SabresVet

Yeah, career management is a prime consideration for professionally minded people. Fans can think what they want, but without better assurances from management to have a shot at success in this position, head coaching options will pass. It's why I think Sean McDermott demanded much more control than TPegs was originally willing to give. But a team in a rough spot like the Bills were at the end of 2016 or the Sabres are now might mean a new HC gets some authority. Otherwise, solid options will pass by. Maybe Terry is coming to that realization with the Sabres.

Contracts are the key variable in these kinds of moves. DG has 2 more years, but are the assistants even into next season? If not, I could see DG sticking and they replace the departed coaches. Wouldn't address the main issues seen this season, but that scenario playing out is not hard to envision. Still not even confident Adams has the authority to fire the HC because it'd cost ~4M for him not to be there.

You still don't understand budgeting 101 and that's OK. Not going to belabor it any further. We all see ownership is bad and at some point post-COVID, they adopted a new fiscal plan with this franchise. One that is damaging the on-ice product and driving fans away.

You want the owner to, because his net worth is in the billions, lose money on your favorite hockey team. Not going to happen no matter how many times you pound that sand. The badly underperforming hockey team is under no obligation to lose millions of dollars a year as an olive branch to bring back fans and win more games. We can all agree TPegs is not a good owner, is out of his element, doesn't know hockey like he thinks he does, etc. Still doesn't mean he's going to open up the check book and splurge like he did back in 2011-12.

I'm sorry you don't adequately understand business, budgeting, and management so this conversation might continue. EDIT: If you want to conclude that TPegs' decisions have negatively impacted the bottom line, that's fair and I'd agree with you. It doesn't change that the Buffalo Sabres have a budget, they (like most teams) will not exceed that budget, and without increased revenue will continue along the path they've taken since COVID impacted the business.

This is like saying you bought a home in 2011 for 150k. You haven't been putting much into it, but it's doubled in value by 2024 because neighborhood sales are up. As this occurred, you had to take a new job because the previous employer let you go in a cost-cutting move. Your new salary is 20% less than the previous job. And you're not losing money because the value of your home is way up? Come on dude. They're losing money because a business has a budget that outlines projected revenue and costs. And when costs exceed revenue, that's a loss. Revenue does not include potential value of the business.

TPegs is a business guy first and foremost. When he bought the team fan sentiment was still high, the arena was in better shape, and revenue was high(er) to costs. Now, attendance has declined, the arena needs upgrades, and they're likely losing money overall. His response is to cut spending to the floor on players and keep a thinner front office while hiring/retaining a GM he knows, but is unqualified. And we continue to hear that TPegs is meddling in personnel. For Bills fans, it's a replay of the late Ralph Wilson years. RW would spend when the team was good and profits were healthy. When that changed, spending was cut, which led to less chance the on-field result being decent. Ralph or his handlers would meddle in personnel decisions as well, allowing the bad seasons to mount. Then, when they needed coaches or GM's they couldn't hide how no one wanted to work under those conditions. And, Ralph would only hire people he knew personally which is how, in late 2009, the Bills ended up with Buddy Nix as GM. Point to all of this is, despite what they say, owners are business people first and they're not going to lose money to chase wins.

Another issue I have with "standing pat" is that your competition improves or regresses every season. Except, that hasn't really happened in the Eastern Conference where a 6 team core have made the playoffs 3 years running: FLA, CAR, TOR, NYR, TB, and BOS. And that's with Pittsburgh and Washington no longer Cup contenders. The top 6 teams don't look to be dropping off anytime soon either. 2023-24 was Adams' opportunity to see how this roster would respond after minor moves, but we now know it's not built well. And unless some of those teams listed above start falling off, the Sabres will be outside the post-season next year. Time to be bold and stop assuming this roster will get better AND be able to more consistently defeat those teams that repeatedly finish ahead of them in the standings.

There has to be a sense of urgency and staying the course isn't that, particularly with so many players regressing. I have tickets to the game tomorrow. I'm almost interested in going just to see how the fans respond at season's end.

The lack of fire on this team is alarming for a group that's been playing together for a couple years now. Too often this season they came off as sleep-walking through games and the 0-1 starts demonstrated that. I don't think Granato is reaching them and perhaps that's not all on the HC. He didn't craft this roster, although he had input. Either the right guys are here and Granato's hit a wall or the Adams has built the team wrong and Granato cannot squeeze more out of them. The other possibility is Granato is not up to the task and the roster is full of unmotivated talent. Because for every strong game this year, there were 2-3 they couldn't do anything right. Whatever the case, management is running out of time with the fans. They've delayed making major moves and I'd hate for it to take a 2024 October-December run like they did this year to put them well behind in the playoff race.

Botterill was fired because he refused to cut staff. Murray because he didn’t build a team aligned with his HC’s scheme. Regier because he had lots of money and still couldn’t get it done during TPegs’ early years. Terry wouldn’t have to fire so many people if he could find better GMs. That would necessitate he admit he doesn’t know his a** from a hole in the ground about the NHL. Which would, of course, allow Buffalo to attract a qualified GM to get this team into the playoffs. I don’t think Terry has a plan if Kevyn keeps failing. Not many eager to have thay guy second-guesssing a GM or meddling in personnel.

