Why can’t Terry get it right

[Willgamesh]

General consensus is that they lucked into the Beane / McDermott combo.

Remember, they had Rex Ryan as coach at one point. So it's not like they had a brilliant epiphany when they took over the Bills.

That was also Rex Ryan who had amazing defenses and made the AFC championship twice. Granato hasn't even sniffed anything near that success. He was a Krueger assistant i think that says everything.

 

[slip]

Its been 12 years and they've only been close to making the playoffs once...

At what point is Terry going to admit he has zero clue on how to run a hockey team?

And after this season it will be 17 years since we’ve won a playoff series.

But “patience”.

 

[BB79]

I can just picture the banner going into the rafters now....it'll read something like "2046-47 Buffalo Sabres '"Qualified for Playoffs-First Time since 2011"'

There better be a parade too

 

[Chainshot]

His initial fan-boying of Regier and Ruff instead of bringing in someone above them to evaluate their performance was the first mis-step. There also have been a string of people in their ownership organization who have left under dubious circumstances since very early in their ownership. Until they luck their way into some sort of competence and leave their hands off, Terry and his family will continue to appear to be meddlesome and incompetent.

 

[Djp]

At the time..


He inherits Reiger and ruff
fires ruff and brings in rolston
both get fired

hires LAfantaine to bring in a GM He hires Nolan and he Botterill and Murray were not reaches in hires, They were leading new GM candidates.

He hires TM who keeps the tanl commander for 1.5 yrs as they tank for McDavid/Eichel

the seemed to hire a leading coaching candiate but backs out and then go to the fal back of Bylsma

What we dont know was the trades he tried to do or signings he tried to make to make the team better. He had a long term plan. but gets fired because he wont fire a subordinate for leaking things.

They hired a new GM in Botterill who inherits a new coach in Housley
then he brings in his guy.

he gets fired and a new gm inherits an existing coach
the next season that coach is fired.

It seems like people are blaming Adams for all the problems of the last 10 yrs before he became GM. He did a full gut just like what Regher started which was trading name players for picks/players.

That was just 2 years ago.

Regher rebuild started roughly in 2011/12 season he was fired about 2 years later in mid 2013/14 season. he had been around for years.

people on here are not giving Adams a change to have his prospects develop that he picked in 2020-2023 drafts.

In doing this team he did not want to handcuff the team with dead weight contracts or overpaid UFAs.



The difference between football and hockey seem to forget.......

NHL draft to playing NHL is usually 3-6 weeks.
For NFL its usually 1-2 years.

In the NFL there is a much large UFA turnover year to year where teams can go an fill their with about 20% on 1 yr free agent signings to the roster.

There is year to year scheduling differences

you can have big year to year change overs in team performance and with rotating talent and team turnaround for being bad to good.

part of that is because NFL contracts are just signing bonus driven. Many are not guarenteed the full term. teams can easily get out of contracts and do a roster change over. part of the reason is because systems used in football fit some players and does not fit others. thus its easy to change a roster around over a short period of time.


People on here need to be patient and let the kids develop. Granato might not be the best coach for an older veteran team but he seems better with younger players where buffalo has quite a few.

 

[Ace]

People on here need to be patient and let the kids develop. Granato might not be the best coach for an older veteran team but he seems better with younger players where buffalo has quite a few.

This has to be a joke.

1. If the organization really cared about player development these young players would be fighting to get into a lineup not handed spots.

2. Power would have had a veteran partner in place before he signed

3. This coach is better for these players? The ones learning how to not be prepared night in and night out, are lost about what to do in his third full season as a coach and have no idea what to do?

4. The plan wouldn’t have been throw a 21 year old goalie into the net and assume he will do something no one does

5. The NHL isn’t a developmental league. It’s how Adams uses it when he has no answers…but it isn’t one. You’re seeing the results of treating it like one.

6. Throwing young kids into a tire fire is not a development plan. Having them join a competently coached team with a consistent effort is.

7. A coach that won’t hold players accountable, doesn’t challenge them and doesn’t even f***ing prepare them isn’t the best thing for a young team. Its the worst thing,

There are a dozen more. I’ll come back later.

Put a knock knock on things this clearly comedic

 

[ValJamesDuex]

Well at least he doesn't hire soccer coaches to lead the team or anything.....oh wait..

This is urban legend, Krueger, was never a soccer coach, he was the chairman (like president) at Sunderland Football Club for 5 years due to a family connection after the owner passed away. But hey, why tell the truth. There's a guy who calls into wgr still, at least once a month who says the same thing, likely because he thinks it cute or has a axe to grind with the most popular sport in the world.

 

[Chainshot]

Botterill didn’t inherit Housley. He hired him.

 

[BB79]

This is urban legend, Krueger, was never a soccer coach, He was the chairman (like president) at Sunderland soccer club due to a family connection after the owner passed away. But hey, why tell the the truth.

