GDT: Free Agent Frenzy!

[PatLaFontaineASMR]

Someone has to score the goals. Jeff Skinner at 4.5 would be on this team, warts and all.

Not on Ruff's team.

 

[Gras]

So we gave an extra 250K for a far inferior player than Tarasenko. f***ing clown franchise

Dont let the extra year of the contract get in the way of your narrative though

 

[enthusiast]

Not on Ruff's team.

Miro Satan begs to differ

 

[Gras]

Miro Satan begs to differ

Well he was pretty much the only offensive player

 

[enthusiast]

Well he was pretty much the only offensive player

They did indeed can him when they had briere and company in the ascendancy but the point is even serious coaches know when to compromise so their team isn’t losing 1-0 every game, etc

 

[TommyDangles]

They did indeed can him when they had briere and company in the ascendancy but the point is even serious coaches know when to compromise so their team isn’t losing 1-0 every game, etc

We were losing 1-0 this season with Skinner on the roster lol

All the serious coaches "Rod & Ruff" want nothing to do with him

 

[enthusiast]

We were losing 1-0 this season with Skinner on the roster lol

not regularly. I see fewer goals in this roster

 

[TommyDangles]

not regularly. I see fewer goals in this roster

And a much better defensively roster.

We were 3rd in goals scored 2 seasons ago and missed the playoffs. First time in history I believe.

 

[Jim Bob]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808669623153307986

 

[Husko]

Not on Ruff's team.

I really don't understand the narrative that a Skinner type player couldn't work for Ruff. Do we forget some of the players on the 2005-2007 teams?

 

[ValJamesDuex]

EF: Jack Roslovic will be signing in Carolina

 

[Ace]

I really don't understand the narrative that a Skinner type player couldn't work for Ruff. Do we forget some of the players on the 2005-2007 teams?

We remember that was 17-19 years ago and kind of a lot has happened since then.

Are people seriously going to continue to go back to the aughts to tell us who Lindy Ruff is? Dude coached last year. Ask Holtz how his lack of buy in and effort was rewarded.

 

[Dirty Dog]

If a new coach arrives and seriously wants a player off the team, you do it. It’s pretty straightforward.

People pointing to Ruff’s prior teams…you know Ruff is here now? I think I would defer to him about what players he strongly doesn’t want

 

[enthusiast]

If a new coach arrives and seriously wants a player off the team, you do it. It’s pretty straightforward.

People pointing to Ruff’s prior teams…you know Ruff is here now? I think I would defer to him about what players he strongly doesn’t want

It certainly makes sense that Ruff would have say in roster construction but also if they expect to make the playoffs scoring like 200 goals he’d better move heaven and earth on the backend

 

[ValJamesDuex]

If a new coach arrives and seriously wants a player off the team, you do it. It’s pretty straightforward.

People pointing to Ruff’s prior teams…you know Ruff is here now? I think I would defer to him about what players he strongly doesn’t want

we were also fed the line that vets would waive their NTC to play for that coach, where are they ?

 

[Aladyyn]

We remember that was 17-19 years ago and kind of a lot has happened since then.

Are people seriously going to continue to go back to the aughts to tell us who Lindy Ruff is? Dude coached last year. Ask Holtz how his lack of buy in and effort was rewarded.

Difference is that Holtz is a bad player while Skinner is not

 

[Club]

Difference is that Holtz is a bad player while Skinner is not

Good offensively. That's about it. I doubt (personally speaking) Skinner would've thrived at all in Ruff's system. & Like many others have said, I believe Lindy had quite a bit of negatives to say about Skinner.

 

[Djp]

It certainly makes sense that Ruff would have say in roster construction but also if they expect to make the playoffs scoring like 200 goals he’d better move heaven and earth on the backend

thid psst season thry scored about 50 goals than 22/23. They also improved the goals against by the same amount.

They could easily improve the PP. It dropped by 26 goals.

Peterka and Quinn and benson goal total should be close to Skinner, olofsson and Mitts.

 

[joshjull]

If you really don’t believe that he hires these guys for a reason than idk what to tell you. It’s pretty obvious that there’s a reason he’s hired guys with 0 experience time and time again. He lucked out with the bills, and beane had experience prior. So wouldn’t a smart owner think hmmmm my football team has a gm wirh prior experience and things seem to be working out, why not do this for the try it for the hockey team? It’s because he doesn’t give a shit about the hockey team. He’s the reason guys like Reinhart left.

Like someone else stated earlier in here, the bills and sabres are not comparable because one team is clearly and has been trying to win and the other has been spinning their tires for 10+ years making the exact same hires along the way. There’s a reason he hires first time guys over and over even though it doesn’t work

There are reasons but they’re much more keystone cops than Machiavellian.

Murray as GM -> Pegula impulsively hires LaFontaine in Nov 2013 after a dinner/meeting with him one night. Which leads to Regier/ROslton getting fired and Nolan brought in. Then a GM search starts. He (Patty) does the GM search and it leads to Murray. Not even two months later they (Patty/Murray) are fighting with each other over the direction of the team. Murray wants to tank hard. Patty doesn’t and wants to re-sign Miller. Pegula has to pick a side and Murray wins out. Then Patty quits the team.

Botts as GM -> Pegula goes to the NHL offices for guidance on who are the up and coming GM candidates. That leads to Botts getting hired. He (Botts) wants to build up the front office staff and he does. We end up with one of the bigger front offices in the NHL. He gets fired and that front office gets gutted. Pegula also complained about Botts keeping him out of the loop on a lot of things. Thats about him being a dorky fanboy who likes to be around when things are discussed. Not because he tells the GM what to do. Which should be obvious since it would be impossible to leave him out of the loop for 3 years if he controlled things that much. That applies to Bills and Sabres.

