Shake up in the office PAT LaFONTAINE RESIGNS

[PASabreFan]

I missed that because alcohol.

 

Where would I find that? In this thread?

 

I'm just going to keep bumping this -- call it my "pin in" protest.

 

Search members for Wawrow. There are only a few posts from him. Of course it might not be Wawrow, but for some reason X. seemed to confirm.

 

Yes, a pin in! Occupy SabreSpace! Fili-i-bustin' a move!

[apuszczalowski]

I agree with this.

 

Like I was telling a friend, Lafontaine has never built a hockey team, or even had a hand in part of doing so. Craig Patrick and Tim Murray, on the other hand, have done so with pretty good, if not great results. The right guys are still on the job, as far as I'm concerned...I just hope Patrick stays long enough to see it through.

 

Which also leads me to believe, Pegula, Black, Patrick and Murray are all on board with the "Tank." 2 of them, I believe (Black & Patrick) have already been a part of such a re-building project in Pittsburgh. They are manipulating the team for losing purposes. I don't know if it was mentioned here, but Bryan Colangelo talked about doing it in the NBA. We have heard some of these guys talk about it, but Lafontaine and Nolan do not seem to want to do things that way. If you don't want to be here and do what is best for the logo, then I don't think there is any place for you...executive, down to the fans.

 

http://www.cbssports...mits-to-tanking-

yeah, How did that work out for Colangelo and the Raptors?

 

As for the penguins, they didn't manipulate anything to "Tank", they had ownership issues that were forcing them into Bankruptcy, then they lucked into getting Crosby by winning the actually draft lottery after the lockout.

[That Aud Smell]

PA, the Wawrow thing is fascinating. I didn't know who he was until just now.

 

The fact that Wawrow knows the board's dynamic is very, very interesting.

 

Now, excuse me, I need to go see if I can find my tinfoil hat.

 

EDIT: his posts, imo, have strong indicators of authenticity.

Edited March 3, 2014 by That Aud Smell

[millbank]

a refresher on why Lafontaine resigned his unpaid adviser position with Islanders.

from LaFontaine's 40-day tenure as an unpaid senior adviser to team owner Charles Wang and his resignation from that post on July 18, 2006. That resignation came just hours after Wang had fired general manager Neil Smith and replaced him with the team's backup goaltender, Garth Snow. Wang had hired Smith and LaFontaine on the same day, and LaFontaine said in a recent interview that he disagreed with Wang's decision to fire Smith after less that six weeks.

 

LaFontaine elected to step down after failing to persuade Wang to reconsider, he said—not necessarily out of loyalty to Smith, but out of concern for the franchise's direction. "I believe you treat people fairly," he said, "and stand up for what you believe in."

 

 

 

 

 

http://online.wsj.co...319912036433148

Edited March 3, 2014 by millbank

[shrader]

PA, the Wawrow thing is fascinating. I didn't know who he was until just now.

 

The fact that Wawrow knows the board's dynamic is very, very interesting.

 

Now, excuse me, I need to go see if I can find my tinfoil hat.

 

EDIT: his posts, imo, have strong indicators of authenticity.

 

He's a fairly frequent poster on the Bills board. It can't be too difficult to transition from there over to here.

[SwampD]

PA, the Wawrow thing is fascinating. I didn't know who he was until just now.

 

The fact that Wawrow knows the board's dynamic is very, very interesting.

 

Now, excuse me, I need to go see if I can find my tinfoil hat.

 

EDIT: his posts, imo, have strong indicators of authenticity.

Or it was just a douche taking a victory lap because he actually had a scoop for once.

 

I don't know JW as a person or as a writer, that's just what it appeared like to me.

[apuszczalowski]

Its funny how Lafontaine up until mid day Saturday was a well respected Hockey guy who was a perfect fit to help turn this franchise around, and in the matter of a few hours became a useless figurehead who has no experience rebuilding a team and can be tossed aside without any effect on the team

 

I don't believe theres any big conspiracy here, but I also don't buy that he just decided his job was done, or had some health issues, or family issues that made him return to his NHL job.

