JohnC

The league should communicate to the owner that his incompetence is affecting revenues for other franchises. An irrelevant franchise is not a good thing for the league, other franchises and TV market. No question that a gutted local market is not good for anyone in the business of the NHL.

The real source of the problem is not the ill-equipped person who is the GM. It is the silent and perplexing owner who selected him to be the GM and then kept him on the job for five years. Sometimes a person makes an out of the box hire that surprisingly works out well. This is certainly not the case here. KA has half a decade of work product to evaluate. The owner has so far decided to ride it out with him. The blame finger should be pointed at the owner.

I'm not disputing the fact that remote work is common. And that is a good thing for a variety of reasons. However, when you are in an upper leadership position in a faltering franchise, I would argue that it is an imperative to be regularly around both the Buffalo and Rochester franchises. As you point out, remote leadership can be a problem, especially when you are working for a failed franchise. If I had a choice between KA or Karmanos for the GM position, I would without any hesitation select Karmanos. However, if the condition of employment was to work remotely from Pittsburgh, I would say absolutely not. As far as being around in order to help Adams that in itself is an indictment of the current GM. Based on his half-decade performance he should be jettisoned. The Sabres are a failed franchise because the operation is second-rate at best. There is no question in my mind that this clueless and stubborn owner is most responsible for destroying this franchise with his inexplicable decisions, many of them associated with his staffing decisions. I'm tired of him.

I'm sure that Shanahan's role is more about general oversight rather than daily operation. Also, our sycophantic GM is to put it mildly is very inexperienced compared to every other GM. He needs a high level presence around him to guide him away from his foolish inclinations. If a remote arrangement is made for other organizations, and it works, then more power to them. There is no one that can say the remote arrangement is working for this flailing franchise.

As you point out, the notion that one of your highest-ranking staff members in the organization resides in another city is ridiculous. It defies common sense. Doesn't the reticent billionaire owner recognize how abnormal this staffing situation is? The owner has made a lot of befuddling/weird decisions. Allowing one of the top two or three staff people to work remotely from out of town is an absurdity at a grotesque level. What the hellll was the owner and sycophantic GM thinking when they approved of this unusual arrangement? I'm tired of the clownish manner in which this franchise is being managed. The owner needs to sell the franchise that he damaged so much. He ought to be ashamed of himself. The problem is that he lacks the self-awareness to recognize his culpability in this failed franchise.

The owner has given the proverbial rope to an incompetent GM. It makes no freaking sense that you retain confidence in a fool GM who after five years in implementing his own rebuilding blueprint your team resides at the bottom of the standings. The silent owner has strangled this franchise by his idiosyncratic/stupid judgments in hiring critical staff. It makes no bloody sense!

I appreciate your comments and agree with you that money $$$ is driving force behind how this franchise is operated. At this point, that is a given and unchallengeable. However, even with a spartan budget and restrictive financial ethos that permeates this sick franchise, selecting an ill-equipped GM to run your hockey operation makes little sense even if the primary focus is saving money. The sycophantic GM has given out some boneheaded long-term contracts that were unwarranted and not financially sound. What our fool owner doesn't understand that if he had a presentable team, the faded fanbase would be restored and the home building would be filled with paying customers. Ask our parsimonious owner how much revenue is an empty seat providing? The league should intervene and try to influence our silent owner to sell the franchise. He would make a handsome profit if he did. If he's not serious about competing, why go through the humiliation of being considered a fool owner. Terry Pegula is a self-made billionaire. Good for him. On the other hand, as an NHL franchise owner he is a disgrace and embarrassment. I'm so tired of his silent act and incompetent management of this sinking-ship franchise.

No credible GM candidate is going to take the GM job unless the candidate is assured of having the authority to make decisions. I'm not sure that Pegula is going to empower someone to that extent. The owner seems to want to have the last say regarding how to manage his toy franchise.

The Pegula riddle as an owner has me baffled. His football and lacrosse franchises are marvelously successful. He has the standard template for success in place for these two pro sports of hiring quality people and empowering them to do their jobs. It appears, that he has no desire to apply that same formula to his dismal hockey franchise. It is maddening and makes no bloody sense.

