Why should Granato and the assistants be brought back?

[LGR4GM]

Ignore the contract or Adams. Bales is excluded because UPL.

What have Granato and his assistants done that deserves retention for next season? 

[inkman]

Not one fu king thing 

[Getpucksdeep]

I support his dismissal.  But the answer is easy, the players appear to like him and the price is right.

[WhenWillItEnd66]

I am sorry, but if there are not coaching and or assistant changes after this season, i will be following the Avs next year. I am tired of the Buffalo shampoo..... wash rinse repeat. This team has show zero effort in trying to win. Just watching the game last night, the fans were showing as little to no passion as the team was. I get Donny "NO NUTS" is not going anywhere, but they need to flush the assistants and hire a freaking POHO. This team needs accountability as it has absolutely none!!! The best Sabres are the ones that are traded to other teams. 

[DarthEbriate]

Granato deserves credit for turning the kid forwards (including Skinner) back around after the Krueger debacle. That job is done and so should his be. And his staff isn't an NHL staff, so purge 'em, Sheevyn. Do it. 80% (estimated, I'm not looking it up) of the roster has played for Team Canada, Team USA, Team Sweden, and Team Finland. They know how to play and can adapt to coaches.

Granato still doesn't have the team ready in the 1st, encourage any physicality or finishing of checks, work on the refs like I work in Star Wars references, design a powerplay beyond setting up TNT for a one-timer, match lines at home, or know when to take a timeout or make a goalie switch (though it appeared he learned these last two late last season and then forgot this year). And more recently, apparently, his practices are slow-paced and players don't break a sweat when they should be faster, more intense, to prepare the team with playoff expectations.

[Mustache of God]

Any non-mickey-mouse organization would have made a coaching change ages ago. Adams is going to preach consistency, a message that will fall flat.

If one were to try to justify bringing them back I suppose you'd focus on areas of improvement? Have there been any bright spots this season? If you listen to Granato he'll tell you our defense is improved, but what does that matter if you've regressed in the standings? If we play around .500 for the rest of the season we'll still end up almost 10 points worse than last year. 

Is goaltending a bright spot? Anyone with a braincell knew that the 3 goalie rotation was horrible and likely hindered the emergence of UPL. This is more on Adams.

The power-play is what doomed this team, and we know we have the talent to be successful. I attribute the poor PP performance directly on the coaching.

The only reason from bringing them back is that Granato's extension kicks in next season and Pegula doesn't want to pay another coach to not coach. Again, mickey-mouse.

[bob_sauve28]

***youngest team in the league***

 

What do you expect?

 

I'm going to go hide now...😇 But they are, right?

[Stads]

He can develop but is not a winning coach. He righted the ship after RK, untapped the potential of Tage, and brought Skinner back to relative prominence. That is not enough to be our coach going forward. Results are what matter and he hasn't been good enough. I know we weren't making the playoffs before that game started last night, but that first period was maybe the worst since he took over. Everyone was disinterested. The fact that Matt freakin' Ellis is running our power play is why I can't trust Meatballs to bring us to the next level. Go back to USA hockey and teach fundamentals or whatever you do there. The NHL requires much more

[Mr Peabody]

If I’m the owner I’m torn between team make-up and coaching.  If I fire the coach and nothing improves it’s on the the GM, right?   A new GM would demand to hire his own coach and now I’m paying for two unemployed coaches.   I’d “meddle” and talk to Clifton, Byram , and EJ and compare  and contrast what’s going on here versus the winning orgs they came from.  Then I’d sit down with GM and coach - separately.  One option is to move Donnie into an exec role of player development.  

Edited March 28 by Mr Peabody

[SwampD]

They have been good soldiers and worked within a budget.

Pegula sucks.

[PASabreFan]

27 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

***youngest team in the league***

 

What do you expect?

 

I'm going to go hide now...😇 But they are, right?

Only because they choose to be.

[SwampD]

17 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Only because they choose to be.

Fans need to start chants of “Sell The Team!” not “Fire The Coach!”

[Flashsabre]

Adams needs to read the room.

There is no way Granato and this staff can be brought back. Might as well pencil 5000 people in for Key Bank next season if they are brought back.

Even bigger than sacking the coaching staff is the next step.

It is time to get F’ing serious about being a competitive organization.

a Seasoned, successful, respected head coach needs to be hired who in turn brings in a coaching staff that is NHL caliber.

If the reality is that sacking Granato means introducing Matt Ellis as HC or just yanking Appert up then I’m about done with this team after over 40 years.

Either get serious or get lost at this point. Enough of this 💩 

Edited March 28 by Flashsabre

[PASabreFan]

2 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Adams needs to read the room.

There is no way Granato and this staff can be brought back. Might as well pencil 5000 people in for Key Bank next season if they are brought back.

Even bigger than sacking the coaching staff is the next step.

It is time to get F’ing serious about being a competitive organization.

a Seasoned, successful, respected head coach needs to be hired who in turn brings in a coaching staff that is NHL caliber.

If the reality is that sacking Granato means introducing Matt Ellis as HC or just yanking Appert up then I’m about done with this team after over 40 years.

Either get serious or get lost at this point. Enough of this 💩 

I bet the new COO is going to have something to say about DG.

[PASabreFan]

5 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Fans need to start chants of “Sell The Team!” not “Fire The Coach!”