Coach, president, still heading a soccer franchise. Should have known to run to the hills from the guy when he couldn't last more than one season as Oilers head coach. Beyond that he's involved with the WEF. That alone makes me wary of him.

 

[tsujimoto74]

Well…he has steadfastly refused to hire an experienced person to run his hockey team since he fired Darcy in 2013. At some point in the last DECADE you’d think someone who has done the damn job before would be appealing to him. But it isn’t. Because he has only cared about the GMs ability to communicate with him. Which is either a fancy way of saying a yes man to do what he tells them…or, at the very least, someone who won’t tell him what needs to be done because he isn’t interested in doing it.

This is year 13. For both the drought….and his ownership. And he would rather lose than have someone else come in and have a plan he doesn’t like.

He did hire a pair of GMs who were well-regarded around the league and touted as “up and comers” in Murray and Botterill. They just didn’t work so he started hiring guys he just felt good about instead, giving us Adams. (It’s a shame Botterill’s wagon was hitched to Housley and Krueger in retrospect, because I could easily see his tenure/legacy looking different if he’d gotten the team a good coach. A lot of his drafts and roster moves have aged pretty well.)

 

[ValJamesDuex]

Coach, president, still heading a soccer franchise. Should have known to run to the hills from the guy when he couldn't last more than one season as Oilers head coach. Beyond that he's involved with the WEF. That alone makes me wary of him.

Ohh, I was never a fan of his hockey acronym, but we do have acknowledge that a President is not a coach in football or any other sport. If you want to say otherwise it would be wrong, plain and simple.

 

[Chainshot]

Coach, president, still heading a soccer franchise. Should have known to run to the hills from the guy when he couldn't last more than one season as Oilers head coach. Beyond that he's involved with the WEF. That alone makes me wary of him.

There was a lot of press about how Krueger was shoved out the door in favor of Eakins after Eakins wowed members of the Oiler brain trust via a video conference. They'd originally looked to hire Eakins as an assistant. Krueger as an assistant actually had good results in Edmonton, even with some tweeners on their PP he found a way to make it productive.

 

[pasaluki]

Honestly Terry doesn't know the difference between someone trying to grift him and someone who has the best interest of the team truly in mind.

The thing about the Sabres is when players leave the Sabres they immediately become more effective and usually end up getting to the apex of winning a Stanley Cup.

The Bills don't really have that same dynamic. They don't always draft the best players and some cost too much and have to be moved on from but outside of like Wyatt Teller who was a nobody on the Bills and became a really good Guard for Cleveland you don't see players leave the Bills and immediately become superstars. If they go to a more successful team they are only a very marginal piece of it and many who are let go from the Bills don't really do anything.

With the Sabres it's like that player immediately is the centerpiece for the other team and immediately thrives. There's no worse feeling than that and that is a big thing that separates the teams imo.

 

[enthusiast]

It’s fine to gamble on up and comers and lose but eventually maybe it’s time to not try breaking the mold

 

[Daz28]

Honestly Terry doesn't know the difference between someone trying to grift him and someone who has the best interest of the team truly in mind.

I think there's something here, and perhaps he has a trust issue. Maybe he thinks he(and Kim) understand hockey more so than they do football, and that allowed him to give the Bills brass more control? I'm not claiming to know anything, but I think most people think he's either completely inept at hiring management or he's meddling. Maybe both. There's certainly reason to be suspicious of it.

 

[Ace]

He did hire a pair of GMs who were well-regarded around the league and touted as “up and comers” in Murray and Botterill. They just didn’t work so he started hiring guys he just felt good about instead, giving us Adams. (It’s a shame Botterill’s wagon was hitched to Housley and Krueger in retrospect, because I could easily see his tenure/legacy looking different if he’d gotten the team a good coach. A lot of his drafts and roster moves have aged pretty well.)

What year in this 13 would the obvious move have become to hire someone with a lot of experience for the job they actually have? None of his GM hires have had that. They’ve had a combined 0 years experience in the chair. And they were each tasked with turning around the worst franchise in the league. On their first try. People have been asking about a “hockey czar” for years. A concept he’s always denied the need for and now the team president is *checks notes* himself.

his combination of arrogance and ignorance is one of a kind. No one can know better than him, and he doesn’t know shit. And there are 13 years and counting of receipts

They need a qualified hockey person running operations. Pegula will never allow it.. Hope to live long enough to see a new ownership. Because this will continue until then. It’s over.

 

[sabremike]

How they had to have interviewed Tim Murray yet couldn't figure out within 5 minutes the guy was a horrible unpleasant person/borderline sociopath will forever be one of those great mysteries that shall never be answered.

 

[Chainshot]

How they had to have interviewed Tim Murray yet couldn't figure out within 5 minutes the guy was a horrible unpleasant person/borderline sociopath will forever be one of those great mysteries that shall never be answered.

