Don Granato is the worst coach in the nhl.

[Yatzhee]

Don Granato is well renowned as a development coach of young, raw talent. Ask anyone remotely connected to organized hockey on both sides of the pond, they'll tell you exactly that. Hell, even some KHL coaches mention his development success in the USA program.
The problem is, the Sabres players aren't in development stage any longer, they are entering or are on the verge of entering their prime years of play. The clock is up on Granato's string suit, development. The time to produce has been underway for 2 seasons now, with no results. The players now need a coach that will put them in high gear, instill the drive to play a full 60 a game. In short, they need a "boot in their ass" kind of coach.

 

[Yatzhee]

It's still wild how with multiple top picks including a few 1st overalls they cannot even make the playoffs. Somehow just sucking your way into multiple top picks doesn't guarantee long term success, because teaching young players to suck in order to get some shiny new picks in a draft might just make them not give 100% when needed.

The original tank wasn't a terrible idea, other teams have succeed at it. Pittsburgh in the early / mid 2000's brought cups.
The failure wasn't the idea, it was the leadership put in place to implement the idea in to practice. 1st time GM's and coaches over and over and over again. That's on the owner, that's on Terry Pegula, he is the foundation of the repeated failure. He makes the decisions in hiring who is running his hockey club, he has been historical bad at it.

 

[pekka55]

The original tank wasn't a terrible idea, other teams have succeed at it. Pittsburgh in the early / mid 2000's brought cups.
The failure wasn't the idea, it was the leadership put in place to implement the idea in to practice. 1st time GM's and coaches over and over and over again. That's on the owner, that's on Terry Pegula, he is the foundation of the repeated failure. He makes the decisions in hiring who is running his hockey club, he has been historical bad at it.

Tanking doesn't guarantee anything. See Edmonton for example.

 

[Yatzhee]

Tanking doesn't guarantee anything. See Edmonton for example.

No one said it is guaranteed. But it has had success in the past.

 

[sabremike]

Don Granato is well renowned as a development coach of young, raw talent. Ask anyone remotely connected to organized hockey on both sides of the pond, they'll tell you exactly that. Hell, even some KHL coaches mention his development success in the USA program.
The problem is, the Sabres players aren't in development stage any longer, they are entering or are on the verge of entering their prime years of play. The clock is up on Granato's string suit, development. The time to produce has been underway for 2 seasons now, with no results. The players now need a coach that will put them in high gear, instill the drive to play a full 60 a game. In short, they need a "boot in their ass" kind of coach.

This is actually why so many college coaches throughout pro sports fail so badly that it's essentially a meme: there's a gigantic difference between coaching kids and coaching adult pros. Granato has no business being behind an NHL bench, he should be behind the UCONN or Ohio State bench.

 

[Dulind]

Been a fan since the days of the French Connection and I don't care about this franchise anymore.

Can't remember the last time I planned a night around watching one of their games. I'm only here because there's something to be said about watching a house fire. It's mesmerizing seeing it go up in flames.

 

[BB79]

Been a fan since the days of the French Connection and I don't care about this franchise anymore.

Can't remember the last time I planned a night around watching one of their games. I'm only here because there's something to be said about watching a house fire. It's mesmerizing seeing it go up in flames.

All we can do is watch. Our emergency calls to Pegula go unanswered. This franchise used to play hard nosed hockey. The speed game worked in the Briere years. That was when they had some leadership. There no horse pulling the carriage anymore. Who is our leader?Anyone who could have been a leader i.e. O'Rielly or Eichel weren't happy and moved on. They've lost their way. Pegula is the problem. I wish he'd sell the team and just focus on the Bills or something.

 

[loosemoose]

[current Sabres coach] is the worst coach in the league, yes, agreed.

 

[Fire Sweeney]

Time is a flat circle.

Pegula levels of Hell - Cycle 1
Ron Rolston (developmental coach)
Ted Nolan (hard nosed effort coach)
Dan Byslma (retread with terrible system)
Phil Housley (up and coming coordinator with no HC experience)
Ralph Krueger (the devil incarnate)

Pegula levels of Hell - Cycle 2
Don Granato (developmental coach)
______ Who is going to be our hard nosed effort coach?

Everyone knows Lindy will be behind that bench next October

 

[Nihiliste]

Should've hired Brunette (same for Ducks). It'll be interesting to see if Granato and Cronin work in the league again.

Cro was great for the Avs AHL affiliate. Haven’t followed the ducks but is the feeling that they’re underperforming their roster construction?

 

[HisIceness]

I agree, but again, we can't fire the owner. So what's the plan?

Well, I'd like to own an NHL team, seems like fun.

So I plan to win the lottery, but I'll need help from all of you. Once we are all winners we'll all have enough combined money to make the purchase. Now look, we'll have disagreements but we'll settle them with a friendly arm wrestling competition.

Alright, let's get to it!

 

[Thorton02]

Been a fan since the days of the French Connection and I don't care about this franchise anymore.

Can't remember the last time I planned a night around watching one of their games. I'm only here because there's something to be said about watching a house fire. It's mesmerizing seeing it go up in flames.

