GDT: Buffalo at Carolina 7:30 pm ET, 1/13/2017

[Doohickie]

Hair of the Dog.

 

Best way to get over a bad experience with alcohol is more alcohol.  Best way to get over a bad experience with hockey is.... more hockey.

When that doesn't work it means you're an alcoholic. What does it mean for hockey?

[PASabreFan]

Yeah, especially with the dysfunction we've seen in the Bills front office.   Seems like a case could be made for it being yet more of the Pegulas' tiresome parochial PA connection at work again. 

What do you mean!

 

Benson

 

Black

 

Sawyer

 

Patrick

 

Battista

 

Bylsma

 

Whaley

 

McDermott

[Cityo'Rasmii]

I'm not convinced Murray hired Byslma

Me either and I've been wondering about this for a while. . .

[PASabreFan]

Here's a thought I had after listening to Murray praise Cal Petersen up and down on WGR: Murray is moving on from his first stab at rebuilding the Sabres and thinking more long-term. The contract extension may give him that luxury. Hence my fat and comfortable comment. The idea of a quick rebuild here might have faded when they didn't land McDavid and Babcock, and the disappointments have kept rolling along. Moulson. Vesey. Kane. Bogosian. Lehner. Kulikov.

 

Disappointment might be a strong word, but remember the idea was to build a Cup contender (and not just a Cusp contender) in the relative short term. So those guys had to be home runs.

 

Question: by the time Cal Petersen is the starting goaltender here, who's left from the current team to make a run? The usual suspects. But it would also be fair to say a bunch of dead wood is going to have to go. And another round of kids is going to have to make it to the NHL and be given time to become pros.

 

Hello, 2022? It's always a moving target in Buffalo.

 

And this — Terry likes to say he wants his managers to try things and not be afraid to make mistakes. He also is very sensitive to the dysfunction comments that have been made against the Bills. I don't think there's any way he fires Murray any time soon. So Tim, IMHO, will have the chance for a do-over, probably with a different coach. Events at the Bills probably had Murray smiling like a Cheshire cat, or like a slightly bemused Cheshire cat.

Edited January 14, 2017 by PASabreFan

[Taro T]

Eichel might have a decent linemate before he's thirty. Maybe.

  

Nylander. Next year. I'm not buying the nay sayers regarding his readiness.

Nylander will be in Buffalo next season. On the 4th line with Moulson & a FA journeyman AHLer as his C if Bylsma is back.

 

Eichel will have Gionta & Kane as wingers as well. Thanks Dan.

 

:angry:

[Drunkard]

That's right.... let the anger flow through you. YOU CARE! Admit it. YOU CARE ABOUT THIS TEAM! :beer:

 

Come on, let's both root for a win tonight. Go Sabres!

I do care about the team, just not nearly as much as I used to. Either way I'm glad I didn't waste my time tuning into this show.

 

DB sucks and I'm sick of Murray at this point too. Unfortunately showing them both the door would lead to the brain trust of both Pegulas and Russ Brandon with all of their infinite hockey knowledge picking the next coach and GM.

[Kruppstahl]

Pegula got stiffed by Babcock and he didn't like it.  He went with what he perceived to be the Clear #2 coaching stud on the market at the time--Bylsma--as a backup plan.

 

Of course Bylsma is and always has been a mediocrity, but Pegula didn't know that.  You have to remember Pegula is the lowest information sports fan you've ever known.  

 

Pegula went with the "We'll show the world that Pegula and Buffalo can get some respect" approach and told GMTM to hire Bylsma, with cost being immaterial.  

 

GMTM played ball, not wanting to rock the boat and being grateful to be a new GM in the NHL.

 

That's my theory on events.

 

Of course, how Bylsma came to be the HC is not important.  He's horrible and will be gone, sooner or later.

[PASabreFan]

Is Pegula in SDS' Rolodex?

[darksabre]

I'm not convinced Murray hired Byslma

If this is the case, then it says more to me about Murray than it does about Pegula. 

 

My hope is that, at worst, Bylsma was Pegula's suggestion and that Murray looked around at the options and said "eh, sure, that'll do for now". 

 

I hope that he will fire Bylsma, and I hope that it's his choice to make. 

Edited January 14, 2017 by d4rksabre

[Huckleberry]

so where are all the nilsson fan boys ? 

[Cityo'Rasmii]

so where are all the nilsson fan boys ? 

I'll bite.  So if Robin had played, are you proposing an entirely different outcome with the same group out in front of him?

[Ducky]

On the bright side...

it's not like you went in AZ and played a team 2nd last in the standings that hadn't played in 5 days that were 1-8-1 in their last 10 games and only scored 16 goals in their last 10 games and let them score 4 in the first period and go on to lose the game..........things could be worse.

[Norcal]

so where are all the nilsson fan boys ?

he's been good, back to backs proved too much for the poor fella

[Robviously]

so where are all the nilsson fan boys ? 

