Updated:
Terry and Kim Pegula have relieved Buffalo Bills GM Doug Whaley of his GM duties of the NFL Buffalo Bills.
Terry will speak at 11am Sunday morning.
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The Buffalo Sabres went the the NHL Draft Lottery in Toronto looking for a little bit of luck.
The Sabres finished the 2016-17 regular season 26th overall in the standing. They went to the NHL Draft with a 7.6% chance of owning #1 pick which was the sixth-highest odds of winning the first overall pick among the 15 teams in the lottery.
Unfortunately, the Sabres slid down two spots from #6 to #8 because the Philadelphia Flyers and the Dallas Stars soared into top three. Dallas began the night with a 5.6% chance of winning the top selection, while Philadelphia had the third-worst odds 2.2%.
For the second year in a row, the Buffalo Sabres will select eighth overall.
Past 8, 8th overall picks:
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) April 30, 2017
A. Nylander, Werenski, W. Nylander, Ristolainen, Pouliot, Couturier, Burmistrov, Glennie
Sabres fans have had it up to here with the NHL Draft Lottery where they have finished 8th, 8th, 2nd, and 2nd in the past four lotteries.
The Pegulas have not finished the interview process yet for their general manager vacancy.
Tim Murray's successor will be tasked with adding 2 or 3 high end defensemen. Top organizational defenseman Brendan Guhle will be a lock to make the Buffalo opening night roster in 2017-18. The Sabres will still need two more defensemen in order to bolster their blue line.
Were I the new Sabres GM, I would trade the eighth overall pick for a high end top three defenseman if I'm not assured of drafting defenseman Cale Makar (24G, 51A), the top-ranked North American defenseman and 10th among skaters.
The Sabres selected sniping forward Alex Nylander eighth overall in 2016.
Former Sabres GM Tim Murray stunned all onlookers when he selected the high skilled Nylander rather than selecting a defenseman, his team's greatest area of need. Murray could have invested his eighth overall pick in a defensemen in Mikhail Sergachev or Jakob Chychrun. Murray flipped the script and grabbed another skilled player. The Sabres have not made the playoffs in the past six seasons.
In 2013, Buffalo selected Rasmus Ristolainen with the eighth overall pick.
NHL Central Scouting lists five centers as the top North American-based skaters heading into the draft: Brandon's Nolan Patrick, Halifax's Nico Hischier, Eden Prairie's Casey Mittlestadt, Windsor's Gabriel Vilardi and Tri-City's Michael Rasmussen.
Defenseman Cale Makar (24G, 51A) in the Alberta Junior Hockey League this past season - is listed as the top-ranked North American defenseman (10th among skaters).
The New Jersey Devils won the the first overall selection, while Philly will pick second and Dallas will pick third.
Officially adding "NHL lottery ball specialist" to my hockey resume.
— Taylor Hall (@hallsy09) April 30, 2017
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With the NHL Draft Lottery tonight in Toronto, the Buffalo's Sabres have reportedly interviewed five different men to fill their general manager vacancy. There are believed to be six candidates on Terry and Kim Pegula's list.
The five candidates, a few with strong leadership ties to the Pittsburgh Penguins, have already interviewed with Terry and Kim Pegula. Pegula has long been an admirer of the Penguins and their Stanley Cup successes.
Here are the candidates that have interviewed with the Pegulas:
New Jersey Devils AGM Tom Fitzgerald.
Still my dark horse pick in the GM race, Fitzgerald is AGM with New Jersey Devils. Fitzgerald helped build the Pittsburgh Penguins into a Cup winning team in 2009. Fitzgerald is a Boston guy and his son Casey was drafted by the Sabres (3rd round) in 2016. Jack Eichel and Casey Fitzgerald are close personal friends. Casey just completed his sophomore season at Boston College.
"Tom Fitzgerald has extensive experience as both a player and now in hockey operations, having served in several significant roles over the past eight seasons," said Devils GM Ray Shero when he hired Fitzgerald in 2015. "He is well-respected throughout the league, and I feel that he is an ideal fit for our team. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Pittsburgh Penguins for their cooperation in allowing Tom to join our organization."
Fitzgerald, 47, retired as an NHL player following the 2005-06 season. He began his post-playing career in 2007-08 when he joined Shero's staff in Pittsburgh as the Director of Player Development. He was named Assistant Coach on February 15, 2009, where he was instrumental in helping the Penguins win the 2009 Stanley Cup Championship. In the summer of 2009, he was promoted to the position of Assistant to the General Manager, where he served for five years. He was promoted to the position of AGM of the Penguins in June 2014 where he served until joining the Devils.
