No one said he can't hire his own cronies. It's his team. As for thinking the Sabres weren't anything but a complete failure reveals how little you know about the recent history of the Sabres. Pegula came on board, hired Ted Black and Joe Battista as his "hockey people". They vetted Reiger, who then went on his FA shopping spree to produce one of the worst hockey teams in history of the sport. Yes, a record breaking historically bad team. Pegula panics, fires DR (but keeps Black and Battista, of all people) and offers the GM position to pay LaFontaine, a person with next to zero experience running a hockey team. PLF realizes this and declines, but in a stroke of brilliance hires Tim Murray. Now, explain to me exactly how Pegula bringing "hockey" people upon his new ownership benefited the Sabres. If anything, he owes what he has to PLF right now, who in an ironic twist bolted from the organization himself.
Does this mean we'll no longer see Brandon in the War Room on draft day, nor hanging out in St John Fisher? That's too bad.