Jason Botterill entrusts his regional scouts, and that staff, to choose mid-late round picks.

Our euro scout had to convince Murray to draft Olofsson. This scenario happens, in the later round, probably 75% of the time.
- TheSabresTaco

curious if you know or could find out
what round did the Euro scout pump the pick. IE did he say get this guy in the 5th but TM didnt listen till the 7th when he "didnt have anyone else on their mind"

Also curious if the pick was a "favor" to anyone.

Favor like Mike Pizza to the Dodgers

Ok ill break it down
Who do you think is more marketable in the Us, internationally?

IF you took a poll in each of the rooms on the buzz who could honestly say im goign to a wings game to watch Larkin?
- hubie

Dahlin

But... that’s a get TV ratings up thing
Not specifically put money in T Pegs pocket

Yes, Dahlin is more marketable around the US, Europe, etc
That doesn’t help Pegs raise ticket prices or get more ppl to the games

I don’t see how it specifically puts $$$ in Pegs pocket?

No offense to your post, and sarcasm noted, I just despise the whole "If only we had a PoHo" takes. Like it would make this team any (frank)ing better. If you're going to hire a guy to babysit the babysitter, then fire the (frank)ing babysitter.
- TheSabresTaco

Like i said, I’m with ya
But i do think it would be a good idea to hire one
A guy who can bridge the Pegulas emotions to Botts’ decision making can be useful

But it’s not gonna have an effect on what line Skinner plays, or if Borgen gets called up over Gilmore, and so on & so on

Never said he was average. Never said I would do Dahlin just for Larkin. Nobody wants to wait for this team to get better, everybody is crying we need a 2C and a Winger. Trade this person or that person to achieve that. Well he is one piece that could do that. Do I want to, of course not. But everything should be looked at that could make this TEAM better. Would it hurt us, losing Dahlin, of course. But the players brought in might make us a better TEAM, then just 1 player does.
- Buff36

And who's going to be our franchise Defenseman? Let's wait 20 years to find out

We'll see. And we'll see who survives the season in 2 months
- jcragcrumple

No, we won’t see
Bc the arena will NEVER, EVER get to the point where there’s only 2-3k fans in the seats
That’s a fantasy
It’ll never, ever happen

Would just like to say thanks to all the Sabres season ticket holders on this site. Thank you for making us an international embarrassment across the league. You transformed that arena into a morgue you pathetic losers. Except when you think it is cool to let Leafs or Habs fans take over the arena and get their chants going. Great job you little female doges! Way to make the franchise a door mat for the rest of the league.

Also, while you're at it, please stop booing every time a player like Chara touches the puck. You can't even boo right. No passion or anger, just passive agressive hey look at me, i'm a female dog! Seriously, its embarrassing.

Finally, enough with the sob stories about not getting money for your poopty tickets too. You're the moron that bought them and nobody feels sorry for you. Just sit in the stands and shut up. You got a highly regarded reputation of being pathetic to maintain.

Dahlin

But... that’s a get TV ratings up thing
Not specifically put money in T Pegs pocket

Yes, Dahlin is more marketable around the US, Europe, etc
That doesn’t help Pegs raise ticket prices or get more ppl to the games

I don’t see how it specifically puts $$$ in Pegs pocket?
- jdfitz77

People will go to see Dahlin ie they will go to the games
sell tickets get money
People will turn on the TV to watch Dahlin
Higher ratings more national broad cast
more national broadcast = more tv revenue

IF you sell more you get money pretty basics economics/marketing principles.

And who's going to be our franchise Defenseman? Let's wait 20 years to find out
- gerbe75pts

You don't need Franchise Dman to win in this league, it helps, but you don't need one.

Is it “working” in Toronto though?
Didn’t Lou leave bc there’s too many cooks in the kitchen?
- jdfitz77

He was there to groom Dubas. That was his primary directive. And he would have stayed there as a..ugh.. poho.. if the Islanders didn't offer him a job.

A very young GM, a poho, or advisor if you will, can be very helpful.

Botts is a veteran in upper management. He should not need an advisor. If you find that he does need one, at this stage of his career, he should be fired.

If you want to take the Toronto road, hire yourself an old retread GM and a young aspiring and promising AGM.

Would just like to say thanks to all the Sabres season ticket holders on this site. Thank you for making us an international embarrassment across the league. You transformed that arena into a morgue you pathetic losers. Except when you think it is cool to let Leafs or Habs fans take over the arena and get their chants going. Great job you little female doges! Way to make the franchise a door mat for the rest of the league.

