The 10th Anniversary of The Hiring Of Tim Murray

[Fearnot]

All these years later and I still can't understand how such a raging sociopath ever got hired in the first place. It should've taken no more than 5 minutes into his first interview to figure that out.

He really liked Halo and the Pegula's thought it would make him relatable to the young core and drive them to success.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

Does Pegula get involved with the Sabres operations because he thinks he's brilliant or because he bought a hockey team and wants to play with it?

Compared to the Bills' value, the Sabres are just a toy.

 

[Chainshot]

He brought one of my favorite players of the last 20 years in Ryan O’Reilly. It was great until the Bylsma slowly drained the life from him. That’s all I got. Everything else was terrible, and has somehow continued to be terrible.

Phil using ROR at like 70+% d-zone deployments seemed to be the draining thing.

 

[CaliSabresfan24]

Does Pegula get involved with the Sabres operations because he thinks he's brilliant or because he bought a hockey team and wants to play with it?

Compared to the Bills' value, the Sabres are just a toy.

My question is at what point does he realize he and his sports entertainment employees have zero idea how to run a hockey team? It's been 12 years and all you have to show for it is failure after failure after failure after failure.

 

[debaser66]

I question myself why I am still a fan of this team, more in a vein of self reflection
I would say I have grown quite distant this year, its not that I don't care.
Maybe its something like maturity or self preservation.

 

[HaNotsri]

I see they're putting in a Murray-esque performance tonight as a memorial to their former foul-mouthed, stripper addicted dumbass.

I never heard of a stripper thing?
Anyone would look creepy in a strip club but Murray in one is just another level of creep.

 

[toddkaz]

The trade for Lehner will always be remembered by me as a horrible trade Regier set up this team with draft picks.

We could have had Konecny. He is who I wanted in that spot.

 

[Beerz]

I remember when KA was in the process of hiring Karmanos, Chad D heard that KA wanted to bring in Jim Rutherford to be a "Senior Advisor" but not President.

Apparently Rutherford said he would only take the position if the Pegula's stayed completely out of all hockey decisions and of course the Pegulas said no f***ing way.

Not saying Rutherford would have fixed this mess but just goes to show what people outside the org think of the Pegulas.

I'm not taking Chadwicks word

 

[MeenOlViks]

make it stop...

 

[Dex]

Tim Murray said it best and profoundly so when he said that life was not all unicorns, rainbows and jujubes. Looking back at the last 10 years for Sabres fandom, he was spot on and played a key role in in its what we have experienced

 

[Gras]

The trade for Lehner will always be remembered by me as a horrible trade Regier set up this team with draft picks.

We could have had Konecny. He is who I wanted in that spot.

Could have, but he would have taken Samsonov.

 

[ForsbergMoDo21]

All these years later and I still can't understand how such a raging sociopath ever got hired in the first place. It should've taken no more than 5 minutes into his first interview to figure that out.

LaFontaine hired him, no? I say it half joking, but maybe a good place to start would be to not keep hiring front office people who famously departed the game early due to frequent and severe head injuries.

 

[Chainshot]

Could have, but he would have taken Samsonov.

Still wonder if he had paid enough attention to his team to see the various people dealing with depression and self-medicating. But he didn't. So they wound up with the drunken, out of shape Lehner, the terribly depressed Kulikov, the willing to drink himself into blackout O'Reilly...

Better care with his players and maybe they actually aren't in this position today.

 

[toddkaz]

Could have, but he would have taken Samsonov.

How do you know this stuff? and how am i missing out on all this insider information?

 

[MarkusKetterer]

How do you know this stuff? and how am i missing out on all this insider information?

Educated guess based on where Samsonov was drafted. It was around that pick.

 

[Gras]

How do you know this stuff? and how am i missing out on all this insider information?

Better memory?

Sabres Links: Eichel jewel of Sabres revival, Murray mentions Samsonov, Eichel meets McDavid

www.diebytheblade.com

Tim Murray joined Schopp and the Bulldog yesterday to discuss the NHL combine, expressed interest in Ilya Samsonov at 21 and his love of Halo

Murray: Sabres Are Interested in Ilya Samsonov

The Buffalo Sabres have two first round picks in 2015 and GM Tim Murray has made it clear that he has a keen interest in Russian goaltender Ilya Samsonov.

thehockeywriters.com

 

[toddkaz]

Better memory?

