Do they make the playoffs this season?

[DapperCam]

Correct, they have been solid owners and have taken multiple approaches to running the team. It just hasn't worked out

They tried to hire a President of Hockey Operations (Lafontaine) once. It didn't work out due to some drama, and then they never tried it again. Instead, Pegula himself acts in that role and apparently talks to his GMs every day. At some point after a certain level of failure (in a league where half the teams make the playoffs) the owner is kind of the only common factor.

 

[Krieger Bot]

I can't really give a yes/no answer to the question. My brain doesn't work that way. Instead, I'll say I think we have about a 1 in 3 chance.

The way I see it, there's 6 teams in the East that have legitimate Stanley Cup dreams (Florida, Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Rangers). I figure one of them will stumble for some reason (e.g., goaltending, injuries, coach loses the team, age) and end up a bubble team. That leaves 3 spots open.

Problem is, other than Montreal and maybe Philly, I think pretty much every other team in the East has a chance. The rest of the conference is made up of young teams trying to take a step forward (Buffalo, Columbus, Detroit, New Jersey, Ottawa), aging teams trying desperately to regain their former glory (Pittsburgh, Washington), and grinding defensive teams that seem to always end up on the bubble (Islanders). I can't really say I think any of those teams are definitively out of it.

That leaves about 9 teams fighting for 3 spots. And while some teams (e.g., New Jersey) might have better odds than others (e.g., Detroit), I think most of the teams in this tier are pretty close to one another. That leaves us with roughly 1 in 3 odds of making it.

 

[TehDoak]

They tried to hire a President of Hockey Operations (Lafontaine) once. It didn't work out due to some drama, and then they never tried it again. Instead, Pegula himself acts in that role and apparently talks to his GMs every day. At some point after a certain level of failure (in a league where half the teams make the playoffs) the owner is kind of the only common factor.

The rumor is that didn't work because the president of hockey ops didn't have any actual say in the roster.

The rumor is that Lafontaine wanted to try and re-sign Miller, Murray went directly to the owner instead of him to get the rubber stamp on the Miller trade. Lafontaine got pissed and quit the next day.

The core issue is that Terry Pegula is the defacto president of hockey ops, its why its been done so poorly.

 

[oldgoalie]

The rumor is that didn't work because the president of hockey ops didn't have any actual say in the roster.

The rumor is that Lafontaine wanted to try and re-sign Miller, Murray went directly to the owner instead of him to get the rubber stamp on the Miller trade. Lafontaine got pissed and quit the next day.

The core issue is that Terry Pegula is the defacto president of hockey ops, its why its been done so poorly.

One of the Pegulas didn't like Patty saying "f***" all the time.

 

[sabremike]

Correct, they have been solid owners and have taken multiple approaches to running the team. It just hasn't worked out

He took one of the most respected franchises in the league that had a wait list for tickets and turned them into the biggest laughingstock losers in the entire sport where the arena is half empty on many nights and the only time it's full is because of visiting fans paying the lowest ticket prices in the entire league. The only person who did a better job of obliterating a franchise you would think it would be impossible to obliterate is Dan Snyder in Washington.

THIRTEEN. YEARS. AND. COUNTING.

 

[zenthusiast]

I think the kindest thing you can say about the Pegulas as nhl owners is that they care but have no idea what the f*** they’re doing

 

[DapperCam]

I think the kindest thing you can say about the Pegulas as nhl owners is that they care but have no idea what the f*** they’re doing

I think it's clear that they definitely care.

If they didn't care then they would have hired a President of Hockey Operations, and checked in every offseason to see if their investment was doing okay.

 

[Sabresbyswords104]

Dont see bruins That much better then us and if they are we should be able to go past them

Cozens and Thompson should be better then lindholm coyle, if we had them the rebuild would be all starting again Soon. Sabres have better wingers then geekie Zacha. Pasta is the best of all in both teams, Marchand good But getting old .

Sabres have the better D potential by far.

Bruins have the best goalie .


Carolina and tampa is not better then last year.

We should make it to the playoffs

 

[Sabresbyswords104]

Zacha Lindholm Pasta - Peterka Thompson Tuch - equal good line with thompson and pasta scoring

Marchand Coyle Geekie - Benson Cozens Quinn - should be equal also a bit + to the bruins for experience but + to us as we have the future

Frederic Poitras Brazeu - zucker MaCleod Greenway rather equal a bit + to bruins being the better 3 line

Jones beecher kastelic - malenstyn Laffery Kubel rather equall a bit + to us .

