BillsFan4

Personally, I never got the impression Adams was going to conduct a wide coaching search. I thought it sounded like he had a handful of very specific candidates in mind. He even said he was going to move quickly if all went as planned. I think an argument could be made that Ruff was the best available candidate for Buffalo, and maybe even the best available veteran coach on the market. Maybe you give the nod to Berube for the Cup win. But on overall resume, Lindy was right there with any available coach if not better. I think an argument could be made for any of Ruff, Gallant or Berube. Depends what the team needs. I’d say for Buffalo, Ruff was the best fit. I just think Kevyn Adams vision for the roster is pretty much exactly how New Jersey played, and we saw how successful that was last season. and I don’t at all buy that Brunette was responsible for it. The devils had good underlying numbers before Brunette got there and after he left, and they got worse after Lindy was fired. Also - agree on Adams and changes this offseason. I think we will definitely see a new bottom six but I hope he also makes an addition to the top 6.

we don’t really know who else Adams interviewed. He very well could have interviewed Gallant and/or Berube, etc. It’s also possible that Berube wasn’t interested (I think Gallant probably was). There aren’t a ton of accomplished, experienced veteran head coach available. I read rumors they interviewed Mike Yeo but I have no idea if it’s true. who else is there that meets the criteria? I don’t think they had any interest in Todd McLellan and I don’t blame them. Reports are that he purposely tanked his Sabres interview last time around (when they interviewed him before hiring Krueger iirc). I hope they did interview other candidates, if for no other reason than to hear their evaluation of the Sabres roster/players, etc. But even if they only talked to Lindy I’m ok with it. The fit seemed obvious. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn they talked to him before they even fired Granato.

I actually love this hire. I thought he was the best fit of the veteran coaches currently available. I would have been good with Berube or Gallant. The rumors of Mike Yeo scared me. I thought Boudreau would be a good fit too but after reading more about him I don’t think he’s the disciplined coach we needed right now. Berube- I thought the style of game he likes to play didn’t really fit this roster. Gallant - I thought his style of play fit well but I had questions about the overall fit that I didn’t have with Lindy. I’ve seen it reporter that Gallant relied on veterans to lead and the Sabres don’t have any. There were also the exit interviews from the rangers players last season after he was fired. Reminded me of Buffalo’s sit interviews this season. Lots of talk about needing better structure, etc. and if you liked Gallant, you should be excited about Lindy because Lindy just coached circles around him in last year’s playoffs! Gallant had no answers for the changes Lindy made to the way NJ attacked and defended NY. Ruff just checked all the boxes for me. I feel like he’s exactly what this team needs. The way he had New Jersey playing last year is EXACTLY how we hope the Sabres can play in the future. Aggressive, high speed offensive attack with constant in your face pressure on defense. If Ruff gets the Sabres playing like the 2022/23 Devils, and actually gets good goaltending (unlike in NJ), the Sabres could be a legit powerhouse. Fans will be thrilled if we look like that 2022/23 Devils team did! I know I certainly would. He’s a good, well respected veteran coach (and probably even more so in Buffalo) with a history of playoffs, and winning rounds in the playoffs too, + winning with multiple teams. He’s had 50+ win seasons with every team he’s coached (here in Buffalo, in Dallas and just last year with NJ). He will be a true leader for the team. He’s someone they can all look up to and follow. I don’t expect buy-in to be an issue. He will hold the players accountable. He will run tough practices. He’s one of the best tacticians in the NHL. He’s great at in game, and between game adjustments. and NOBODY will take more pride in this job than Lindy Ruff. Nobody wants to get Buffalo back to being a winner more than Lindy. Nobody is invested more in Buffalo than Lindy. He still lives here! I also think he can help repair this rift between the team/players and fans. Then add in that Kevyn Adams has coached by Lindy’s side and it just made too much sense not to happen. I honestly even think that Lindy becoming available in March could have been when Adams started seriously considering moving on from Granato.

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Toronto got their @** kicked! lol

Ah, Palmieri…. How did you miss that?!! Soo close to tying the game. Im rooting for the NYI in this series because I want Carolina’s season over ASAP just in case Rod Brind’amor somehow becomes available.

I wonder if this might be related to the NFL getting ready to approve investments from private equity firms. They were set to vote on it at the league meeting in March. The vote was pushed another month but it sounds like it’s expected to pass. https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/nfl-teams-private-equity-funds-institutional-investment-rule-changes/ I would not be at all surprised if that’s who bought shares of the Bills. There was an article about this back in February. https://www.crainsnewyork.com/sports-recreation/nfl-owners-face-huge-real-estate-taxes-keep-teams-family It would give Pegula access to cash for the new stadium construction, and it’d likely be a passive ownership investment which I think would suit them well.

