Who is to blame most for the Buffalo Sabres current state of affairs?

[WeDislikeEich]

Ownership. It’s the one constant over the 13 year playoff drought. Hard not to fault ownership the most.

 

[DapperCam]

Current team?

- 50% coaching
- 25% team composition
- 25% luck

Over the entire drought?
- 75% Pegula (mostly his hiring decisions)
- 25% luck

 

[Beerz]

The general idea is that a president could work as a buffer between ownership and the GM. GM does his job, Terry gets mad, president explains decisions and takes the heat from ownership. Adams is now free to conduct his work without his direct report being the owner with no hockey knowledge whatsoever. That's how good management works in the real world. They allow the good people below them to do the work the right way and their job is to handle ownership/the people above them.

Again, not saying this is my view, just saying in theory that is why its important to have a president who isn't also the owner. It adds a buffer between the GM and ownership, allowing him to do his job more freely.

That would be President of Hockey Ops.

Team President is usually the buffer between the owner and COO/ CFO .. at least with this team since the days of Ted Black.

 

[Chainshot]

A POHO is also likely to be an experienced hockey person. They're someone who knows the game, has connections and an ability to recognize talent. It's another experienced voice. And they have never, ever had that.

 

[Irie]

Of course the buck should stop at the top, and that means Pegula. I still think he's been bad via incompetence as opposed to truly not caring. I think that he thinks the team could still be competitive under the lean spending, although that's probably very wishful thinking.

I voted Granato because despite all the blundering from the top, a good HC could take this talent and make it work, and actually justify Pegula's rationale as flawed as it may be. A good HC and staff would do wonders to have this group playing the right way, with expectations and accountability. They could easily be a playoff team, and we wouldn't all be here ready to light up an effigy or jump off a cliff.

I believe you are right, it isn't indifference with Pegula that has killed this organization, it is probably caring too much while also wanting to be part of the solution, but having zero understanding or skill to make the correct decisions.

It is that desire to control some of the decisions that will not allow him to just place the team in competent hands and stay the hell out of the operation of the organization.

Totally agree that Granato is the reason this team can't take that next step, but Granato is coaching this team because Pegula is the owner. We don't know if Adam's was he driving force for Granato being named fulltime coach, but we do know that all coaching hiring and firing decisions go through Terry, so at least some of that responsibility lies at his feet as well.

 

[GellMann]

It's Terry, but Kevyn and Don aren't good at their jobs either. Terry just makes it extremely likely that the next two aren't either

 

[OkimLom]

Ownership is to blame the most (but there is plenty of bad to find fault with everyone).

Their standards have changed, and seemingly their motivation to own this team has changed. The lack of presence from them to answer for the product they provide the customer, from every aspect of on ice and off ice things, is infuriating to watch when you want to hold someone accountable. Instead others probably get a lot more blame pushed onto them than they deserve.

 

[brian_griffin]

Fanboyed over Regier and Ruff when a top to bottom review would have been a better option.
Throws a lot of money away trying to fix what was already a flawed roster, takes a bath on buyouts especially after the league gets worried Buffalo is doing what Chicago did.
Throws a lot of money into arena training improvements, sees no improvement.
Reluctantly allows Ruff to be fired and allows Regier to slapdash the search, where he walks down the hall and hires an inexperienced dev coach to be HC.
Fanboy-hired an unqualified alumni to be team president who then clashed with the inexperienced GM he was brought in to hire and quit so hard the player does not do anything with the team at all. Allows the dev coach to be sacked but allows the President to bring back another alumni of the team in Nolan. Hires a bunch of scouts.
Nolan fails to motivate a poorly constructed roster and his issues with tactics are exposed, he's fired and replaced by Bylsma.
Fired the experienced coach in Abysmal and novice GM in Murray over the star player complaining on his own behalf and for some of the rest of the team about the coach.
Hires another inexperienced GM in Botterill, this time with the help of the league offices, who is in way over his head and hires not one but two of the worst coaches in team history. Changes a bunch of scouts.
Fires THAT GM, tries flat management with one of the terrible coaching hires, appointing his internal individual who has no experience as a GM in Adams.
Fires a bunch of scouts.

