That Aud Smell

Best I can tell, that dude won life's lottery a couple of times -- married a smoke show of a younger woman and sold a quite risky business venture for a billion or more. Fair to add that, sometimes, you make your own luck.

@ElevenAmazing. I remember that. I wish that expression had a corollary in the U.S.

Met him at a local restaurant (Beef and Barrell?) at some point in the early 90s (?). Made quite an impression, evidently. Hired post-grad in 1991. Married in 1993. I don't think the other stuff adds anything. It does reveal quite a bit, though.

sometimes, though, he does like to feel pretty.

Lol. Seriously. We can get bogged down in gender studies debates. The more pressing issue is that they both suck out loud at owning a pro hockey team.

I'm not sure anyone has visibility into that. It was nearly 20 years, anyway. She rose through the ranks. She married the boss. At the conclusion of her time there, the company was sold for a cool $1B+.

I think that's right. The better question, IMO, is should the Pegulas, singly or jointly, carry forward with their current breadth of responsibilities within PSE. And I think the answer to that is a resounding no.

I thought that was Elton John? I must have my Championship Clubs mixed up.

That's an odd thing to say. And perhaps a telling one too. And implicating Terry - in order to deflect ownership of views expressed - is weak sauce.

I took the liberty of fixing the above. She and Terry own the teams. That's the only qualification needed, strictly speaking. Beyond that, I understand that she started with East Resources in 1991 after she graduated from Houghton with a degree in business or communications or something along those lines. So, prior to buying the Sabres, she had ~20 years in business -- not for nothing, that was a period of time during which that business became so valuable that, once sold, it launched she and Terry into the buh-billionaire territory where they now exist. Once East Resources was sold, she became CEO of some spin-off investment company that she and Terry own. She's also an independent director of at least one publicly traded company. I do think this is a line of inquiry that warrants honest self-reflection.

Haha - fair deuce. Blind squirrels, and so on?

Hmm. Interesting. It is possible, of course. I'm open to this possibility. Also: Are we in the wrong thread? Lol.

Like I said: I don't think Krueger is a liar or a grifter. And I don't think he's full of sh1t. I think he means well. He just ... he just doesn't know what he's doing. But I think he comes by this incompetence honestly.

Man. Imagine if the power play was ranked more like 14-16 ... what would this team's record be? 😬 Also: I initially missed the bit about the improved PK. Holy smokes. The 5v5 play of this team must be historically awful.

Krueger coached professional hockey from 1976-1993. Then returned for a stint with the Oilers in 2010. So, he has a body of work as a hockey coach. To me, he's gotta be much more Michael Scott than the Simpsons' monorail guy -- he genuinely thinks he's doing everything right, even while all external indicators are that he's failing.

That was a great episode - of course, the monorail bit is a spin on a story that is as old as the hills -- snake oil salesman, trouble here right here in River City, and such. I don't think RaKru has that sort of guile, though. I think his failure here is more akin to a Michael Scott type persona.

Great post. The passage of time, and the happening of so many things (as noted), has severed any causal link between the team's current fortunes and the tank. Also - reading through a few pages of these posts - seems like our Big J visitor comes here to act like a d1ck.

Nothing like giving the media advance notice. 🙄

Where's it being streamed? Their website and Twitter makes no mention of the 4:30 address. 🤡

Yeah - it's evident that RaKru does not know what the hell he's doing.

Along the same lines: You can't motivate professional athletes out of a funk when they know in their hearts, minds, and bones that the team's approach/strategy/system is a failure and that the team is getting sh1t pumped as a result. RaKru sees the funk -- he's just unaware that he's mostly responsible for it.

This is total banana pants.

Ha - it's a bit of both, depending on the situation. In this case, it was a search for an eye roll.

I was going to add that the FO's of those tank teams were trying to lose. Plenty of proud (AHL-level) hockey players on those tank teams that did their level best every night.