Michael Pachla: Growth of a Hockey Department

What can I say , another great blog . You rock !!

Thanks for the info

How's everyone feeling? Glad to see Irbe left the Capitals because..he just didn't like the Capitals.

What can I say , another great blog . You rock !!

Thanks for the info



- Maximum Signal

I knew pegula's additions were significant...but placing both departments side by side really shows how lean 2008 was as well as the breadth of pegula's commitment to the hockey department

Seems like we have enough glue with the new staff.

The news mentioned it is not sure if Devine is still with the team. Would be sad if he wasn't.

http://wivb.com/2014/08/0...-join-nolan-on-the-bench/

The news mentioned it is not sure if Devine is still with the team. Would be sad if he wasn't.
- cabin

good question...his roots are in scouting...like the guy...like what he's done since he took over for jim benning

The news mentioned it is not sure if Devine is still with the team. Would be sad if he wasn't.

http://wivb.com/2014/08/0...-join-nolan-on-the-bench/
- cabin

This wouldn't be the first time Channel 4 was behind the 8-ball. He's still there.

I knew pegula's additions were significant...but placing both departments side by side really shows how lean 2008 was as well as the breadth of pegula's commitment to the hockey department
- Michael Pachla

I'm going to use this comment as a jumping point if you don't mind bo0s.

It really aggravates me when people are so short sighted that they blame Pegula for the failures of this team and this city. Things like "Oh look, Pegula wants to buy the Bills, how fitting, now both teams can be terrible." It really blows my (frank)ing mind. It's so short sighted and ignorant that it really makes me wonder about the intelligence of sports fans as a whole. I know that die hard sports fans are the minority when it comes to total audience, but unintelligent, uninformed comments like that are simply ridiculous.

How can people blame an owner, who is simply an owner, for ruining a team he just purchased? He doesn't control the players in any capacity. All he does is fund the team, open staff employment and hands over the keys to the designated decision makers. Now, you can argue that he chose the wrong people to join the staff. When it comes to player and player related personnel, it's all on the GM. Pegula brought in Lafontaine and Patty hired (along with Pegula I'd bet) Murray. At this juncture it appears they made a great hiring.

I can go off on a bunch of tangents, but the point is Pegula has injected so much money into the Sabres and into the Buffalo community that very few owners have matched in their tenures as NHL owners. He's doing EVERYTHING off the ice as humanely possible. The staff, the arena, city improvements, trying to keep the damn Bills in Buffalo. What won't this guy do?

And to think, people say he's terrible because they throw the failings of Darcy Regier, a man I would have liked Pegula to dispose of immediately, directly upon Pegula. Pegula showed patience with Regier and Ruff and basically gave them a clean slate. It's a fantastic virtue to have. He gave him 3 years and then acted on what he (and we) personally thought of Regier all these years. We can't let this man rebuild this team a third time. The staff is HUGE, the players part of the arena is state of the art, Buffalo is on an upswing partially thanks to new downtown development amongst other things, all thanks to this guy. Enough of the short sighted BS.

Seems like we have enough glue with the new staff.
- SABRES 89

Our Tampa Bay imports have gone down 47%. We're trending up.

Michael Pachla: Growth of a Hockey Department
- Michael Pachla

nice blog

solid


good to see John Van Boxmeer getting a job as well as all those scouts in Europe

Well, at least there's still a Numminen on the staff.

I'm going to use this comment as a jumping point if you don't mind bo0s.

It really aggravates me when people are so short sighted that they blame Pegula for the failures of this team and this city. Things like "Oh look, Pegula wants to buy the Bills, how fitting, now both teams can be terrible." It really blows my (frank)ing mind. It's so short sighted and ignorant that it really makes me wonder about the intelligence of sports fans as a whole. I know that die hard sports fans are the

..........................................
- TheSabresTaco[TRUNCATED]

art, Buffalo is on an upswing partially thanks to new downtown development amongst other things, all thanks to this guy. Enough of the short sighted BS.