My niece has ovarian cancer and is undergoing treatment in a "trial" program. The treatment regimen has been changed at least two times because of the complications from the treatment. She called me up a few days ago to thank me for the Starbucks gift card I sent her because she loves their coffee. We had a good talk. She is in good spirits but she does have her bad days. After the call I cried.

If you have a pair of shoes that when you wear more than one day you will get a backache, get rid of them. I have had two back operations so I'm sympathetic to anyone who has to deal with back problems. I regularly swim and do a lot of walking as preventive measures. But I'm sympathetic to anyone who is in the aching back club.

Dahlin is not a generational talent. That's not even debatable. In my mind, he is a top tier defenseman who is an all-star caliber player. But even if he or anyone else were a generational talent, on this team it would not make an appreciable difference because the current roster is poorly constructed and there isn't enough good talent spread around to make this team a high-end team. One doesn't have to be an insider to recognize that this franchise as managed throughout the Pegula ownership era was never going to produce a serious team.

When getting into discussions about the abilities of our players it is a futile discussion right now because the person who has put together this assemblage is the same person who is expected to rearrange the roster that he, himself, put together. That's like going back to the surgeon to correct the glaring mistake he made on the operating table. Are you going to have confidence in his judgment and correction? I wouldn't. I'd go see another doctor to fix what was unnecessarily damaged. We need fresh eyes to examine this roster and rework it. When the person doing the fix is the same person who did the damage, then you are repeating the cycle of chasing your own tail. If you want substantive change, then you have to make substantive and dramatic change from the current decision makers. Getting the right person at the helm of the hockey operation will be the most impactful decision that our silent owner can make to correct the fiasco that he has wrought on this franchise. The owner should be ashamed of himself and stop hiding behind the curtain of silence. I'm tired of him.

I only watched part of the game because I get so aggravated watching them play. The Sabres have become the medicinal solution to what ails struggling teams. That's embarrassing that we have sunk to such a low. The discussion about individual players and their flaws is wasteful and futile. That really doesn't get to the source of the current problem: the sycophantic GM who assembled this roster. What makes this roster even more alarming is what it is now at the end product of five years of rebuilding. What makes this travesty of a team even more ridiculous is that after five years of rebuilding this roster again has to be significantly deconstructed to be reconstructed. The owner is the primary source of the demise of this franchise and incredible erosion of this fanbase. Make no mistake that this weirdly silent owner has never been shy with firing people in his football and hockey franchises. Yet he has been inexplicably loyal to this ill-equipped GM who has constructed a roster/team that resides at the bottom of the garbage heap. Until this owner decides to hire competent people to run the hockey operation and allows them to do their jobs, this mocked franchise will continue to be a laughed at miniscule franchise. I'm so tired of this fool owner.

We’ve been saying it for more than a decade because it hasn’t been managed at a competent level during that ignominious period, and still counting.

In general, I agree with the sentiment of the need to fire Adams. Where I have a slightly different take is that if a competent person is selected to run the hockey operation with minimal interference from the owner, the time frame for competitiveness would be sooner rather than delayed. The Sabres are not close to being Cup contenders. (Obviously so.) However, with a proper assessment of this roster added with a few smart deals made to better balance and enhance it, this team should be participating in the playoffs sooner than most people think. If managed properly, the Sabres should be a playoff team by next year.

The lack of success of this franchise has little to do with this Swede's performance here. He's acknowledged to be a top tier defenseman by his peers and people associated with the NHL. If there is a lack of success attached to him it is due to the miserable way this franchise has been run since Pegula became the owner. Jack Eichel didn't have much success here but in Vegas he got a cup. ROR did have much success attached to him here but when he got dealt to St. Louis, he ended up with a cup. Reinhart didn't have much success attached to him her but after he got dealt to Florida he ended up with success. I'm sure you can see the obvious trend.

