Does he have skates on to pump himself up?With Pegula on the wheel its mostly drunk driving in his own yard
Coach
I'd like Babcock as a one or two year experience for our players during a retool.
Never. I just... no. No f***ing way.
I’m kind of hoping the team comes in last place this year. It would be Adams’s second unintentional last place finish.
Which might be embarrassing enough for Terry to rethink his strategy of how he runs the Sabres. Terry needs to hire a good, experienced hockey executive to run this thing, and they need autonomy. No more of this “we as the owners need to feel heard by the GM” bullshit.
Let the hockey people run the hockey team. Sit back on your yacht and enjoy watching your quality hockey team win games in the playoffs. Stop interfering and ruining this team.
What is it going to be? When the heat gets too high and they absolutely have to do something:
Adams to team president/VP
Karmanos to GM (but Adams still helps)
Ruff will assume a front office roll this year, and Appert will be HC.
We will have to wait 4 years for this to prove out as being a failure until we can hope again that Pegula gets it, or is physically incapable of continually ruining this franchise. Maybe by then, the franchise will be ruined forever (lease expiring soon, fan apathy, no other fans really care about the irrelevant Sabres)
What it should be?
Adams fired this morning along with Jakubowski. Id fire Ruff, but at this point, he deserves more dignity than being canned after 6 games.
Big press conference with Pegula. He introduces either Poile (or Dudley if they can get him from FLA) as the team President. Someone with massive credibility and experience. It is explained this person has full authority, autonomy, and budget to build a championship-standard hockey program from the top-down, starting with a GM search. Many other pink slips are announced to save the new president from dirty-work like Crowe, Nightingale, Forton, and the rest of the cockroach grifters involved in this perpetually. Pegula makes it clear he is only an observer and will give hockey ops space.
*I realize Poile is 74 and Dudley is 75. The role is purely a highly compensated architect role. Essentially they can set it up the structure and process, use their rolodex, delegate, sit back, and count their money.
It is made clear that the standard for this franchise is championship caliber and to be at the top of the NHL from this point forward, this time for real.
Skinner is just the latest act of a franchise that just lacks professionalism. And that's the main issue. And it comes from the top. And by that I mean Terry Pegula.Adams is the worst. I thought Granato was the problem with the defense. Or Skinner. Hey, lets sign up for 6 years on the cap for a 40-goal scorer who won't play for us anymore. What a total disaster this team and its management continue to be.
There were non-buffalo people who said the sabres finally have a "real coach" when ruff was hired. The idea that another round of firings and bringing in a "respected hockey guy" would give the team credibility is just not a reality, at least not immediately. If they clean house any time soon, its just going to look like an even bigger gong show.
The part I do agree with is that the full staff needs a performance evaluation, and this is a tough subject because we really don't know what goes on behind closed doors, so I'll give the disclaimer that I'm talking out of my butt here.
All signs point to Kevyn being good at collecting input from all areas. Scouting staff, analytics staff, coaching staff, etc. He's not Tim Murray, just doing whatever he wants, it seems like he is truly the final decision maker based on all the inputs. And honestly I don't have a problem with that, it might not be a bad way to operate. But in order for it to work, the subject matter experts who are providing the info have to be really good at what they do. Are ours? Were they pounding the table for a top 6 forward and he ignored them? probably not.
There seems to be too many guys that haven't done anything to earn the front office positions they sit in. The first 2 minutes of the 2020 draft behind the scenes video is something I think about way too often, because to me it's the microcosm of this:
I know its a small snapshot, but dear lord you get more substantial analysis from guys a few beers deep at the local bar. Like were these actual conversations that went towards our selection, or staged for the camera for content? I hope the latter. Afterwards Crowe gets re-assigned, not sure what ever qualified him to start with, don't know why beamish who was an "analytics" guy at the time is giving his thoughts on Quinn's playmaking abilities, etc. Same with Nightingale. The raw goal total talk from Devine.....I promise this is not an anti-quinn hijack post, it's just one of those things that stuck in my head. I think he can still be a great player, its more about the process that got us there. And I know that group hit on Peterka, but idk, I just don't have much confidence that we're getting the support staff talent across the board.
And I guess the more I write I find myself faulting Adams because its his staff to build
Counterpoint: I'd love for them to hire Babcock so that he can make these gutless spoiled brats every bit as miserable as they've made all of us, they deserve no better.Never. I just... no. No f***ing way.
I'm not sure, teams with good analytics that make loads of mistakes will likely win less than the numbers predict. We have too many low iq players.If their 5v5 numbers stay really good, the wins will come around more often than not.
Forton idolizes Adams, I don't like that. I'd rather have a GM who isn't in the organization right now. Find your Zito.I might be in the minority but I actually kinda like Forton, Karmanos & Ventura
Yeah I'm also at the point where I want to watch punishment. Probably not a great plan to become a winning team but Babcock trying to get Cozens to skate in the right direction would be fun to watch.Counterpoint: I'd love for them to hire Babcock so that he can make these gutless spoiled brats every bit as miserable as they've made all of us, they deserve no better.
I would love Zito. But I think part of that love affair is that KA let's everyone do their job which is why Forton got so emotional in that post draft presser a cuppa seasons ago. Didn't get that with Jason or TimForton idolizes Adams, I don't like that. I'd rather have a GM who isn't in the organization right now. Find your Zito.
I like Forton as well. You can follow his logic and he's not acting like Adams.I might be in the minority but I actually kinda like Forton, Karmanos & Ventura