Think we have the better D But very equall also

Goalies + bruins But if luk can improve we are good


Overall we are younger .more potential

It should be 2 equally teams

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

I think it's clear that they definitely care.

If they didn't care then they would have hired a President of Hockey Operations, and checked in every offseason to see if their investment was doing okay.

You can be caring and incompetent. To miss the playoffs for 13 years in a row in a league where half the teams, is nothing short of incredible.

 

[SundherDome]

He took one of the most respected franchises in the league that had a wait list for tickets and turned them into the biggest laughingstock losers in the entire sport where the arena is half empty on many nights and the only time it's full is because of visiting fans paying the lowest ticket prices in the entire league. The only person who did a better job of obliterating a franchise you would think it would be impossible to obliterate is Dan Snyder in Washington.

THIRTEEN. YEARS. AND. COUNTING.

That is the conjecture that keeps being spewed. They didn't do that, the people that they hired did that. They have tried almost everything to be a winner, they have hired on the rise coaches (Housley), re-tread coaches (Bylsma), out of the box coaches (Krueger). They have tried an aggressive, buck the trend type GM (Murray), an up and coming GM (Botteril) and a out of the box GM (Adams). The had a President and a President of Hockey Ops. They poured a ton money into the players and scouting. They went with the quick rebuild, it didn't work. They went with a tear down and it didn't work, they went with a complete tear down and the results are at least promising (last year sucked but shit happens, frustration is valid and criticism for that season is warranted). Seems Adams has the memo that his job is on the line.

Guess what... Every single thing there was unsuccessful. We really turn a blind eye to the players that contributed to an equal share of this. At the end of the day, the Pegula's were the owners we wanted and they still should be.

There is no such thing as a perfect owner as there will always be something that fans don't agree with (I.E., I hated they didn't fire Krueger and Botterill earlier, but I got over it because I don't own the team and have no expectation that the way I would run the team is the right way).

 

[SundherDome]

They tried to hire a President of Hockey Operations (Lafontaine) once. It didn't work out due to some drama, and then they never tried it again. Instead, Pegula himself acts in that role and apparently talks to his GMs every day. At some point after a certain level of failure (in a league where half the teams make the playoffs) the owner is kind of the only common factor.

Which is fine, as fans, we can want a President of Hockey OPS. Him not hiring one after the first one crashed and burned doesn't make him a terrible owner. I am pretty happy to hear he talks Adams each day, it means he cares about his franchise. I just don't think one singular position above shifts how this franchise has operated. Murray was always gunna do what he wanted, Botterill was a mess, maybe a president of hockey ops gets him inline? I would love to have seen one added when Adams was hired because how Green he was but Adams has done a great job so far. Maybe a president of hockey ops pushes him to address goaltending earlier in the rebuild or pushes him to fire Krueger earlier but when knows.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

That is the conjecture that keeps being spewed. They didn't do that, the people that they hired did that. They have tried almost everything to be a winner, they have hired on the rise coaches (Housley), re-tread coaches (Bylsma), out of the box coaches (Krueger). They have tried an aggressive, buck the trend type GM (Murray), an up and coming GM (Botteril) and a out of the box GM (Adams). The had a President and a President of Hockey Ops. They poured a ton money into the players and scouting. They went with the quick rebuild, it didn't work. They went with a tear down and it didn't work, they went with a complete tear down and the results are at least promising (last year sucked but shit happens, frustration is valid and criticism for that season is warranted). Seems Adams has the memo that his job is on the line.

Guess what... Every single thing there was unsuccessful. We really turn a blind eye to the players that contributed to an equal share of this. At the end of the day, the Pegula's were the owners we wanted and they still should be.

There is no such thing as a perfect owner as there will always be something that fans don't agree with (I.E., I hated they didn't fire Krueger and Botterill earlier, but I got over it because I don't own the team and have no expectation that the way I would run the team is the right way).

