PEGULA CREATED SABRES MESS, NOW HE NEEDS TO FIX IT THEN GET OUT OF THE WAY

[flyercanuck]

http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/terry-pegula-created-sabres-mess-now-he-needs-to-fix-it-then-get-out-of-the-way

 

 

In every tangible way that can be measured in on-ice performance, Terry Pegula has been a disaster as an owner. His next hire is his most important to date.

When Terry Pegula took over as the owner of the Buffalo Sabres in February of 2011, he won the press conference. He talked about how the Sabres would no longer be shackled by financial constraints and said, “From this point forward, the Buffalo Sabres’ sole reason for existence will be to win the Stanley Cup.” He talked about how becoming a contender would be a process of three or fewer years. He teared up when he saw Gilbert Perreault. Newly minted team president Ted Black sent out a clear message by saying, “if you want to play for the best owner in the league, come to Buffalo.” He held a rally outside the arena and everyone cheered.

Yes, Terry Pegula won the press conference that day. He has won almost nothing since. But, boy, do the Sabres ever have a nice dressing room.

 

Pegula deserves a ton of credit for saving the Sabres and his efforts to revitalize downtown Buffalo and that arena area have been nothing short of spectacular. The Saturday morning of the draft last June, I looked out my hotel window to see the Canalside District buzzing with activity, including an outdoor yoga class in which hundreds of people were participating. A few years prior to that, you would have been able to count the number of people occupying that area on one hand. Perhaps even one finger.

But the fact remains that in every tangible way that can be measured in on-ice performance, Pegula has been a disaster as an owner. The day he officially took over, the Sabres were in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a 27-25-6 record. And for a while things were looking up. The Sabres rallied to make the playoffs that year, then bowed out in the first round to the Philadelphia Flyers, then jumped out to a 5-0-1 start the next season.

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But it has been a complete disaster since. With the firing of GM Tim Murray and coach Dan Bylsma, Pegula has continued to throw good money after bad. The next coach the Sabres hire will be the fifth of Pegula’s tenure. The team has a record of 188-232-62 with Pegula as owner and his team has not played a playoff game since that Game 7 loss to Philadelphia six years ago. In fact, the Sabres have become a prime example that money cannot buy a championship. Money spent wisely can win championships, to be sure. But money frittered away on the wrong players and the wrong people running the team allows you to do nothing but spin your wheels.

He has had ample help in Buffalo, but Terry Pegula got the Sabres into this mess and it’s imperative that he gets them out. Not content to be an owner who sits in the background and hires people to do their jobs, Pegula has placed himself front-and-center. When he bought the Sabres, he didn’t need to go spouting off about winning the Stanley Cup and spending all sorts of money. Sabres fans were just grateful that they had someone who was willing to provide some stability and save their team. The words Pegula said that day now ring very hollow, and are a stark reminder to all those rich guys out there that running a successful sports franchise is a completely different challenge than running a successful business.

Perhaps it’s just a perception, but the Sabres seem to be the NHL’s longest-running soap opera. They seem to be in the news for all the wrong reasons. Prior to the Murray-Bylsma firings, all the talk was whether or not Jack Eichel was a coach killer. He had some very pointed comments about his teammates and organization during the exit interviews and a report surfaced, which he and his agent denied, that he had no interest in signing a contract extension with the Sabres if Bylsma was kept on as coach.

This is the furthest thing from the winning culture Pegula seemed so bent on establishing when he took over. As is the case in any endeavor, the culture that is established starts right at the top and filters down. It is absolutely essential that he go about changing the culture by hiring the right people to run the hockey side of things and let them do their jobs. Whether that means bringing in Dean Lombardi as GM, who perhaps would give Darryl Sutter another coaching job, or hiring someone from outside the NHL’s GM and coaching recycling bin, this might be the most important hire Pegula makes. To be sure, between his hockey and football teams, even he has to be getting tired of paying people not to work for him.