Krueger/Adams -> Krueger manages to convince Pegula that he’s found his McDermott for the Sabres. So he (Pegula) sets up a front office thats structured the same as the Bills. That means Krueger has a lot of power over the roster and answers directly to Pegula (not Adams). He hires Adams as GM simply because he knows and trusts him. Pegula felt burned by the guidance from Patty and the league front offices on his previous GM hires. The irony of feeling that way about Patty after he impulsively hired him the first place is beyond comical. This is also the gutted front office that was “economic and efficient”

Adams as GM -> Adams gets full control of the front office after the previous experiment blows up in Pegula’s face. The front office structure goes back to the norm with the GM above the coach. Adams starts bringing back front office personnel and we don’t have the gutted front office any more. Adams hired someone experienced (Karmanos) as the associate GM. Then let him do the grunt work of reviewing the entire organization from top to bottom. We have one of the smallest front offices but its very slowly growing with adds each offseason.


I’ve always found the narrative that Pegula is some master manipulator to be bizarre. He’s a dorky super fan who is easily talked into things. Even if they’re not the norm and don’t look like a great idea. As Bills fans, we’re just lucky one of those things worked out. Teams normally don’t give a ton of power to a first time NFL head coach and have him answer directly to the owner (not the GM). Which effectively boxed out the existing GM. Then is allowed to essentially hire his own GM to replace him. That sounds like another thing that should have blown up in Pegula’s face.

 

[Dirty Dog]

There are reasons but they’re much more keystone cops than Machiavellian.

Murray as GM -> Pegula impulsively hires LaFontaine in Nov 2013 after a dinner/meeting with him one night. Which leads to Regier/ROslton getting fired and Nolan brought in. Then a GM search starts. He (Patty) does the GM search and it leads to Murray. Not even two months later they (Patty/Murray) are fighting with each other over the direction of the team. Murray wants to tank hard. Patty doesn’t and wants to re-sign Miller. Pegula has to pick a side and Murray wins out. Then Patty quits the team.

Botts as GM -> Pegula goes to the NHL offices for guidance on who are the up and coming GM candidates. That leads to Botts getting hired. He (Botts) wants to build up the front office staff and he does. We end up with one of the bigger front offices in the NHL. He gets fired and that front office gets gutted. Pegula also complained about Botts keeping him out of the loop on a lot of things. Thats about him being a dorky fanboy who likes to be around when things are discussed. Not because he tells the GM what to do. Which should be obvious since it would be impossible to leave him out of the loop for 3 years if he controlled things that much. That applies to Bills and Sabres.

Krueger/Adams -> Krueger manages to convince Pegula that he’s found his McDermott for the Sabres. So he (Pegula) sets up a front office thats structured the same as the Bills. That means Krueger has a lot of power over the roster and answers directly to Pegula (not Adams). He hires Adams as GM simply because he knows and trusts him. Pegula felt burned by the guidance from Patty and the league front offices on his previous GM hires. The irony of feeling that way about Patty after he impulsively hired him the first place is beyond comical. This is also the gutted front office that was “economic and efficient”

Adams as GM -> Adams gets full control of the front office after the previous experiment blows up in Pegula’s face. The front office structure goes back to the norm with the GM above the coach. Adams starts bringing back front office personnel and we don’t have the gutted front office any more. Adams hired someone experienced (Karmanos) as the associate GM. Then let him do the grunt work of reviewing the entire organization from top to bottom. We have one of the smallest front offices but its very slowly growing with adds each offseason.


I’ve always found the narrative that Pegula is some master manipulator to be bizarre. He’s a dorky super fan who is easily talked into things. Even if they’re not the norm and don’t look like a great idea. As Bills fans, we’re just lucky one of those things worked out. Teams normally don’t give a ton of power to a first time NFL head coach and have him answer directly to the owner (not the GM). Which effectively boxed out the existing GM. Then essentially hire his own GM to replace him. That sounds like another thing that should have blown up in Pegula’s face.

I don’t understand why it can’t be that he got a bit lucky with the bills, and has been unlucky with the Sabres. Murray and Botts were highly praised hires, and both didn’t work out. Housley was supposed to be a big up and comer, he was horrific.

This idea that he got lucky with the bills but has been a mingling cheap incompetent with the Sabres is a bit much for me as well

 

[Chainshot]

Lets not ascribe Skinner being removed as a Ruff edict.

 

[Husko]

Lets not ascribe Skinner being removed as a Ruff edict.

Yeah, I'm not convinced of that either.

 

[joshjull]

Let’s not ascribe Skinner being removed as a Ruff edict.

I find it hard to believe he wasn’t heavily involved in that decision. I’m not saying he ordered it but everything that’s happened this offseason is to fit what he wants for the roster.

 

[Chainshot]

I find it hard to believe he wasn’t heavily involved in that decision. I’m not saying he ordered it but everything that’s happened this offseason is to fit what he wants for the roster.

He may have been involved, I don't put it all on him.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Lets not ascribe Skinner being removed as a Ruff edict.

I mean we don’t know. But I think it’s a reasonable assumption that the new head coach has a say, and is on board with (at a minimum) or a proponent of, buying out a top 6 forward.

I doubt if Ruff thought having skinner would better the team that KA would buy him out. That seems less likely

He may have been involved, I don't put it all on him.

If we don’t think he was involved, then we have far far greater issues. A GM buying out a player and making major roster construction decisions without having the HC involved is a concerning thought for sure