Friday 3/5: Adams to Speak to Media at 4:30

[Andrew Amerk]

16 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Nope.

But, it is. His name is Chris. Just use Chris. There no sensible reason to insist on people calling you “Bulldog.”

[Zamboni]

27 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

But, it is. His name is Chris. Just use Chris. There no sensible reason to insist on people calling you “Bulldog.”

Both of them have been terrible for years… many Years. But a chunk of the local sports fan doesn’t know any better because by and large they don’t listen to National sports broadcasts discussing hockey. Because if they’re not talking about their coveted favorite local sports team… They are not interested in hearing that program. So they have nothing to compare what good sports radio is. So some fans, not all… Think that those two clowns are very good at their jobs. Fact is they actually really really suck at their jobs… But because they have the ratings in the small little tiny itty-bitty buffalo market, because they talk about Buffalo sports teams… They get to keep their jobs. That happens in a lot of smaller markets… Not just Buffalo.

[Thorny]

8 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

So was the press conference.  I not mad.  It's just the same BS from this organization.  Lots of talk, little action and screw up even the few things they do.  Rinse, wash, repeat.  

Press conference is rather irrelevant on its own. If KA goes out and makes some timely moves, it will be indicative of his conference being in good faith. 

If he sits on his hands from here till game 56, the conference was either disingenuous or he’s incompetent 

Have to wait and see the coming days 

[PASabreFan]

5 hours ago, SDS said:

Do you think it’s common to not include the owners when a coach on contract is fired? I don’t know the answer, but that would feel rare to me.

I mean there isn’t really anyone else he’s going to consult other than taking the temperature of the players. So it would be just him and discussing whether to light $7 million on fire or not.

Of course it's not common. And if the owner can overrule then the GM doesn't have full authority. The owner does.

Edited March 6, 2021 by PASabreFan

[Thorny]

If Pegula directs every little thing KA does, he’s going to tell him to answer the question that way anyways. 

I for one think it’s tough to glean much of anything from these 

The only information we can gather is that it did indeed happen, which means the franchise isn’t deaf to all the outside noise. That’s pretty much it.

Edited March 6, 2021 by Thorny

[triumph_communes]

Seems like hes coming out to put Lrueger in the hot seat and making it clear to the players they have this last weekend trip to save him if it’s not the coach that’s their motivational problem. 
 

seasons already lost let them play games 

 

Firing the head coach isn’t going to be enough. The assistant coaches need PURGED, not promoted

[Radar]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

Of course it's not common. And if the owner can overrule then the GM doesn't have full authority. The owner does.

True but all owners have "full" authority when it comes right down too it. Question is do they intervene with that to nix a GM decisions.

[Radar]

5 hours ago, Zamboni said:

Both of them have been terrible for years… many Years. But a chunk of the local sports fan doesn’t know any better because by and large they don’t listen to National sports broadcasts discussing hockey. Because if they’re not talking about their coveted favorite local sports team… They are not interested in hearing that program. So they have nothing to compare what good sports radio is. So some fans, not all… Think that those two clowns are very good at their jobs. Fact is they actually really really suck at their jobs… But because they have the ratings in the small little tiny itty-bitty buffalo market, because they talk about Buffalo sports teams… They get to keep their jobs. That happens in a lot of smaller markets… Not just Buffalo.

Exactly. They are in a small market and there is a reason they remain there normally. One, they don't want to relocate, or two they aren't advancing in their careers. Sports radio overall isn't all that great in my opinion. Frankly on equal ground with forums such as this as far as information goes except for interviews.

[carpandean]

7 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

But, it is. His name is Chris. Just use Chris. There no sensible reason to insist on people calling you “Bulldog.”

People who have unusual nicknames generally don't just decide one day that they want everyone to call them that.  More often, people start calling them that for some reason, and then they decide they're good with it.

There have been plenty of people who have called him Chris on the show, and never once has he corrected them.

