Friedman believes changes are coming to Sabres Front Office; UPL Available?

[Flashsabre]

53 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

If they are making bigger changes, why do nothing now? Who's not available now they would want later? 

I just don't buy the "they're waiting to see who's available" when if that were the case, they'd have fired Adams or moved him already. Letting him make decisions at this point would be insane if you're moving on. I'll bet Ruff picks players and Adams is supposed to acquire them. They aren't hiring external front office staff. 

Then they are done. If Pegula is content with not making the playoffs in 14 years then I’m speechless.

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

The funny thing is they saved up all this space to sign Peterka, Byram, Quinn and Levi this summer with the thought they were going to have broken out by now and they were going to need the room.

Then they pivoted (unless I see another shoe drop, I’d say panicked) to re-signing Greenway and Zucker with a chunk of that space, meaning they have to make trades or run it back.

Adams thought he was being prudent, then he kinda wasted all that prudence in 2 risky signings.

Their histories say it’s unlikely Zucker and Greenway combine for the 70 middle-six points and special team success they’re being paid for. Adding the odds of Norris earning his paycheque to that mix, McLeod repeating a career year, and Benson, Quinn and/or Kulich taking a step, and that’s a lot of question marks.

Don't know that "panicked" is the right word for it, but they definitely pivoted and IMHO it was at Ruff's direction.  And personally expect them to get older this off-season (and not just in the "well Benson will be twenty when the season starts" version).  The concern is that they end up trading away guys like Peterka and Byram because they'll have significant value on the trade market (and guys like Samuelsson and Quinn won't have that sort of value) but that the guys they get back will still have large flaws of their own; just different ones.  

Re-signing Greenway and Zucker has Ruff's fingerprints all over it.  He needs vets that understand how to play within structure to both show the kids how to do it and to get them to buy into it.  And once again, the Sabres will be revamping the idea of what they're trying to build and how they're trying to build it.

Counting all the changes in "how" they're trying to build the team; depending upon what people consider to be a true change in direction, this'll be at least the 5th philopsophical change and arguably the 7th or even the 8th.  (And they've still only had 4 GMs (to date, hopefully that changes in the next few days) in their entire tenure as owners.)

[7+6=13]

5 hours ago, JohnC said:

If it takes trading a player to get a player that makes your roster better then who would be against that? 

I'd imagine the team you're trying to trade with, to get their better player.

[JohnC]

25 minutes ago, 7+6=13 said:

I'd imagine the team you're trying to trade with, to get their better player.

Teams have different perspectives on players and trades. A player that we might value more on another team's roster could turn out to be a player that another team values less on their roster due to contract considerations and replacement players they have on their roster and within their system. In addition, trades more often than not involve players, prospects and draft picks. So a trade doesn't have to be simply one player for another. 

Edited 9 hours ago by JohnC

[Thorny]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

If they are making bigger changes, why do nothing now? Who's not available now they would want later? 

I just don't buy the "they're waiting to see who's available" when if that were the case, they'd have fired Adams or moved him already. Letting him make decisions at this point would be insane if you're moving on. I'll bet Ruff picks players and Adams is supposed to acquire them. They aren't hiring external front office staff. 

Adams has soured his reputation so much league wide they’ll need a reshuffling even if there’s no one external brought in 

[Darryl Shannon's +/-]

5 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

If they are making bigger changes, why do nothing now? Who's not available now they would want later? 

I just don't buy the "they're waiting to see who's available" when if that were the case, they'd have fired Adams or moved him already. Letting him make decisions at this point would be insane if you're moving on. I'll bet Ruff picks players and Adams is supposed to acquire them. They aren't hiring external front office staff. 

Maybe they have someone in mind from a team that's still alive?  Who cares if Kevyn is sitting for the lottery.  

That said, I'm not sure the best thing for next year is a complete overhaul of hockey ops.  

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Darryl Shannon's +/- said:

Maybe they have someone in mind from a team that's still alive?  Who cares if Kevyn is sitting for the lottery.  

That said, I'm not sure the best thing for next year is a complete overhaul of hockey ops.  

Then why keep Kevyn? I just don't believe this because it's not how anyone acts ever. You fire the GM and start interviews. If someone can't be interviewed yet, you just wait. Keeping Kevyn makes no sense unless keeping him is the plan. 

[Derrico]

I think they already decided to keep Kevin when they let him navigate trade deadline day and allowed a big trade of a core player.  Whether there is changing the chairs / titles around as @dudacek says I don’t know but I thinks it’s going to be the same guys making the big decisions.  
 

I also hope  Karmanos is as good as everyone thinks.  He has been here for like 5 years now and I think should take some responsibility for the results.  In a salary cap league with half the teams making it I don’t think it’s unreasonable to question their record when he was giving direct input even if Kevin was making the final call. 

[Mango]

6 hours ago, Taro T said:

Don't know that "panicked" is the right word for it, but they definitely pivoted and IMHO it was at Ruff's direction.  And personally expect them to get older this off-season (and not just in the "well Benson will be twenty when the season starts" version).  The concern is that they end up trading away guys like Peterka and Byram because they'll have significant value on the trade market (and guys like Samuelsson and Quinn won't have that sort of value) but that the guys they get back will still have large flaws of their own; just different ones.  

Re-signing Greenway and Zucker has Ruff's fingerprints all over it.  He needs vets that understand how to play within structure to both show the kids how to do it and to get them to buy into it.  And once again, the Sabres will be revamping the idea of what they're trying to build and how they're trying to build it.

Counting all the changes in "how" they're trying to build the team; depending upon what people consider to be a true change in direction, this'll be at least the 5th philopsophical change and arguably the 7th or even the 8th.  (And they've still only had 4 GMs (to date, hopefully that changes in the next few days) in their entire tenure as owners.)

Just watching the playoffs every year it's glaringly obvious that the Sabres are a mile away. I don't care if they missed the playoffs by a point and had 99 this year.

They just aren't close to competing in the first round right now. Not against another teams playoff effort.

I know from a skill perspective they aren't an upgrade but this roster has desperately needed Greenways and Zuckers for a long time.

At the risk of beating a dead horse this team as constructed is handicapped by:

1. Having the most expensive blue line in the league and being embarrassing at defense.

2.Not doing more after/during the 91 point season. 

I just cannot believe that Adams is still around. It's bonkers. Maybe Lindy is doing everything and once Lindy is done behind the bench he leads the search for GM as he rides into the sunset.

I don't know. Maybe it's just wishful thinking? At this point I'd be ecstatic if Terry put Brandon Beane as the GM of both organizations.At least he'd know to just GTFO of the way.