It really is head scratching. If Terry's not up for the financial stress of owning the Sabres, why not just sell and make a very very tidy profit on the return? If he's a real fan he has to know how much he has screwed things up. For thr love of something you love let someone else take over. It's bizarre.

[SwampD]

4 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

It really is head scratching. If Terry's not up for the financial stress of owning the Sabres, why not just sell and make a very very tidy profit on the return? If he's a real fan he has to know how much he has screwed things up. For thr love of something you love let someone else take over. It's bizarre.

I really want to start hearing those chants. I just can’t get past Darth’s Ben Bishop tidbit.

[Pimlach]

Granato has done all the good he can do.  

He is a one-on-one players coach.  In this role he can get individual players to be better. 

He does not have an NHL system.  The BS about putting in defense after they learn offense was rubbish.   You all see the results.  

He cannot coach special teams, and he cannot find anyone else that can. 

His game day coaching, adjustments, use of timeouts, handling of goalies - all below the NHL standard. 

His coaching staff is lousy.  Mike Weber and Michael Peca left Rochester for NHL positions, and Granato stayed with his band of misfits.  The Power Play speaks for itself and that alone is a fireable offense.  

Granato is nice but he s stale.  Imlach, Bowman, Muckler, and Ruff could all be mean.  It is time for mean.   At some point mean will become stale, but this team needs a kick in the ass to shift their mindset.  

[thewookie1]

19 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Fans need to start chants of “Sell The Team!” not “Fire The Coach!”

I'll never risk it due to the chances of losing the team.

[Getpucksdeep]

7 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

It really is head scratching. If Terry's not up for the financial stress of owning the Sabres, why not just sell and make a very very tidy profit on the return? If he's a real fan he has to know how much he has screwed things up. For thr love of something you love let someone else take over. It's bizarre.

Again I don't disagree with change but can see "if we flip 4 or 5 Ls to Ws (1 last year) we are in" vs firing a friend and good guy, and embarrassingly spending another $20m or whatever it would cost.  

I too hope the new COO guy is told to operate it cash flow positive and to do so they need a full barn/playoffs and so he says fire the coach. 

[Demoted]

1 hour ago, Getpucksdeep said:

I support his dismissal.  But the answer is easy, the players appear to like him and the price is right.

I am so glad the players like him which has resulted in zero playoff appearances. If that is the reason then it's time to sell the team off.

[SwampD]

Just now, thewookie1 said:

I'll never risk it due to the chances of losing the team.

JFC. Haven’t we covered this already? The Sabres are not going anywhere. Terry cannot sell the team to anyone who would move it. And why would anyone move it? They have a fanbase that doesn’t care about winning. There would be no pressure on a new owner.

 

[Demoted]

5 minutes ago, Getpucksdeep said:

Again I don't disagree with change but can see "if we flip 4 or 5 Ls to Ws (1 last year) we are in" vs firing a friend and good guy, and embarrassingly spending another $20m or whatever it would cost.  

I too hope the new COO guy is told to operate it cash flow positive and to do so they need a full barn/playoffs and so he says fire the coach. 

Way past embarrassing when you hold the record for the playoff drought. There is nothing more embarrassing than that so every other move should be no problem.

 

The most popular thing about the Sabres is the Rochester Americans.

Edited March 28 by Demoted

[thewookie1]

Just now, SwampD said:

JFC. Haven’t we covered this already? The Sabres are not going anywhere. Terry cannot sell the team to anyone who would move it. And why would anyone move it? They have a fanbase that doesn’t care about winning. There would be no pressure on a new owner.

 

There will never be a day that we are safe from potential movement since money is all they want. Apathetic fans aren't what new owners want, they want feverish ones wanting to spend money. Utah and Houston would at very least have an initial burst of money in season tickets and the like; akin to Vegas and Seattle. 

 

Owners don't have pressure outside of their bottom line; if they wish to win championships, they are placing that pressure on themselves.

[Getpucksdeep]

3 minutes ago, Demoted said:

Way past embarrassing when you hold the record for the playoff drought. There is nothing more embarrassing than that so every other move should be no problem.

That's fair but you can see the headlines "pegula misses again" and "who would want that job" staying the course is easier for him. Dude is like 70 when I'm 70 I'm hoping for zero stress.  I guess that's the argument for sale, he's not up for the task.  

[Pimlach]

1 minute ago, Getpucksdeep said:

Again I don't disagree with change but can see "if we flip 4 or 5 Ls to Ws (1 last year) we are in" vs firing a friend and good guy, and embarrassingly spending another $20m or whatever it would cost.  

I too hope the new COO guy is told to operate it cash flow positive and to do so they need a full barn/playoffs and so he says fire the coach. 

Pretty much almost every losing team can say this.  And they would all be wrong because they would have played even more games under pressure. 

Handling pressure and playing consistently is what the team lacks.  You cant wait until after the season and make this assessment, it is not being honest.   They did this exact same thing last year and the FO decided to come back with the same team and they played worse. 

They had the best goaltending in the league for 3 months and yet they never gained any significant ground in the standings.  What more do you need?  

They just got buried by a team in their division and far below them in the standings while playing at home when under pressure to win and stay alive.   

They don't have it and they don't deserve to make the playoffs.  

The fact that Terry Pegula extended DG contract too soon is a glaring example of his poor decision making.  We are probably stuck with this coach for another season, unless Terry eats the money and I do not see him doing that.