Grading the Pegulas thus far

[The Real Buffalo Joe]

Aside from keeping the team(s) in WNY, which will always get an A in almost all of our books, how would you grade the Pegulas overall performance as owners so far?

[Mustache of God]

The Sabres have been a steaming mess and the Bills fluked into the playoffs to end the drought and are following that up with Nathan Peterman starting behind one of the worst O-lines in the history of the universe. They've also funneled a lot of money into the region so that can't be ignored. On that front, they're good owners because they're not constrained by an internal cap but the product at the end of the day is trash. Go Sabres.

[Neo]

With the important caveat acknowledged ...

Early organizational missteps are, I believe, trending in the right direction.  I am a process guy in that I believe if you get culture right, players and systems matter less.  Players and systems change.

I don’t snark at “Trust the Process”.  It’s a slogan, yes.  It will mean something if and when it bears fruit.  I’m glad it’s recognized.  Until then, it doesn’t turn me off.

I graded the Bills a little higher because I think the new management made some decisive player and cap decisions that weren’t obvious very quickly.  The Bills also made the playoffs.  You can call it fluky, but it happened.  I’ll take fluky when it comes my way.  I’ve suffered through a homerun throwback and a dirty shin pad.  Fluky is part of the business model, for and against.

[Randall Flagg]

@Neo, have you seen any of "Buffalo Bills: Embedded"?

[Weave]

I feel dirty giving either a passing grade, but I went with D for both. 

We're over 7 yrs now as owner of the Sabres.  That is the timeframe that sports dynasties rise and fall, and we're still in the conversation for lottery picks.  Unacceptable IMO.

At 4yrs with the Bills, we are expecting a backwards step from a playoff team.  Again, not the right direction after 4 seasons.

[mjd1001]

They are getting better with experience as owners.  However, so far if you take everything together, they haven't done well.  But, it looks as if things are getting better

[Randall Flagg]

Just now, Weave said:

I feel dirty giving either a passing grade, but I went with D for both. 

We're over 7 yrs now as owner of the Sabres.  That is the timeframe that sports dynasties rise and fall, and we're still in the conversation for lottery picks.  Unacceptable IMO.

At 4yrs with the Bills, we are expecting a backwards step from a playoff team.  Again, not the right direction after 4 seasons.

Tough to put that on Pegula when you get a surprise-career-ending-injury and surprise-mental-breakdown from the good half of your offensive line. 

We'll see how bad the Bills do this year soon enough, I wouldn't let the scrubs at ESPN that probably still think Trent is our QB make us think we're set to go 4-12 like they also said last year.

[Neo]

22 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

@Neo, have you seen any of "Buffalo Bills: Embedded"?

No ...  um, am I going to change my opinion?!

[nfreeman]

Straight As from me!

Good intentions, honorable behavior, spending on the teams and learning from mistakes go a loooooooooonnnng way in my book.

Good results are coming as well.

[Weave]

1 minute ago, nfreeman said:

Straight As from me!

Good intentions, honorable behavior, spending on the teams and learning from mistakes go a loooooooooonnnng way in my book.

Good results are coming as well.

I needed you as a professor in my engineering classes.

[Randall Flagg]

22 minutes ago, Neo said:

No ...  um, am I going to change my opinion?!

Nope - you're going to like what you see. 

This is a series of videos the Bills are putting out. They're about 20 minutes each. Of course, the Bills are the ones producing it, so of course it will paint everything in a positive light, but if you like "process" and looking for dozens of small examples of it, those videos are a treasure trove.

They're on youtube, I'm pretty sure, and also on the Bills website/facebook page.

[PotentPowerPlay21]

They kept both teams in Buffalo. I give them big credit for that reality. However, they have failed miserably running the teams. Look at the cumulative performance of both teams since they took over. Piss poor!

[Huckleberry]

Don't think the sabres were that much at risk of being moved, but would be budget team still.

