Buffalo Sabres & NHL 2020-2021

[Jauronimo]

I am concerned about Granato's lack of experience in managing a soccer club.  If my research is correct, Don has zero EPL experience.  He can't even play FIFA 2020!!

[BillsFan4]

Side note - this makes the 7th different head coach since the Pegulas bought the Sabres in 2011.

 

😬

[TBBills]

I guess he will be replaced soon enough anyway. Saw this coming b.c no one wants to coach the Sabres TBH.

Edited June 29, 2021 by TBBills

[The Jokeman]

59 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

Side note - this makes the 7th different head coach since the Pegulas bought the Sabres in 2011.

 

😬

Although he struggled I felt Bylsma was our best HC during the Pegula era and he and GMTM were let go way too early. 

[4merper4mer]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Donnie Meatballs will be named head coach of the Sabres today.

 

There's a lot of excuse-making for Jack being unable to succeed with the players he's surrounded by. I think there was always some talent on the Sabres and I blame the parade of bad coaches for misapplying it. But to me Jack never exuded leadership like Josh Allen does. Grant it Josh is in one of the best situations a young QB can be in. But I always got a woe-is-me vibe from Eichel. He expected others to help him succeed, not the other way around.

I agree in general and there are a few things I find weird.  They had that little web series going with Eichel and Allen called captain to captain or some such but then it disappeared,  Josh seemed much more comfortable on that thing than Jack as well as in interviews in general.  None of this stuff is stand out obvious to me but there are a lot of missing pieces.

[K-9]

2 hours ago, Jauronimo said:

I am concerned about Granato's lack of experience in managing a soccer club.  If my research is correct, Don has zero EPL experience.  He can't even play FIFA 2020!!

Tears, Jauronimo. Tears, I tell ya. Comedy gold!

As for the hire, congrats to Granato. He has certainly paid his dues and deserves the shot. Something tells me he just might be the right coach for this team at this particular time in the team’s development curve. 

Edited June 29, 2021 by K-9

[QCity]

If you want more insight to the type of coach Granato is and have some free time...

 

 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

On 6/25/2021 at 6:10 PM, 4merper4mer said:

 

Eichel is from Boston, a town filled with self aggrandizing, arrogant, immature people.  You can take the kid out of Boston but maybe you can’t take the Boston out of the kid.

[Beast]

18 hours ago, Jauronimo said:

I am concerned about Granato's lack of experience in managing a soccer club.  If my research is correct, Don has zero EPL experience.  He can't even play FIFA 2020!!

 

I wonder if he put on his Groucho Marx glasses and went into bars in Buffalo to get the feel of what the fans think about the team.

[4merper4mer]

18 hours ago, The Jokeman said:

Although he struggled I felt Bylsma was our best HC during the Pegula era and he and GMTM were let go way too early. 

GMTM was let go too early?  Shirley you can’t be serious.  He was given a pile of assets to build a team and turned that into a pile of crap all the while talking down to anyone and everyone within earshot.  He was quite possibly the worst GM in the history of professional sports.

[Greg S]

I still find it strange that the Pegula's can hit a HR with the Bills but strike out constantly with the Sabres. I get that they are different sports but finding the right people to run your franchise is the same no matter what sport. The Pegula's are lucky the Bills are doing very well otherwise the pitchforks and knives would be out to run them out of town.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

55 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

GMTM was let go too early?  Shirley you can’t be serious.  He was given a pile of assets to build a team and turned that into a pile of crap all the while talking down to anyone and everyone within earshot.  He was quite possibly the worst GM in the history of professional sports.

Plus, he had that strange 'Dwight Schrute' vibe about him...🤔

[Ted Striker]

1 hour ago, 4merper4mer said:

Shirley you can’t be serious.

 

[BillsFan4]

https://theathletic.com/2680565/2021/06/30/live-qa-john-vogl-answers-your-buffalo-sabres-don-granato-and-jack-eichel-questions/
 

Quote

John, any sense on who the Sabres might covet at #1 overall?

