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New GM Watch

WildCard

By WildCard
in The Aud Club

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Candidates  

125 members have voted

  1. 1. Who is your preference?

    • Maciver
      2
    • Drury
      1
    • Lombardi
      1
    • Dubas
      12
    • Fenton
      29
    • Dudley
      11
    • Futa
      2
    • Gilman
      0
    • Botterill
      28
    • Brisebois
      1
    • Regier
      1
    • Sabertooth
      4
    • Pegula
      1
    • Someone on SabreSpace
      9
    • Guerin
      1

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Brawndo Hall of Famer

Brawndo

Posted
Posted

is Scotty not still part of the Chicago thing? he would be the ultimate addition but can't see it happening

He is a special advisor to the Hawks.

 

Re Lombardi, a hockey writer posted that he is into analytics, but his decisions do not reflect that, meaning he is not into analytics. Hard pass for me as a GM, but Director of Hockey Ops I could get behind.

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Tondas First Liner

Tondas

Posted
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Yes Duds for president, Drury for GM and housley for coach, all former Bflo players.

 

I'm close to this.  Substitute Botterill for Drury and I'm in (still all Sabres alumni).

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Tondas First Liner

Tondas

Posted
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Per John Shannon

 

Sabres have started building their list of candidates for GM. Sounds like they are looking for "new blood" as opposed to veteran manager.

 

TP says experience is required then this (if true).  Does he have a flippin' clue?  Seems like he takes the opinion of whoever talks to him last.

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GoPre Second Liner

GoPre

Posted
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TP says experience is required then this (if true).  Does he have a flippin' clue?  Seems like he takes the opinion of whoever talks to him last.

 

Depends what you consider experience.  Paul Fenton has been the Predators Assistant GM for 10 years.  He is also the current GM for the Milwaukee Admirals.  Predator GM David Poile has spoken highly of Fenton.  Look at the quality teams the two have put together over the years w/ a limited budget.  I'll admit this is all I know about Fenton, but if he's "new blood" I say go for the guy.  Plus, his son plays for Rochester.  It'd give Fenton even more reason to put together a successful Rochester team. His Milwaukee team is currently in the playoffs.     

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GASabresIUFAN All Star

GASabresIUFAN

Posted
Posted

More info on Paul Fenton (and a couple of other good candidates) http://www.puckpropaganda.com/2013/03/20/top-five-general-manager-candidates/

 

Currently the assistant general manager of the Nashville Predators, Fenton has a ton of experience in a multitude of areas in hockey. He played professional hockey during the 80’s and early 90’s for ten seasons scattered throughout the AHL and NHL, his best season being 89/90 when he scored 32 goals with the Winnipeg Jets. Shortly after retiring from hockey he joined the expansion Anaheim Ducks as the team’s pro scout. He helped the Ducks draft a number of NHL regulars, such as Paul Kariya, Oleg Tverdovsky, Matt Cullen, and Ruslan Salei, while also being instrumental in organizing the trade for Teemu Selanne in 1996.

In 1998 he decided to move on to another expansion team, this time joining the Nashville Predators as director of player personnel. He remained in this role for eight seasons, overseeing the drafting of key Predators contributors such as David Legwand, Martin Erat, Scott Hartnell, Dan Hamhuis, Jordin Tootoo, Pekka Rinne, Alexander Radulov, and Patric Hornqvist. Even better, during the 2003 Entry Draft he proved amazingly successful, landing two superstar defensemen in Shea Weber and Ryan Suter to go along with two more NHL regulars in Kevin Klein and Alexander Sulzer. On average he landed the Predators just over 2 NHL regulars per draft over eight seasons, a very impressive number.

All of this quality work earned him a promotion to assistant GM in 2006 and the Predators have failed to miss the post-season only once since then while operating on a modest payroll. He’s also been a key architect of many of the Predators key trade acquisitions, such as those for Peter Forsberg, Mike Fisher, Hal Gill, and Paul Gaustad, as well others that helped shed salary, such as unloading Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell, Tomas Vokoun, and Jason Arnott. He’s also serving as GM of the Predators’ primary developmental affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL, a team that has made the playoffs in ten straight seasons, won four division titles, and brought home the league championship in 2004.

Fenton’s resume speaks for itself and though he hasn’t been behind the scenes of a Stanley Cup Champion just yet, maybe he merely needs the opportunity to be the #1 guy to accomplish this. In Nashville he’s stuck behind David Poile and there doesn’t appear to be any danger of Poile losing his job in the foreseeable future, a position he’s held since Nashville joined the league in 1998. If Fenton wants a GM job in the near future then he may have to look elsewhere and plenty of teams should be knocking at the door.

 

He is probably the guy we should have hired in the first place.  

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Tondas First Liner

Tondas

Posted
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Good info on Fenton.  However, I would be more comfortable with a VP of Hockey with GM experience (Dudley, Lombardi, etc.) overseeing Fenton than just giving the keys to a first-time GM.  Assistant GM is good training, but there is nothing like sitting in the seat for real.

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GoPuckYourself Third Liner

GoPuckYourself

Posted
Posted

Sounds like a good place for TP to visit, maybe get some insight.

 

A question about Lombardi; is he married to the heavy style of play he employed when in LA?  If he is, maybe he isn't the right guy for the Sabres.  I don't see Jack and Sam thriving in that system, but who knows.  

 

I keep going back to Paul Fenton.  I know TP is unlikely to go with a 1st timer again, but considering the experienced names out there, such as Nonis, Gillis and Lombardi, the only one I'd even consider is Lombardi and as I wrote above is he a fit for the roster.  The answer is to get an older former GM, like a Dudley (but he is just an example) to serve as hockey ops president and put Fenton under him.  I think the fans and media would argue that TP is making the same mistake twice if he hires Fenton without another hockey guy above him.   

 

I feel that Poile is the best GM in the NHL given what he has to work with.  If he says that Fenton is ready to go that is good enough for me.  

 

Someone asked earlier how quickly this will get done.  IMHO two weeks at most, because the new GM with then need to hire a coach, decide on the system that coach wants to play and then review the roster to see how it fits with the style of play.  That's a great deal of work to get done before the expansion draft in late June.  That doesn't include hiring of scouts, making a draft list, getting a coach for Rochester etc......

 

I do hope that the new coach retains our goalie coach, Andrew Allen and PP coach Bob Woods.  It seems to me that these guys actually did a fine job this year and some stability in the two most successful areas of the Sabres might not be a bad thing.

 

I like Fenton also, think he'd be an awesome fit for us, doubtful though after hearing were looking for an experienced GM.

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PASabreFan Hall of Famer

PASabreFan

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Good info on Fenton.  However, I would be more comfortable with a VP of Hockey with GM experience (Dudley, Lombardi, etc.) overseeing Fenton than just giving the keys to a first-time GM.  Assistant GM is good training, but there is nothing like sitting in the seat for real.

I think you will get your wish. Although he said the "first hire" would determine the structure from there, the very use of the word "structure" by Terry in his mantra, and his quote about changing things from "top to bottom" would seem to point to a president-type.

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TrueBlueGED Hall of Famer

TrueBlueGED

Posted
Posted

Schoenfeld, great player, decent coach, but has he ever been a GM in the NHL? I know he worked for the Rags at some point, but he was never the GM.

 

Imho there are only 2 candidates; Lombardi if we want experience, Fenton if we want long-term smart management.

 

Well that's awfully limiting. Though I'm on the Fenton bandwagon, somebody like Brisebois should absolutely be a candidate. Among others.

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