By all accounts, Terry Pegula is a good man and a stand-up guy. And we know he has a lot of money. He’s a billionaire, which seems to have a lot of currency these days. A lot of people voted a billionaire into the highest office in the land on the logic that if he could run businesses that successfully, he could also run a country. Of course it’s not that easy, either in high-stakes politics or relatively low-stakes sports. But the sooner Pegula makes the right choices in Buffalo and gets out of his own way, the better off the Sabres are going to be.

[Samifan]

Living in WNY, I don't think that will be possible. Pegula saved the Sabres, Buffalo Bills and done a ton to revitalize the dumpster that was downtown Buffalo but the dude has a tremendous ego. He has refused to put experienced operations people in charge of either the Sabres or Bills and both teams have been stuck in the mud since he took ownership of them. In his presser he said he regretted not being more involved in the last round of GM/Coach hiring for the Sabres. Well he was DIRECTLY responsible for bringing the Rex Ryan circus to town and how did that work out? Guy needs to stay in West Palm Beach and just keep mailing checks to Buffalo instead of walking around town expecting people to kiss his ring or something else......

[Puck_Pun]

[Buffalo Rick]

Pegula is not a Jerry Jones type owner so the above is just crazy rant by a Flyers fan that should look at his own damn house before he trash's ours.  Are you guys in any better shape than us?  Hell no.  In fact, at least we have a guy like Jack Eichel to move on with.  We have draft pics that we can give Murray credit for.  Chosing Murray was not a bad thing at the time.  Its over now so looking back serves us no purpose.  Pegula saved both of our teams.  And we are SMALL MARKET AS SMALL MARKET GETS.  So he deserves praise as we would not have a team without him.  Golisano did nothing to help the Sabres.  He delayed the turnaround.  But Buffalo was a force in this league for years with Miller and Ruff here.  Now someone else has to come in and will inherit a far better team than Murray did.  I do not know who they are talking to but I sure hope Rick Dudley is on the list.  I am totally OK with Ruff coming back. But if I could only have one, I take Miller over any goalie that is likely to be on the open market.  I know what he can do with a good team in front of him.  He does not lose every freakin shootout like Lehner.  Ruff is a motivator.  He can come in here and win.  Go ahead, say what you want. 'We must wait to see what money bags does.  Even constant posts by one Buffalo Rick, which he might actually see here or there, are not going to sway him.  But I will put my two cents in and I was on the airwaves here the other night with my opinon

[ruxpin]

15 minutes ago, Hockey Junkie said:

Are you guys in any better shape than us?  Hell no.

 

No.  We're not.   By any measure.   Both on ice and at the ownership/management level.   Philly also changes coaches like most of us change socks.   And on ice, we finished with a better record than Buffalo, but I wouldn't argue that that really makes us better in terms of prognosis.   I think Buffalo has some decent groundwork laid, it just needs to keep pushing on.   I think Philly is poised to get better than it is, but so are the Sabres.   Who knows who gets better and faster than the other, but at this stage I wouldn't bet against Buffalo.

 

But none of that changes the critique on Pegula.   There are may ways in which he's NOT Jerry Jones.   Agreed.   But he needs to bring in some hockey people and then let them do what they do and step away.

[Samifan]

@Hockey Junkie never said Pegula was like Jerry Jones. Pegula is the exact opposite when it comes to public speaking in front of cameras, he hates it. My point is that he refuses to put strong experiences people in senior positions with either of his teams because he thinks he can run them like his oil business. It will be interesting to see what he does because I think he has finally realized Buffalo fans are sick of average seasons and not making the playoffs. 

[Buffalo Rick]

3 hours ago, ruxpin said:

 

No.  We're not.   By any measure.   Both on ice and at the ownership/management level.   Philly also changes coaches like most of us change socks.   And on ice, we finished with a better record than Buffalo, but I wouldn't argue that that really makes us better in terms of prognosis.   I think Buffalo has some decent groundwork laid, it just needs to keep pushing on.   I think Philly is poised to get better than it is, but so are the Sabres.   Who knows who gets better and faster than the other, but at this stage I wouldn't bet against Buffalo.

 

But none of that changes the critique on Pegula.   There are may ways in which he's NOT Jerry Jones.   Agreed.   But he needs to bring in some hockey people and then let them do what they do and step away.