 

The most likely scenario, he interviewed and hired a guy to be the GM, believing that they would be working as a team/group with decisions going through him and other members of the front office. The guy he hired may not be the same guy they interviewed (or maybe he wasn't PLs first choice but the other guys in the Front Office liked him). They had some disagreements on how things should be handled and the direction the team should be going (PL though going hard after re-signing Miller was the way to go and turning things around quickly, TM decided that they weren't going to try and re-sign Miller because he felt he was already gone and wants to do a slower rebuild completely through the draft) Maybe TM has the Miller/Ott deal ready to go and instead of running it through PL he takes it over his head to TP and gets the ok from him. PL decides that he doesn't want to work like this (maybe he also has pride issues with the idea of losing/tanking on purpose to draft a saviour) and gets his old job back.

 

I also really believe that Nolan is having issues with signing the extension because he doesn't like the direction they are moving in and doesn't want to be the guy who is here to do the hard work of trying to win with zero talent on the roster, only to be let go once the talent starts coming in for one of TMs guys. If I was Nolan, I wouldn't stay knowing that the roster is being gutted of all its talent and replaced with draft picks and "prospects" and has no plans on trying to improve the on-ice product for a few years when the prospects are ready.

[PASabreFan]

PA, the Wawrow thing is fascinating. I didn't know who he was until just now.

 

The fact that Wawrow knows the board's dynamic is very, very interesting.

 

Now, excuse me, I need to go see if I can find my tinfoil hat.

 

EDIT: his posts, imo, have strong indicators of authenticity.

Just a quick linguistic forensic analysis obviously. I'd like Cloe to weigh in on this.

[That Aud Smell]

He's a fairly frequent poster on the Bills board. It can't be too difficult to transition from there over to here.

 

makes sense.

[kas23]

For all those suggesting that PLF was bored at work, couldn't take the daily grind, believed his job was done, or some other benign reason for leaving, this is wrong. TN clearly spoke of a "situation" that occurred and insinuated a dear friend should be treated that way. This speaks of an incident(s) that happened leading up to the resignation.

 

I don't know if this was due to the trade or not. It was no secret Miller wanted to leave and TM was trying to shop him. Both parties made this clear to the media. Everyone and their grandma knew what was coming.

 

Now, did this "situation" arise before the trade was consummated? I think so, because PLF had been AWOL for over a week. I think it must be something non-trade related.

[SwampD]

Search members for Wawrow. There are only a few posts from him. Of course it might not be Wawrow, but for some reason X. seemed to confirm.

 

Yes, a pin in! Occupy SabreSpace! Fili-i-bustin' a move!

And why does the Aud Club main page keep flashing whenever I reload or go back to it? Is that because I have been fingered as a subversive and my computer is being redirected to the Sabres Intelligence Gathering Center?

[apuszczalowski]

For all those suggesting that PLF was bored at work, couldn't take the daily grind, believed his job was done, or some other benign reason for leaving, this is wrong. TN clearly spoke of a "situation" that occurred and insinuated a dear friend should be treated that way. This speaks of an incident(s) that happened leading up to the resignation.

 

I don't know if this was due to the trade or not. It was no secret Miller wanted to leave and TM was trying to shop him. Both parties made this clear to the media. Everyone and their grandma knew what was coming.

 

Now, did this "situation" arise before the trade was consummated? I think so, because PLF had been AWOL for over a week. I think it must be something non-trade related.

Thats why i think it has to do with the Direction of the team giving away all of its talent and Veterans for Lotto Tickets and Future Potential. I bet PLF wanted to turn things around quicker and not give everyone away with the hope that by doing this and acquiring tons of picks, they are somehow going to build some dynasty team. I wouldn't be surprised if the TM they interviewed was not the same guy they got when he showed up to work. PLF seems like an honest/prideful guy and not someone who would want to see a team "Tank" and try to lose in oreder to have a better chance to draft a Saviour. Maybe PLF thought they should be talking more to Miller and doing more to convince him to stay but TM decided that since he felt miller was gone that any talk they did have would be a show for the fans to make them believe they tried. I could also see an issue where they decided to give Nolan an extension with the idea that it would cover the lean/bad years and once they were ready to contend, he would be dropped for one of Murrays buddies who could take over the team then, basically making Nolan a fall guy while they rebuild through the draft.