Three GM's, no one with any experience as an NHL GM. Few if any experienced hockey people ever brought on board at the outset to help set the front office up or improve things from within. It's Terry. Terry is the founder of the feast, the key to all of this.

Well, when you put it that way...


Serious question - with all the deficiencies cited above and by others, it seems clear that a singular "corrective measure" - e.g., Pegula stepping back in favor of a Hockey Ops guy, or Adams ceding more authority / whatever to Karmanos* - or someone else altogether, or Granato being replaced, will still be insufficient.

[*sidebar - when was the last time we fans actually heard from Karmanos?]

It seems as though all three things (Pegula, Adams, Granato) must happen nearly simultaneously, or in very short order, for there to be any change in the positive direction. It's analogous to a person in quicksand and all four of their limbs are in the pull of the shear-thinning fluid. They are stuck, paradoxically, unless they move slowly, which has been the near-death-knell for the Sabres franchise. Too slow to recognize when they must act. Making one move (in the quicksand) to extricate and leaving the other limbs stuck isn't going to solve it.

 

[toddkaz]

I picked Granato. I firmly believe this is a playoff team with just an average coach. Sure Adams and Pegula suck too but if we had a coach at least we would be in the playoffs.

 

[Reddawg]

Besides Taylor Hall, he’s shown zero interest in spending money on the Sabres since then. If you disagree, I have two words - Ben Bishop.

Not arguing, just curious…what’s the knock about Ben Bishop? We used cap space to have him under the umbrella and then allowed him to go be a coach or something somewhere else, that’s all I remember.

 

[Old Navy Goat]

I voted the players. Simple reason is this season has shown they lack heart, compete, and really don't give a flying f@#k. They're happy to feast when it's going good, but tuck their tails and cower before adversity.

Yes coaching, GM, the owner all suck but there is a rot in the roster. There is a distinct lack of diversity of style, too homogeneous a group of wallflowers

 

[RefsIdeas]

Not arguing, just curious…what’s the knock about Ben Bishop? We used cap space to have him under the umbrella and then allowed him to go be a coach or something somewhere else, that’s all I remember.

Instead of paying money for real NHL talent, before NHL free agency even started we traded for Ben Bishop's contract, who had a very low cash value for the final year of his contract. We ended up paying something around 150k (since his contract was insured) for 4.9m cap hit, so we could be over the cap floor.

 

[Reddawg]

I voted the players. Simple reason is this season has shown they lack heart, compete, and really don't give a flying f@#k. They're happy to feast when it's going good, but tuck their tails and cower before adversity.

Yes coaching, GM, the owner all suck but there is a rot in the roster. There is a distinct lack of diversity of style, too homogeneous a group of wallflowers

I voted the players too. At the end of the day, it’s up to the players and no one else. There’s no excuse for this assembled roster to not be a playoff team.

 

[Old Navy Goat]

Not arguing, just curious…what’s the knock about Ben Bishop? We used cap space to have him under the umbrella and then allowed him to go be a coach or something somewhere else, that’s all I remember.

They're complaining because they knew he'd be LTIR with insurance paying most of the actual costs so they could artificially reach the cap floor while saving millions

 

[sabremike]

I have decided to express my contempt for this rotten stinking failure of an organization by wearing my Derek Roy slug jersey and matching slug hat to tonight's game.

 

[Mattilaus]

That would be President of Hockey Ops.

Team President is usually the buffer between the owner and COO/ CFO .. at least with this team since the days of Ted Black.

I mean is there a difference in this case? Regardless of whether they are president or president of hockey ops it would still add a buffer between GM and owner that we don't currently have. Again, under ideal circumstances anyways. I acknowledge we are not within ideal circumstances.