Well yes but Murray and Bylsma were not considered to be chopped liver.  I mean, I do not think anyone expected playoffs this year.  They simply wanted to develope their youth, Eichel included and move from horrible to average/respectable at a rebuilding stage.  But in hockey, nobody has patience.  You are supposed to fix it NOW.  In football they give you more rope.  I am not sure who he will hire but he will be advised.  

[ruxpin]

28 minutes ago, Hockey Junkie said:

Well yes but Murray and Bylsma were not considered to be chopped liver.  I mean, I do not think anyone expected playoffs this year.  They simply wanted to develope their youth, Eichel included and move from horrible to average/respectable at a rebuilding stage.  But in hockey, nobody has patience.  You are supposed to fix it NOW.  In football they give you more rope.  I am not sure who he will hire but he will be advised.  

That's just it. I think they largely had this on schedule. And then got fired for it. 

 

I haven't liked all of Murray's moves, but I thought he deserved longer.  By the way, I didn't like the Okposo signing and I know he's facing health issues, but up until then he turned out really well. I didn't think he took enough advantage of being next to Tavares. I'm starting to think maybe that wasn't Okposo's fault. 

 

Anyway, I think it's a really quick and unnecessary trigger on Murray. 

 

I've no problem with the firing of Bylsma, despite the fact it's 4 coaches in a very short period of time.. You've sounded like you didn't like him. I don't either.  Do you suppose it was that hire that cost Murray his job?  Or did he fight Pegula about firing him?  I just wonder if the coach situation is what cost the GM his job rather than the on ice personnel. 

 

Thoughts? 

[Samifan]

I think that Murray refused to fire the coach so Pegula fired them both. In his presser, Pegula repeated several times that the organization needed better "character and communication". Hard to imagine Murray's character changed in the short time since he  was given an extension by Pegula.  Still wondering if Eichel has something to do with them both being gone.....

[Buffalo Rick]

2 hours ago, Samifan said:

@Hockey Junkie never said Pegula was like Jerry Jones. Pegula is the exact opposite when it comes to public speaking in front of cameras, he hates it. My point is that he refuses to put strong experiences people in senior positions with either of his teams because he thinks he can run them like his oil business. It will be interesting to see what he does because I think he has finally realized Buffalo fans are sick of average seasons and not making the playoffs. 

It's tough to know what the best decision is now 

[Buffalo Rick]

12 hours ago, ruxpin said:

That's just it. I think they largely had this on schedule. And then got fired for it. 

 

I haven't liked all of Murray's moves, but I thought he deserved longer.  By the way, I didn't like the Okposo signing and I know he's facing health issues, but up until then he turned out really well. I didn't think he took enough advantage of being next to Tavares. I'm starting to think maybe that wasn't Okposo's fault. 

 

Anyway, I think it's a really quick and unnecessary trigger on Murray. 

 

I've no problem with the firing of Bylsma, despite the fact it's 4 coaches in a very short period of time.. You've sounded like you didn't like him. I don't either.  Do you suppose it was that hire that cost Murray his job?  Or did he fight Pegula about firing him?  I just wonder if the coach situation is what cost the GM his job rather than the on ice personnel. 

 

Thoughts? 

We wil likely never know.  Bylsma does not know.  And Murray is never going to tell.  He has more to worry about, like his own future.  The Sabres are a bad memory for them now.  The one thing I always liked about Ruff is he was a true coach at game time. He did not just sit there with his blank stare like Bylsma.  He screamed at his players and at the officials.   He has heart.  Love him or hate him, he gives you 100%.  I wonder myself how it went down and am pretty shocked myself that BOTH were fired.   I might have not been so shocked by one.  But both?  That did shock me.  And I am more surprised it was Murray than Bylsma.  But in fairness to Bylsma, he really did not have quite enough NHL level talent to deal with. But he is no Lindy Ruff.   I do not care if he won the cup in Pittsburgh. Hell, you or I could have stood behind that bench and called line changes and won.  Ruff has had  a ton of success  without winning one yet. He went to 4 Eastern finals and one Cup final with Micheal Peca as arguably his top player.  No Vanek, or Pommenville in his prime or Roy.  Or Briere or Drury.  A bunch of guys that nobody can name to this day that almost won it. 

