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Pegulas Close To Hiring Next Sabres GM |
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Terry Pegula met with media to discuss the firing of Buffalo Bills GM Doug Whaley.
Pegula said he and his wife Kim are close to completing the search process for the next GM of the Buffalo Sabres.
"We are close on the Sabres to having a final answer", Terry Pegula.
The Pegulas have interviewed five candidates for the Sabres GM vacancy. They are reportedly interested in interviewing 6-8 candidtates.
More to come....
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My friend Elliotte Friedman has linked NBC's Ed Olczyk to the Buffalo Sabres.
"The other name I'm hearing is, maybe not for GM but possibly for another role in the organization. is Ed Olczyk of NBC Sports," said Friedman. "His son played at Penn State where the Pegulas restarted the hockey program. I think it's possible that he could have some kind of role there."
Olczyk is a former player and coach with over two decades of experience in the NHL.
Perhaps Olczyk is being eyed as a possible director of hockey operations position to work alongside the new general manger.
As a high achieving NHL player, Olczyk played 20 seasons for the Chicago Blackhawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings.
Olczyk scored 794 points in 1,031 games.
Olczyk's NHL coaching career came to an abrupt halt after one and a half seasons when he was fired from the head coaching position of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2003-04 and 2005-06. He failed to make the playoffs in his only full season as head coach when he won just 23 games in 2003.
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It's been a very busy week for Terry and Kim Pegula.
The owners of the Buffalo Sabres and NHL Buffalo Bills spent the the week juggling various activities connected to each of their professional sports franchises. This week, the Pegulas interviewed five candidates to succeed Tim Murray as general manager of the Buffalo Sabres. The Pegulas fired Tim Murray and Dan Bylsma a week and a half ago. On Wednesday, the Pegulas switched their focus to the NFL Entry Draft, where they oversaw the selection of several building blocks for their football team's future.
The Sabres haven't qualified for a playoff berth since the Pegulas took over ownership of the team in 2011. The Bills haven't made the playoffs in the last seventeen seasons.
The Pegulas are steadfastly committed to delivering winning NHL hockey and NFL football products to their unflinchingly loyal fan bases who live around the globe. The Pegulas will not accept mediocrity nor poor leadership.
On Saturday night, all eyes were on Toronto where the NHL Draft Lottery took place. For the second consecutive year, the Sabres were awarded the eighth overall selection on the June NHL Draft.
This morning, as the rain fell over Pegulaville, Terry and Kim Pegula fired the general manager of the Buffalo Bills, Doug Whaley.
Retty Pegula has scheduled an 11:00 am presser to discuss the Whaley firing. He will no doubt be asked about the GM search of the Sabres. Will the Whaley dismissal will have a negative impact of the hiring of the next GM of the Buffalo Sabres? I don't think it will. I'm told the Sabres are scheduled to meet with LA Lings AGM Mike Futa today of Monday. Futa, a Toronto native, represented the Kings at the NHL Draft Lottery in Toronto on Saturday night. Futa was promoted two Kings AGM two weeks ago when LA ownership fired GM Dean Lombardi and head coach Darryl Sutter. The Sabres have not asked for permission to interview Lombardi for the Sabres GM vacancy.
The Pegulas have already interviewed five different men to fill their general manager vacancy. There are believed to be six to eight legit candidates on Terry and Kim Pegula's short list.
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. Jack Eichel played on Team USA.
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.
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