 

[The Blunder Years]

Inexperienced hires: Rolston, Lafontaine, Murray, Housley, Botterill, Krueger (I don’t count his lockout cup of coffee), Adams, Granato

Experienced hires: Bylsma, Nolan

 

[Beerz]

I mean is there a difference in this case? Regardless of whether they are president or president of hockey ops it would still add a buffer between GM and owner that we don't currently have. Again, under ideal circumstances anyways. I acknowledge we are not within ideal circumstances.

I agree we should definitely have a Pres of Hockey Ops .. yes

 

[BFLO]

It's Pegula.

Pegula hasn't been getting conned by Adams the last 4 years. Adams is doing exactly what Pegula has instructed him to do. He's Pegula's puppet.

Granato is clearly in over his head and it's been clear since game 1 this year, pre-season even. It's not Granato's fault that Granato is still the HC. That's on Pegula.

The Players don't have what it takes and a rot of complacency has infested them. That's on Pegula.


We need Pegula to have a come to Jesus moment where he finally figures out that he doesn't know how to run a hockey team. And then he needs to commit to hiring the best experienced hockey minds to run the team for him, while staying hands off. Then we need him to keep at it until he finds the right guys to turn this giant turd around as it might take several attempts to find the right GM/coach.

 

[May Day 10]

Pegula all day.

This is not a serious NHL organization.

 

[GrierIsGod123]

I voted the players. Simple reason is this season has shown they lack heart, compete, and really don't give a flying f@#k. They're happy to feast when it's going good, but tuck their tails and cower before adversity.

Yes coaching, GM, the owner all suck but there is a rot in the roster. There is a distinct lack of diversity of style, too homogeneous a group of wallflowers

This is my biggest criticism. While they may have taken on the identity of their coach and a better coach might bring out some of the "clutch" and "fire" this team is missing.

My guess is that it won't make much of a difference when the games get tight. Some guys just have the ability to fight through that and even raise their level. Mitts was one of the few that had the clutch gene. I think Dahlin has the ability to make plays under pressure as well. Currently, our top 6 just will never be good enough and that is mainly because the top two centers are flat out some of the dumbest players in the league. They don't have hockey smarts to turn to when the games get into playoff style and it kills them every single time. Tuch and Skinner are more of the same in these tight games but they've both been used too high in the lineup when going against top teams that play with structure.

Cozens is the most egregious when it comes to just not being able to handle pressure of any kind. His game goes completely sideways when there are real expectations or a little added pressure (i.e. recent crucial games against Detroit). He should be in his prime right now and having some of his best years, instead he'll be a sub-50 point and sub-20 goal guy in a key year. I cannot express enough how much they messed up picking him over Mitts as a part of the center spine. It will end up being THE crucial mistake we look back at.

My hope is that Quinn, Peterka and Benson can start to be difference makers in these tight games as they get higher up the lineup. I think we've seen signs of that, but the coach has to see who makes the team tick when games get tough and ours is still leaning on the failed core. It's clear to me that this team is going to need a smarter/better C in the top of their lineup if they ever want to truly get to another level. You can have one Tage/Cozens type, but not two. Let us pray that Savoie is the next Briere/Point type of small center.

 

[stokes84]

Our GM traded Jack Eichel and the centerpiece was Peyton Freaking Krebs, who has the offense of Rob Ray with nothing else.

 

[Chainshot]

Our GM traded Jack Eichel and the centerpiece was Peyton Freaking Krebs, who has the offense of Rob Ray with nothing else.

Tuch was the key to the deal.

 

[Beerz]

Tuch was the key to the deal.

Even then he was trading for a 15-20 goal scorer.

 

[slip]

Blame it on the rain.

Tuch was the key to the deal.

But saying we tanked for Payton Krebs sounds so much more pathetic.