John Vogl: Terry Pegula is a fan of Owen Power, I've been told. The scouting staff likes all the guys from Michigan. So Power will go first, and the Sabres will try to get another pick to take Matt Beniers or Kent Johnson

 

[BillsFan4]

 

[TBBills]

19 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

https://theathletic.com/2680565/2021/06/30/live-qa-john-vogl-answers-your-buffalo-sabres-don-granato-and-jack-eichel-questions/
 

 

Tell Terry to stay silent.

[The Jokeman]

On 6/30/2021 at 9:40 AM, 4merper4mer said:

GMTM was let go too early?  Shirley you can’t be serious.  He was given a pile of assets to build a team and turned that into a pile of crap all the while talking down to anyone and everyone within earshot.  He was quite possibly the worst GM in the history of professional sports.

Marv Levy was a far worse GM than GMTM. While I think GMTM gave too much in some of his trades but at least guys he got produced like Adams thus far.

[4merper4mer]

1 hour ago, The Jokeman said:

Marv Levy was a far worse GM than GMTM. While I think GMTM gave too much in some of his trades but at least guys he got produced like Adams thus far.

Shirley. Produced losses maybe.

[BADOLBILZ]

On 6/30/2021 at 9:58 AM, Greg S said:

I still find it strange that the Pegula's can hit a HR with the Bills but strike out constantly with the Sabres. I get that they are different sports but finding the right people to run your franchise is the same no matter what sport. The Pegula's are lucky the Bills are doing very well otherwise the pitchforks and knives would be out to run them out of town.

 

 

It's not strange.

 

Ralph Wilson was a terrible football team owner..........he didn't know how to build a winner......he was meddlesome, mercurial and prone to decisions made in anger.........but he still ran into a few good decisions.     The best bold decision he ever made in the post merger era was actually paying the going rate for Chuck Knox.........then he stupidly ran Chuck Knox out of town......but was too cheap to fire all the former LA Rams personnel people in the front office that Knox had brought with him and they ended up scouting and drafting the foundation of those SB teams and developing a young Bill Polian etc..   A decision to save money accidentally lead to about 12 years of good football.......the only sustained stretch where it looked like Ralph had a clue.

 

The Pegula's had no idea how to build winning organizations in pro sports either.....which was predictable.......they were entirely new to it.   The problem with the hockey end is that they haven't accepted that they are clueless there yet.    The Bills were different........they hadn't ever attended a Bills game in OP in person until they bought the team........and they lived in OP!.......they clearly were very casual fans.    They were desperate to hand the reigns to the Bills off to someone when they hired McDermott because they knew they didn't know sh*t about football and it was pretty clear that when you fail at football you become a national laughingstock.   They wanted to avoid that kind of scrutiny.

 

With hockey, Terry Pegula grew up a big hockey fan and thinks he knows a lot about the sport........and when you lose in the NHL nobody from outta' town really notices........so the chaos will likely continue until the family either accepts their limitations as hockey ops decision makers........or runs into good fortune.  

[BillsVet]

The Sabres right now are essentially where the Bills were circa 2006-2010: stuck in a never-ending cycle of stupid.  Ralph hiring/promoting people he knew as GM  who wouldn't work in the same role for 31 other teams.  And that only happened when he saw an outside the organization hire fail.  

 

And now with the HC, hire, it's clear the Sabres went down the path of least resistance and hired someone no one else considered.  Similar to Chan Gailey in 2010.

 

Now they're trading/letting your best players hit UFA only to talk about draft picks under team control for a few years.  Not to mention, the late Wilson years of cutting costs, albeit for different reasons.  

 

At this point, as @BADOLBILZ notes, they either give up control or luck into success.  I have a hard time seeing the former happen with the meddling that happens in that front office.  And I don't see Kevyn Adams being the type to tell ownership to stay out of his way.