Your characterization is off. He bought the team out of bankruptcy. Rigas entangled his finances with the team's finances. The financial books were not only entangled with his own personal finances but they were undecipherable for examiners. Golisano, who had no interest in hockey, and admitted so, bought it, straightened out the books, and put it on a tight but reasonable budget. One of the primary reasons for buying into a sport that he didn't care about is that he wanted to make sure that it stayed in Buffalo instead of being moved to an outside higher bidder. Bettman and Golisano were instrumental and heroes in keeping the franchise here, especially when there were higher bidders lurking. There was a serious bidder from southern Ontario, Hamiliton, who wanted to buy and move the franchise. Whatever one thinks of Golisano and his politics, what I can say about him is that he is an honorable person who was willing to do the right thing rather than act with avarice and squeeze others for his benefit. What he did is pay off the vendors that Rigas stiffed when the organization went into a bankruptcy status. He didn't have to do that. When asked why he did, he simply stated that it was the right thing to do. Golisano eventually sold the team to Pegula for a nifty profit. Good for him! In my view, Golisano saved the franchise while the current silent owner has destroyed it.

The negatives associated around this team (your words) is a self-creation. Players such as Eichel, Reinhard, Ullmark, Montour, ROR etc all wanted out, and got out. And the primary reason was that they thought that the organization either wasn't committed to winning or was simply incapable of accomplishing it. The underlying reason, whether you agree with their stance or not, has over the past number of years proven to be true. Let's put aside the Dahlin issue. What happens if Tuch, Byram and others decide to ride out their contracts so that they can leave this organization due to expiring contracts. Will we again go through this internal purge again, and again? It's bad enough that the franchise most cited in player no move clauses are the Sabres. But the other worry is that not only do players from the outside don't want to come here, but players inside the system want out. The Pegula era has been a disaster. And it will continue on that sordid way until he either sells or sees the light. It's a very discouraging situation.

I'm not saying you are wrong with respect to this particular player. I'm just not sure. However, let's wait and see with respect to Cozens. I'm confident that Cozens is going to be a much better player in Ottawa than he was here in his last year. It was apparent that Cozens was playing too tightly. It appears (my opinion) that the stress was affecting his game. Let's just watch and see how things play out for him in Ottawa. He's not the only player who has gotten subsumed in this toxic environment. You can see the say depressing effect happening to Quinn.

When discussing Cozens's lack of productivity/performance here the more critical issue is not about the particular player as it is why. What is it about our multi-plagued system that inhibits a young player here while when relocated becomes almost instantly a better player. I'm not predicting that Cozens is going to be an exceptional player who becomes a mainstay player for his new team. What I'm comfortable in predicting is that Cozens will become a much better and contributing player in Ottawa than he did in Buffalo. Why will there be an almost instant positive change in performance for the dealt player? The answer for me is that our ill-equipped GM had a rebuild blueprint that was too dependent on young players before they were adequately prepared to play in the NHL. When you play men against the more naturally talented boys in a men's league, it's not a surprise that the men will be more equipped to handle the rigors of the more muscular big league. And even when the young players had the ability to play in the big league, they had roles that were too high for them. The rebuild strategy that our overwhelmed GM took is not unusual. It is predicated on rebuilding with youth. His mistake was that he did not have enough support players to guide the younger players in their development. It was too much too soon for many of them. The moral of the story is: When you get stuck and lost in a sewer system it shouldn't be a surprise that you come out with a hideous stench.

I'm listening to the game. After the Nurse score it sounded like an Edmonton dominated crowd. Is it?

The owner is inadequate. The GM is inadequate.The organization is inadequate. The coaching staff is inadequate. That is an overwhelming viewpoint that few would disagree with. I made the statement that I believe that Granato has done a better coaching job than Ruff. If you disagree, then disagree. That assessment doesn’t change the assessments in the other areas. My unequivocal position is that the owner is most responsible for destroying the franchise.

Everyone agrees that the roster is inadequate. No debate there. Maybe you disagree but in my view Granato has outperformed Ruff as a coach.

The simple truth is that Granato has outperformed Ruff as a coach with a lesser team. This team has regressed. What’s obvious is that the current coached is being tuned out by the resistant players.