[PASabreFan]

And why does the Aud Club main page keep flashing whenever I reload or go back to it? Is that because I have been fingered as a subversive and my computer is being redirected to the Sabres Intelligence Gathering Center?

 

If so, lucky you!

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

 

 

And what about the appearance of Wawrow just hours before things came down, complete with an apparent ominous warning that Ghost's reign here was about to end? ######'s gettin' real.

 

Yeah.....so who leaked to the media about this and caused the entire sh!tstorm? As of 3AM....there was nothing in the media about this. So was Wawrow the one that took this public?

 

I don't think Mr. Wawrow is too fond of me because I would regularly point out the fact that under Larry Quinn and Golisano, the Sabres refused to talk to the local media, but the AP would always put out supportive fluff pieces. Even when Pegula was closing on the purchase of the Sabres, Wawrow wrote 2 paragraphs praising Larry Quinn and I believe suggested he would be an asset to Pegula. Now, it's obvious Bob McKenzie is the first line of fluff for the Sabres....and quite frankly, I don't blame Wawrow for wanting to seem relevant, but it's pretty funny he tried to do so by calling out an internet poster who makes $0 from anything involving hockey, has no direct sources, but yet he obviously followed closely and had a pretty flattering opinion of, be it backhanded or not. It's sort of like Michael Jordan dunking on a 5', 13 year old kid, then turning around to frame the pelvis and yell "BooYah!" in seriousness....

 

 

[Campy]

Don't know what Nolan's thinking, but I gotta believe it's in his best interest to accept the contract. It took him so long to get back into the league, and it seems that he's now considering walking away from it? Career suicide.

 

I disagree with your take that he would be a fall guy - everybody knows the skill level of this team. Further, doesn't it seem like Murray's no BS style would mesh very well with Nolan's approach?

 

We'll find out soon enough if Ted's too butt-hurt to handle the PLF situation professionally. I hope he does but if he doesn't, it's not the end of the world. A lot more hinges on what Murray does between now and next October than whether Nolan leaves today, next week, or after the season.

[That Aud Smell]

It's sort of like Michael Jordan dunking on a 5', 13 year old kid, then turning around to frame the pelvis and yell "BooYah!" in seriousness....

 

not unfair.

[PASabreFan]

Yeah.....so who leaked to the media about this and caused the entire sh!tstorm? As of 3AM....there was nothing in the media about this. So was Wawrow the one that took this public?

 

I don't think Mr. Wawrow is too fond of me because I would regularly point out the fact that under Larry Quinn and Golisano, the Sabres refused to talk to the local media, but the AP would always put out supportive fluff pieces. Even when Pegula was closing on the purchase of the Sabres, Wawrow wrote 2 paragraphs praising Larry Quinn and I believe suggested he would be an asset to Pegula. Now, it's obvious Bob McKenzie is the first line of fluff for the Sabres....and quite frankly, I don't blame Wawrow for wanting to seem relevant, but it's pretty funny he tried to do so by calling out an internet poster who makes $0 from anything involving hockey, has no direct sources, but yet he obviously followed closely and had a pretty flattering opinion of, be it backhanded or not. It's sort of like Michael Jordan dunking on a 5', 13 year old kid, then turning around to frame the pelvis and yell "BooYah!" in seriousness....

 

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

a refresher on why Lafontaine resigned his unpaid adviser position with Islanders.

from LaFontaine's 40-day tenure as an unpaid senior adviser to team owner Charles Wang and his resignation from that post on July 18, 2006. That resignation came just hours after Wang had fired general manager Neil Smith and replaced him with the team's backup goaltender, Garth Snow. Wang had hired Smith and LaFontaine on the same day, and LaFontaine said in a recent interview that he disagreed with Wang's decision to fire Smith after less that six weeks.

