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SabresVet

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Everything posted by SabresVet

  1. He's bottom quality in the first...or the second. Down 1-0 or 2-0 and I can hear it now: "We got 'em right where we want 'em!"
  2. I'm guessing most people in this thread are Gen X or...those of you shall we say are "more experienced in life." Cool. For me, growing up in the 80s and 90s I saw guys born in the 50s, 60s, 70s playing NHL hockey including many from Europe. Compare that with Millennial and Zoomer athletes today where feelings and not offending people are important but results in a bad culture are less so. And even if this story is true, they were upset the fans demanded a HC be fired? Used to happen all the time a generation ago and players handled it much differently
  3. Amazing that since tearing it down to start 2021-22 (or year 3 of his rebuild) Adams is a seller at the deadline still. A trade does nothing for this season anyway. Hard to see how it does for next year with the way Adams has constructed this roster of finesse types who aren't going to sneak up on opponents anymore.
  4. I don't think people realize how much corporate debt is out there and at non-fixed interest rates. My company out-sourced a lot of IT overseas and let's just say those contractors are not high quality.
  5. The GM chose birthday boy Kylan Dozens over Mittelstadt when the former signed his deal. Something's gotta give eventually with this team stagnant now beyond the half-way point of the season.
  6. I cut my Fubo a couple weeks ago and have no regerts, er regrets. Knowing this team, they'll realize last night was bad, and up the effort tonight but still lose. I'm thinking it'll be a 4-3 loss.
  7. Pegula got burned when he relied on the NHL to provide him recommended GM candidates to interview because he's never done the work to establish relationships with executives. So, he hires JBot off the list, and then gives him resources only to see it all fail which traumatized him into only hiring someone he trusted. Someone who had zero personnel experience besides playing in the NHL. Man, this reminds me of the last near-decade of the Ralph owned Bills. But this is where we are 3 years into this current rebuild: An owner who doesn't know anyone 12 years into owning the team who hires GM's who didn't grow up in personnel who hire coaches not NHL caliber. At this point, either Adams isn't allowed to fire the HC or he's unwilling because he believes his plan needs more time. I believe 5 HC's have been fired this season alone not counting CBJ and crickets in Buffalo.
  8. How did the schedule work out that they'd play the 2 worst teams in the league back to back? From the Western Conference no less?
  9. Adams should be a seller at the deadline with how his roster has performed mid-way through this season. If he makes a minor move or two to pick up picks/depth it's an indication he thinks the roster is fine to prove what he's said on GR is how he believes. If they make a bold move to acquire a player, then OK. Then it's on them to go push for the playoffs and shows he believes they needed a spark. And if they sit tight on all players, pending UFAs and all prospects, it's because he's under no pressure to win. That may be the most tell-tale sign ownership is apathetic. Keeping Granato around just affirms that. I'm not calling for anything short-sighted, but it's apparent a malaise has settled over this franchise (apologies to Jimmy Carter) and those in charge have chosen to do as little as possible.
  10. And it only took losing to the Kraken at home to do it. Now, if they lose to Ottawa tonight does Cale Klague get moved for future considerations?
  11. Leadership and self-motivation are two entirely different things. A guy with the "C" or "A" can play hard every night, get after guys who aren't, and take tough questions for why they lost after the game without other players buying in. It's up to management to remove or temporarily sit those who don't play hard. It's why Adams' insistence that he wanted players who wanted to be here seems absurd now. The guys he locked up want to be here...but some aren't getting it done. Players typically want to be here when the team is winning...and this one isn't. There are guys who just drift around who are still on the ice and no one in management seems to care. Nor is trading them a realistic solution because many of them are signed long-term with high cap figures. And mid-season, deals are harder to make with more teams up against the cap. It becomes a buyers market and the seller's pay a steep premium. Other people have asked an important question as this season devolves: maybe they didn't need to lock up some guys until they'd done a little more in their careers to justify big money. But that can happen when a GM is focused on culture and no one holds players accountable.
  12. Dahlin does not need, nor should be expected to do anything more than play hard as an example to other players. And even then with the lack of effort around him, I wouldn't be surprised if he asks what the heck it's all for. In any workplace for that matter, if it takes fellow employees to motivate underachieving ones, that's a problem with management, not those other employees. Don Granato and his minor league assistants have the responsibility to motivate whether players are on league minimum or long-term guaranteed contracts. Bigger issue is, why is Adams evaluating players positively who then turn around and display less than expected effort? Is that an individual player issue, the coach(es), the GM's bad evals or a combination?
