Ek's note: Hey there Sabres faithful. You've seen your ten contestants and now it is time to narrow the field from ten to 5. Over the next two days I will be posting three blogs and asking for your honest opinions on who you would like to be your next great Sabres blogger? I was thoroughly impressed with all ten that we posted and there were many more that were great but didn't quite make the cut. Here are the first three for your consideration. Please start your comment with your pick among these three. The blogger picked the most in your comments over the next 24 hours will be asked to write a second article for consideration. So 3 of the 5 finalists will be selected directly by you and the other two will be selected as wildcards by your votes and our editors... Good luck to the first three. note..I've posted the first 100 or so words from each writer, but you can see their entire articles simply by hitting archive above...
Contestant #1 Hank.
"The Foundation – Part 1"
The foundation of the Sabres organization is in ruin. The leadership from top-down is a mess. While this series will explore the parts of the foundation that need to be repaired or replaced, I want to start with the piece that should still be the the most important to the organization. Some will agree with me and some will not, but it’s perhaps the most important topic in Sabreland in a decade.
June 26, 2015. Eight years removed from the most disastrous free agency in Sabres history, the Sabres were finally ready to turn the corner. After years of searching the wilderness for the elusive #1 center, the Sabres drafted Jack Eichel at #2 overall. He would be supported down the middle with the newly acquired Ryan O’Reilly – the second coming of Michael Peca. They also had a respected captain who knew what it takes to win – Brian Gionta.
They had their scoring wingers – Sam Reinhart, drafted the previous year, and Evander Kane acquired from Winnipeg. They had their franchise goalie in Robin Lehner. They had their future #1 defenseman in Rasmus Ristolainen. Sure, he’d been a little uneven to that point, but that could easily be attributed to sub-par coaching from Ted Nolan. Now Stanley Cup championship coach Dan Bylsma was at the helm. The Sabres were back.
Contestant #4: Chris
Groundhog Day
That pretty much sums up the last 10 plus years for Sabres fans. Every year when the season ends, we are teased with hope and promise that things will change. We get up every morning to the sound of Sonny and Cher on the radio.
The players? It's hard to look at the players objectively given the years of turmoil.
Up Front
Skinner was a 40 goal scorer less then 2 years ago and now he is playing on a line with Riley Sheahan and Curtis Lazar most nights. Both of those are fringe NHL players at best on a decent team.
Eichel last season looked like he was turning the corner and playing a complete two-way game. This season he looks either lost, hurt, gripping the stick too tight, or a combination of all three things.
Reinhart. The player is who he is. Some fans will dog him on a regular basis because his name is not Leon. Years of losing makes him a common scapegoat esp. with Leon taking home the Hart trophy.
Olofsson is a feel-good story as he was developed properly and was a 7th round pick. He has 30 goals in 87 games which is impressive. Looking at the sabres depth chart, it's mind-numbing that he spends more time with Eichel than Hall and Skinner combined but more on that later.
Hall is one of those players that is very frustrating. On paper he was supposed to help the sabres become a top 10 scoring team and after 27 games have 1 even-strength goal.
The rest of the guys upfront (over 22 years old) are nothing more than pluggers. Mittelstadt and Thompson look good one day, and like they belong in the AHL the next. Cozens should be a good one down the road, but as sabres fans, we all know how that can play out.
Contestant #7 Morris.
Insufferable Buffalo
State of The Union Sabres and Bills fans are the most passionate fans in either league. I will not hear any other arguments that suggest differently. Nope. None. (Philly fans I can see those Ed Snyder memorial wristbands on the ice from here- that’s trashy, not passion). We stood patiently by the Bills for 20 long years and here we are standing by the Sabres in year 10 of the “rebuild,… despite the horrific on ice results. We deserve better. We the fans consistently make Buffalo a top five hockey market, but somehow this team has usurped the Ottawa-uber scandal-sexual assault-cyber bullying-seat removing Senators for joke of the league. Before this team looks at it’s roster it needs to look at the facets that control that on ice product and it needs to look fast, because the fans don’t have another 10 years of shortfallings in them.
Ownership Look, I was as charmed as the next person seeing successful businessman Terry Pegula publicly weep about the French Connection, but those tears have dried in those ten years and Pegulaville’s charm is vacant. There are a lot of calls for the Pegulas to sell the team due to their several management follies over the years and this Kevyn Adams current term is feeling like the last straw for them. You cannot tell me the resources aren’t there for them to remodel this franchise into a successful one when the Pegula’s are the sixth wealthiest NHL owners. Darcy Regier was able to do a hell of a lot more than any Pegula hired GM despite the cap restraints he faced with Golisano. In fact, one positive thing about the Pegulas that dichotomizes themselves from true cheapskate owners like Eugene Melnyk, is that they have been willing to spend to the salary cap each year. However, from a fan and PR perspective they are their own worst enemies. At the beginning of ownership Terry was reassuring us he didn’t buy the Sabres for money, but then you have Kim Pegula leading a PSE presentation that demonstrates “maintaining the Pegula lifestyle… has equal importance to winning championships. Yes, I’m not stupid, billionaires want to stay billionaires, but we don’t want to hear that staying a 5.4 billionaire rather a 5.3 billionaire has equal importance to a Stanley Cup. Your wealth means nothing to a blue collar, hardworking city. We don’t give two littered Tim Horton’s cups about your yacht. We’ll die on social security and you’ll die billionaires. You want to make money? Great! This can be a symbiotic relationship very easily; the better your on ice product, the increased value in your franchise.
OK Sabres fans...your pick?