[flyercanuck]

@Hockey Junkie

 

The article was written by a senior writer for the Hockey News, not some crazed rant by a Flyer fan (I"ll never know why you can't use basic reading comprehension to figure this stuff out). 

 

Pegulas ownership took a playoff team, and turned it into a non-playoff team. As much of a jerk as Jerry Jones is, he'd already won THREE championships in the time Pegula has owned the Sabres. 

 

If you want to say Pegula is a smart businessman...I agree. If you want to say he's great for the city of Buffalo...I agree. If you try to tell me he knows what he's doing as the owner of a sports franchise...Ville Leino, Christian Ehrhoff, Cody Hodgson, Matt Molson and Evander Kane say hello. 

[Samifan]

2 minutes ago, flyercanuck said:

@Hockey Junkie

 

The article was written by a senior writer for the Hockey News, not some crazed rant by a Flyer fan (I"ll never know why you can't use basic reading comprehension to figure this stuff out). 

 

Pegulas ownership took a playoff team, and turned it into a non-playoff team. As much of a jerk as Jerry Jones is, he'd already won THREE championships in the time Pegula has owned the Sabres. 

 

If you want to say Pegula is a smart businessman...I agree. If you want to say he's great for the city of Buffalo...I agree. If you try to tell me he knows what he's doing as the owner of a sports franchise...Ville Leino says hello. 

I think the crazy rant of a Flyers fan comment was directed at me because I refuse to drink the Pegula/Sabres/Buffalo Bills kool-aid.

 

 

[flyercanuck]

2 minutes ago, Samifan said:

I think the crazy rant of a Flyers fan comment was directed at me because I refuse to drink the Pegula/Sabres/Buffalo Bills kool-aid.

 

 

 

Well, whether it was directed at you or me, at least he got to mention Miller and Ruff in yet another post. 

[Buffalo Rick]

16 hours ago, ruxpin said:

That's just it. I think they largely had this on schedule. And then got fired for it. 

 

I haven't liked all of Murray's moves, but I thought he deserved longer.  By the way, I didn't like the Okposo signing and I know he's facing health issues, but up until then he turned out really well. I didn't think he took enough advantage of being next to Tavares. I'm starting to think maybe that wasn't Okposo's fault. 

 

Anyway, I think it's a really quick and unnecessary trigger on Murray. 

 

I've no problem with the firing of Bylsma, despite the fact it's 4 coaches in a very short period of time.. You've sounded like you didn't like him. I don't either.  Do you suppose it was that hire that cost Murray his job?  Or did he fight Pegula about firing him?  I just wonder if the coach situation is what cost the GM his job rather than the on ice personnel. 

 

Thoughts? 

I responded to this post below even though for some reason after quoting you it did not come out that way in the post.  But the post below was an answer to you, not to the ranting Flyer fanatics next to you.  LOL

[JR Ewing]

7 hours ago, flyercanuck said:

@Hockey Junkie

 

The article was written by a senior writer for the Hockey News, not some crazed rant by a Flyer fan (I"ll never know why you can't use basic reading comprehension to figure this stuff out). 

 

Pegulas ownership took a playoff team, and turned it into a non-playoff team. As much of a jerk as Jerry Jones is, he'd already won THREE championships in the time Pegula has owned the Sabres. 

 

If you want to say Pegula is a smart businessman...I agree. If you want to say he's great for the city of Buffalo...I agree. If you try to tell me he knows what he's doing as the owner of a sports franchise...Ville Leino, Christian Ehrhoff, Cody Hodgson, Matt Molson and Evander Kane say hello. 

 

Pegula has much more in common with Daryl Katz than Mike Ilitch.

 

[murraycraven]

Pegula is the hockey version of Daniel Snider...   the end.