Bills they kept in town for sure, Toronto Bills , how many would stop supporting that ?

But I'll give them a B for the bills, but the sabres a C only, It took them 7 years to get the right gm in place.   Might as well not have fired Darcy.

Edited September 6, 2018 by Huckleberry

[Randall Flagg]

2 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

Don't think the sabres were that much at risk of being moved, but would be budget team still.

Bills they kept in town for sure, Toronto Bills , how many would stop supporting that ?

But I'll give them a B for the bills, but the sabres a C only, It took them 7 years to get the right gm in place.   Might as well not have fired Darcy.

How do you know it only took 7 years to get the right GM in place? All this guy can hang his hat on is finishing in last place  

[Eleven]

Where the hell is PA for this one?  Woody, can you do a wellness check or something?

[7+6=13]

6 hours ago, nfreeman said:

Straight As from me!

Good intentions, honorable behavior, spending on the teams and learning from mistakes go a loooooooooonnnng way in my book.

Good results are coming as well.

Perfectly said!

[GASabresIUFAN]

incomplete

[Sabres Fan in NS]

20 hours ago, The Real Buffalo Joe said:

Aside from keeping the team(s) in WNY, which will always get an A in almost all of our books, how would you grade the Pegulas overall performance as owners so far?

Welcome to the board.

Is this a PA alias account? 

(insert winkie thing here)

[ubkev]

Sabres: F

Bills: C

[LTS]

I am way more positive about this than most.

I think the people who expected rapid changes are most disappointed.  The situation was compounded by mistakes being made.  All of it perfectly normal.

I do find it interesting those who rate their job with the Bills higher than the Sabres.  It's as though the teams output on the field/rink is being used to determine their effectiveness as owners.  I wonder where people will be after this season when the Bills are in the basement of the NFL.  Amazing what one miraculous event can do for people's reality goggles.

I wouldn't give them A's... I won't until the Bills are moved downtown and there is a thriving entertainment district on the Buffalo waterfront.  But they are doing a pretty good job, especially now that they stopped trying to be in the public eye.

[PASabreFan]

20 hours ago, nfreeman said:

Straight As from me!

Good intentions, honorable behavior, spending on the teams and learning from mistakes go a loooooooooonnnng way in my book.

Good results are coming as well.

Goodbye, sailor.

[PASabreFan]

18 hours ago, PotentPowerPlay21 said:

They kept both teams in Buffalo. I give them big credit for that reality. However, they have failed miserably running the teams. Look at the cumulative performance of both teams since they took over. Piss poor!

They didn't keep the Sabres in Buffalo. Tom Golisano did, when he owned the team and when he put the no-move language in his deal with Pegula. The implication is that the Sabres were in danger of leaving and Pegula swooped in and saved the day.

I could probably put just as many pros as cons in my Pegula ledger, which might surprise some people. But some of the cons so outweigh the pros (meddling, mismanaging, tanking), my grade would be well below a C. D- maybe.

[Eleven]

26 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

They didn't keep the Sabres in Buffalo. Tom Golisano did...

This is absolutely correct, but there never was any danger of the Pegulas moving the team, language in the deal or no.

They did keep the Bills in Buffalo.  Bon Jovi and/or Trump would have had the team in Toronto by now.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Eleven

[Huckleberry]

On 9/7/2018 at 2:24 AM, Randall Flagg said:

How do you know it only took 7 years to get the right GM in place? All this guy can hang his hat on is finishing in last place  

Fair enough, but it feels right at the moment, more than with murray.   And I liked the GMTM hire.

[Radar]

Incomplete for me. I have a hunch things are getting better but you know how hunches are. Frankly, in spite of the records, I feel my hunch is stronger on the Sabres side. Bills last year was an aberration. Overall I think Sabres moves are ahead of the Bills. On paper(I know paper is cheap) Sabres have improved talent. Bills have lost talent.