Well said. I was a huge Pegula critic when he first came on. He got off too a foolish start making promises and letting Darcy go wild with contracts. Its not that I didn't want him to be our owner, I wanted him to be sensible. I've since done an about face. He's made great choices and commitments and we're only at the tip of the iceberg as far as reaping those benefits as fans. Pegula and the Sabres are going to be a force to be reckoned with in hockey from here on out. The Sabres fan experience will be second to none.

As far as people saying if Pegula owns the Bills "they will both suck" makes me want to punch the poop out of things. You can obviously see is commitment to sports with the Sabres and Penn State. If your on planet earth in any capacity you can realize the Sabres are going to be much much better. And we have Bon Jovi and his cronies from Rodgers and Maple Leaf entertainment knocking at the door to buy the team while scouting stadium sites in Toronto. Would fans rather roll the dice with those guys? Plus all the other billionaires locally weren't even willing to buck up with "non-binding" bid, so where does that leave us? In addition to the fact that the Bills ALREADY SUCK probably worse than any team in history.

Golisano's problem is he believes the business of sports should follow the same logical, efficient model that other business does. Well it doesn't.

I'm going to use this comment as a jumping point if you don't mind bo0s.

It really aggravates me when people are so short sighted that they blame Pegula for the failures of this team and this city. Things like "Oh look, Pegula wants to buy the Bills, how fitting, now both teams can be terrible." It really blows my (frank)ing mind. It's so short sighted and ignorant that it really makes me wonder about the intelligence of sports fans as a whole. I know that die hard sports fans are the minority when it comes to total audience, but unintelligent, uninformed comments like that are simply ridiculous.

How can people blame an owner, who is simply an owner, for ruining a team he just purchased? He doesn't control the players in any capacity. All he does is fund the team, open staff employment and hands over the keys to the designated decision makers. Now, you can argue that he chose the wrong people to join the staff. When it comes to player and player related personnel, it's all on the GM. Pegula brought in Lafontaine and Patty hired (along with Pegula I'd bet) Murray. At this juncture it appears they made a great hiring.

I can go off on a bunch of tangents, but the point is Pegula has injected so much money into the Sabres and into the Buffalo community that very few owners have matched in their tenures as NHL owners. He's doing EVERYTHING off the ice as humanely possible. The staff, the arena, city improvements, trying to keep the damn Bills in Buffalo. What won't this guy do?

And to think, people say he's terrible because they throw the failings of Darcy Regier, a man I would have liked Pegula to dispose of immediately, directly upon Pegula. Pegula showed patience with Regier and Ruff and basically gave them a clean slate. It's a fantastic virtue to have. He gave him 3 years and then acted on what he (and we) personally thought of Regier all these years. We can't let this man rebuild this team a third time. The staff is HUGE, the players part of the arena is state of the art, Buffalo is on an upswing partially thanks to new downtown development amongst other things, all thanks to this guy. Enough of the short sighted BS.
- TheSabresTaco

Nobody's questioning that Pegula's heart was, and still is in the right place. However, he is still the ultimate decision maker, and the successes and failures of the team ultimately fall on him, just as in any other company. He has every "right" to do whatever he wants with the team. However, there's still a right way and a wrong way to do things, and that doesn't change simply because he's willing to throw an unlimited amount of money at it.

Terry Pegula still has a lot of growing to do as an owner. He tried to run this thing as a fan, and it imploded on him badly. There's no doubt in my mind that he's learned from it, and that if he had it all over again, he'd probably do things differently. However, he still has some growing to do, as evidenced by the Pat LaFontaine incident. I have no idea whose fault it ultimately was, but the bottom line is that he hired a guy to make great changes to his entity, and he either walked out or was let go less than 6 months later. Terry Pegula, from his opening press conference, said he wanted to emulate the Rooney family in Pittsburgh, when it comes to owning and running an organization. He still has a long way to go to get there. I think he will, but until he does, there is much criticism that is warranted. He hasn't "ruined" the team by any means. He has, however, raised legitimate questions as to whether he's truly capable turning his team into a championship one.

What can I say , another great blog . You rock !!

Thanks for the info



- Maximum Signal

Fixed

Nobody's questioning that Pegula's heart was, and still is in the right place. However, he is still the ultimate decision maker, and the successes and failures of the team ultimately fall on him, just as in any other company. He has every "right" to do whatever he wants with the team. However, there's still a right way and a wrong way to do things, and that doesn't change simply because he's willing to throw an unlimited amount of money at it.

