Accountability

[Flashsabre]

Pegula has owned this team going on 15 years and is 0 for in making the playoffs.

Not once has he apologized to the fans for this mess or taken any responsibility.

There is the culture right there. Continuous poor hire after poor hire that has damned this organization for a decade and a half. It starts at the top.

I honestly don’t know how he walks around with his head up when he’s been the biggest failure of an owner in NHL history.

I’ve stopped watching the games. If they aren’t serious about being competitive then they don’t get my time anymore.

Edited 8 hours ago by Flashsabre

[DarthEbriate]

Note: They made the playoffs in 2011, losing to Leino and the Flyers, leading to the UFA signing of Leino. Pegula is 1-for-15. However, they have never made the playoffs in a season in which Pegula owned the team at the start of the season.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Why should the players feel they should be accountable?  They have guaranteed contracts and if you get traded you go to a better situation.  Same if you get bought out.  Also the GM isn’t held accountable, the coaches aren’t held accountable and the fans are taken for granted as the value of the franchise rises despite 14 years of failure.  

[inkman]

2 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Pegula has owned this team going on 15 years and is 0 for in making the playoffs.

Not once has he apologized to the fans for this mess or taken any responsibility.

There is the culture right there. Continuous poor hire after poor hire that has damned this organization for a decade and a half. It starts at the top.

I honestly don’t know how he walks around with his head up when he’s been the biggest failure of an owner in NHL history.

I’ve stopped watching the games. If they aren’t serious about being competitive then they don’t get my time anymore.

Has any North American sports team owner or exec ever apologized for having a bad team?  I think you are looking for answers where there ain’t none. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

12 minutes ago, inkman said:

Has any North American sports team owner or exec ever apologized for having a bad team?  I think you are looking for answers where there ain’t none. 

The White Sox owner after the 2024 baseball season.

[Pimlach]

43 minutes ago, inkman said:

Has any North American sports team owner or exec ever apologized for having a bad team?  I think you are looking for answers where there ain’t none. 

Charlie Jacobs did last year.  The owner of the Bruins, ironically a guy from Buffalo, sent a letter to the Bruins fans. 

https://www.facebook.com/NHLBruins/posts/a-message-from-nhlbruins-ceo-charlie-jacobs/1147449590729769/

Not sure this is an apology exactly, but it was a sincere effort to let their fans know that missing the playoffs one time in over 20 years was unsatisfactory. 

In addition, after the Bruins were booed at a home game the coach said their fans were right to boo and the team deserved it.  Their Captain, Marchand,  said the same thing.   

Quite the contrast from the Sabres players, coach Granato, and Captain Okposo, when this happened in Buffalo.  

Culture is not a throw away word in Boston.  

Edited 5 hours ago by Pimlach

[Flashsabre]

56 minutes ago, inkman said:

Has any North American sports team owner or exec ever apologized for having a bad team?  I think you are looking for answers where there ain’t none. 

The Mets owner did just a couple weeks ago

[mjd1001]

2 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

Note: They made the playoffs in 2011, losing to Leino and the Flyers, leading to the UFA signing of Leino. Pegula is 1-for-15. However, they have never made the playoffs in a season in which Pegula owned the team at the start of the season.

That 2011 year is the year he took over the team.  Tehcnically he was owner during those playoffs, but he came on board that season when the coaching staff, roster, everyting was set before he bought them.

He had very little if any input to any part of that team.  Once he started having input and makign decisions, that is when the drought started.

Since his first full season where he actually started making decisions, that is when they haven't made the playoffs since.  So the team hasn't played a full season that he has been in controll and made the playoffs.

Edited 5 hours ago by mjd1001

[PerreaultForever]

5 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Why should the players feel they should be accountable?  They have guaranteed contracts and if you get traded you go to a better situation.  Same if you get bought out.  Also the GM isn’t held accountable, the coaches aren’t held accountable and the fans are taken for granted as the value of the franchise rises despite 14 years of failure.  

Well that's just it though isn't it? On other teams players are held accountable. There are veterans that set the level of expectation for the new players and players have to buy in. Cultures live and die with their veteran leadership. The Adams idea of "growing together" is like putting everybody on a ship and saying "Okay guys, figure out how to sail it".  How can a captain be expected to know how to navigate these things when he came in here from a foreign country at the age of 18 and has never experienced winning in the NHL? That's not to say it's his fault in any way, but there simply is little to no veteran leadership on this team and hasn't been for a really long time.

People talk about Tage's comments and again, it's not all on him, but the comment is flawed and wrong. It's so called positivity and "I don't want to dwell on the past" and "it's only 3 games" and that's just loser talk. The comments should all be we sucked, I sucked, we have to work harder and be better. The so called leaders have to lead on the ice and drag others into the fight, but there's literally no fight in this team. Ruff has no answers because they simply aren't doing what he tells them to do. He can't coach these players as a group. I don't think anyone can. They've assembled a bunch of guys who just play for their money and don't care. The standard should be about winning but in Buffalo it's "who cares, I can just get traded away and then care if I have to". 

[zow2]

The losing culture since Terry has owned the team runs so deep, it’s a massive job to pull out of it.  The guys who score goals here up and leave or get traded and you can’t backfill those goals.  Good free agents will never come here.  The D and goaltending has been lousy for years,,, this year ok so far. But can’t score.