[Eleven]

9 minutes ago, carpandean said:

People who have unusual nicknames generally don't just decide one day that they want everyone to call them that.  More often, people start calling them that for some reason, and then they decide they're good with it.

There have been plenty of people who have called him Chris on the show, and never once has he corrected them.

The Bulldog situation isn't this.  And you're right, plenty of people call him "Chris."

[LabattBlue]

Did Adams blame himself at all?  His off-season moves weren’t exactly stellar. 
 

Girgensons
Staal
Eakins
Hall
Davidson
Irwin
Reider

🤮
 

[Thorny]

40 minutes ago, carpandean said:

People who have unusual nicknames generally don't just decide one day that they want everyone to call them that.  More often, people start calling them that for some reason, and then they decide they're good with it.

There have been plenty of people who have called him Chris on the show, and never once has he corrected them.

Nah I’m pretty sure someone did call him Chris and this happened 

 

Edited March 6, 2021 by Thorny

[Cal Naughton Jr]

8 hours ago, Zamboni said:

Both of them have been terrible for years… many Years. But a chunk of the local sports fan doesn’t know any better because by and large they don’t listen to National sports broadcasts discussing hockey. Because if they’re not talking about their coveted favorite local sports team… They are not interested in hearing that program. So they have nothing to compare what good sports radio is. So some fans, not all… Think that those two clowns are very good at their jobs. Fact is they actually really really suck at their jobs… But because they have the ratings in the small little tiny itty-bitty buffalo market, because they talk about Buffalo sports teams… They get to keep their jobs. That happens in a lot of smaller markets… Not just Buffalo.

I love Howard and Jeremy in the morning. Absolutely Schopp and Chris in the afternoons 

[LTS]

12 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

.... and that is why it was a BS press conference.  Why hold the press conference at all if you weren't going to announce any major change.

Basically all he said was I'm pissed off to about how bad the team I fielded is and I'll let you know if I do anything about it.  Thanks for nothing KA.

I agree.  We should be doing the same.

Did you read what Weave posted?  Did you ignore it?  It laid out some good reasons why this press conference was held.  You seem to just want to ignore things and rage about "inaction".  Stupid action is just as bad.

12 hours ago, gomper said:

Bulldog is a joke. 

But is he wrong?  If he's not wrong, and I don't believe he is, then you are the one who looks like a joke for simply saying this in response to his accurate statements.

11 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

It WAS a BS press conference. People like me didn’t want to hear what you’ve been doing (evaluating), but wanted to hear a statement that you have a plan to try and fix it. 

I understand he was ultimately there to answer questions from the press, but he didn’t really answer any of their questions. 

Before you have a plan you evaluate what needs to be done.  When you have a plan you evaluate how it's being played out.  And, it's a press conference to answer questions, if anyone thought they'd actually get detailed answers they are the fools.  What Adams did has been done time and time again across sports leagues and each time people are amazed at how little is said.

Sometimes statements are made without being directly made.

10 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

He then said he doesn't make decisions in a vacuum. Mixed message.

 

No, it's not.  He can have full authority to act but still want to consult people on his thinking.  I have full authority to go spend $1000 right now, but I'll probably confer with my wife before I do it.

 

[bob_sauve28]

It would be a foolish move for Adams to fire RK right now. The new coach would come in and be another loser. You can’t win with the goaltending they have now. Adams of course would be the next target of the media and the fans that want to fire people. Try and ride the season out, get some help in goal at the trade deadline, try and figure out how to get more 5x5 scoring and improve over the off season 

 

If Adams does fire RK, it should be at end of season so a new coach can come in and have time to make the team in his own mold. 

[nfreeman]

I like Schopp and Bulldog, and I have no issue whatsoever with the use of the nickname "bulldog."  (FWIW, there are about a million sports talk radio guys who use nicknames, in big markets and small markets -- one of the most popular sports talk radio shows of all time was "Mike and the Mad Dog" in NYC.)

