Sabres looking for Senior Advisor for Adams and Hockey Department

[Dr. Who]

I'll add that the irony is that posters like John C (I know him from when he used to post about the Sabres over on the Bills' side) and myself were among those who tended to be optimistic, and gave ownership a lot more rope, so to speak. It took a lot to prove that all they could do was hang themselves.

[Thorny]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Who said:

I'll add that the irony is that posters like John C (I know him from when he used to post about the Sabres over on the Bills' side) and myself were among those who tended to be optimistic, and gave ownership a lot more rope, so to speak. It took a lot to prove that all they could do was hang themselves.

That’s a great point. John used to be on the opposite end to all my posts now he more less does my speaking for me 

[dudacek]

I agree with @Thorny that the degree of negativity around here an inevitable manifestation of the team's performance.

I agree with @7+6=13 that it has made this a less enjoyable place to be.

[Dr. Who]

6 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I agree with @Thorny that the degree of negativity around here an inevitable manifestation of the team's performance.

I agree with @7+6=13 that it has made this a less enjoyable place to be.

The Titanic was all fun and games until it hit the iceberg.

[7+6=13]

19 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Yup

That is what we want it to be 

The few fans who still support the team feel they need that to keep going 

I understand and respect that.  I think we understand each other - even though we disagree.  With no data to support this, I think it's possible out of town fans may feel less sting.  Maybe because we can't participate financially by going to games?  

 

For example, I would get season tickets the first day I could if I moved back.  Maybe your response would be; then you'd be more pissed. 

 

So some of it could be things like that. 

 

Not that I'm ignorant to the fact there's many posters outside the Buffalo market just as upset as ones in it.

[Thorny]

25 minutes ago, 7+6=13 said:

I understand and respect that.  I think we understand each other - even though we disagree.  With no data to support this, I think it's possible out of town fans may feel less sting.  Maybe because we can't participate financially by going to games?  

 

For example, I would get season tickets the first day I could if I moved back.  Maybe your response would be; then you'd be more pissed. 

 

So some of it could be things like that. 

 

Not that I'm ignorant to the fact there's many posters outside the Buffalo market just as upset as ones in it.

I dunno, I feel sometimes like I feel more sting cause I have to put up with the likes of  the Jets flaunting their competence in my face Willy nilly 

 

[jahnyc]

I am sure some of it is coaching, including the lack of continuity in terms of system and style, but someone from outside of the current organization needs to identify the player personnel issues and get them fixed. Some of the questions seem to be:

Do we have a starting caliber goalie on the roster or in Rochester?
Do we have a true 1C?
How do we fix the defensive pairings?  Who needs to go and who and what type of defensemen need to be added?
How do we get some forwards with toughness so we don't lose all of the physical battles and not have to have our top players stand-up and get battered?
What improvements are needed for the bottom six?
Realistically, how long is this going to take to fix?

 

[shrader]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

I agree with @Thorny that the degree of negativity around here an inevitable manifestation of the team's performance.

I agree with @7+6=13 that it has made this a less enjoyable place to be.

People can be better than that though. If you (general you, not you specifically) think the play of the team gives you the green light to be an A-hole, you should seriously consider being a Boston fan instead of I hear that’s a thing around here. 

[WhenWillItEnd66]

So, this is just my opinion. This position is 100% needed. A NEW outside the organization face is needed. The current decision makers are all seeing the same thing and not what is actually needed to take this team to the next level. This is why i see Stahl as a good addition as he played the style of hockey that this current team needs to go to the next level. I am NOT a KA fan, but he has made some good trade decisions and acquisitions that has helped this team. Now they need to take that final couple of steps to hit that next level and he is stuck without the vision to get there. A great organization has multiple sets of eyes on the team and league to make their own team better. This team does not have that. 

[Palm Trees And Taxes]

I compare Kevyn Adams to the Bills GM Doug Whaley. Whaley actually made some solid moves (mixed bag) and the Bills were not a complete embarrassment on the field. But ultimately he was judged for the EJ pick and Watkins trade up and not getting into the playoffs. Adams should have had the same fate for his lack of action and not making the playoffs, and we would be talking about someone like Ken Holland as our new GM now.