Maybe he was charming over dinner, like LaFontaine was... who was equally inexperienced.

 

[5 Minute Major]

General consensus is that they lucked into the Beane / McDermott combo.

Remember, they had Rex Ryan as coach at one point. So it's not like they had a brilliant epiphany when they took over the Bills.

Rex Ryan, at the time, was not a bad hire. He had 2 AFC title game appearances under his belt. Nobody was clamoring to coach the Buffalo Bills after Marone left.

 

[Irie]

Adams just isn't doing his job, simple as that.

I would have traded top prospects for Tomas Hertl who was rumored to be available. He is a quality player that would infuse this line-up with a ton of skill and has experience while still under 30. I would be targeting these types of players (like he did with Tuch). It's stupid that Adams thinks he can just run out kids for the next 10 years and think its going to change.

You have found players that work, time to insulate them with actual talent by spending picks and prospects. You can build prospects back up for down the line later. As of right now, there is no room for all the prospects we currently have who have a lot of value and might not ever make the NHL.

In the case of Hertl, he has a full NMC and word on the streets out in San Jose was that he was unwilling to move his family last year for a trade.

He recently signed that 8 year deal there knowing full well the Sharks were likely in store for a lengthy rebuild, but cited family reasons for re-upping in SJ at the time. I don't think things have changed for him.

 

[5 Minute Major]

How they had to have interviewed Tim Murray yet couldn't figure out within 5 minutes the guy was a horrible unpleasant person/borderline sociopath will forever be one of those great mysteries that shall never be answered.

Funny thing….I was pretty excited when the Sabres hired Murray. He was heavily involved with the Senators AHL team here in Binghamton which won the Calder.

The Binghamton owner was Tom Mitchell and he is pretty accessible to the public. I worked right across the street from the Broome County arena. A few days after the Sabres hired Murray I saw Mitchell out and about. I approached him and told him I was a Sabres fan and asked him what we could expect with Tim Murray.

Mitchell laughed, shook his head, and said “good luck with that”, and continued laughing as he walked away.

I later found out that Tim Murray was a hated man at the Broome County arena by pretty much every employee….so your description of him is pretty accurate.

 

[Irie]

It is all about Pegula's need to 'communicate' and share his 'ideas'. He bought this team because he was a bored rich guy and wanted to get his mid life crisis kicks.

When LaFontaine and later Murray were let go, Pegula, at his PC first and foremost said he regretted that he gave up control and he said he never would again. I got chills up my spine when I heard those words.

This part of your post is why I went from a Adams basher to someone that defends him (when I feel the facts are being misconstrued).

Adams is an ok manager. He has people under him that give him ideas and he listens to them all and has the bulk of the front office and coaching staff in on team building decisions.

Because of my posts, I now have been labellled an "Adams fanboy". I've never said Adams was a very good GM. I've just said that the team could do a whole lot worse given the ownership situation.

Adams may be unable to make big moves, but that means he is unable to make big terrible moves.

I agree wholeheartidly with you when you say they need a hockey mind with experience, clout, and credibility at the very top of the organization, but right now that position is being occupied by Terry Pegula, who likely has the NHL team building skills of a Banana Slug.

Does anyone think the next GM Pegula hand picks is going to be a shrewd hockey manager that is going to make his own decisions and build a contender? I do not.

With Adams we get good drafting, no bad UFA contract decisions that will sink the organization for years, and no trading said good draft picks for short-term marginal(sometimes) upgrades.

Given the Pegula situation, I would like to see what the input from a more experienced coaching staff could do under Adams before having Terry rebuild the front office in the way he thinks is wisest. That notion scares the hell out of me.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

So do the Pegula’s just generally have no idea how to build a winning culture? And are accustomed to losing .

Gosh that quote “Hope to lose” will never die

Pegula nailed fracking. What other business has he been good at?

 

[tsujimoto74]

What year in this 13 would the obvious move have become to hire someone with a lot of experience for the job they actually have? None of his GM hires have had that. They’ve had a combined 0 years experience in the chair. And they were each tasked with turning around the worst franchise in the league. On their first try. People have been asking about a “hockey czar” for years. A concept he’s always denied the need for and now the team president is *checks notes* himself.

his combination of arrogance and ignorance is one of a kind. No one can know better than him, and he doesn’t know shit. And there are 13 years and counting of receipts

They need a qualified hockey person running operations. Pegula will never allow it.. Hope to live long enough to see a new ownership. Because this will continue until then. It’s over.

President isn't a hockey role. There are plenty of real problems with this team, but that ain't it.

 

[Cirris]

He's a rich, successful, sports idiot.

He should sell the Sabres (to someone who keeps them in Buffalo).

The problem then comes, to whom?

Not a lot of rich people want to take over a money losing franchise that only has value due to it being a part of a large sports league.

The only way for the Sabres to break even is if they move to a large market with corporate ad marketing presence and a large TV/media market to maximize it.