For example I thought Schopp and Bulldog made a couple of excellent points yesterday after KA's press conference -- Schopp said he thought the reason RK hasn't been fired yet is because of the money, which is quite plausible, and Bulldog said that it doesn't make much sense to keep saying the team's performance is "unacceptable," because if KA doesn't do anything about it, he's effectively accepting it, so it's not really unacceptable.

What I don't think adds any value is taking shots at Schopp and the Bulldog without providing any examples of dumb things they've said, or taking shots at fans who like Schopp and the Bulldog because said fans are too dumb to know any better.

[Kruppstahl]

8 hours ago, Zamboni said:

Both of them have been terrible for years… many Years. But a chunk of the local sports fan doesn’t know any better because by and large they don’t listen to National sports broadcasts discussing hockey. Because if they’re not talking about their coveted favorite local sports team… They are not interested in hearing that program. So they have nothing to compare what good sports radio is. So some fans, not all… Think that those two clowns are very good at their jobs. Fact is they actually really really suck at their jobs… But because they have the ratings in the small little tiny itty-bitty buffalo market, because they talk about Buffalo sports teams… They get to keep their jobs. That happens in a lot of smaller markets… Not just Buffalo.

The Buffalo market is the only one they really care about.  If they sucked, they wouldn't have been together on air this long.

Your average Buffalo sports fan who participates at online forums like this one tends to *hate* them.

They hate him over at 2BD too, and most folks there don't know or care at all about hockey or the Sabres.

The fact is they take a different tack with their show.  They are not a hardcore sports analysis type of show, that's not who their target audience is.

I would suggest they aren't "bad" per se, I would suggest they offer programming of the type you personally do not find interesting or entertaining.

There's a difference.

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

@LTS

Inaction in this case is the stupid action.  Doing nothing and paying lip service to the problems accomplishes nothing other then reinforcing that poor play and poor coaching is ok. It's not and shouldn't be.  There should and must be consequences for bad performance.  RK should have already been relieved of his coaching duties.  His system doesn't work and that is no longer up for debate.  Underperforming vets like Eakin and Okposo should have already been benched.  The kids like Cozens, Mitts, Asplund etc should be in the lineup most games over vets who are no longer part of the solution like KO, Eakin, even Rieder and Sheahan.  None of this is "stupid" action.  Its the proper course to evaluate a failing franchise.  RK should have been taking all the player action outlined above and since he hasn't and the team is not only not winning but is an embarrassment to watch, KA should have already removed him from his job.

So far the only players "punished" for poor play are Thompson and Skinner.  

There is absolutely no reason to hold a press conference to tell us your unhappy but still evaluating the situation.  That could have been done with a Tweet.

[PASabreFan]

48 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I like Schopp and Bulldog, and I have no issue whatsoever with the use of the nickname "bulldog."  (FWIW, there are about a million sports talk radio guys who use nicknames, in big markets and small markets -- one of the most popular sports talk radio shows of all time was "Mike and the Mad Dog" in NYC.)

For example I thought Schopp and Bulldog made a couple of excellent points yesterday after KA's press conference -- Schopp said he thought the reason RK hasn't been fired yet is because of the money, which is quite plausible, and Bulldog said that it doesn't make much sense to keep saying the team's performance is "unacceptable," because if KA doesn't do anything about it, he's effectively accepting it, so it's not really unacceptable.

What I don't think adds any value is taking shots at Schopp and the Bulldog without providing any examples of dumb things they've said, or taking shots at fans who like Schopp and the Bulldog because said fans are too dumb to know any better.

Mike has said coaching/hitting/hard work/faceoffs/goaltending/professional scouts have no effect on the outcome of hockey games and franchises. Is that enough? No, professor, I don't have footnotes. What matters to Mike is what the money line says. One year Vegas said the Bills would be a 7-9 team and he started in on Day One opining that the Bills should forgo the season and work toward a high draft pick. It's what smart people would do, of course.

