Speculation: Darcy Regier fired 5 years ago today.

[sabres4ever]

It was about this time of the day when the news broke that Darcy Regier was fired as the GM of the Buffalo Sabres, 5 years ago today. So much has happened in those 5 years. Share what you remember about the best and worst he brought to the team.

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[Bobby Bottle Service]

He always seemed to "win" trades. The flip side is that he brought those crappy players into the organization in the first place.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

misunderstood the post topic:

Darcy overvaluing all of his players will always be his biggest crime.

He had a good eye for goaltending talent.

 

[Dirty Dog]

It’s only been five years....? Holy crap

 

[SatanwasaSlovak]

Biggest mistake by not having him still in the organisation supervising the rebuild that he started.

 

[ZZamboni]

Besides the tear down ... he moved on trades and acquisitions like an aircraft carrier makes a U-turn.

Think about how many trades and acquisitions he missed out on because of how slow he reacted. I’m guessing it was quite a bit.

 

[pigpen65]

He was here for a long time. No problem with him being fired for the new blood aspect, but holy shit did they go about it in a piss poor way. Lesson for the future. Never ever ever fire a GM during the season. In season is the worst time to shop for talented management. The talented guys are already locked up during the season.

 

[Dreakon13]

It’s only been five years....? Holy crap

That was my exact first thought. Feels like forever ago.

 

[debaser66]

Everyone who was following the Sabres the last five years has aged twenty years and its not that fine wine ageing more like PTSD.

Seems like the worst is over tough
6-2-2 can't remember when they were that good.

 

[Baccus]

Can we fire him again?

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

He was no John Muckler

 

[Tyler2829]

Besides the tear down ... he moved on trades and acquisitions like an aircraft carrier makes a U-turn.

Think about how many trades and acquisitions he missed out on because of how slow he reacted. I’m guessing it was quite a bit.

Didn't he pass on a Tyler Seguin trade because he didn't want to include Foligno with Vanek?

 

[Beerz]

He had his warts but he did build a cup contender

 

[Buffaloed]

Can we fire him again?

into the sun?

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

He was here for a long time. No problem with him being fired for the new blood aspect, but holy **** did they go about it in a piss poor way. Lesson for the future. Never ever ever fire a GM during the season. In season is the worst time to shop for talented management. The talented guys are already locked up during the season.

Eh, Botts was on the short list when we hired Murray. They just picked the wrong GM at the time. Thankfully we got Botts anyway and without Botts we dont get Sheary for scraps. We needed that familiarity with the Pens organization to pull off the Sheary trade.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

He had his warts but he did build a cup contender

I am not necessarily disagreeing with you, but i think the dynamics of the game changed significantly after the '04-'05 lock out and Darcy was able to capitalize off of that greatly. Once the rest of the league caught up to the game changes and learned how to forecheck more effectively, the sabres team was no longer built perfectly for success. Also, losing both co-capitains and your all star defenseman in one year does NOT help.

 

[Dreakon13]

Can we fire him again?

As long as we fire something. I'm jonesing.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

Can we fire him again?

For hiring Ron Rolston, i think at least two separate firings are in order.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

Eh, Botts was on the short list when we hired Murray. They just picked the wrong GM at the time. Thankfully we got Botts anyway and without Botts we dont get Sheary for scraps. We needed that familiarity with the Pens organization to pull off the Sheary trade.

I remember that. I also remember other teams opted not to take Botterill as well (calgary comes to mind, unless i am misremembering). I think the extra couple of years in Pittsburgh were beneficial to Botts.

 

[Baccus]

In all honesty one of the most interesting things looking back on Regier, is that he's one of the few/only(?) GM's I can think of who got to go from 'poor ass' ownership to 'throw money at it' ownership, and that's kind of when his flaws/decisions can really be pointed at. Anything that didn't work earlier, you always had a "well his hands are tied" aspect to it.

Was he able to build a cup contender or just get lucky coming out of the lockout that the NHL was actually going to enforce obstruction rules and stick with it?

Should he be blamed for terrible draft years when they went to video scouting? Did he agree with that or had no choice? If you're a GM and somebody tried to force video scouting on you, how do you accept that?

HOW DO YOU HIRE RON ROLSTON FOR THE LOVE OF GOD?

into the sun?

I had actually somewhat blacked out the Ron Rolston hiring from my memory until 1point21Gigawatts brought it up, so his second firing should indeed be into the sun.

 

[slip]

Pouring a 40oz of malt liquor over a broken fax machine as we speak.

 

[Chainshot]

Biggest mistake by not having him still in the organisation supervising the rebuild that he started.

Bigger mistake was not giving him his walking papers immediately after the transition to Pegula as owner.

 

[TehDoak]

Eh. There's a reason Regier isn't in the NHL in any capacity at this point.

Look at the state of the prospect pool when he was fired:

Buffalo Sabres 2013-14 Preseason Prospect Rankings ~ SabresProspects.com - The #1 Source On the Future Blue & Gold

 

[Sabre the Win]

What I wont miss is his bad development with prospects, Grigorenko and Girgensons to a lesser extent were both handled poorly.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Almost 5 years spent wandering in the desert, eh?