Sabres looking for Senior Advisor for Adams and Hockey Department

[Taro T]

28 minutes ago, Thorny said:

 

 

He's not wrong.

[sabremike]

Clearly the solution is to bring in a guy who recently handed Pierre Engvall a 7 year contract...

[Pimlach]

4 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

 

His tenure in NJ was one of the longest and most successful of any GM in his time.  27 seasons, 5 Cup appearances and 3 Cup wins.  

Given the past 14 seasons, if he advises Adams I just can’t see it hurting. 

Not sure this is real though. 

[PerreaultForever]

Lou certainly fits the "senior" part of the equation.

I'm actually all for that. Why not have a cranky old man in there to not take any crap and tell Kevyn when he's being an idiot (so like, every day).

We need a contrarian and Lou could be that. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Lou’s first piece of advice to Terry will be to fire Adams and bring in a real GM.

[thewookie1]

21 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Lou’s first piece of advice to Terry will be to fire Adams and bring in a real GM.

My fear would be he'd want himself as that GM and I want nothing to do with 0 info and anti-beard mn

[Flashsabre]

I doubt it happens but god forbid Lou came in as Senior Advisor and ruined the 15 year dynasty that Pegula has put together here.

Edited May 14 by Flashsabre

[JohnC]

6 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Lou’s first piece of advice to Terry will be to fire Adams and bring in a real GM.

The recommendation for the replacement GM would be his son , Chris. 
 

Our owner has given his franchise an identity i.e. peculiar and laughable. 
 

It’s so sad and enraging what this silent owner with the big boat has done to this infected franchise. He should be arrested for felonious stupidity.

[inkman]

6 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

My fear would be he'd want himself as that GM and I want nothing to do with 0 info and anti-beard mn

To be fair, Alex Tuch is the only player whose beard is an asset. All the other peach fuzz growers can rejoice. 

[Pimlach]

6 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

My fear would be he'd want himself as that GM and I want nothing to do with 0 info and anti-beard mn

The New York Yankees had a tradition of no facial hair and it didn’t hurt a thing.  

[JohnC]

6 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

My fear would be he'd want himself as that GM and I want nothing to do with 0 info and anti-beard mn

What's even more obvious and worrisome is that credible candidates have little interest in joining a Pegula owned team. It's widely known that the owner's overhanging presence has made this a pariah franchise to be avoided. Lou L has had an impressive career as a hockey executive. His era is over with. The most impactful change that has to be made is how the owner presides over the franchise. Until there is a change there, this franchise will be unappealing to qualified people who can put this flailing franchise on the right road. 

[JohnC]

3 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

The New York Yankees had a tradition of no facial hair and it didn’t hurt a thing.  

Do they still have the no facial rules? 

The era of dictating grooming standards to a 60s level is long past. How you play and how you conduct yourself are the more important issues. The hair issue on top and on your face are irrelevant and outmoded. Lou L was terrific hockey manager for his era. It's long past.  

[Pimlach]

17 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Do they still have the no facial rules? 

The era of dictating grooming standards to a 60s level is long past. How you play and how you conduct yourself are the more important issues. The hair issue on top and on your face are irrelevant and outmoded. Lou L was terrific hockey manager for his era. It's long past.  

Steinbrenner’s kid, Hal, just recently changed the teams facial hair rule.  

[SwampD]

11 hours ago, Pimlach said:

His tenure in NJ was one of the longest and most successful of any GM in his time.  27 seasons, 5 Cup appearances and 3 Cup wins.  

Given the past 14 seasons, if he advises Adams I just can’t see it hurting. 

Not sure this is real though. 

He also had the one of the top goalies ever, during the no cap era. I’m sure that helped. The last year they won, his team had a salary that was $20 MM more than the Sabres, which back then was about a third more. (Iirc, the Sabres total salary was around $35MM and the Devils was around $55MM.)

Edited May 14 by SwampD

[Pimlach]

1 minute ago, SwampD said:

He also had the one of the top goalies ever during the no cap era. The last year they won, his team had a salary that was 20 MM more than the Sabres, which back then was about a third more. (Iirc, the Sabres total salary was around $35MM and the Devils was around $55MM.)

Every winning coach or GM has great players.  Every winning coach or GM adapts to current league rules, salary cap constraints, etc.  

[LGR4GM]

I bet Lou is the guy. It makes too much sense and he's unlikely to get a GM offer. 

1 minute ago, Pimlach said:

Every winning coach or GM has great players.  Every winning coach or GM adapts to current league rules, salary cap constraints, etc.  

If Lou was so good adapting to the cap wouldn't his record reflect that?

[SwampD]

Just now, Pimlach said:

Every winning coach or GM has great players.  Every winning coach or GM adapts to current league rules, salary cap constraints, etc.  

And he hasn’t since the cap. That’s all I’m sayin.

I don’t want him as a part of the Sabres.

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, SwampD said:

And he hasn’t since the cap. That’s all I’m sayin.

I don’t want him as a part of the Sabres.

I'd take him over no one

[SwampD]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I'd take him over no one

He’s also 82.

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, SwampD said:

He’s also 82.

My God, just retire man. Enjoy your last years, take up fishing or pottery or spelunking. 

[That Aud Smell]

12 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

My God, just retire man. Enjoy your last years, take up fishing or pottery or spelunking. 

At age 82?

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

At age 82?

At that point you're hanging out on Death's doorstep anyways, might as well knock every once and awhile for funsies.

[DarthEbriate]

I'd like to see Lou get involved as a voice, but his recent teams aren't all that impressive.

I do think it'd be fun for him to get Adams canned, then get upset one day and can Ruff and take over as the head coach for a game, then mid-game, fire all the assistant coaches. The Great Lamoriello Purge. 

The biggest anti-Lou sentiment I have though is that when he took over the Islanders, they changed the name of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to the Bridgeport Islanders to "have a stronger sense of affiliation between the big team and the little team." BS. The Sound Tigers was a great name. Let your AHL team be its own brand with its own colors and civic pride and culture. Let it have a goofy name and live out silly minor-league antics. Can you imagine the depression if Rochester became known as the Baby Sabres? For that reason alone: no Lou for me.

[Archie Lee]

I like the idea of Lou as a senior advisor only slightly more than I like the idea of Kevyn Adams staying on as GM, which means I really hate it. But, this is who you get as senior advisors:  Either a recent GM who wants to get back in, or a really old guy who is driven by nothing but hockey and who just wants to stay involved in some capacity. I guess my big concern with Lou is that he advises Adams to be more bold. I mean, maybe the one positive thing about Adams and his general state of reluctance to make big moves, is that it has actually prevented more bad than good. If Lou’s impact is for Adams to be more bold, is that a good thing? Maybe. But maybe the best we can hope for is to survive this season with minimal damage and then move on to a new regime. 

[Archie Lee]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

What's even more obvious and worrisome is that credible candidates have little interest in joining a Pegula owned team. It's widely known that the owner's overhanging presence has made this a pariah franchise to be avoided. Lou L has had an impressive career as a hockey executive. His era is over with. The most impactful change that has to be made is how the owner presides over the franchise. Until there is a change there, this franchise will be unappealing to qualified people who can put this flailing franchise on the right road. 

What’s weird to me, is that you would think the Bills’ success would make it easy for Pegula to attract a good hockey man. Why can’t he approach someone like Rob Blake and just explain that he just hasn’t found a Beane or McDermott on the hockey side and that he thinks Blake could be that guy and the plan is to just stay out of the way. Give Blake a 4-5 year $20-$25 million contract and tell him to go out and find our young Montgomery or DeBoer or Cassidy. It should not be complicated.