Same here although I just go back to the 98-99 season. Even during the "bad" seasons, I still followed the draft and prospect developments. Now after seeing guys fizzle out or if the find some kind of success only to be traded and win Stanley Cups or score 50 goals, I don't even care. I'm guessing I keep coming back here more out of habit than actual interest in the team.

You figure Don might get fired next year but only after the team is clearly not making the playoffs. So now we're 2 years before even a chance of squeaking into the playoffs.

 

[rylt]

Time is a flat circle.

Pegula levels of Hell - Cycle 1
Ron Rolston (developmental coach)
Ted Nolan (hard nosed effort coach)
Dan Byslma (retread with terrible system)
Phil Housley (up and coming coordinator with no HC experience)
Ralph Krueger (the devil incarnate)

Pegula levels of Hell - Cycle 2
Don Granato (developmental coach)
______ Who is going to be our hard nosed effort coach?

Next Teds Nolans - Bobs Hartleys
Next Bylsma - Mike Sullivan

Perfect

 

[57special]

I've said it before, and i will say it again. Berube, a Cup winning coach, is out there. So is Boudreau, who might be a step down, but is still a legit coach. At worst, Sabres could look at Evason, who led his teams to the playoffs in the 3 of the 4 years he coached.
It's time for a change(in the off season). The Sabres have the talent to be in the playoffs, but are lacking a coach who knows how to get them there. Maybe a couple of good, tough, role players, also, but that shouldn't be impossible, considering the trade capital they have down in the minors.

At least it appears that they might have a goalie or two, going forward?

 

[Panthaz89]

Tanking doesn't guarantee anything. See Edmonton for example.

The Oilers who probably have a decent shot at the cup this year? I guess they have failed greatly they only got two of the best players in the league and have at least made it to the conference finals which most teams haven't made in the past 10 years because its mainly been the same teams over and over again.

 

[William H Bonney]

Their roster has a lot of (young-ish) talent but it's a very poorly constructed roster. That needs to be addressed, too.

 

[CanadianHawks]

Berube would be a great coach for that roster

 

[pekka55]

The Oilers who probably have a decent shot at the cup this year? I guess they have failed greatly they only got two of the best players in the league and have at least made it to the conference finals which most teams haven't made in the past 10 years because its mainly been the same teams over and over again.

Yeah, wake me up when the Oilers actually win something.

 

[BFLO]

We heard this about Bylsma, Kruger, Housley, and now Granato.

At what point does it become the team may suck. And, if it is on the coaches, what gives people any faith the Pegula's can actually hire someone.

Girgensons is the only player left from the Bylsma days. There's only 3 or 4 players left from the Housley days. Many of the players who "sucked" in Buffalo for those coaches have gone on to Cup/Playoff glory for other teams.

How many coaches have they gone through the past decade? Easy to blame the coaches when the whole organization sucks from top to bottom.

It starts with accountability. The organization seems to have a mentality that losing and sucking is ok. No big deal, we're just here to have some fun and cash paychecks.

It's not one part in particular, it's the sum of all parts that sucks. Owner sucks, GM sucks, coaches suck, players suck. The answer isn't just "coach sucks" when you've been sucking 12 years straight and gone through many coaches.

Sabres have gone through 6 head coaches since 2013. Rolston barely counts, he was the interim coach after Ruff and then was promoted to full time head coach, and was fired after only 20 games.

Edmonton and Florida have both gone through more coaches during that time frame. The Rangers have gone through 5. I'm sure there's others that I can't think of at the moment.

I think "Owner sucks" leads to everyone else sucking downstream. He hires incompetent GMs and Coaches, who then bungle the roster and play on the ice. And the owner constantly meddles with hockey ops decisions while showing no aptitude for it as evidenced by the 13 year drought.

 

[Timeless Winter]

No one is worse than Vincent Pascal

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Bump because lol what a start.

Don: “ok guys, key point in the season, we don’t have a huge chance but we have a chance. Just gotta play good hockey, get a good start.”

*Sabres proceed to shit the bed, put their hands in it, and run around the house clapping*

Down 3-0 to Ottawa less than 10 minutes in. Team goals vs disarray.

Edit- 4-0, I can’t keep up. At home. Lol I don’t even feel bad for the crowd, don’t give Pegula your money.

 

[Satoru Gojo]

He needs to go

 

[BananaSquad]

Maybe Eichel wasn’t the problem lol.

 

[BB79]

Edit- 4-0, I can’t keep up. At home. Lol I don’t even feel bad for the crowd, don’t give Pegula your money.

Just stop going. Look at the attendance up until 2020- near sellout attendance on average every season with non-playoff hockey. No wonder nothing gets fixed, put a trash team on the ice and still sell out. Hit him in the pocketbook, maybe he'll actually do something for a change.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Just stop going. Look at the attendance up until 2020- near sellout attendance on average every season with non-playoff hockey. No wonder nothing gets fixed, put a trash team on the ice and still sell out. Hit him in the pocketbook, maybe he'll actually do something for a change.

For legal reasons- agreed.