[radoran]

On 4/24/2017 at 9:22 AM, flyercanuck said:

Pegulas ownership took a playoff team, and turned it into a non-playoff team. As much of a jerk as Jerry Jones is, he'd already won THREE championships in the time Pegula has owned the Sabres.

 

The Sabres had two playoff rounds in four years before Pegula bought the team. To call that " a playoff team" is to call the current Flyers "a playoff team"*

 

As for Jerry Jones, he took a team that had won three Super Bowls in four years and made it into one that has three playoff wins in 21 years since. #heckuvajob

 

On 4/24/2017 at 9:22 AM, flyercanuck said:

If you want to say Pegula is a smart businessman...I agree. If you want to say he's great for the city of Buffalo...I agree. If you try to tell me he knows what he's doing as the owner of a sports franchise...Ville Leino, Christian Ehrhoff, Cody Hodgson, Matt Molson and Evander Kane say hello. 

 

You should maybe talk to Darcy Regier about some of those signings - and Tim Murray for the others. I don't get the feeling that Pegula went out and said "GO SIGN VILLE LEINO FOR 6 YEARS $27M" (unlike, say, some other owner who turfed a Cup Finalist by demanding his team sign a goalie*). And at the time Kassian for Hodgson was widely believed to be a good move for the Sabres.

 

Ehrhoff flamed out and Moulson is perpetually overrated, but all Evander Kane has done as a Sabre is score more goals than either Claude Giroux or Jake Voracek over the past two seasons*.

 

In the end, Pegula trusted Regier on the "tank" philosophy and then hired a rookie GM in Murray. Both decisions turned out to be bad ones in the short term, but Buffalo's got a lot going for them at this point. And I really do think that Pegula tried to put "hockey guys" in that position and let them do their job.

 

Lastly, if a team going through coaches like a slapshot through a wet paper bag is the sign of poor ownership and management, well....*

 

 

 

* b-b-b-b-but THE FLYERS!!!!

 

[flyercanuck]

29 minutes ago, radoran said:

 

The Sabres had two playoff rounds in four years before Pegula bought the team. To call that " a playoff team" is to call the current Flyers "a playoff team"*

 

As for Jerry Jones, he took a team that had won three Super Bowls in four years and made it into one that has three playoff wins in 21 years since. #heckuvajob

 

 

You should maybe talk to Darcy Regier about some of those signings - and Tim Murray for the others. I don't get the feeling that Pegula went out and said "GO SIGN VILLE LEINO FOR 6 YEARS $27M" (unlike, say, some other owner who turfed a Cup Finalist by demanding his team sign a goalie*). And at the time Kassian for Hodgson was widely believed to be a good move for the Sabres.

 

Ehrhoff flamed out and Moulson is perpetually overrated, but all Evander Kane has done as a Sabre is score more goals than either Claude Giroux or Jake Voracek over the past two seasons*.

 

In the end, Pegula trusted Regier on the "tank" philosophy and then hired a rookie GM in Murray. Both decisions turned out to be bad ones in the short term, but Buffalo's got a lot going for them at this point. And I really do think that Pegula tried to put "hockey guys" in that position and let them do their job.

 

Lastly, if a team going through coaches like a slapshot through a wet paper bag is the sign of poor ownership and management, well....*

 

 

 

* b-b-b-b-but THE FLYERS!!!!

 

 

 

 Not sure what the Flyers have to do with Pegula and his Sabres...I'll say not much.

 

 As for Jones winning 3 championships, then not much else....that's still 3 MORE championships than the Sabres have in their entire history. Pretty sure Sabre fans would take ONE and be happy. And I'm not the one who brought Jones into the discussion...I just pointed out that he's got 3 championships. 

 

 As for who's responsible for the drafting, trades and FA signings, I'm pretty sure Pegula hired those guys. Or his wife. Either way, that kind of puts at least part, if not all the blame on him doesn't it? I mean he's the one saying the Sabres were in existence for one thing, and that was to win the cup. And 6 years later, can't even make the playoffs. That's some progress. 

 

If you want to compare them to other franchises...sure, there's some equally as bad. I just don't think his gameplan was to be equally as bad when he bought them.