Perfect? They have been hiring coaches/GMs with zero experience. At least, they spared no cost in past. They will be well under the cap for a 4th year. Honestly, outside of when league controlled team, there has been no worse ownership group of team. On an objective basis. The Rigas family won more

 

[SundherDome]

Perfect? They have been hiring coaches/GMs with zero experience. At least, they spared no cost in past. They will be well under the cap for a 4th year. Honestly, outside of when league controlled team, there has been no worse ownership group of team. On an objective basis. The Rigas family won more

Correct a perfect owner doesn't exist. They also took two swings with little to no experience in Adams and Krueger. Who cares if they are under the cap, tons of teams spend to the cap and don't make the playoffs. They spent money this year and it doesn't mean they will make the playoffs, they will be a close cap team next year too. The last part is also interesting as Golisano had a known internal cap and I don't believe they had a President of Hockey Ops during that time and yet Regier still made it work. Losing Briere and Drury is a one of the worst black eyes in this franchise history. It shows the value of a good GM and how hard it is to win in this league. Less than half the GM's in this league have been with their current team since before this decade.

They are good owners and I'm glad this team has stabile ownership that is invested. I don't agree with everything they do, not should anyone but to pin every failure for 13 years is f***ing wild.

 

[sabremike]

That is the conjecture that keeps being spewed. They didn't do that, the people that they hired did that. They have tried almost everything to be a winner, they have hired on the rise coaches (Housley), re-tread coaches (Bylsma), out of the box coaches (Krueger). They have tried an aggressive, buck the trend type GM (Murray), an up and coming GM (Botteril) and a out of the box GM (Adams). The had a President and a President of Hockey Ops. They poured a ton money into the players and scouting. They went with the quick rebuild, it didn't work. They went with a tear down and it didn't work, they went with a complete tear down and the results are at least promising (last year sucked but shit happens, frustration is valid and criticism for that season is warranted). Seems Adams has the memo that his job is on the line.

Guess what... Every single thing there was unsuccessful. We really turn a blind eye to the players that contributed to an equal share of this. At the end of the day, the Pegula's were the owners we wanted and they still should be.

There is no such thing as a perfect owner as there will always be something that fans don't agree with (I.E., I hated they didn't fire Krueger and Botterill earlier, but I got over it because I don't own the team and have no expectation that the way I would run the team is the right way).

It has literally become a joke around the league how guys who leave the Pegula Sabres go on to win the cup shortly thereafter. He's a bumbling incompetent fool, the historic level of failure speaks for itself and I have no idea how anyone can defend his tenure as an owner.

 

[zenthusiast]

The Buck Stops Before Here

 

[DJN21]

That is the conjecture that keeps being spewed. They didn't do that, the people that they hired did that. They have tried almost everything to be a winner, they have hired on the rise coaches (Housley), re-tread coaches (Bylsma), out of the box coaches (Krueger). They have tried an aggressive, buck the trend type GM (Murray), an up and coming GM (Botteril) and a out of the box GM (Adams). The had a President and a President of Hockey Ops. They poured a ton money into the players and scouting. They went with the quick rebuild, it didn't work. They went with a tear down and it didn't work, they went with a complete tear down and the results are at least promising (last year sucked but shit happens, frustration is valid and criticism for that season is warranted). Seems Adams has the memo that his job is on the line.

Guess what... Every single thing there was unsuccessful. We really turn a blind eye to the players that contributed to an equal share of this. At the end of the day, the Pegula's were the owners we wanted and they still should be.

There is no such thing as a perfect owner as there will always be something that fans don't agree with (I.E., I hated they didn't fire Krueger and Botterill earlier, but I got over it because I don't own the team and have no expectation that the way I would run the team is the right way).

Im not a pegula hater in anyway but:

Your job as an owner is to hire competent people below you to run your team.

All you did was highlight how he/they failed to hire the right people.

Im also confused on this president of ops thing lol? If you are referring to patty LaFontaine youre like a decade to late. That failed immediately and was an egg on the pegula face if nothing else. Theres been no attempt at hiring such a position since and it shows.

I think as an owner he is fine and would put money back into this team if they were winning. I dont doubt that at all. But hes hired poorly from head coach down to gm to not have a seasoned president of ops. That shit trickles down. And it has. He needs to hand the keys of the car over to a sober driver and then sit back and make more money.

 

[sabremike]

Not so fun fact: Our 13 year playoff drought is longer than the entire existences of the California Golden Seals, Atlanta Flames, KC Scouts, Colorado Rockies, Cleveland Barrons and Atlanta Thrashers.