There was a really interesting article in the athletic on the subject of trading down the other day. https://theathletic.com/5416007/2024/04/16/nfl-drafting-methods-insight-massey-thaler/

I meant raising the expectations for the team and fan base. We all were kind of expecting playoffs this year, as after last season it actually felt like a real possibility not just wishful thinking. Granato definitely played a part in that. I agree about Granato being too soft. But I think the timing of his firing was about right. I don’t really see an argument for him being fired last offseason. Maybe he should have been canned mid season. I could agree with that. But I think the players all seem ready for a new, more demanding coach now. They all now seem to realize that he needed to go for the team to take the next step. I don’t think that was the case earlier this season. Look at how the players stopped saluting the fans after they were chanting to fire Granato early this season. But now I think all the players seem ready to buy-in to a new, more demanding veteran coach. That’s important IMO. It makes the new coach’s job easier. That’s awesome!

coyotes officially moving to SLC. I never root for a team to move but this had to happen. This is the right move right now. And still gives Arizona a chance to get an NHL team back if they finally get an arena built. But you couldn’t make the coyotes play in that sub-par college arena for the next 3+ years.

This has been somewhat of a theme during locker clean out interviews: Every player has mentioned something about accountability being an issue and/or really wanting the next coach to hold them accountable. Most have also mentioned that they didn’t really have a structure in place to fall back on and that’s something they need. (Duh! I think even casual fans saw that… lol). They’re screaming for a good veteran coach. Brind’amor would be so perfect for this team. I wish it was a more realistic possibility. I would think Lindy, Berube and Gallant have to be 3 of the top candidates. Maybe Sullivan if he gets fired by Pittsburgh. Maybe Boudreau or Julien too? It’s going to be really interesting to see who the first couple/few interviews are with! I’m just glad we can actually discuss hiring one of these veteran coaches and know it’s a genuine possibility.

That’s my guess too. I think Adams really liked Granato and wanted to give him every opportunity to figure it out. I also doubt Adams was anxious to go to Pegula and say “hey, I know I extended Granato a year before we needed to but now I want to fire him before that extension even starts…”. lol I actually feel like this rebuild is progressing as it should for the most part. Granato was the right coach at the right time when he was hired. He did an excellent job rebuilding a bunch of broken players, developing the young guys and raising expectations. But like most successful rebuilds in the NHL, I think the Sabres now need that “win now” veteran coach to take the next step.

Yeah they both suck. lol I’d probably say I’d rather see the bruins win, just because there are rumors that Sheldon Keefe could be fired if the leafs lose in the 1st round and that’s a coach I’d like Buffalo to interview. Chances are he’d end up in Pittsburgh if he was fired though, and it doesn’t sound like Adams plans on waiting for the playoffs anyway. So I doubt it’ll matter.

Tons of injuries too, including to their #1 C and they lost their #1 D for the year in late November. That was a huge loss. They only had like 1/2 a dozen players that weren’t injured at some point this season. I do also wonder how much losing Andrew Brunette impacted them, and how big a part he was of that record setting NJ season in 2022/23. He was really impressive as an interim coach in FL and has been really impressive as Nashville’s head coach this season. But I think Lindy has enough of a track record before Brunette that I’m sure he was just as crucial to NJ’s success in 2022/23 as Brunette, if not more so.

thats the most pissed off and fired up I’ve ever seen Adams. I really liked almost everything he said. It sounds like he has a very clear vision of who he wants as the next head coach and I’m no longer worried it’s going to be another inexperienced coach. He said NHL head coaching experience is #1 (finally!!). He wants an experienced veteran that can show this team how to take the next step. And he wants someone that’s going to set a standard and hold the players accountable. He said the team is craving structure/discipline/accountability. refreshing press conference. It’s long but really worth a listen.

I never cheer when someone loses their job but this had to happen. I think that ⬆️ puts things into perspective. Granato was routinely out-coached and he’s had no answer for the adjustments teams have made to defending Buffalo. I am nervous that they are just going to promote Seth Appert. There were already rumors about it before Granato was fired. I will be beyond pissed if that happens. That would be the FOURTH head coach IN A ROW without any NHL head coaching experience. You can’t do that. You can’t hire back to back to back to back inexperienced head coaches. They 100% need to hire a head coach with experience, and there are a few good ones currently sitting unemployed. I don’t really want to bring Lindy back, but I’d take him over Appert if those were my 2 choices. I’d rather they hire someone like Berube or Boudreau or heck, even give me Quenneville (though I doubt that happens). Not Gallant. He’s not what Buffalo needs. I think he would be a poor fit. Brind’amor is my dream hire. He still hasn’t signed an extension in Carolina (afaik) and I believe his contract expires this offseason. Pegula should throw a pile of money at him! lol

Is episode 8 the end of the first season? I saw they released 8 episodes, but I was unsure if that was the complete season or not.

