@boosbuzzsabres
While Buffalo Sabres and Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula were in Arizona at the NFL owners meetings yesterday evening, their hockey team was busy getting embarrassed and shut out by the Ottawa Senators, the worst team in the NHL. Although Kim's thought-process while facing the Buffalo media in Arizona may have centered around being team president of the Bills, she's also team president of the Sabres.
Regardless of which professional team her thoughts were ultimately emanating from, Kim Pegula, who had no team president experience when she took over the mantle of both professional clubs, admitted to learning on the job. Which is great for her. But while she's busy "learning" about being a team president, her hockey team is busy cementing their place in the annals of NHL ignominy for having one of the worst falls in league history--from first-overall to bottom-five in a span of 51 games.
"It takes a while to just understand the organization and people behind it and how we want things to be done, how we want things to be structured," she told the Buffalo media. "I've been talking to a lot of other clubs around the league, 'how are you doing things?' And so for me it was part of the learning process….and it's just part of the whole progression of how we want things to be and how we want to make our own mark."
Again, though she may have been talking about the Bills, the "mark" the Pegulas have made since they bought the Sabres in February 2011 isn't one to particularly be proud of. It includes an eight-year playoff drought that looks like it will end up being the longest in the league at season's end and during those eight years their Buffalo Sabres have compiled a 228-309-79 record which is worst in the league. They have the worst goals-for (2.32 per game), the second-worst goals-against average (3.00/game) and by far the worst goal differential at minus-416. The Sabres organization under the Pegulas has gone through two team presidents, a VP of Hockey Operations who lasted only six months, and they're on their third general manager.
In addition, the Sabres have the look of a team that's about to fire their sixth head coach in seven seasons. Most fans want to see it happen but Terry Pegula doesn't seem to see it that way. "Well, you know, the season obviously hasn't finished yet," he told the Buffalo media, "but I think [Jason Botterill] has said it pretty well that he supports Phil [Housley].
"Phil communicates with the players well. Are we happy with how the season is going? Absolutely not. You can ask anybody on the team. So, you know, something has to change. We don't know what, but we're all going to put our heads together and talk about it."
That "communication" with the players has gotten them to a bottom-five spot after being at the top of the league and one would think that a 14-30-7 record since the end of their 10-game winning streak, now worst in the league after their loss last night to the Senators, might say something else. Perhaps that "communication" somehow got lost during a current 2-12-1 record that features a season-long seven game losing streak (0-6-1.) Or maybe it got lost when the team was shut out three consecutive games for the second season in a row, the only time since 1929 it's happened in the NHL.
Can you keep a coach that had no answers during the team's three-month demise and three week March-plummet? One that's clearly lost the room, as evidenced by their lackluster performances which include getting shut out by the last place Sens last night? "Yeah, yeah," said Terry Pegula, "he's a young coach and he was a great player and I think he can grow as a coach."
There's that learning thing again.
To be fair to Kim, the Sabres have been Terry's baby ever since his initial press conference as owner where he sobbed at the sight of his hero, Gilbert Perreault. Hey famously said that long-time head coach, and Sabres alum, Lindy Ruff wasn't going anywhere, and he stuck with long-time GM Darcy Regier until he and his inner-circle decided to blow things up and tank for high draft picks. His team president at the time of the tank was Ted Black, a communications executive who was eventually replaced by Russ Brandon, a marketing wiz who was team president of the Buffalo Bills. Since Terry bought the team there has been only one designated hockey man between the team president and their GM's--Hockey Hall of Famer, and Sabres great, Pat LaFontaine. None of those presidents has presided over a Sabres team with a winning record and that includes Kim, who's finishing up her first season in that role.
With the way things have gone, especially recently, the media asked Terry if the organization needed an extra layer to "help the process along," Terry Pegula said, "I don't think so.
"I don't think so, because you know I communicate with [Botterill] regularly, daily, sometimes three times a day and he's the only three-time gold medal world junior guy in the world. He's a smart guy and you know he does a good job."
Which is great. But that "three-time gold medal guy" being guided by a billionaire who made his money in the oil/gas business, hasn't really had a lot of success since being named general manager in 2017. The Sabres are on pace for 76 points this season and should that happen their 138 point-total over two seasons would be the worst two-year total (outside of the two tank years and any shortened season) since their inaugural two seasons when the team had 114 points in eight less games.
And that's not a knock at Botterill.
The first-time GM inherited a mess from his predecessor that reached all the way down to their ECHL club and he's doing his best to work his way through it. Although his NHL team has stumbled, Botterill has managed to ice some strong teams in Rochester (AHL) and Cincinnati (ECHL) while also filling the prospect pipeline. Botterill has done some good things and not so good things in Buffalo but the Pegulas threw a lot at him which included cleaning up the mess he inherited while trying to instill a Sabres identity and install a winning culture. The only persons in the organization above him right now are Terry and Kim Pegula and they don't seem to have what it takes to offer proper guidance.
Should there be a hockey man at the top of hockey operations? Absolutely. The Pegulas might be fine individuals away from the rink and Terry most definitely had the best intentions when buying the team, but he and his wife have been trying to get different results from doing the same thing over and over and after eight years it might be safe to say it hasn't worked with the Sabres.
Terry was asked about his level of patience considering what has transpired over the last eight years and he pointed towards the future. "We have a lot of good young talent and especially our good young talent, you know who they are, but we've got two of them that are potential superstars with Jack [Eichel] and Rasmus Dahlin so you know those are two pieces that I think a lot of teams would love to have, and we have them in Buffalo, so we'll build around that foundation."
Who wouldn't want those two pieces, right? But what are you doing with them and how are they going to build around them?
Eichel, whom the team notoriously tanked to get a shot at, has burned through his entry-level deal and the first year of his contract while on a losing team. It seems as if he's at wit's end with all the losing going on and God knows where his head's at right now. Dahlin is all that and a bag of chips talent-wise but he just went through his first NHL season on a losing club that looked a lot worse than the record might indicate. And for all the talk of player development, what effect does this losing environment have on rookies like Casey Mittelstadt, Lawrence Pilut and Alexander Nylander who all are looked to as factors moving forward? We can throw in the likes of C.J. Smith, recent call-up Will Borgen and Amerks players like Victor Olofsson and Rasmus Asplund, all of whom could really help the organization moving forward if they continue their strong development path.
What does this losing environment say to players not under the Sabres control. Jeff Skinner was on a tear this year before the bottom fell out. Most want him re-signed and Terry Pegula echoed those sentiments yesterday. As a pending unrestricted free agent, Skinner is due for a hefty contract this summer and he'll be weighing in on whether Buffalo, and playing alongside Eichel, is worth it, no matter how much dollar and term he can extract from a desperate Sabres club. And if you are a quality UFA this summer, how much thought would you give to the Sabres seeing what's transpired these past two, four, eight seasons?
This is not a good situation to be in. The Pegulas haven't shown much as owners and when it comes to the Sabres, Kim's first year as team president should be labeled a complete and utter disaster.
Learning is one thing, but using it as a crutch to hide inadequacies and/or offering up vainglorious statements in defense of their team just brings this franchise to another low. Who can get them out of it? They believe it's them and Botterill.
Some might think otherwise.
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