Funny or sad? I'm not sure which better describes the lack of respect TM gets for what he was able to do do for your now upside down organization.
Argument to be made of course that the bylsma hire was not ideal but under the circumstances not sure how many better alternatives there were.
Overall he did a whole bunch of good and was on the right path. Impatience it seems got in the way. And ignorance?
Right, so Pegula had to learn how to be an owner as well. Deep pockets are not enough.3 words.
Ville ****ing Leino
*picks mic back up* 05-07 *carefully places mic on floor to avoid unwanted feedback*BOOM *Mic Drop*
The teams that were ultimately unsuccessful because of their GM?*picks mic back up* 05-07 *carefully places mic on floor to avoid unwanted feedback*
On a side note- I'm terrible at keeping up with a thread I've created. I'd love to respond to most of you, but I'm completely outnumbered and am too damn lazy to craft a well thought out response at this moment.
The teams that were ultimately unsuccessful because of their GM?
Well, we agree on this it seems. Timmy's biggest problem was not focusing on one team building philosophy. Going 'heavy' but drafting Reinhart over Draisaitl didn't make sense. Trading McNabb and Zadorov makes sense of you want to shift D strategy away from big, physical toward smart puck moving, but then the Pysyk-Kulikov trade makes no sense. And recognizing that the org is short on skill is fine, but drafting Nylander over D, when D is the biggest organizational need, on the same weekend you trade a team controlled defensemen for a UFA to be was just weird.Poor coach selection, and change of team building direction(was Heavy "smart possession team" at the start, ended with going towards fast and non heavy team) mid-accelerated rebuild doomed Tim.
Aka a bonafide contender hand crafted by Regier through drafting and trading. When Regier was fired the franchise was in a position to be crafted into something special. Regier has proven he was able to put together a contender. He also has an owner willing to spend money to keep core players unlike what he had when tbe co-caps were lost.
I understand he had his flaws, and perhaps they would've came to fruitition again once he completed the rebuild, but he has a proven track record of creating a contender and had a ton of assets at his disposal to do it again.
*picks mic back up* 05-07 *carefully places mic on floor to avoid unwanted feedback*
On a side note- I'm terrible at keeping up with a thread I've created. I'd love to respond to most of you, but I'm completely outnumbered and am too damn lazy to craft a well thought out response at this moment.
So that one time in his entire tenure when he managed to have a team that could compete based on a shift in rules after the '04 lockout? That's not a lot to base heaping praise upon the guy. If the obstruction crackdown doesn't come out of the lockout, the Sabres would've been a fringe speed team in a league full of giants playing clutch-and-grab hockey.
I'm still waiting for an explanation of the timeline that had you thinking A) Rolston was a good hire and that B) Nolan was a Regier hire.
He would never have chosen Buffalo.The breaking point of the Tim Murray era was Babcock choosing the Leafs. If he chose Buffalo, this thread wouldn't exist.
Those teams were still incredibly deep at forward. They had a lot of firepower along with some great two-way forwards. The defense was also very good. Would they have dominated like they had if the rules stayed the same? Who knows? But you can't take away the fact that it was still an incredibly talented team.
I believe Rolston was obviously hired for one reason and one reason only. The same reason the roster was constructed so poorly. That was to have the highest odds at a generational talent. In hindsight hiring Nolan worked out well because the team still sucked enough to finish last, but Rolston gave the team as good as odds as any to finish last. As for how I forgot that Rolston and Regier were fired together, well, I'll just say those were my college years, and a lot of my memories during that time are a blur, haha.
I didn't like the fact that prospects were being rushed, but there are examples of young teams playing god awful hockey and still becoming contenders in time. Kings, Pens, etc...I just personally believe in slow cooking prospects, and keeping them away from a tank season.
He would never have chosen Buffalo.
Let's be honest.