer it back on course.

If the Sabres become a relevant team, I’m sure the house will be mostly filled and the place rocking and rolling. Thanks for the ticket offer. I’m in Maryland. I do appreciate your generosity.

Are all home games usually sold out? What are the ticket prices for Bandit games?

I was watching a good chunk of the Minny/Vegas game. It was a battle with a lot of hard hitting and tight defensive play. This was typical playoff intense play that you see in most playoff games. What's obvious to me (and most commentators here) is that the way our roster is constructed we will not be able to play the style of game required to be a serious team. Where it becomes really apparent is on the blueline where you see players battling near the goalie. We don't have enough more defensive oriented and rugged players on our blueline unit. I'm not saying anything that hasn't often been said. It's just so noticeable when you watch playoff games. The Sabres have plenty of skill players. They need Greenway to get healthy and another Zucker-like player (younger) added to the forward line to make this a tougher roster to play. It just seems to me that a few smart roster moves will make a big difference for this team.

Is the owner acting as a director of the hockey operations and usurping that role for himself? I can't say for sure. Probably so. As an owner, he can do whatever he wants. He can be frugal or be profligate with his team payroll. He can interfere with the hockey operations or not. He can do what he wants. The owner can structure the organization any way he wants. Again, as an owner that is his prerogative. And that's why he is a failure. As demonstrated by his tenure as an owner, his record is dismal and embarrassing. It's pointless to get enmeshed in what he does or doesn't do. It's pointless to argue about what the best structure for the organization should be. What most people can agree with is that the owner has hired inept upper staff, most notably KA as his GM, to lead this floundering franchise. Anyone who has been in the work world knows recognizes that placing inept upper staff is a recipe for failure. I have, and so have many others stated, that success/failure starts at the top. Terry Pegula is a buffoon in the manner he has operated an NHL franchise. Until he dramatically alters how he runs this woebegotten franchise, little will change. I don't want to be totally pessimistic. There are encouraging signs that he will soon make some changes within the organization that will hopefully alter the course of this lost franchise. How will he do that? Hiring a qualified GM and empowering his hockey staff to do their jobs without interference by this know-nothing owner. Will he do that? TBD.

I don't know much about Forton. Does he currently much sway in personnel decisions?

Isn't Karmanos still living in Pittsburgh? If so, if elevated to the GM position I would think that he would have to relocate to the Buffalo area? As a GM I don't see him working remotely a lot from out of town.

I don’t believe the big challenge is to identify what our critical needs are. Most people recognize what they are. Regardless who wields the influence, the challenge is to get deals done this offseason to address those needs. It will be interesting to see if a partner can be brought in for Power, another first or second line forward added to the mix (In addition to Norris) and another goaltender added just in case UPlL doesn’t work out. With a little creativity and moderate boldness, these additions should be doable.

I don’t want to belabor my point but I don’t believe he is the defacto director of hockey operations, (My opinion.) His failings are related to his bad judgment in hiring critical staff. As an owner he is inept. His record as an owner demonstrates that.

If the owner wants to be in the room then he is going to be in the room. As an owner that is his prerogative. You and I might not be enamored with his omni-presence but that's his choice. As I stated in a prior post, I'm not sure that he is as involved with player discussions and decisions as many think. My main criticism of him is less about that than about his judgment in hiring critical staff. On that issue, his record is less than impressive and bordering on self-defeating.

The problem isn’t he being in the meetings. It’s he having input when decisions are made. We really don’t know about the inner workings of the operation but in my (opinion) his sabotaging failure is in selecting the staff. That’s where he has miserably failed.

The inability to understand basic economics is stunningly low. And the inability to process information and then make a commonsense judgment/analysis is at a frightening low level. In medicine, one of the most important concepts drilled into people entering that profession is: "do no harm". When doing nothing is a successful strategy it is not too difficult to carry out. Some disasters you can't avoid. Man made and self-inflected disasters like what is going on now are stupendously idiotic.

You are right that KA did make some good moves, such as you noted with the McCleod and Byram trades and Zucker acquisition. But you are not dealing with a static situation. All GMs for every team work to improve their teams mostly in the offseason and sometimes during the season. If KA is making some good personnel moves yet most other GMs are also doing it on a larger scale and at a faster rate, then you fall behind. KA has a five-year record. It's unimpressive by all standards. The Sabres are less than a second-rate organization because substandard performers are allowed to remain on the job. I'm confident in saying that no other owner/franchise would have kept a person at the top of the hockey operation with a similar record. Until there is more accountability within the organization this franchise will remain stuck in the muck of mediocrity. It's way past time for a shakeup at the top.

I’m going to make a prediction that may make you half satisfied. I think that our owner with the enormous boat will kick KA up/down ?? in the organization and give the GM position to someone else. My guess is Karmonos. With that maneuver the owner and his failed GM can save some face.

The owner better be careful in allowing this saboteur on his boat. In the dead of night he will puncture some holes below the sea line and sink it. 😃

I'm not trying to be snarky in asking this question: Is that really his boat?

At this stage of his career, he should not have been playing on the first line. The offensive production was inadequate as a top line player. I also like Kulich a lot. Again, with him at this stage of his career, he should not have been playing on the first line. I like both of these young players and do believe that both have the talent to eventually be top two-line players. But I doubt that other than for a few bottom feeding teams that either one of these players would be playing on the top line. It seems that because there was a dearth of top line talent that both players were pushed up higher than they needed to be. That's why the Sabres are on the couch watching the playoffs instead of participating in them.

I really don't know if time has passed Lindy by or not as an NHL coach. Are his coaching views much different from most other NHL coaches? I don't think so but can't say for sure. There are a lot of different coaching styles and personalities that have succeeded. It just seems to be that the biggest problems for anyone standing behind our bench is the talent level and roster construction. And those would be tough challenges for any coach.

That’s like saying water is wet. Not very illuminating because everyone is aware of it except for the oblivious owner.

Do you know what happens to people who look in the mirror instead of looking forward when driving? They crash.

I’ll tell you one dinosaur who had a good run is Lou Lam…… However, his time had run out as it does for everyone.

I have a different perspective on the KA hiring. The primary reason that KA was an out of the box hire was that he presented the owner a balance sheet blueprint to rebuild that was much cheaper than taking a more conventional approach of reconstructing the roster. My basic point is that an austerity strategy appealed to the owner, and he got exactly what he wanted.