Still here.  That nightmare of a game last night wasn't on him.

I'm not convinced Murray hired Byslma

Why is it hard to believe?  He has literally one good trade (ROR) under his belt in 2+ years as GM of this team.  We all love Concept of GMTM but so far he's as much a dud as Bylsma.

[sodbuster]

Still here. That nightmare of a game last night wasn't on him.

 

Why is it hard to believe? He has literally one good trade (ROR) under his belt in 2+ years as GM of this team. We all love Concept of GMTM but so far he's as much a dud as Bylsma.

Its hard to believe because the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that he (and Russ Brandon) overruled Doug Whaley during the last coaching search over at OBD.

 

(The rest of this is pure speculation and opinion)

 

Now, Bylsma is most likely who Pegula wanted, but that doesn't mean that he also isn't who Murray wanted. If that's the case, the good news is that it appears that Terry has kind of learned his lesson and let his football people do their job.

[PASabreFan]

Still here.  That nightmare of a game last night wasn't on him.

Why is it hard to believe?  He has literally one good trade (ROR) under his belt in 2+ years as GM of this team.  We all love Concept of GMTM but so far he's as much a dud as Bylsma.

For now, he's skating by on the ROR trade and the fact that his personaility appeals to much of the Sabres' fan base. But he's on pretty thin ice. The honeymoon is all but over.

[PASabreFan]

Went back and listened to DDDB's intro presser (because what else would I be doing on a Saturday night?). One tidbit that Dan dropped is that he met Terry in 2011. He didn't give any details of why or where they met. About a month after Terry bought the Sabres Dan got an extension in Pittsburgh, only two years after winning the Cup. In the period before Dan signed the extension, was Terry trying to get him to coach the Sabres?

 

The characterization of the meeting by Dan, that he was impressed by Terry, would seem to suggest it was more than a coach meeting a season ticket holder or sponsor or whatever Terry's association with the Pens was. (There is also a photo of Terry with Sidney Crosby.)

 

Interesting.

[PASabreFan]

More: Dan actually said he had multiple meetings with Terry in 2011, so to me that points to serious talks about coming to Buffalo.

 

"I met at different times Mr. Pegula and right away the want, the passion and the desire to bring a winning team to Buffalo was evident... I was in the middle of some other things at the time."

 

What's the Pegula connection to the Pens? His accountant friend Cliff Benson, who was helping Terry buy the Sabres, had a client in the Pens. That's how Ted Black and Ken Sawyer hooked up with Terry. So if there were rumblings Dan might be open to leaving Pittsburgh, Terry certainly had a way of knowing about it. Would it have been tampering?

I'm this close to blowing the lid off the whole thing! And the night is still young. Also, I didn't take my blue or red pills today!!!!!

 

 

Terry Pegula was such a Penguins fan that he named his beloved dog Sidney.

http://www.denverpost.com/2015/05/28/dan-bylsma-ex-penguins-coach-hired-to-helm-buffalo-sabres/

[Huckleberry]

Well I'll be honest with all the Lehner haters.

 

1. 1st round pick for him might have been a bit to much.
2.  The market was set that way seeing what was paid for Martin Jones before.
3.  A lot of Sharks fans want Jones gone now.....   
4. Also Jones was awesome in his first year 
5.  Unless Ullmark or Petersen show they are better, Nilsson will be gone after the season and Lehner is still our #1
6.  If you think Nilsson is still your best bet over Lehner :P

 

 

San Jose traded a first-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft and forward prospect Sean Kuraly to get Jones, who was traded by the Los Angeles Kings to Boston at the 2015 draft as part of the package for forwardMilan Lucic.

Edited January 15, 2017 by Huckleberry

[Jsixspd]

More: Dan actually said he had multiple meetings with Terry in 2011, so to me that points to serious talks about coming to Buffalo.

 

"I met at different times Mr. Pegula and right away the want, the passion and the desire to bring a winning team to Buffalo was evident... I was in the middle of some other things at the time."

 

What's the Pegula connection to the Pens? His accountant friend Cliff Benson, who was helping Terry buy the Sabres, had a client in the Pens. That's how Ted Black and Ken Sawyer hooked up with Terry. So if there were rumblings Dan might be open to leaving Pittsburgh, Terry certainly had a way of knowing about it. Would it have been tampering?

I'm this close to blowing the lid off the whole thing! And the night is still young. Also, I didn't take my blue or red pills today!!!!!

 

http://www.denverpost.com/2015/05/28/dan-bylsma-ex-penguins-coach-hired-to-helm-buffalo-sabres/

So are you inclined to think that Murray had as much input in the HC selection as Whaley did with the Bills?  Or as little?  lol    Was Murray trying hard for Babcock, and when that failed good ol T-Peg stepped in and took charge and said to effect "You had your shot kid, and you blew it!  We'll do it MY way now!"   

Edited January 16, 2017 by Jsixspd