[radoran]

Just now, flyercanuck said:

As for who's responsible for the drafting, trades and FA signings, I'm pretty sure Pegula hired those guys. Or his wife. Either way, that kind of puts at least part, if not all the blame on him doesn't it? I mean he's the one saying the Sabres were in existence for one thing, and that was to win the cup. And 6 years later, can't even make the playoffs. That's some progress. 

 

If you want to compare them to other franchises...sure, there's some equally as bad. I just don't think his gameplan was to be equally as bad when he bought them.

 

Darcy Regier was there when he bought the team and was the architect of the tank.

 

Regier made the Leino signing and the Hodgson deal and the Ehrhoff deal and the Moulson deal.

 

But, no, Pegula didn't hire him. Quite frankly, I said at the time he should have cleaned house of the old regime, but he held on. That was a mistake, yes. However, Regier's resume as GM only included three Conference Finals and a Cup Final.

 

And I believe I noted that hiring Murray was a mistake as well. So, kind of acknowledging "blame" yes? But I don't think you can say the "owner" was "responsible" for individual player moves. Pegula has not been a "Dan Snyder/Jerry Jones" type inserting himself directly into personnel decisions.

 

So I'm not sure what Jerry Jones had to do with the discussion, but he was able to outspend other teams when he got his three championships and he has three playoff wins since.

 

3 minutes ago, flyercanuck said:

 Not sure what the Flyers have to do with Pegula and his Sabres...I'll say not much.

 

You haven't been following along at home? It's Rick's mantra!

 

b-b-b-but THE FLYERS!!!

 

[radoran]

This is a pretty good take on the situation:

http://thehockeywriters.com/do-buffalo-sabres-fans-care-too-much-about-toronto/

 

Quote

Another big thing that set Toronto apart from Buffalo was building a team with adequate and proper depth. This is a direct indictment of Sabres’ front office management.

 

And there is no question that the owner takes the responsibility for his hires and his decisions.

 

It's hard to then translate that into "the owner made this trade or that signing."

 

Pegula put (or left) "hockey guys" in positions and the "hockey guys" failed.

[flyercanuck]

55 minutes ago, radoran said:

This is a pretty good take on the situation:

http://thehockeywriters.com/do-buffalo-sabres-fans-care-too-much-about-toronto/

 

 

And there is no question that the owner takes the responsibility for his hires and his decisions.

 

It's hard to then translate that into "the owner made this trade or that signing."

 

Pegula put (or left) "hockey guys" in positions and the "hockey guys" failed.

 

 Ya, Pegula isn't the one making player decisions.

 

 But he IS the one who hires (or in Regiers case, employs) the guys who do. Smart owners figure out who can run a hockey op...(see Maple Leafs...finally?!?!)

 

  So far, Pegulas greatest impact (not counting buying the club) is a tank job that they came in 2nd in! So far, his ownership of a pro sports franchise (or dare I say franchises) pales in comparison to what he's accomplished in his other business ventures. So far, he's flopped. It's been 6 years.

[radoran]

20 minutes ago, flyercanuck said:

  So far, Pegulas greatest impact (not counting buying the club) is a tank job that they came in 2nd in! So far, his ownership of a pro sports franchise (or dare I say franchises) pales in comparison to what he's accomplished in his other business ventures. So far, he's flopped. It's been 6 years.

 

No question that it's been a disappointment, but I think you can see that the Sabres are at least pointed somewhat in the right direction.

 

They definitely need better out of the front office, but I'd take where they are now over trying to spit-and-bailing-wire the remnants of Pominville/Vanek/Roy/Stafford teams into a winner.

[flyercanuck]

35 minutes ago, radoran said:

 

No question that it's been a disappointment, but I think you can see that the Sabres are at least pointed somewhat in the right direction.

 

They definitely need better out of the front office, but I'd take where they are now over trying to spit-and-bailing-wire the remnants of Pominville/Vanek/Roy/Stafford teams into a winner.

 

I agree 110%. 

[Samifan]

Wow even a former Captain wants no part of the dumpster fire in Buffalo....