“No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero.”
- Frank Herbert
With the recent release of Dune Part II and its warnings about a savior/hero mythos, I am reminded of two very moments, we, as Sabres fans, were assured our Hero has arrived and the failure we've seen in its wake.
Of course, the 1st Hero was the much touted and hoped for Terry Pegula. After years post Rigas with NHL ownership then Golisano's ownership, Terry Pegula came in with Billions of dollars and promises of a Stanley Cup. Fans cheered in anticipation, stormed the gates of the arena, and hoped for our time had finally come. But the reality of the situation is we got an owner who simply doesn't know how to run a hockey team or find people to help him run a hockey team. We've experienced a record NHL drought with not only no cups to be spoken for, but even playoff runs seem like a distant memory for most.
The second, of course, was Jack Eichel. He was the chosen one, the franchise center we had lacked since Lafontaine. While he did fulfill some of his promise, he never became the leader or franchise player we needed. And he only got to the promised land when inserted into a stacked team where he could play a smaller role.
And his departure, while controversial, brought forth one of the best quotes on the Sabres situation. I can't find the exact quote, but, it was, essentially
"No heroes are coming through that door. We have to figure this out together"
No matter what we do this summer, whether we fire or keep Adams and Granato, whoever is the coach and GM come the start of the new season, they need to be surrounded by competence and experience. And its the same on the ice. We've thrown this young players out by themselves for too long. Its time to get them support and stop throwing them off the deep end to see if they can swim.
Our ownership has mistaken the simplicity of smaller front office for a better/quicker way to manage. That has led to more bad decisions. 13 years of bad decisions. It's why the Sabres feel like a bumbling family business rather than a billion dollar company. it's time to invest in structure, hierarchy, and proven methods of managing and building a team rather than whatever has brought forth 13 years of suffering on the fans.
I don't really care who is brought in at this point, the fatal mistake would be continuing the same way we have been and hoping we get better results next year. We don't need a hero...we need competence and structure.
- Frank Herbert
With the recent release of Dune Part II and its warnings about a savior/hero mythos, I am reminded of two very moments, we, as Sabres fans, were assured our Hero has arrived and the failure we've seen in its wake.
Of course, the 1st Hero was the much touted and hoped for Terry Pegula. After years post Rigas with NHL ownership then Golisano's ownership, Terry Pegula came in with Billions of dollars and promises of a Stanley Cup. Fans cheered in anticipation, stormed the gates of the arena, and hoped for our time had finally come. But the reality of the situation is we got an owner who simply doesn't know how to run a hockey team or find people to help him run a hockey team. We've experienced a record NHL drought with not only no cups to be spoken for, but even playoff runs seem like a distant memory for most.
The second, of course, was Jack Eichel. He was the chosen one, the franchise center we had lacked since Lafontaine. While he did fulfill some of his promise, he never became the leader or franchise player we needed. And he only got to the promised land when inserted into a stacked team where he could play a smaller role.
And his departure, while controversial, brought forth one of the best quotes on the Sabres situation. I can't find the exact quote, but, it was, essentially
"No heroes are coming through that door. We have to figure this out together"
No matter what we do this summer, whether we fire or keep Adams and Granato, whoever is the coach and GM come the start of the new season, they need to be surrounded by competence and experience. And its the same on the ice. We've thrown this young players out by themselves for too long. Its time to get them support and stop throwing them off the deep end to see if they can swim.
Our ownership has mistaken the simplicity of smaller front office for a better/quicker way to manage. That has led to more bad decisions. 13 years of bad decisions. It's why the Sabres feel like a bumbling family business rather than a billion dollar company. it's time to invest in structure, hierarchy, and proven methods of managing and building a team rather than whatever has brought forth 13 years of suffering on the fans.
I don't really care who is brought in at this point, the fatal mistake would be continuing the same way we have been and hoping we get better results next year. We don't need a hero...we need competence and structure.