  13. Mid-season is a good time to make some hard conclusions: Adams isn't going to fire Granato with 2 years left on his deal after this season because it'd signal the rebuild is failing. That is, unless there's a catastrophic streak of bad like Krueger had and Terry allows it. And Pegula isn't going to fire Adams primarily because the owner doesn't know anyone and even if he did, they wouldn't work here under the limitations imposed by the owner and his meddling. Ironically, hiring Kevyn Adams was/is not all that different than Ralph Wilson's final few GM hires for the Bills. All clearly out of their depth and expertise and all failed miserably as most rational people expected. They were hired not for the acumen as sports executives, but because the owner was comfortable with them. A shake-up is needed now. But it ain't coming.
  14. You're missing the point. Saying it "works for him" reads like he chooses to be confrontational and it works for that organization. My point is that while every team can't have a a MacKinnon leader on-ice, they should have something like him and his style off it when things get bad and/or players aren't giving 100%. The M.O. in Buffalo seems to avoid disrupting the status quo. That ain't leadership...it's poor leadership and a lack of urgency.
  15. In high performance organizations this type of leader pushes the lesser motivated individuals. It's not what works for the leader...it's how that individual keeps the guys who need focusing focused. The Buffalo Sabres have a leadership problem, although for one game after the fans called for Granato to be fired, this wasn't an issue. Then they reverted back to their old selves and are continuing as the rudderless ship 2023-24 is.
  16. We can talk all day about what happened in the past, but something is foundationally wrong with this rebuild and this year's team...which is now in Year 3. I don't evaluate a rebuild only by what you can see, i.e. player performance and coaches in-game decisions. The bigger problem are the executive decisions made before a puck is dropped. The roster composition is showing major weaknesses, like focusing on skilled guys who don't do the dirty work. The hiring of this coach...a guy who by all appearances is solid, but isn't reaching this group anymore as evidenced by their "compete." Someone up thread mentioned that they essentially kept the status quo from last season. If by the half-way point of the season you're in year 3 of a rebuild sitting 14th in the conference, a shake-up is warranted. It's too late to wait another month.
  17. It's Year 3 of the Adams rebuild and Buffalo has not won 2 straight since late October/early November. They're on pace for 73-74 points after a season they had 91. I think a lot of people were patient last year seeing a team finish 3rd in scoring and pushing for a playoff spot. It's perfectly reasonable to question a rebuild that doesn't take another step forward through half a season.
  18. This is the same franchise that couldn't fire Krueger until he started 2020-21 by going 6-18-4. I still have doubts Adams has authority to fire the HC, but even if he did, firing the HC he re-signed 14 months ago points to a rebuild gone off the rails.
  19. If that's the case, then I'll back away from the being in Florida living point. What's funny about all of this is how, upon buying the Bills he said he hadn't been to a game in years, but at one point had been a Sabres season ticket holder or regular attendee to their games. Same guy who cried seeing the French Connection in early 2011. It's amazing how money changed his preference for the Bills over the Sabres.
  20. He and his family have always gone to FL in the winter, he's 72 years old, and it's possible his wife has suffered a permanent debilitating medical event. I'm not going to bash him for personal decisions to remain physically away from the team. He can communicate effectively without being in Buffalo. That said, the start of the problems with this ownership was when they thought buying the team meant they told hockey people which hockey decisions to make. I have a friend who covers the team who cannot tell me for sure why LaFontaine left. Fast forward a few years and it's clear the Pegula's felt betrayed by NHL types who recommended people like Botterill which led to them hiring someone unqualified but trusted with Adams. It's been one domino falling after another and by now the word has gotten out in NHL circles that's not a place to go. Sure, they'll spend as evidenced by the Thompson, Cozens, Dahlin, and Samuelsson extensions, but it's not an environment where hockey people are given enough decision-making authority. At this point, seeing 4 HC's fired around the league, this team floundering near the bottom of the standings, I'd expect that Pegula would yield to Adams and that Adams has the latitude to change course with the HC.
  21. Donnie Meatballs sounds more like a politician after every debilitating loss. Whoever said it echoes Krueger was right.
  22. "Father, I used a lot of bad language during the last Sabres game. A LOT." "Well, it is a sin, but God can forgive...and empathize."
  23. We can only hope it was the kiss of death. Like Kim saying Botterill's job was safe and firing his 3 weeks later.
  24. It's a common theme within the organization. Terry gets to feel comfortable and the result is the team sucks. Anyone remember the video during draft weekend of some front office exec practically breaking down in tears when they were talking how the culture was so much better under Adams? Yeah...
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