 

LaFontaine elected to step down after failing to persuade Wang to reconsider, he said—not necessarily out of loyalty to Smith, but out of concern for the franchise's direction. "I believe you treat people fairly," he said, "and stand up for what you believe in."

 

 

 

 

 

http://online.wsj.co...319912036433148

 

Bingo!

 

That is what is scary and why I pointed it out at the time he was hired here. He will not only take a stand, but I would suggest he had quite a bit of vision in predicting the outcome for NY wouldn't you say?

 

Patty saw the iceberg and thought they could avoid it with the right captain. Once the owner of the ship made Smith walk the plank...Patty was smart enough and Po'd enough to take a career hit. Deja Vu? You can like Murray all you want, and I like what I have seen so far....but in the past 3 years, a lot of icebergs have shown up on the radar. Patty may have decided to take a staycation and bypass the glamour of a fancy cruise in the sea of disaster.....

[Assquatch]

No team has been punished by the league for losing on purpose (probably because proving intent would be difficult), other than the institution of the draft lottery to prevent it in the future. Now we have PLF, presumably present for many discussions about the team's strategy, working again for the NHL. Assuming the theory about PLF being too prideful to go along with the tank has any legs, what are the odds the Sabres face some sort of repercussions for their strategy, and maybe even more importantly - is there a chance in hell they actually win the lottery?

Edited March 3, 2014 by Assquatch

[shrader]

Bingo!

 

That is what is scary and why I pointed it out at the time he was hired here. He will not only take a stand, but I would suggest he had quite a bit of vision in predicting the outcome for NY wouldn't you say?

 

Patty saw the iceberg and thought they could avoid it with the right captain. Once the owner of the ship made Smith walk the plank...Patty was smart enough and Po'd enough to take a career hit. Deja Vu? You can like Murray all you want, and I like what I have seen so far....but in the past 3 years, a lot of icebergs have shown up on the radar. Patty may have decided to take a staycation and bypass the glamour of a fancy cruise in the sea of disaster.....

 

But why doesn't he have the vision to not take the job in the first place? Is he a guy who has some vision, just not enough? That's what I'm left wondering about him at this point.

[Samson's Flow]

No team has been punished by the league for losing on purpose (probably because proving intent would be difficult), other than the institution of the draft lottery to prevent it in the future. Now we have PLF, presumably present for many discussions about the team's strategy, working again for the NHL. Assuming the theory about PLF being too prideful to go along with the tank has any legs, what are the odds the Sabres face some sort of repercussions for their strategy, and maybe even more importantly - is there a chance in hell they actually win the lottery?

If the league were to collude against a certain team winning the lottery, and it could be proven (big IF), then they would be in as much if not more trouble than colluding to have a certain team win the lottery. IMO that's too big of a potential sh!tstorm to even consider doing at the NHL league office level.

[pi2000]

There is an obvious disconnect between TN and management. Sound familiar? There's a reason he's been out of the league for so long, he doesn't mesh well with management, never has, never will.

 

If you listen to TN's interview on PLF, it sounds like something happened to PLF which is rubbing TN the wrong way.... and that TN would've resigned as well, but feels an obligation to the players... he names Marcus Foligno and Tyler Ennis as guys struggling with the recent trade and needing direction. He sounds like he wants to leave, but that he's putting the players well being ahead of his own personal feelings.

 

"I respect what's transpired from both sides... and that's beyond my payscale... i have to respect what's happened and have faith it was for the right reasons."

 

"It's an emotional roller coaster, but I owe it to the players, especially guys like Marcus Foligno and Tyler Ennis, the younger players, they need direction, they need coaching, they don't need to hear all this stuff..... It's tough, it's tough, I don't even want to think about it right now... it's that tough."

 

When asked if he wants to stay here and coach... "It has nothing to do with wanting to... nothing to do with that right now... my personal, whether I can coach or not, has never waivered, I know I can coach."

 

Then he's asked about the interim tag and the fact he said in the past we wanted to be the head coach going forward...

