TBN: How they got here: Impatience, attempts at quick fixes haunt Sabres

[Buffaloed]

How they got here: Impatience, attempts at quick fixes haunt Sabres
As Rob Ray might say, not a bad article by Lance Lysowki. It covers a lot of ground from poor drafting, to bad trades and free agent signings. It's a must read for the Sabres fan that can't get enough pain in their life. Here's some quotes. You'll have to read the article to put it in context so you can relive the painful years.

Craig Button:

"Buffalo is a great hockey market and has a passionate fan base. I understand why people are upset and anxious. ... You have to articulate [the need for patience] and have the strength and courage to follow it. When your team is good and strong then the fans are on board. That's what I call organizational courage."
The Draft
"What ends up happening is now you’re chasing other players in trades and free agency. Good teams are adding players from within. You just can't miss on that many draft picks."
On Quick Fixes
"What I would start with is the next quick fix is going to be the first one. It seems to me there’s been a quest for quick fixes. Whatever your time frame is on quick, whether that’s two years, make the playoffs next year, be a Stanley Cup contender within a certain time frame, there are certain elements of a team that are essential. ... There needed to be more patience."
The O'Reilly Trade
"I don’t care what the rationale was; there’s no rationale for a terrible trade. Look at good teams and their depth at center. …. It's one of the worst trades we’ve seen in the last number of years."

Chris Peters, NHL draft analyst for ESPN
Previous Drafts and Free Agents

"You can look right at the drafts. The first thing that happened when the Pegulas came in, they started signing free agents and those were rather large Band-aids that you’re trying to put over a team that just had no depth at all and it didn’t work. Those guys didn’t work and there was nothing to support them after that. The draft is a key reason why they’re at this point right now."
Recent Drafts
"It feels like the tide is turning." Rochester reached the playoffs for a second consecutive season, while Olofsson, Asplund, Nylander and Borgen took positive steps in their development."

Jim Rutherford

Changing the culture
"I'm maybe Jason's number one fan, I have a lot of respect for him. It's like anything. Unless you're right inside the group and understand what's going on with players and what their character is, it's difficult. But knowing the way he works I'm sure that he has a plan that identifies what needs to change, the culture or the way things work there. When you do that it usually takes a little more time."
Slow cooking prospects
"Jason knows what he's doing. He played a big part in that when he was here in Pittsburgh with me. We feel that it's important in the development of players when they eventually get to the big team that their confidence level is high. When you push them too soon sometimes you can push a player's development back considerably."
Light at the end of the tunnel
"It's not a quick fix. It's a fix that when it falls into place it will be very good and last for a long time," Rutherford said. "That's the path that I see him on right now."

An unamed agent on the SabresPens approach to development

That model is revered by people across the industry, including agents, one of whom told The Buffalo News that "few teams understand development like Botterill, Rutherford and everyone who was with the Penguins over those years."

Click to read more...

 

[debaser66]

It's the first time I hear someone from the press and not releated to Buffalo say that the RoR trade was one of the worst in recent history

 

[coastal]

The coach should have fixed the locker room attitude problem... you don’t move a top 5 2C in the game when you have a legit 1C.

Epically bad trade.

 

[Djp]

There really isn’t much new here....

Part 1 buffalo drafted well in late 90s and early 200s
Bankruptcy happened
Scouting gutted
Poor 2005-2007 drafts
Thry also had quite a few players walk from 2006-2010 summers
Thry try to get better but poor UFA signings
Thrn with core near UFA, thry decide to trade them off
From 3013-3025 buffalo had the most top 75 picks
The problem is you have too many hurting their development potentially
They looked at following LA/Chicago model of trading for veterans with youth.
They acquire Kane, ROR, and Lehrer
They have coaching issues with too much turnover
Kane’s UFA thry trade him
Some issue in locker room thry trade ROR

 

[Bisons6]

Agree. Not much new, but refreshing to see someone not afraid to list the blunders. For a long time, the team did well in spite of Darcy. The absurdities wrought by the incompetence of buffoons started--guess when and got worse from there. Fire the owners and don't tell me at least they kept the team in Buffalo. A few more years of this and the team will leave anyway. Think about it...

Getting ill watching Hurricanes play with passion, spirit and little talent, while attributing this run to their coach. Now compare RB to Phil Housley both as players and coaches. My dog knew that PH was a terrible hire and a 3 year setback. And JB gets to hire the next one? And could we please have someone, anyone, tell us the truth about why JB traded a 6th round pick for a 7th? Please! Been a year...too much to ask?

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

There isn't much new here, but it's remarkable how some fans STILL fail to grasp the enormity of the hole this franchise is trying to climb out of. Golisano kept the team in Buffalo, but hurt the franchise long term by gutting the scouting dept. Pegula is correcting that terrible situation, and that is going to take time to improve the organizational depth across the board. Yet, because he's fumbled through some other issues people want him gone....smh.

Regier, Murray, Botterill...have all made mistakes and even though it's rage sport to bicker over who's made worse mistakes, the bigger picture is that regardless of who the GM is there are huge challenges this franchise faces. Drafting and developing talent is by far the biggest one, and the biggest factor why the team is crap right now. Kane, Bogosian, O'Reilly, Lehner, Skinner, Montour...they all need quality depth behind them, and a few top notch talents in front of them. Those better players and depth players aren't choosing Buffalo as a college/Euro UDFA or vet UFA. Trading for them and keeping them long-term is a gamble. Talent needs to primarily, by far for Buffalo, come through the draft. There are no quick fixes, no magic trades. No GM is going to see success here, and get any fan support, until the drafting and development has made up for a decade of lost time.