Terry Pegula still has a lot of growing to do as an owner. He tried to run this thing as a fan, and it imploded on him badly. There's no doubt in my mind that he's learned from it, and that if he had it all over again, he'd probably do things differently. However, he still has some growing to do, as evidenced by the Pat LaFontaine incident. I have no idea whose fault it ultimately was, but the bottom line is that he hired a guy to make great changes to his entity, and he either walked out or was let go less than 6 months later. Terry Pegula, from his opening press conference, said he wanted to emulate the Rooney family in Pittsburgh, when it comes to owning and running an organization. He still has a long way to go to get there. I think he will, but until he does, there is much criticism that is warranted. He hasn't "ruined" the team by any means. He has, however, raised legitimate questions as to whether he's truly capable turning his team into a championship one.
- buffalofan19

I don't really have anything to disagree with here, but I will say he's doing everything in his power to make this a successful franchise with the massive amount of money he's placing into the staff. I think he's letting knowledgeable hockey minds make most of the hires here. He personally brought in Lafontaine and who the hell knows what happened with that. I'm sure he gave the final ok to hire Murray. Really, all he can do is hope he assisted in making the right choice for the GM. He has a lot of growing to do as an owner of a franchise, but I think he's on a great path, or so it seems.

I don't really have anything to disagree with here, but I will say he's doing everything in his power to make this a successful franchise with the massive amount of money he's placing into the staff. I think he's letting knowledgeable hockey minds make most of the hires here. He personally brought in Lafontaine and who the hell knows what happened with that. I'm sure he gave the final ok to hire Murray. Really, all he can do is hope he assisted in making the right choice for the GM. He has a lot of growing to do as an owner of a franchise, but I think he's on a great path, or so it seems.
- TheSabresTaco

At the same time, though, as of now (key words: "as of now") he's simply hiring people. He also has to hire the right people to do those jobs. That's where the criticism of "too many titles in the organization" came from when LaFontaine's departure went down, and that's where he will ultimately be evaluated in the court of public opinion. Now, I have no reason to believe any of these people are incompetent, but it's like when both sides of the political spectrum cry "jobs, jobs, jobs", but never talk about how to get qualified people to perform those jobs, and/or make people qualified to perform them.

At the same time, though, as of now (key words: "as of now") he's simply hiring people. He also has to hire the right people to do those jobs. That's where the criticism of "too many titles in the organization" came from when LaFontaine's departure went down, and that's where he will ultimately be evaluated in the court of public opinion. Now, I have no reason to believe any of these people are incompetent, but it's like when both sides of the political spectrum cry "jobs, jobs, jobs", but never talk about how to get qualified people to perform those jobs, and/or make people qualified to perform them.
- buffalofan19

I'm so over the Lafontaine thing. I don't Reinhart or the others in the massive pool of prospect give a dam weather that guy has a job with us or not going forward.

At the same time, though, as of now (key words: "as of now") he's simply hiring people. He also has to hire the right people to do those jobs. That's where the criticism of "too many titles in the organization" came from when LaFontaine's departure went down, and that's where he will ultimately be evaluated in the court of public opinion. Now, I have no reason to believe any of these people are incompetent, but it's like when both sides of the political spectrum cry "jobs, jobs, jobs", but never talk about how to get qualified people to perform those jobs, and/or make people qualified to perform them.
- buffalofan19

So you're telling me... part of Pegula's (and the state's) job description is to personally train each and every staff member for his or her specific role?

At the same time, though, as of now (key words: "as of now") he's simply hiring people. He also has to hire the right people to do those jobs. That's where the criticism of "too many titles in the organization" came from when LaFontaine's departure went down, and that's where he will ultimately be evaluated in the court of public opinion. Now, I have no reason to believe any of these people are incompetent, but it's like when both sides of the political spectrum cry "jobs, jobs, jobs", but never talk about how to get qualified people to perform those jobs, and/or make people qualified to perform them.
- buffalofan19

Could this quickly spiral into a instance of "Too many Chiefs, & not enough Indians"?