[Weave]

16 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

@LTS

Inaction in this case is the stupid action.  Doing nothing and paying lip service to the problems accomplishes nothing other then reinforcing that poor play and poor coaching is ok. It's not and shouldn't be.  There should and must be consequences for bad performance.  RK should have already been relieved of his coaching duties.  His system doesn't work and that is no longer up for debate.  Underperforming vets like Eakin and Okposo should have already been benched.  The kids like Cozens, Mitts, Asplund etc should be in the lineup most games over vets who are no longer part of the solution like KO, Eakin, even Rieder and Sheahan.  None of this is "stupid" action.  Its the proper course to evaluate a failing franchise.  RK should have been taking all the player action outlined above and since he hasn't and the team is not only not winning but is an embarrassment to watch, KA should have already removed him from his job.

So far the only players "punished" for poor play are Thompson and Skinner.  

There is absolutely no reason to hold a press conference to tell us your unhappy but still evaluating the situation.  That could have been done with a Tweet.

I'm guessing you would have complained about a tweet too.  RK has had what, 21 games this season?  After a season where Jack and Risto had  breakout years under RK.  21 games is an unreasonably short length of time to pull the trigger after how well players like Jack, Sam, and Risto did last season.  Adams has just communicated how painfully aware he is that the team is floundering.  He needs to line up the next coach before he can dump this one. 

[PASabreFan]

1 hour ago, LTS said:

No, it's not.  He can have full authority to act but still want to consult people on his thinking.  I have full authority to go spend $1000 right now, but I'll probably confer with my wife before I do it.

If anyone has veto power, there's no full authority. Do you really think Kevyn can go to Terry and say he wants to fire Ralph and hear a hard no and still fire the man?

[GASabresIUFAN]

6 minutes ago, Weave said:

I'm guessing you would have complained about a tweet too.  RK has had what, 21 games this season?  After a season where Jack and Risto had  breakout years under RK.  21 games is an unreasonably short length of time to pull the trigger after how well players like Jack, Sam, and Risto did last season.  Adams has just communicated how painfully aware he is that the team is floundering.  He needs to line up the next coach before he can dump this one. 

There is a thing called the interim coach.  If he is waiting to dump RK until he finds the next permanent coach, then he isn't going to do anything until after the season, because he has no idea who will be available until that time.  If he is going to hire Claude Julien then he can do that now and no reason to wait.

While 21 games for this season is short, there is plenty of evidence that it wasn't working last season.  Jack's "breakout" came from a career year shooting % of 15.9% versus a career % of about 10.  Hall's MVP year had a similar shooting % jump over a his career % of about 10.  These aren't breakouts, just aberrations.  

Since RK took over last season the team has had 6-7 significant losing streaks including 3 streaks of 0-5 or worse.  In year two of the system, if it worked, the team should be better and isn't. It's worse.  

Besides Jack's "breakout" last season, almost every skilled player has taken a step back under RK including Skinner, Sheary, Vesey, KO, Erod, Montour, Miller, Dahlin, now Jack, Hall and Staal.   The only real exceptions are VO, who is really a PP specialist, and Samson who is a duck and can swim in any system, but even he is struggling now.  

There honestly isn't anything left to evaluate.  This press conference should have been to relieve him of his duties.  

[SDS]

5 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Of course it's not common. And if the owner can overrule then the GM doesn't have full authority. The owner does.

It depends on what the definition of is is.

Adams may have full authority to make the hockey decision of who his GM is. But he may not have the financial authority to burn $7 million. It may mean that Terry has no say in who Adams would pick as head coach, but maybe it doesn’t mean he has to pay them either.

[Radar]

27 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

If anyone has veto power, there's no full authority. Do you really think Kevyn can go to Terry and say he wants to fire Ralph and hear a hard no and still fire the man?

No GM has full authority in my opinion given your description.

[Eleven]

32 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

If anyone has veto power, there's no full authority. Do you really think Kevyn can go to Terry and say he wants to fire Ralph and hear a hard no and still fire the man?

 

Nothing in LTS's hypothetical and nothing that Adams said yesterday implies veto power.