Also, while you're at it, please stop booing every time a player like Chara touches the puck. You can't even boo right. No passion or anger, just passive agressive hey look at me, i'm a female dog! Seriously, its embarrassing.

Finally, enough with the sob stories about not getting money for your poopty tickets too. You're the moron that bought them and nobody feels sorry for you. Just sit in the stands and shut up. You got a highly regarded reputation of being pathetic to maintain.
- Hatboro_Swords

Do you prefer your ice cream on a cone or in a cup

You don't need Franchise Dman to win in this league, it helps, but you don't need one.
- Buff36

Right ... you can think that

curious if you know or could find out
what round did the Euro scout pump the pick. IE did he say get this guy in the 5th but TM didnt listen till the 7th when he "didnt have anyone else on their mind"

Also curious if the pick was a "favor" to anyone.

Favor like Mike Pizza to the Dodgers
- hubie

But European scout Fredrik Andersson had a name he wanted to stress. The prospect was the son of a former teammate and Andersson had watched him since he was a little kid. The scout knew the teen had flaws. Actually, every team knew the kid had flaws because he went undrafted during his first year of eligibility.

Still, Andersson saw a couple of traits that made Victor Olofsson intriguing. He went to assistant general manager Kevin Devine and head amateur scout Dave Torrie for a last-minute chat.

“I spoke with Kevin and Dave about Victor just the night before the draft started that maybe we should put him in there and have him as a seventh-round pick,” Andersson said this week.

Olofsson was still on the board when the Sabres started the final round. So, with the 181st pick out of 210 selections, the Sabres snatched up a winger with a great shot and little else.

“In the seventh round, you need to have some special things,” Andersson said by phone from Sweden. “Victor had the shot. He had the skating and the shot. If you want to be a first-, second- or third-rounder, you have everything. You compete. The compete in Victor wasn’t too good at that point. He was missing some pieces there. That’s why he went to the seventh round.

“I saw the shot could bring him to the NHL. I wasn’t so sure because we didn’t have him on the list in the beginning. I spoke a little bit with Dave and Kevin and they said, ‘Yeah, if you believe in this guy, for sure we’re going to bring him in.’”

But European scout Fredrik Andersson had a name he wanted to stress. The prospect was the son of a former teammate and Andersson had watched him since he was a little kid. The scout knew the teen had flaws. Actually, every team knew the kid had flaws because he went undrafted during his first year of eligibility.

Still, Andersson saw a couple of traits that made Victor Olofsson intriguing. He went to assistant general manager Kevin Devine and head amateur scout Dave Torrie for a last-minute chat.

“I spoke with Kevin and Dave about Victor just the night before the draft started that maybe we should put him in there and have him as a seventh-round pick,” Andersson said this week.

Olofsson was still on the board when the Sabres started the final round. So, with the 181st pick out of 210 selections, the Sabres snatched up a winger with a great shot and little else.

“In the seventh round, you need to have some special things,” Andersson said by phone from Sweden. “Victor had the shot. He had the skating and the shot. If you want to be a first-, second- or third-rounder, you have everything. You compete. The compete in Victor wasn’t too good at that point. He was missing some pieces there. That’s why he went to the seventh round.

“I saw the shot could bring him to the NHL. I wasn’t so sure because we didn’t have him on the list in the beginning. I spoke a little bit with Dave and Kevin and they said, ‘Yeah, if you believe in this guy, for sure we’re going to bring him in.’”
- TheSabresTaco

ah wasn't sure if you had more insider info. Interesting that he had him as 7th the whole way .

Right ... you can think that
- gerbe75pts

Who was St. Louis Franchise Dman
Washington is the closest with Carlson
Vegas who's there Franchise Dman
Pittsburgh who's there's

Ok... I’ve done some digging. And this may seem long but it’s not... looking at 3 teams with recent success; the blues, pens, and blackhawks, let’s look at their front office structure and see how they skin the cat vs the Sabres. Is there a lack of experience in the Sabres front office. Which is my argument as to why this team has failed year after year and will continue to do so until the structure up top changes... yes, this looks at front office and bleeds into hockey ops. Some teams just break things down differently. I’ll be happy look at another team, but I still stand by the argument. This team lacks front office experience and yes a president is needed. And no, a simple get the right coach/gm combo will fix all that’s wrong. This team lack knowledge from the top down!

I’m not sure how this will paste in, sorry if it’s jacked up...