Certainly it's possible, sometimes "less" is more.


I think your point about "getting the right people, is better than getting more people" is not only valid, but golden.

You can have a dozen Penn State, "yes"-man, cronies up there in T-Pegs inner circle... But combined, they still don't have the professional hockey acumen of one single Pat LaFontaine.



Let's just hope that we don't start emulating the those old NYR models. We've all seen by now that throwing money at rosters doesn't nessicarily fix them.

I'm going to use this comment as a jumping point if you don't mind bo0s.

It really aggravates me when people are so short sighted that they blame Pegula for the failures of this team and this city. Things like "Oh look, Pegula wants to buy the Bills, how fitting, now both teams can be terrible." It really blows my (frank)ing mind. It's so short sighted and ignorant that it really makes me wonder about the intelligence of sports fans as a whole. I know that die hard sports fans are the minority when it comes to total audience, but unintelligent, uninformed comments like that are simply ridiculous.

How can people blame an owner, who is simply an owner, for ruining a team he just purchased? He doesn't control the players in any capacity. All he does is fund the team, open staff employment and hands over the keys to the designated decision makers. Now, you can argue that he chose the wrong people to join the staff. When it comes to player and player related personnel, it's all on the GM. Pegula brought in Lafontaine and Patty hired (along with Pegula I'd bet) Murray. At this juncture it appears they made a great hiring.

I can go off on a bunch of tangents, but the point is Pegula has injected so much money into the Sabres and into the Buffalo community that very few owners have matched in their tenures as NHL owners. He's doing EVERYTHING off the ice as humanely possible. The staff, the arena, city improvements, trying to keep the damn Bills in Buffalo. What won't this guy do?

And to think, people say he's terrible because they throw the failings of Darcy Regier, a man I would have liked Pegula to dispose of immediately, directly upon Pegula. Pegula showed patience with Regier and Ruff and basically gave them a clean slate. It's a fantastic virtue to have. He gave him 3 years and then acted on what he (and we) personally thought of Regier all these years. We can't let this man rebuild this team a third time. The staff is HUGE, the players part of the arena is state of the art, Buffalo is on an upswing partially thanks to new downtown development amongst other things, all thanks to this guy. Enough of the short sighted BS.
- TheSabresTaco

That, Cap'n Taco, is blog-worthy...

I agree whole-heartedly...well done

Could this quickly spiral into a instance of "Too many Chiefs, & not enough Indians"?

Certainly it's possible, sometimes "less" is more.


I think your point about "getting the right people, is better than getting more people" is not only valid, but golden.

You can have a dozen Penn State, "yes"-man, cronies up there in T-Pegs inner circle... But combined, they still don't have the professional hockey acumen of one single Pat LaFontaine.

Let's just hope that we don't start emulating the those old NYR models. We've all seen by now that throwing money at rosters doesn't nessicarily fix them.
- SuperCat

How has the organization suffered since LaFontaine left? Serious question.

Hurley and Malone were sent home from USA camp.

Could this quickly spiral into a instance of "Too many Chiefs, & not enough Indians"?

Certainly it's possible, sometimes "less" is more.


I think your point about "getting the right people, is better than getting more people" is not only valid, but golden.

You can have a dozen Penn State, "yes"-man, cronies up there in T-Pegs inner circle... But combined, they still don't have the professional hockey acumen of one single Pat LaFontaine.



Let's just hope that we don't start emulating the those old NYR models. We've all seen by now that throwing money at rosters doesn't nessicarily fix them.
- SuperCat

I don't see the 'too many cooks' application here. It applies in some circumstances. But in this case I liken a sports franchise to an army. Tons of soldiers (scouts) with captains, lieutenants, a pair of majors and a general. The bigger the army, the more successful it will be in accomplishing its task in this situation. Now I'm sure the people that they are hiring are well qualified if we are to follow the trends of more public faces like Murray and Devine. Like I mentioned, I think qualified hockey minds are assisting in the hirings of these lower tier hires.

That, Cap'n Taco, is blog-worthy...

I agree whole-heartedly...well done
- Michael Pachla

Feel free to use anytime Bo0s.