Funny thing is I can envision Seattle firing Hakstool if they miss the playoffs this year after being the 1st WC last year with 100 points. You set the standard and then achieve it or else in most organizations. Not making it should never mean re-inventing the standard of performance unless a major injury or several injuries occur. As in, that they're developing, but not enough to make the playoffs after saying so to end last season. That's what I see is creating the most heartache here. Changing the standard to meet current season performance.

Not all teams have Decembers that practically deep-six their playoff hopes. This game was closer to the pre-January norm than many want to think. They did not respond to Detroit's pressure and that's been an ongoing issue all season:

This is a lot of circuitous logic here. We've seen players get NHL time after their college season ended on the first year of their ELC. It's a good gesture from the team. Power stands as one of the more recent examples and Mittlestadt before him. To take Levi and play him at the end of 2022-23 is the comparison...but to the start him the following season is entirely different. The problem with you saying in 2023 that he "was 5-2 and looked pretty good" is that teams had all season to watch tape on him and see his weaknesses. He also didn't have the workload of a starter at the end of 22-23 to show if he was physically and mentally up to be a reliable starter. Because even this "braintrust" doesn't make decisions based on a "it's worth a shot" mentality. This is the NHL and not a beer league team. No, their development plan for Levi was to start him in Buffalo this year within the three-headed monster and hoped he became the de facto starter. The likelihood that would work is almost zero IMO, but they had no option. Their inability to find a starter meant he needed to play before he was ready. Worse, the lack of a goalie plan has directly affected to the overall record. Buffalo needed to be in the playoffs this season and likely won't which means those young guys everyone is counting on won't get that experience to further their growth presumably in 2024-25. Much of that was because their start this season was bad. In other words, this is very much a personnel self-inflicted wound. Good news is, UPL has made himself the starter through his play, although playing a full time starter's minutes is becoming a challenge now. But if he hadn't turned in several solid performances, they'd never have sent Levi down. He'd have kept playing and struggling and then where would they be? Playing Comrie more?

A few seasons ago, Tage remained on the NHL roster when it was clear he wasn't playing well. It's not a stretch to say that happened because the O'Reilly trade looked so bad at the time. I see Levi getting NHL PT right out of college because someone saw Reinhart excel in Florida and they looked bad in that deal. At least in the short-term. For a franchise that preaches development, taking a goalie from the college ranks and playing him in the pros so soon has something else involved. Point is, Pegula may not be front and center, but his micro-management is felt. Adams has probably earned a degree of trust to keep Terry's hands off personnel decisions, but he's still the owner. And he takes a lot of heat for where this franchise has been during his ownership.

I've believe that many sports fans have made their fan-hood so large a part of their personal identity that to criticize the team is actually received as criticizing them. It's why, no matter what the end result, as in no playoffs for 12, 13 years that the criticism is not taken well.

Drawing hard conclusions from an event like this is not worth much. It's clear by now that the core they've re-signed will remain long-term, supported by a few veterans, and their conviction younger players will improve. It's a stay the course thing and that's always been the plan. Biggest issue for me is the inconsistent effort this season. They have a void in leadership with both management and players to hammer home this is a results-based organization. I'm not seeing how they'll address that with the room of who will be there next year. They've tried using people who've grown up in the organization. They've tried importing leaders. Neither attempt has worked. I'd hope Adams is open to replacing the HC if they go down the stretch lukewarm to finish the season. But I'm not holding my breath either.

Stop right there. To quote Red from Shawshank Redemption, "Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It's got no use on the other side. Better get used to that idea."

The only hope is that coverage like this hastens the whole coaching staff being fired. Inexcusable that confusion exists on the PP like that 80% into the third full season of this rebuild.

Pegula is involved when he shouldn't be and isn't when he should be. He is a major issue, but at this point, given the 7 HC and 1 GM fired this season, I don't think Adams can fire Granato. Either by rule from above or because he's attached to this mess that close. 4 of the bottom 8 teams in the Eastern Conference have either fired a HC or GM (CBJ, OTT, NJ, NYI). Montreal's HC is in his second full season, the Caps are replaced their HC last season leaving only Pittsburgh. Something is amiss in Buffalo's front office.

The plan is to keep Granato, keep getting inconsistent effort from the Gen Z kid...and then tell everyone things are getting better as they slide down the standings. What did you think it was? 😉

2 goals in 5 periods and an OT. Even Coach Norman Dale from Hoosiers would tell these guys to shoot more.

Usually teams are forced to move young productive players up for a contract extension when they are already A) Playoff-bound and B) spending near the cap. Buffalo is neither and won't be any time soon.

The centers this team has shipped out the past 6 years. O'Reilly, Reinhart, Eichel, and Mittelstadt. Sabres have a tendency to ship players to Cup Winners/contenders. LOL.

The low level of trust in the GM is coming out full bore in this thread. And it's all completely reasonable. Might be a good move in the long run...but being a seller at the deadline essentially with an asset he had no real intention of keeping will be suspect until it's not. And it comes 3+ seasons into a rebuild. As @That Aud Smell noted, this was kind of set when TT and Cozens got extended.