Sabres Links: Eichel jewel of Sabres revival, Murray mentions Samsonov, Eichel meets McDavid

www.diebytheblade.com

Tim Murray joined Schopp and the Bulldog yesterday to discuss the NHL combine, expressed interest in Ilya Samsonov at 21 and his love of Halo

Murray: Sabres Are Interested in Ilya Samsonov

The Buffalo Sabres have two first round picks in 2015 and GM Tim Murray has made it clear that he has a keen interest in Russian goaltender Ilya Samsonov.

thehockeywriters.com

A better memory of something that never happened? Cool.

Educated guess based on where Samsonov was drafted. It was around that pick.

I see, a guess, Gras was passing it off as fact. Now I understand. Just a guess like mine.

 

[Chainshot]

A better memory of something that never happened? Cool.


I see, a guess, Gras was passing it off as fact. Now I understand. Just a guess like mine.

His post is based on actual reporting -

Sabres have strong interest in top goalie prospect Ilya Samsonov - Buffalo Hockey Beat

BUFFALO – Despite all of Ilya Samsonov’s talents, the NHL Draft’s No. 1 rated European goalie looks like a risky pick. The 18-year-old already has a three-year contract with Mettalurg Magnitogorsk, a KHL team in his native Russia. But Samsonov’s deal doesn’t bother Sabres general manager Tim...

www.buffalohockeybeat.com

 

[toddkaz]

His post is based on actual reporting -

Sabres have strong interest in top goalie prospect Ilya Samsonov - Buffalo Hockey Beat

BUFFALO – Despite all of Ilya Samsonov’s talents, the NHL Draft’s No. 1 rated European goalie looks like a risky pick. The 18-year-old already has a three-year contract with Mettalurg Magnitogorsk, a KHL team in his native Russia. But Samsonov’s deal doesn’t bother Sabres general manager Tim...

www.buffalohockeybeat.com

Its still just a guess though when it comes down to it. People post things like its factual but if it didn't happen then its not factual. Buffalo also brought in other players to look at.

Trying to prove something to be correct that never happened is just silly.

 

[joshjull]

Murray's singular achievement was traumatizing the Pegulas, especially Kim. Everything thing they've done since his ouster is to hire people who will never flaunt their authority again, abilities be damned. It's precisely why we're never climbing out of this hole.

Thats not quite the legacy with him. Murray forced them to get in the middle of, and settle, a pissing match between their President of Hockey Ops (LaFontaine) and him. Murray wanted to tear it all down and tank hard. LaFontaine did not.

The legacy of that drama is the Pegulas not wanting another President of Hockey Ops again.


It’s still crazy to me that it took less than 2 months for Lafontaine’s own hire to start butting heads with him.

 

[Gras]

Its still just a guess though when it comes down to it. People post things like its factual but if it didn't happen then its not factual. Buffalo also brought in other players to look at.

Trying to prove something to be correct that never happened is just silly.

I guess GMTM in his own words saying he was really high on Samsonov at 21 is a big nothingburger.

 

[slip]

Thats not quite the legacy with him. Murray forced them to get in the middle of, and settle, a pissing match between their President of Hockey Ops (LaFontaine) and him. Murray wanted to tear it all down and tank hard. LaFontaine did not.

The legacy of that drama is the Pegulas not wanting another President of Hockey Ops again.


It’s still crazy to me that it took less than 2 months for Lafontaine’s own hire to start butting heads with him.

That's definitely a part of his legacy. But it was more than three years after Lafontaine's very brief stint with the organization that Murray got canned, and those intervening three years took their toll on the Pegula's need for power and control over the Sabres, prompting Pegula to respond at the Murray firing presser with statements such as "Well, I can tell you that I was not involved in the last GM/coach search to a large extent and I regret that move. ." and "You've got to have character throughout the organization, on the ice, and they have to be in a disciplined, structured environment where everybody knows what everybody's doing and everybody's talking, and that's how you win."

The Pegula's clearly felt like they were being frozen out by Murray whom I suspect had zero interest in their opinions, especially in terms of building a hockey roster. This is unacceptable to an owner whose need to meddle and extreme hubris in matters of sport prompts statement such as "We enjoy talking to our players and being involved in their lives and communicating with each other. I think that's a healthy environment. Today's athlete is a little different than years ago. They're much more complex."

Huh? What made you an expert in the complexities of the modern athlete, Terrance?