Edited 4 hours ago by Palm Trees And Taxes

[LGR4GM]

It's so hilarious to me that Pegula is so incapable of leadership, instead of firing the obviously over his head not good enough gm, he's gonna with the "let's hire a GM for our GM" approach. It's cowardice really. 

[Flashsabre]

14 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

It's so hilarious to me that Pegula is so incapable of leadership, instead of firing the obviously over his head not good enough gm, he's gonna with the "let's hire a GM for our GM" approach. It's cowardice really. 

It’s him coming to the realization that he needs a seasoned NHL person but he doesn’t trust NHL people so he still needs his lap dog in place to communicate everything to him. That’s why there is this ass backwards setup where the senior advisor is supposed to report to Adams.

Im just wondering if Adams “presentations” included bringing in a seasoned NHL exec to help him but still report to him so he had Terry’s ear.

[JohnC]

13 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

It's so hilarious to me that Pegula is so incapable of leadership, instead of firing the obviously over his head not good enough gm, he's gonna with the "let's hire a GM for our GM" approach. It's cowardice really. 

What the owner appears to be doing in his retention of KA is his refusal to acknowledge the mistake he made with his peculiar GM hire. To put it mildly, it was an out of the box hire for this ill-equipped person. The owner's stubbornness is crippling this franchise. It makes no sense. 

[LGR4GM]

8 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

It’s him coming to the realization that he needs a seasoned NHL person but he doesn’t trust NHL people so he still needs his lap dog in place to communicate everything to him. That’s why there is this ass backwards setup where the senior advisor is supposed to report to Adams.

Im just wondering if Adams “presentations” included bringing in a seasoned NHL exec to help him but still report to him so he had Terry’s ear.

I wonder if Ruff tossed the idea of an advisor to Adams out. Sounds Ruffian to me. 

[Flashsabre]

5 minutes ago, JohnC said:

What the owner appears to be doing in his retention of KA is his refusal to acknowledge the mistake he made with his peculiar GM hire. To put it mildly, it was an out of the box hire for this ill-equipped person. The owner's stubbornness is crippling this franchise. It makes no sense. 

He needs to swallow his pride, fire Adams and bring in a Dudley and let him build his way. Enough is enough with this failure going on a decade and a half.

[Mustache of God]

1 hour ago, WhenWillItEnd66 said:

So, this is just my opinion. This position is 100% needed. A NEW outside the organization face is needed. The current decision makers are all seeing the same thing and not what is actually needed to take this team to the next level. This is why i see Stahl as a good addition as he played the style of hockey that this current team needs to go to the next level. I am NOT a KA fan, but he has made some good trade decisions and acquisitions that has helped this team. Now they need to take that final couple of steps to hit that next level and he is stuck without the vision to get there. A great organization has multiple sets of eyes on the team and league to make their own team better. This team does not have that. 

What moves has he made that have actively helped this team? The team has been getting worse year over year since the 91 point season under Granato. The moves he has made have hurt this team. 

[Pimlach]

19 hours ago, shrader said:

The sad part is that even if the delivery sucks, there’s a lot of truth in there about how far the atmosphere in here has fallen. It’s off the rails because people got personal… so let’s make it even more personal. 

I don't think it got personal here with the exception of the reactions to just one poster.  For the most part there are only a few squabbles here and there, and they are usually about hockey only.   The Bills forum has far more drama and they are a winning team with the league MVP.  

The atmosphere here is consistent with April and May of the past few years of the KA regime.  The fans are majorly disappointed, it is clear that the GM does not do enough to improve the team, it sucks to hear the organization make excuses for their inept performance, and worse it appears that owner is mostly ok with it.  So here we are.  

 

 

 

[Pimlach]

15 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I wonder if Ruff tossed the idea of an advisor to Adams out. Sounds Ruffian to me. 

It does, and since Ruff came from Dallas and NJ he has seen how other team do things. 

