The History of Sabres Ownership in a nutshell

[Phil The Thrill]

I recently viewed a tweet from the 50th Anniversary game which showed all of the owners of the past.  Can someone give me a breakdown of the ownership regimes of the Sabres?  There seemed to be a lot of negativity and horror that these men were featured on the ice

 

 

[May Day 10]

Gary Bettman is reviled by all NHL fans.  Most of it is un-just IMO. He took over just when the league and pro sports lost their innocence, and he takes the blame for that in hockey.  

 

Golisano saved the team and made them financially solvent, which was a miracle.  Had some good seasons under his stewardship.  Had the waiting list for STH.  They mismanaged the team really badly.  Allowed many players to go to arbitration, and focused on Drury when he didnt want to be here, and could have signed Briere who did want to be here.  Things were very stagnant with Quinn-Regier-Ruff-and the roster when Pegula came onto the scene, which is a reason he was welcomed as a conquering hero.

 

Pegulas have been nothing but fail as owners of the Sabres.

 

Eichel is now one of the best players in the sport

[shrader]

That's not all of the owners.  Obviously the Knoxes are missing.  And then there's one post-Knox owner missing as well...

[shrader]

32 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

Gary Bettman is reviled by all NHL fans.  Most of it is un-just IMO. He took over just when the league and pro sports lost their innocence, and he takes the blame for that in hockey. 

 

And even with all of that, at this moment he'd probably place 2nd in a commissioner popularity poll in North America.

[BillsVet]

I've never understood how the Pegula's could purchase 2 major professional sports franchises and not hire someone to guide them.  One would think their investment might need someone with subject matter expertise, but they've eschewed this in both cases. At least with the Bills they hired McD who has implemented a better organizational approach.  With the Sabres, their executive hiring decisions are anything but that.

 

At the GM level and higher, they retained then fired Regier.  LaFontaine was hired and promptly resigned under cloudy circumstances a few months later, but not before he hired Tim Murray.  Ted Black was sent packing and replaced with Brandon.  Murray was fired a few seasons later, leading to Botterill.  Brandon was fired after personal misconduct and replaced with a co-owner. 

 

That's a lot of bad decisions in the course of just the past 7 years.  Perhaps seeing empty seats and more fans animosity will push them to finally have the right people in place.  I'm not counting on it.

[row_33]

3 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

I've never understood how the Pegula's could purchase 2 major professional sports franchises and not hire someone to guide them.  One would think their investment might need someone with subject matter expertise, but they've eschewed this in both cases. At least with the Bills they hired McD who has implemented a better organizational approach.  With the Sabres, their executive hiring decisions are anything but that.

 

At the GM level and higher, they retained then fired Regier.  LaFontaine was hired and promptly resigned under cloudy circumstances a few months later, but not before he hired Tim Murray.  Ted Black was sent packing and replaced with Brandon.  Murray was fired a few seasons later, leading to Botterill.  Brandon was fired after personal misconduct and replaced with a co-owner. 

 

That's a lot of bad decisions in the course of just the past 7 years.  Perhaps seeing empty seats and more fans animosity will push them to finally have the right people in place.  I'm not counting on it.

 

simple, they offered a multiple of the 2nd highest (and financial reasonable bids)?

 

 

[Bferra13]

How is this a history of Sabres owners? 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Simply put, is your search engine broken?  Or are you working up another topic for the late night call in show on 550?