 

"Several times I did, but right now it's not the time to discuss that because of the situation that just occurred. And like I said, when you're emotional, you never want to make emotional comments on anything. Yes we did talk about contract (as he says this, he's shaking his head back and forth and pursing his lips, obviously he didn't like what was offered). So like I said, right now is not about my contract, it's about the situation that just happened, it's about what transpired within this organization, what happened to a very dear friend and we'll leave it at that."

 

If you listen to the TN interview, and then the TB/TM interview, there's obviously something TB/TM aren't telling us. Something that has TN shaken up, likely deep down he wants to resign as head coach, but feels obligated to the players to see them through this turmoil.

[millbank]

Bingo!

 

That is what is scary and why I pointed it out at the time he was hired here. He will not only take a stand, but I would suggest he had quite a bit of vision in predicting the outcome for NY wouldn't you say?

 

Patty saw the iceberg and thought they could avoid it with the right captain. Once the owner of the ship made Smith walk the plank...Patty was smart enough and Po'd enough to take a career hit. Deja Vu? You can like Murray all you want, and I like what I have seen so far....but in the past 3 years, a lot of icebergs have shown up on the radar. Patty may have decided to take a staycation and bypass the glamour of a fancy cruise in the sea of disaster.....

 

what I think hearing the Battista involvement is this about respect and lack of it. Lafontaine, Nolan, they hockey guys, people who wear their hearts of sleeves, in the battle, as competitors it is about respect. They not sophisticated in the working of the snake pit that is often upper management , they show respect expect it in return, this above the bottom line and career advancement, they team people. Murray talking on phone doing trade has time to tell Battista of the trade and go tell Nolan to remove players, can imagine Nolan asking why did he not tell me himself and is Lafontaine aware of this. There was no respect shown to either Lafontaine or Nolan and it can be argued players either. Given the situation it was outrageous either were in lineup in the first place. It would be sensible to have called Miller told him of his intentions of a trade thus they are going to hold him out of lineup, this done out of respect not being differential. Hard ass looks great on the short term but mistakes were made and the edge will need be smoothed or it is going to wear thin sooner than later. imo

(moves all very well may end up great and just possibly bringing a Luke Richardson to replace Nolan all very well may work out just fine, but over time it is important how you do things, else people are not going to want to work for you or do deals )

got to note we all conjecturing , we do not have the facts , just tidbits and likely never will given it does not serve the team or Pat Lafontaines interests .

another bit, sportsnet hockey at noon, saying deal with Miller done last week, they added Ott late.

Edited March 3, 2014 by millbank

[Doohickie]

And now Ted Nolan is hemming and hawing. TPegs screwed the pooch on this one letting Murray go around Lafontaine. As I said before if the Sabres lose Nolan, this is more than a P.R. blunder. It is a major screw up. Nuts this is very disappointing.

 

Not true. If Nolan was only here because of PLF, then he needs to go. If he's here because he's the coach of the future, then he can stay. It sounds like it really is up to him. I totally accept GMTM's words: He wants a coach that wants to be here. If TN's loyalties are conflicted because of PLF's departure, TN needs to go too. I personally thing TN at this point in his career is more professional than that and will stay. I don't care if he is being low-balled, this is still the NHL and you don't walk away from that. Negotiations are still ongoing supposedly, so let TN put some performance clauses in. If it turns out he really can turn this thing around, reward him for it.

 

They're big boys, they'll work it out. But I'm not going to cry over someone who is butt-hurt because his friend left (or got fired from) the team. GMTM can't either. You're on board or you're not, Teddy. You choose. Love ya either way.

 

TN doesn't think he did anything wrong and feels the team slighted him.

 

I think it's TN is just disappointed as hell that his buddy left, no matter what TN knows about it or how it went down.

[wjag]

I can't see ANY coach signing up to a deliberate tank. Their job relies on success. They are the first to go. I do think that Ted is being used as a interim head coach to suffer through the rebuild and will be dropped in a New York minute for a gentleman in Binghampton. Pure, unadultered speculation on my part.