In my line of work if a certain project is struggling and we do not change the Manager we were still responsible to identify the problems and get that person the help needed to succeed.    When Terry makes no changes he is signaling he is ok with the present course they are on.  

Ruff could be showing him another way.  

 

[Carmel Corn]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

It's so hilarious to me that Pegula is so incapable of leadership, instead of firing the obviously over his head not good enough gm, he's gonna with the "let's hire a GM for our GM" approach. It's cowardice really. 

Cowardice is one of the words I associate with Pegula.  He has been too afraid to face the fans and media to explain himself, but rather uses GMKA as his mouthpiece and fall guy.  That’s not the only word I associate with him, but it fits him IMHO

[MISabresFan]

2 hours ago, WhenWillItEnd66 said:

So, this is just my opinion. This position is 100% needed. A NEW outside the organization face is needed. The current decision makers are all seeing the same thing and not what is actually needed to take this team to the next level. This is why i see Stahl as a good addition as he played the style of hockey that this current team needs to go to the next level. I am NOT a KA fan, but he has made some good trade decisions and acquisitions that has helped this team. Now they need to take that final couple of steps to hit that next level and he is stuck without the vision to get there. A great organization has multiple sets of eyes on the team and league to make their own team better. This team does not have that. 

The hiring practices continue.  Hiring inexperienced people to run a professional sports team.  USA Team trainers and an ex-nhl player as an assistant GM with zero experience?  Followers on this forum shot the Peca idea down as coach because of his lack of experience.   

[inkman]

50 minutes ago, MISabresFan said:

The hiring practices continue.  Hiring inexperienced people to run a professional sports team.  USA Team trainers and an ex-nhl player as an assistant GM with zero experience?  Followers on this forum shot the Peca idea down as coach because of his lack of experience.   

No one I know wasn’t creaming in their jeans for Peca. He’s my favorite all time Sabre. I’d give a pinky if it ensured he’d be a Sabres coach. 

[DarthEbriate]

2 hours ago, Mustache of God said:

What moves has he made that have actively helped this team? The team has been getting worse year over year since the 91 point season under Granato. The moves he has made have hurt this team. 

I think the overarching discussion has been the trades, so I'll go with a no trades premise.

Adams becomes GM and starts doling out 7-year extensions to the key core folks (Reinhart, Montour, etc.) rather than preaching another rebuild around a new core. It's now 2025, which roster do you prefer? I also presumed the Granato was coach in Roster B for at least a little while, so TNT can play center, if needed.

Roster A: Current Sabres roster, if they were active in the playoffs, with AHL callups noted:

Benson - Kulich - Thompson
Peterka - Norris - Tuch
Zucker - McLeod - Quinn
Malenstyn - Krebs - Greenway
(Lafferty, Kozak)

Callups: Rosén, Östlund, Rousek, Murray, Wahlberg, Neuchev, Helenius

Samuelsson - Dahlin
Power - Bernard-Docker
Byram - Clifton
(Bryson)

Callups: Johnson, Clague, Brännström, Novikov, Komarov

Reimer
Luukkonen

Callups: Levi, Sandström

 

Roster B: Adams Never Made Any Trades
* You can choose Hall or Skinner, not both
** You can add F Marcus Johansson. I negated it because Staal retired and none of the Staal trade return pieces appeared on the NHL/AHL roster. I treated it as though MoJo left in UFA.
*** You can choose Clifton or E.Johnson, not both
**** You can add Ullmark at the expense of Reimer, or let Ullmark walk in UFA

Peterka - Eichel - Reinhart
Hall/Skinner* - Thompson - Benson
Zucker - Mittelstadt - Cozens
Lafferty - Lazar - Quinn 
(Kozak)**

Callups: Aube-Kubel, Savoie, Asplund, Rousek, Murray, Neuchev
RETIRED: Okposo

Dahlin - Montour
Power - Lyubushkin
Samuelsson - Ristolainen
(Jokiharju, Clifton/E.Johnson***)

Callup: Bryson, Gilbert, R.Johnson, Clague
RETIRED: Butcher

Reimer/Ullmark****
Luukkonen
(Johansson)

Callup: Portillo, Cooley, Sandström