The Sabres GM and Front Office Thread, Eric Staal hired as Special Asst. to the GM; Jarmo Kekäläinen hired as Senior Advisor

[Willgamesh]

Give credit where credit is due. Gmka restocked the shelves. There is ample nhl ready talent in rochester


Nhl roster building not so much

What is the nhl ready talent?

 

[OkimLom]

Give credit where credit is due. Gmka restocked the shelves. There is ample nhl ready talent in rochester


Nhl roster building not so much

Is there? Who is NHL ready outside of Kulich? There’s a couple fringe players that MIGHT be on the border of being NHL ready.

 

[phantomlord]

I got a call today from a rep at KBC, but couldn't answer since I was busy working. I've never owned seasons since I live 90 minutes away, but I have bought one off tickets to games. Listening to the voicemail, they were calling to discuss "some options" for getting me to buy tickets this year and requested that I call them back if I'm interested. I know we have a new guy in charge of ticketing, but I'd say there's some desperation if they're reaching out to single game purchasers in the hopes of us buying packages.

I am thinking about returning the phone call to essentially tell them that I've lost interest in the team squarely because of the on ice product and that is a result of mismanagement from the top down. Seasons are unrealistic for me, but from 94ish when I first got into hockey until maybe 2016ish, I never missed watching a game. These days, I'll watch it if I have time and have nothing else going on, but it doesn't factor into my scheduling anymore.

Amerks games are more realistic for me based on where I live and I used to do 10+ games per year, but most of my friends stopped caring about hockey completely (many were Amerks season ticket holders) and I don't feel like going to games solo for several reasons.

 

[TehDoak]

Give credit where credit is due. Gmka restocked the shelves. There is ample nhl ready talent in rochester


Nhl roster building not so much

Counter point: is that a credit to Adams?

He traded 5 seasons and two franchise forwards and we have a better prospect pool now? I mean...I am reasonably sure any NHL intern could make that happen.

 

[Ace]

Counter point: is that a credit to Adams?

He traded 5 seasons and two franchise forwards and we have a better prospect pool now? I mean...I am reasonably sure any NHL intern could make that happen.

If you follow the consensus picks in this very corner of the website…we’d have done a better job. Not in retrospect…in the actual lead up to the draft. He’s sub-Sabres section of HFBoards in his draft quality

 

[OkimLom]

Counter point: is that a credit to Adams?

He traded 5 seasons and two franchise forwards and we have a better prospect pool now? I mean...I am reasonably sure any NHL intern could make that happen.

He’s had 8 1st rounders in 5 drafts. 43 Draft picks total in those drafts.

 

[BFLO]

Since they don't define who is a pro or amateur scout, it is harder to find who does what or if they have combined responsibilities. It is odd as other teams differentiate them.

We're still below average regardless of pro vs amateur.

This reddit post is from 3 years ago, but it says we are tied for fewest scouts in the league and that we employ 4.4 fewer scouts than average. They went to every team website and counted the scouts .

We're now up to 15 if you include the Director of Pro Scouting, and Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting. That's still 2.4 scouts below the average from 3 years ago.

 

[Ness]

I got a call today from a rep at KBC, but couldn't answer since I was busy working. I've never owned seasons since I live 90 minutes away, but I have bought one off tickets to games. Listening to the voicemail, they were calling to discuss "some options" for getting me to buy tickets this year and requested that I call them back if I'm interested. I know we have a new guy in charge of ticketing, but I'd say there's some desperation if they're reaching out to single game purchasers in the hopes of us buying packages.

I am thinking about returning the phone call to essentially tell them that I've lost interest in the team squarely because of the on ice product and that is a result of mismanagement from the top down. Seasons are unrealistic for me, but from 94ish when I first got into hockey until maybe 2016ish, I never missed watching a game. These days, I'll watch it if I have time and have nothing else going on, but it doesn't factor into my scheduling anymore.

Amerks games are more realistic for me based on where I live and I used to do 10+ games per year, but most of my friends stopped caring about hockey completely (many were Amerks season ticket holders) and I don't feel like going to games solo for several reasons.

I used to work in hockey ticket sales. They’re just trying to upsell you, I’m sure the reps are calling anyone and everyone who has set foot in the arena in some capacity trying to sell whatever they can. I don’t envy the job of the new ticket sales manager for the Sabres. I’ve been in sales for years now and if the product you’re selling is awful, the harder it is to sell. No amount of objection handling can overcome a 14 year playoff drought.

 

[sabremike]

I used to work in hockey ticket sales. They’re just trying to upsell you, I’m sure the reps are calling anyone and everyone who has set foot in the arena in some capacity trying to sell whatever they can. I don’t envy the job of the new ticket sales manager for the Sabres. I’ve been in sales for years now and if the product you’re selling is awful, the harder it is to sell. No amount of objection handling can overcome a 14 year playoff drought.

Being a Sabres ticket rep is like being a door to door salesman selling syphilis in a can.

 

[Ness]

Being a Sabres ticket rep is like being a door to door salesman selling syphilis in a can.

At least you can count on syphilis showing up.