Ultimately the remedy for their fragile bruised psyche in the wake of TM's arrogant management style was the inexperienced Jason Botterill who willingly spoke to Pegula multiple times a day. And when that experiment failed, they walked down the hallway and tapped long time loyalist and acolyte Kevyn Adams to run the team. These are the markings of an insecure ownership regime that prioritizes access over ability, devotion over experience, compliance over winning, Maybe they were always that way, but I don't doubt for a minute that Tim Murray caused them to double and even triple down on their failed hiring process.

 

[Chainshot]

That's definitely a part of his legacy. But it was more than three years after Lafontaine's very brief stint with the organization that Murray got canned, and those intervening three years took their toll on the Pegula's need for power and control over the Sabres, prompting Pegula to respond at the Murray firing presser with statements such as "Well, I can tell you that I was not involved in the last GM/coach search to a large extent and I regret that move. ." and "You've got to have character throughout the organization, on the ice, and they have to be in a disciplined, structured environment where everybody knows what everybody's doing and everybody's talking, and that's how you win."

The Pegula's clearly felt like they were being frozen out by Murray whom I suspect had zero interest in their opinions, especially in terms of building a hockey roster. This is unacceptable to an owner whose need to meddle and extreme hubris in matters of sport prompts statement such as "We enjoy talking to our players and being involved in their lives and communicating with each other. I think that's a healthy environment. Today's athlete is a little different than years ago. They're much more complex."

Huh? What made you an expert in the complexities of the modern athlete, Terrance?

In light of Kulikov's public statements about his depression after being injured - that it was as though the organization had turned it's back on him - and then Lehner's unraveling mental health leading to his substance issues and erratic play, could TPegs have been talking about how a healthy environment requires the GM to be paying closer attention to his charges than just sucking back Blues at his favorite stool of the local titty bar and thinking everything will be okay? Hell, there were problems in Rochester as well that lead to a swath of the team being traded, including O'Reilly's AHL-able brother. The guy at the top turned the whole place into Love Canal.

Ultimately the remedy for their fragile bruised psyche in the wake of TM's arrogant management style was the inexperienced Jason Botterill who willingly spoke to Pegula multiple times a day. And when that experiment failed, they walked down the hallway and tapped long time loyalist and acolyte Kevyn Adams to run the team. These are the markings of an insecure ownership regime that prioritizes access over ability, devotion over experience, compliance over winning, Maybe they were always that way, but I don't doubt for a minute that Tim Murray caused them to double and even triple down on their failed hiring process.

On thing with Adams was they had at least worked with him in a different capacity prior to making that move. There is some trust issues there for sure and in light of how terrible Murray's tenure was, it probably did alter how Pegula approaches operations.

 

[jfb392]

Thats not quite the legacy with him. Murray forced them to get in the middle of, and settle, a pissing match between their President of Hockey Ops (LaFontaine) and him. Murray wanted to tear it all down and tank hard. LaFontaine did not.

The legacy of that drama is the Pegulas not wanting another President of Hockey Ops again.


It’s still crazy to me that it took less than 2 months for Lafontaine’s own hire to start butting heads with him.

I’ve had the displeasure of dealing with him personally, and the fact that it took that long is what is surprising to me.

Pat is all about Pat. He doesn’t play well with others and will not hesitate to take his ball and go home.

 

[slip]

In light of Kulikov's public statements about his depression after being injured - that it was as though the organization had turned it's back on him - and then Lehner's unraveling mental health leading to his substance issues and erratic play, could TPegs have been talking about how a healthy environment requires the GM to be paying closer attention to his charges than just sucking back Blues at his favorite stool of the local titty bar and thinking everything will be okay? Hell, there were problems in Rochester as well that lead to a swath of the team being traded, including O'Reilly's AHL-able brother. The guy at the top turned the whole place into Love Canal.



On thing with Adams was they had at least worked with him in a different capacity prior to making that move. There is some trust issues there for sure and in light of how terrible Murray's tenure was, it probably did alter how Pegula approaches operations.

Good points Chain. Definitely another context through which to assess Pegula’s statements.

Needless to say Murray was a disaster and the personalities he assembled were toxic. But maybe the lesson here for Pegula is don’t hire a hockey oops guy after a nice dinner and a couple of bottles of vino. Go through a rigorous process. Vet people. Due your due diligence. Don’t, instead, retreat into a shell and assume a role you’re ill equipped to handle.

Time to turn the Sabres into a business where results matter, not some kind of hobby ruled by nepotism.