 

[Panthaz89]

It won't be haunting us until we waste both Eichel and Dahlin's careers away which we still have 10+ years to make right....bet if we win a cup there will be no "haunt" really we got lucky being bad and getting Dahlin we got the right guys now lets just build around them. With all the mistakes we still are in a position to make a run at a cup within the next decade.

 

[Jame]

There isn't much new here, but it's remarkable how some fans STILL fail to grasp the enormity of the hole this franchise is trying to climb out of. Golisano kept the team in Buffalo, but hurt the franchise long term by gutting the scouting dept. Pegula is correcting that terrible situation, and that is going to take time to improve the organizational depth across the board. Yet, because he's fumbled through some other issues people want him gone....smh.

Regier, Murray, Botterill...have all made mistakes and even though it's rage sport to bicker over who's made worse mistakes, the bigger picture is that regardless of who the GM is there are huge challenges this franchise faces. Drafting and developing talent is by far the biggest one, and the biggest factor why the team is crap right now. Kane, Bogosian, O'Reilly, Lehner, Skinner, Montour...they all need quality depth behind them, and a few top notch talents in front of them. Those better players and depth players aren't choosing Buffalo as a college/Euro UDFA or vet UFA. Trading for them and keeping them long-term is a gamble. Talent needs to primarily, by far for Buffalo, come through the draft. There are no quick fixes, no magic trades. No GM is going to see success here, and get any fan support, until the drafting and development has made up for a decade of lost time.

Pegula and co are making the same mistake today with analytics that Golisano made 10-15 years ago with scouting... sure, it’s nice to have a bigger/better scouting department now, but it’s clear that other franchises are investing heavily in analytics departments and gaining the edge. We are so far behind...

Given that there are no cap/spending constraints and we have a billionaire owner, how is it that this organization has 1 analytics guy... one... working at the forefront of gaining a competitive advantage.

Meanwhile, Carolina has a VP of Hockey Strategy (analytics) from MIT with a slew of data nerds working for him....

Pegula bucks should be out there poaching the best... how much can Carolina afford to pay their analytics guys? Triple it Terry...

 

[sabremike]

How does "Impatience" have anything to do with hiring 2 coaches who were among the most comically terrible overmatched and inept people to ever be behind an NHL bench and another who underachieved with a team that had 2 of the 5-10 greatest players of their entire generation?

 

[dortt]

How does "Impatience" have anything to do with hiring 2 coaches who were among the most comically terrible overmatched and inept people to ever be behind an NHL bench and another who underachieved with a team that had 2 of the 5-10 greatest players of their entire generation?

as bad as Bylsma was, he was many times better than Housley.

We at least had competent teams under Bylsma

 

[Chainshot]

Video scouting after years of risk-averse late round drafting need a seat at the table of why they are now where they are.

 

[Montag DP]

We at least had competent teams under Bylsma

Disagree wholeheartedly.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Disagree wholeheartedly.

The Bylsma teams were sadly the best in the past decade for buffalo

 

[Chainshot]

The Bylsma teams were sadly the best in the past decade for buffalo

That's like saying being kicked in the balls is better than being shot or getting ebola. It's simply a matter of what sucks less.

Heh, maybe that should be in the Sabres slogan thread... "We strive to suck less than last time".

 

[Montag DP]

The Bylsma teams were sadly the best in the past decade for buffalo

Short memory?

2009-10 100 points
2010-11 96 points
2011-12 89 points

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

Short memory?

2009-10 100 points
2010-11 96 points
2011-12 89 points

Who has time to remember winning a division when there's stretch passes to make?

 

[Chainshot]

Tim and John Rigas deserve some credit in all of this too.

 

[Montag DP]

Who has time to remember winning a division when there's stretch passes to make?

As an aside, I totally forgot that we made the playoffs two years in a row. I remember the Boston series, but I must have somehow blocked the Philly one from memory.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

That's like saying being kicked in the balls is better than being shot or getting ebola. It's simply a matter of what sucks less.

Heh, maybe that should be in the Sabres slogan thread... "We strive to suck less than last time".

Haha, exactly. It’s a depressing thought. We’ll get there eventually but...we’re almost halfway to 2020 and the horizon still looks far away.

 

[Chainshot]

It's interesting to look at how mistakes compound over time. The '90's era Sabres under Ramsay and Luce as Player Personnel Directors rarely drafted for skill. They managed to find almost no skill players for nearly a decade under two different GM's and two different owners. Then on into the 2000's, where the drafting and development under Regier was spotty. I hope they know that they can try to draft for value in later rounds now... but last year makes me wonder if they understand it still.

 

[tsujimoto74]

The Bylsma teams were sadly the best in the past decade for buffalo

Best since the rebuild started maybe, but they weren't competent. Those teams sucked also, just ever so slightly less than other teams we've had recently.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Best since the rebuild started maybe, but they weren't competent. Those teams sucked also, just ever so slightly less than other teams we've had recently.

Whoa whoa, slow down. I have never once referred to those teams as competent, or anything close...let’s not get crazy here

 

[DJN21]

As an aside, I totally forgot that we made the playoffs two years in a row. I remember the Boston series, but I must have somehow blocked the Philly one from memory.

not me. Sat row 23 and watched Miller shut the flyers down what was it game 3 or 4? Last meaningful hockey I've seen in awhile....I've gotta cling to something I guess...

 

[Moncton man]

It's not like their neighbours to the north who have a spring time visit with the Bruins before breaking out the golf clubs. But boy would we settle for that about now.

 

[Chainshot]

It's not like their neighbours to the north who have a spring time visit with the Bruins before breaking out the golf clubs. But boy would we settle for that about now.

Agreed. It would be nice to be worried about how to keep a lot of great NHL talent or retain a hot commodity AHL coach after a playoff run rather than wondering about where this team is going. They have hope, even beneath the anger of their ouster. We Sabre faithful have... a migraine.