I am definitely planning on checking it out. I watched the preview and it looked interesting. I’m a big fan of the fallout series games. I think the fallout universe has enough potential to be a great TV series if done right. “The wasteland” in the games is such an interesting place filled with so many interesting characters, storylines and lots of dark humor.

Yes, that’s true. But he wasn’t fired as you claimed. And Pegula wanted to keep him. He just wasn’t willing to give extensions out since Marrone still had 2yrs on his contract. So I don’t really feel like anything I said was untrue. Do you think Pegula has done an overall good job hiring people in his time owning the Bills and Sabres? I’d say he did great hiring McDermott, and I credit McDermott more for Beane than Pegula. Otherwise I would say it’s been mostly bad hires and missses between the Sabres hockey and business side + the Bills business side (the football ops hires have been mostly Beane & McDermott). I did like how he was willing to swing for the fences early on in his ownership (like trying to hire Babcock). Those days seem gone now. I’d absolutely love to eat my words though, like if they threw a pile of money at Rod Brind’amor this offseason! lol

Marrone opted out of his contract.

I think the main thing Pegula is doing wrong is that he absolutely refuses to hire anyone with actual NHL experience in their job and then allow them to simply do their job. He has not hired a single GM with any experience, and only 1 coach with any experience (Bylsma), who he quickly fired because the players wanted him to. I feel like he keeps trying to be the “smartest guy in the room”, hiring these inexperienced coaches and GMs. I think he wants to find a young coach that can be around for many years, which sounds good in theory but it rarely happens in the NHL. I mean, Granato is the 6th longest tenured coach in the NHL right now. NHL coaches are hired to be fired. He also seems to value communication with ownership over actually being good at your job. I guess that’s why talks fell apart with Jim Rutherford. Imagine if they had hired him to be president of hockey ops years ago when they had discussions with him. Look how quickly he’s turned around Vancouver. I think with the Bills he got lucky. If it were up to Pegula alone, Whaley would probably still be GM. He wanted to keep Marrone. He hired Rex freaking Ryan (though I give him credit for firing him so quickly). They lucked into McDermott and Beane. It was reported that to hire McDermott/Beane, Pegula had to agree to give them total control of football operations. And it was also reported a couple years ago that the decision to give them total control over football operations is something Pegula regrets. Even with all the success. Yikes! I think we are damn lucky he found McDermott, who brought in Beane. I just hope like heck that both are never fired at the same time, otherwise I’d be very scared who he’d hire to replace them.

their current 13 years streak is 2 or 3 years longer than any other team in NHL history. Both the oilers and panthers hit 10 year streaks. Some say the panthers streak hit 11 years but that’s counting a season they were inactive. So I say 10 is more accurate. https://champsorchumps.us/drought/longest-nhl-playoff-drought#tab-drought-historic the one constant that entire 13 years? Ownership. Hard not to pin a lot of the blame for it on them.

https://theathletic.com/5404392/2024/04/10/sabres-playoffs-drought-streak/

of everything I’ve read on potential plans for the coyotes arena situation, this makes the most sense: they can’t keep playing in this little 4000 seat arena that doesn’t even have proper locker rooms for the players. It’s making it impossible for the coyotes to operate like a true NHL team. The NHL has been abundantly patient with Arizona and this arena situation. They’ve had multiple different proposed arena locations fall through over many years now, and now the latest one seems to yet again be under attack by Arizona politicians (the mayor this time, who made the new proposed location sound doubtful). Arizona has made and is making it extremely clear they have no interest in keeping the coyotes. i feel bad for Arizona fans, and as a Buffalo fan who knows what it’s like to live with the fear of losing your teams, I never root for relocation. But this situation is unique. They literally don’t have an home arena and haven’t been able to get one done over many years now. Even the Arizona voters have rejected numerous arena proposals iirc. If/when they ever actually get an arena built and ready to play in, then allow them to get an expansion team (although I’m not crazy about the idea of more expansion teams though). you definitely should! I’ve barely watched the Sabres in months now and I’ll be watching the playoffs. It’s hard to beat good playoff hockey. I look forward to it every year.

The cloud cover was definitely a downer but we still got to see it quite a few times. We had a great view when it first started shortly after 2pm. Then we got a good view when it was about 1/2 eclipsed, then saw it again for a while when it was about 3/4. Then maybe a dozen times when it was totally eclipsed, but those views only lasted maybe 3-15 seconds each time. The darkness was amazing. Just how quickly it went totally dark, then how quick it got light again 4 minutes later. It was almost like instant sunset and sunrise. So cool! I was not expecting it to be that drastic. Now I see what the hype is about being in the path of totality.