Heckuva job Terry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DapperCam]

Which is fine, as fans, we can want a President of Hockey OPS. Him not hiring one after the first one crashed and burned doesn't make him a terrible owner. I am pretty happy to hear he talks Adams each day, it means he cares about his franchise. I just don't think one singular position above shifts how this franchise has operated. Murray was always gunna do what he wanted, Botterill was a mess, maybe a president of hockey ops gets him inline? I would love to have seen one added when Adams was hired because how Green he was but Adams has done a great job so far. Maybe a president of hockey ops pushes him to address goaltending earlier in the rebuild or pushes him to fire Krueger earlier but when knows.

I was just disputing the notion that they've taken multiple approaches. They haven't tried one of the most common front office set ups for even an entire season. Allowing hockey people to run the hockey would be a good approach to try.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

Correct a perfect owner doesn't exist. They also took two swings with little to no experience in Adams and Krueger. Who cares if they are under the cap, tons of teams spend to the cap and don't make the playoffs. They spent money this year and it doesn't mean they will make the playoffs, they will be a close cap team next year too. The last part is also interesting as Golisano had a known internal cap and I don't believe they had a President of Hockey Ops during that time and yet Regier still made it work. Losing Briere and Drury is a one of the worst black eyes in this franchise history. It shows the value of a good GM and how hard it is to win in this league. Less than half the GM's in this league have been with their current team since before this decade.

They are good owners and I'm glad this team has stabile ownership that is invested. I don't agree with everything they do, not should anyone but to pin every failure for 13 years is f***ing wild.

Pegula is perfectly imperfect. We had stable ownership under Golisano. Sorry. He saved the team, not Pegula. All Terry has done is destroy the fan base. Golisano had a very clear mandate for the team: break-even.

I think you miss how impossible it would be to accomplish as little as Pegula has in 13 years. Imagine trying to flip a coin and get heads 13 times straight. And it will be 14 this year.

I was just disputing the notion that they've taken multiple approaches. They haven't tried one of the most common front office set ups for even an entire season. Allowing hockey people to run the hockey would be a good approach to try.

Exactly.

 

[jc17]

It has literally become a joke around the league how guys who leave the Pegula Sabres go on to win the cup shortly thereafter.

Yeah, everyone around the league definitely refers to them as the "pegula sabres" when they make those jokes

 

[Sabre the Win]

Not so fun fact: Our 13 year playoff drought is longer than the entire existences of the California Golden Seals, Atlanta Flames, KC Scouts, Colorado Rockies, Cleveland Barrons and Atlanta Thrashers.

Heckuva job Terry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean this is the year they have to make it.

If they fail to make the playoffs this year I may just be finally done. I may just not watch hockey anymore. I'm starting to hate the faces of the players I see constantly losing. I'm tired of ineptitude on every level that has been seeped into the very fabric and every micro fibre of this organisation.

Enough is Enough.

 

[sabremike]

The rumor is that didn't work because the president of hockey ops didn't have any actual say in the roster.

The rumor is that Lafontaine wanted to try and re-sign Miller, Murray went directly to the owner instead of him to get the rubber stamp on the Miller trade. Lafontaine got pissed and quit the next day.

The core issue is that Terry Pegula is the defacto president of hockey ops, its why its been done so poorly.

It fascinates me how there are still people out there who don't understand just how poorly Pegula is thought of within the sport. Nobody with any future career prospects wants to come here because having to deal with the meddling clown of an owner means failure and having your career ruined is guaranteed.

 

[TageGod]

It fascinates me how there are still people out there who don't understand just how poorly Pegula is thought of within the sport. Nobody with any future career prospects wants to come here because having to deal with the meddling clown of an owner means failure and having your career ruined is guaranteed.

They sure show up for Jerry Jones. Oh wait, it's because they make the playoffs.

 

[BFLO]

I mean this is the year they have to make it.

If they fail to make the playoffs this year I may just be finally done. I may just not watch hockey anymore. I'm starting to hate the faces of the players I see constantly losing. I'm tired of ineptitude on every level that has been seeped into the very fabric and every micro fibre of this organisation.

Enough is Enough.

I don't hate the players faces.

But I do hate everything about the MSG production of Sabres games. I hate the songs, the jingles, the graphics, Duffer, Marty and Dunleavy.

Just purge it all and start over with a new staff and new production.