Blues front office.
Chairman and Governor Tom Stillma
President of Hockey Operations and GM / Alternate Governor Doug Armstrong (17 years as gm)

President and CEO of Business Operations / Alternate Governor Chris Zimmerman (30 years of experience in sports, marketing, and business management.)
Position Name
Vice President, Hockey Operations Dave Taylor (winningest gm in kings history)
Assistant GM and Director of Amateur Scouting Bill Armstrong
Senior Advisor to the General Manager Al MacInnis
Senior Advisor of Amateur Scouting Larry Pleau
GM of San Antonio Rampage & Pro Scout Kevin McDonald
Head Coach Craig Berube
Assistant Coach Mike Van Ryn
Steve Ott
Marc Savard
Assistant Coach - Video Sean Ferrell
Senior Consultant, Hockey Ops / Assistant Coach Larry Robinson
Goaltending Coach David Alexander
Development Coach Glen Wesley
Dave Rogalski
Director of Player Personnel Rob DiMaio
Director of Player Development and Pro Scout Tim Taylor
Pro Scout Dave Farrish
Director of Hockey Operations Ryan Miller
Senior Director of Team Services Rich Jankowski
Director of Player Recruitment Keith Tkachuk
Hockey Video Analyst Ben Dalpe
Hockey Data Analyst Michael Perelman
Head of European Scouting Jan Vopat
Amateur Scout Tony Feltrin
Dan Ginnell
J Niemiec
Michel Picard
Timo Koskela
Part-Time Amateur Scout Jeff McKercher
Alexey Starovoytov
Stefan Elvenes
Ian MacLellan
Garrett Peters
Blair Nicholson
Rick Lanz
Part-Time Pro Scout Wayne Mundey

Penguins Front office
Mario Lemieux Co-Owner/Chairman (clearly Mario knows hockey)
Ron Burkle Co-Owne
David Morehouse Chief Executive Officer & Presiden (team president since 2007)
Kevin Acklin Senior Vice President and General Counse
Name Position
Jim Rutherford Executive Vice President and General Manager (26 years as a gm)
Jason Karmanos Assistant General Manager
Mike Sullivan Head Coach
Sergei Gonchar Assistant Coach
Jacques Martin Assistant Coach
Mark Recchi Assistant Coach
Mike Buckley Goaltending Coach
Andy Saucier Video Coach
Madison Nikkel Assistant Video Coach
Scott Young Director, Player Development
Tom Kostopoulos Player Development Coach
Andy Chiodo Goaltending Development Coach
Matt Cullen Player Development
Ty Hennes Skills Development Professional
Jason Seidling Director, Team Operations
Sam Ventura

Blackhawks front office
W. Rockwell "Rocky" Wirtz Chairman
John F. McDonough President & CEO (13 years as president, 24 years as president of the Cubs)
Jay Blunk Executive Vice President
Stan Bowman Senior Vice President/General Manager
Al MacIsaac Senior Vice President, Hockey Operations
Norm Maciver Assistant General Manage
Mark Kelley Vice President, Amateur Scouting
Scotty Bowman Senior Advisor, Hockey Operations (I mean come on, it’s Scotty freaking Bowman)
Mark Bernard Vice President, Hockey Operations/Team Affiliates
Ryan Stewart Vice President, Pro Scouting
Tony Ommen Vice President, Team Services
Mark Eaton Director, Player Development
Pierre Gauthier Director, Player Personnel
Ron Anderson Director, Player Recruitment
Barry Smith Director, Player Evaluation
Mats Hallin Director, European Scouting
Brian Higgins Director, Team Security
Ian Gentile Senior Manager, Player Development
Kyle Davidson Assistant to the General Manager
Mary DeBartolo Coordinator, Research & Development/Hockey Analytics
Danny Tranchida Team Services Assistant
Mike Doneghey Head USA Scout
Darrell May Head Western Canada Scout
Alex Brooks Head Pro Scout
Jim McKellar Head Eastern Canada Scout
Rob Facca Amateur Scout
Colin Fraser Amateur Scout
Peter Nevin Amateur Scout
Alexandre Rouleau Amateur Scout
Niklas Blomgren Head European Amateur Scout
Dan Ellis Goaltending Scout
Karel Pavlik European Amateur Scout
Mikko Luoma European Amateur Scout
Andrei Nikolishin Russia Amateur Scout
Peter Sundstrom European Pro Scout
Derek Booth Pro Scout
Wade Brookbank Pro Scout
Gord Donnelly Pro Scout
Greg Hawgood Pro Scout
Richard Kromm Pro Scout
Steve Leach Pro Scout
Don Lever Pro Scout
Mike MacPherson Pro Scout
Michael Mottau Pro Scout
Allan Power Pro Scout
Anatoly Semenov Pro Scout
Tom Younghans Pro Scout
Rick Comley Player Recruitment
Hudson Chodos Scouting Manager
Andrew Contis Hockey Analytics/Video Analyst
Nick Anderson Assistant General Manager, Rockford IceHog