Pittsburgh Penguins Associate GM Jason Botterill.
My sources tell me to double down on Botterill.
I've been in Vegas all week and am told that Botterill was on the short final list of candidates for the Vegas GM job that eventually was awarded to George McOhee.
Botterill, 40, has worked with the Penguins since 2007-2008 and in that time has ascended the team’s ranks from director of hockey administration to assistant GM to his current role as associate GM. Botterill is also GM of the Penguins’ top minor league affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He has been part of the Penguins leadership group that led them to two Stanley Cups as well as one additional Cup Final in his Pittsburgh tenure.
Botterill is a respected cap guru of the Penguins. Botterill gives Jim Rutherford the cap space needed to make player acquisitions and trades to theOens. Botterill has a knack for making the money work out. Botterill has been tasked with adding players to augment and support Sidney Crosby and Geno Malikn. I'd say that Botterill has had the Midas Touch.
Botterill plays a prominent role on the development of Penguins players. Working heavily with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Connor Sheary, Matt Murray, Bryan Rust, Brian Dumoulin, Jake Guentzel, Tom Kuhnhackl and other kids were ready for prime time when called upon last season during the regular season when injuries wreaked havoc on veteran Penguins players.
Pittsburgh Penguins AGM Bill Guerin.
In his 3rd season as a Penguins AGM, Guerin was promoted to his current role in June 2014.
Part of Guerin's responsibilities include serving as a liaison between the players and management.
Guerin was the Penguins player development coach from 2011-14 and develop the Penguins' minor league, junior and college prospects in his previous role, many of whom were key contributors to the team's 2016 Stanley Cup title.
Guerin, 45, is a native of Worcester, Massachusetts
Guerin played 18 NHL seasons, including his final 2 with the Penguins Won 2 Stanley Cups -- 2009 with Pittsburgh and 1995 with New Jersey
Columbus Blue Jackets AGM Bill Zito, who interviewed with the Sabres' brass on Saturday.
Zito was named AGM of the Columbus Blue Jackets in August 2013. Zito brings nearly three decades of experience encompassing a variety of aspects of the game of hockey to the organization. Since joining the Blue Jackets, he has been an integral part of the club’s management team in the areas of: contract negotiations, scouting and player evaluation, salary cap management and budgeting. He also is the general manager of the Cleveland Monsters, Columbus’ AHL affiliate, and was a member of the management team for the USA Hockey National Team that won a bronze medal at the 2015 IIHF World Hockey Championships.
Nashville Predators AGM Paul Fenton.
Fenton has been instrumental in bringing in many of Nashville’s core players through the draft, trades and free-agent signings.
After serving as the director of player personnel for the Predators’ first eight seasons, Fenton was promoted to assistant general manager in June 2006, where he oversees the Predators’ amateur player development, manages the team’s professional and amateur scouting staff and advises President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile on player personnel decisions.
Who is the sixth candidate, you ask?
On Thursday, the Sabres were granted permission to interview LA Kings AGM Mike Futa.
Not familiar with Futa? He was recently promoted to AGM from director of player development after Dean Lombardi was fired and Rob Blake took over the GM job in La La Land. Futa, 49, is an excellent hockey man who has done a great job building and sustaining the dynastic Kings. Futa also is very active in the day to day operations of the AHL Ontario Reign.
Futa is impressively thorough and well-read. I am certain that the Pegulas will be impressed with Futa when he interviews with the Sabres. Futa will be representing the Kings at the NHL Draft Lottery in Toronto,
Earlier this week, the Sabres asked for permission to interview NY Rangers AGM Chris Drury, however, were denied access to Drury.
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I'm told that the Sabres are hopeful that they get the opportunity to interview two Anaheim Ducks and two Chicago Blackhawks executives for Tim Murray's old job.
Ducks Director of Player Personnel Rick Paterson and Ducks AGM Dave Baseggio are both men of interest for the Sabres to speak with.
Blackhawks AGM Norm Maciver and Diector of Scouting Ryan Stewart are candidates to watch in the days to come.
Tampa Lightning AGM Pat Verbeek is a quality candidate that the Pegulas should want to speak with.
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The Pegulas have not asked for permission to interview former LA Kings GM Dean Lombardi.