 

[SundherDome]

I got a call today from a rep at KBC, but couldn't answer since I was busy working. I've never owned seasons since I live 90 minutes away, but I have bought one off tickets to games. Listening to the voicemail, they were calling to discuss "some options" for getting me to buy tickets this year and requested that I call them back if I'm interested. I know we have a new guy in charge of ticketing, but I'd say there's some desperation if they're reaching out to single game purchasers in the hopes of us buying packages.

I am thinking about returning the phone call to essentially tell them that I've lost interest in the team squarely because of the on ice product and that is a result of mismanagement from the top down. Seasons are unrealistic for me, but from 94ish when I first got into hockey until maybe 2016ish, I never missed watching a game. These days, I'll watch it if I have time and have nothing else going on, but it doesn't factor into my scheduling anymore.

Amerks games are more realistic for me based on where I live and I used to do 10+ games per year, but most of my friends stopped caring about hockey completely (many were Amerks season ticket holders) and I don't feel like going to games solo for several reasons.

Almost every pro sports org does this though. I get emails and calls from Wild, Loons, Vikings reps throughout the year trying to sell mini packs all because I usually attend a game or two each year. The fun one was the Timberwolves as I went to a game but was given the tickets and did not provide any contact information but yet, they called and emailed....

 

[ClearTheTrack]

I was 22 when I started posting here, and am turning 36 next month. In that time, I've seen 0 Sabres playoff games.

I don't carry it anymore, because they succeeded in killing my joy for this team, which is why I rarely post now.

People should 100% be pissed about this and feel free to express that. We're all watching something we love(d) be destroyed.

I was 35 when I started here and am now 94.

 

[dire wolf]

Almost every pro sports org does this though. I get emails and calls from Wild, Loons, Vikings reps throughout the year trying to sell mini packs all because I usually attend a game or two each year. The fun one was the Timberwolves as I went to a game but was given the tickets and did not provide any contact information but yet, they called and emailed....

yeah - I get contacted by the Kings and Dodgers for tickets all the time, and it's not like either one of those teams has trouble drawing fans.

 

[Ness]

Almost every pro sports org does this though. I get emails and calls from Wild, Loons, Vikings reps throughout the year trying to sell mini packs all because I usually attend a game or two each year. The fun one was the Timberwolves as I went to a game but was given the tickets and did not provide any contact information but yet, they called and emailed....

You can ask to be put on a “do not call” list. Doesn’t always work, and some reps will still call you anyway, but worth a shot if you don’t want any more sales calls.

 

[sabremike]

If Kevyn Adams was secretly on a rival team's
payroll and deliberately attempting to destroy the Sabres what moves would he have done different? Virtually every move the guy makes ends up a biblical disaster, even Milbury had a better hit rate than this clown.

 

[SundherDome]

If Kevyn Adams was secretly on a rival team's
payroll and deliberately attempting to destroy the Sabres what moves would he have done different? Virtually every move the guy makes ends up a biblical disaster, even Milbury had a better hit rate than this clown.

Huh

 

[Chainshot]

If Kevyn Adams was secretly on a rival team's
payroll and deliberately attempting to destroy the Sabres what moves would he have done different? Virtually every move the guy makes ends up a biblical disaster, even Milbury had a better hit rate than this clown.

Milbury did not have a better hit rate.

 

[sabremike]

Milbury did not have a better hit rate.

OK, they had about the same hit rate. They are both generationally incompetent GMs who buried their respective teams 6 feet deep with their neverending idiocy.

 

[Chainshot]

OK, they had about the same hit rate. They are both generationally incompetent GMs who buried their respective teams 6 feet deep with their neverending idiocy.

Milbury was way, way worse.

 

[sabremike]

Milbury was way, way worse.

After 5 seasons of total failure KA has us in a situation with as poorly constructed a roster as humanly possible that nobody on earth thinks makes the playoffs next season. When the team crashes and burns because this idiot is totally incapable of getting out of the corner he painted himself in say goodbye to Tuch, Tage and Dahlin for sweet sweet draft picks. At that point he blows past Milbury and reaches the rarified air of Ed Johnston (the worst executive in the entire history of pro sports).

 

[Dirty Dog]

it’s not even that KA’s hit rate is bad, it’s not. That seems average. It’s his clueless roster construction that is criminally awful

 

[TehDoak]

The Pegulas should, at the very least, sit down with Shannahan. The Sabres have a storied history of sticking it to the leafs via their former managers.

 

[5 Minute Major]

The Pegulas should, at the very least, sit down with Shannahan. The Sabres have a storied history of sticking it to the leafs via their former managers.

They absolutely should. Say what you want but Shanahan put together one hell of a roster.

 

[Beerz]

They absolutely should. Say what you want but Shanahan put together one hell of a roster.

How much of that roster did he put together? I've never heard Shanahan and the roster linked.

To me he built the Front Office... I don't really associate him with the roster.

 

[OkimLom]

How much of that roster did he put together? I've never heard Shanahan and the roster linked.

To me he built the Front Office... I don't really associate him with the roster.

I’d associate him in the direction that the roster took, more than the individual players on the roster brought on/kept, based on Dubas coming out and publicly making a statement that maybe they need to go away from the core 4, and then was fired quickly after said statement and that was weeks before the Marner NMC/NTC kicked in.