Sabres front office.
EXECUTIVE
Owner/CEO Terry Pegula (no sports background)
Owner/President Kim Pegula (no sports background)
General Manager Jason Botterill (asst gm in 2009)
Sr. VP of Business Administration Kevyn Adams
EVP & General Counsel Gregg Brandon
EVP of Creative Services Frank Cravotta
EVP of Finance Chuck LaMattina
EVP of Media & Content Mark Preisler
EVP, PSE Ron Raccuia
Executive Assistant
General Manager Jason Botterill
Assistant General Manager/Rochester Americans General Manager Randy Sexton (1993 Ottawa gm, panthers gm, pens director of amateur scouting)
Assistant General Manager Steve Greeley
Vice President of Hockey Administration Mark Jakubowski
Director of Amateur Scouting Ryan Jankowski
Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting Jeff Crisp
Head of Collegiate Scouting Jerry Forton
Amateur Scout Cory Banika
Amateur Scout Steve Cocker
Amateur Scout Kevin Devine
Amateur Scout Austin Dunne
Amateur Scout Mark Ferner
Amateur Scout Marcus Fingal
Amateur Scout Scott Halpenny
Amateur Scout Randy Hansch
Amateur Scout Frank Musil
Amateur Scout Teemu Numminen
Amateur Scout Tom O'Connor
Amateur Scout Ron Pyette
Amateur Scout Rob Riley
Amateur Scout Matt Tiesling
Amateur Scout Magnus Welin
Pro Scout Graham Beamish
Pro Scout Jeremiah Crowe
Pro Scout John Van Boxmeer
Director of Analytics Jason Nightingale
Head of Hockey Department IT Kyle Kiebzak
Coordinator of Team Services Cole Burkhalter
Coordinator of Hockey Administration Brett Ruff
Executive Assistant Terri O'Brie

Bring them with you
- Buff36

I'll bring you a mouthpiece

I'll bring you a mouthpiece
- gerbe75pts

Sounds good, I have head gear if you need it

Do you prefer your ice cream on a cone or in a cup
- TheSabresTaco

Hey man, I'm on here to let you know I just got offered free season tickets next year, but you know what, i'm not going to take them. F that. I feel it is necessary to let the board know I'm above free tickets even though I live in Buffalo.

Who was St. Louis Franchise Dman
Washington is the closest with Carlson
Vegas who's there Franchise Dman
Pittsburgh who's there's
- Buff36

Sounds good, I have head gear if you need it
- Buff36

Why would I need head gear lol

Who was St. Louis Franchise Dman
Washington is the closest with Carlson
Vegas who's there Franchise Dman
Pittsburgh who's there's
- Buff36

Pietrangelo
Carlson
None
Letang


You do not NEED a franchise dman. But a good majority of cup winners have them.

At time of winning-
Detroit-Lidstrom
Ducks-Neidermeyer
Pens-Letang
Hawks-Keith
Kings-Doughty
Blues-Pietrangelo
Bruins-Chara
Caps-Carlson

Sens and Vegas had Karlsson and Theodore
Sharks have Burns
Lightning have Hedman

And before you throw the "Letang sux" at me, that's an example of a team that won with a well balanced, highly powerful offense.

100%. Having all this cap space is not a good thing.

It means you have a very bad roster.

Not to mention 25-30 mil is going to Dahlin, Reinhart, Montour and VO over the next 2 years.

Dahlin - 9
Montour - 6
VO - 5
Reinhart - 7

So there goes all your cap space.
- ImThatGuy

Olofsson is not getting $5M and Dahlin is not getting $9M on their next deals. Both are high. I also believe Montour will be traded before next season begins.

Pietrangelo
Carlson
None
Letang


You do not NEED a franchise dman. But a good majority of cup winners have them.

At time of winning-
Detroit-Lidstrom
Ducks-Neidermeyer
Pens-Letang
Hawks-Keith
Kings-Doughty
Blues-Pietrangelo
Bruins-Chara
Caps-Carlson

Sens and Vegas had Karlsson and Theodore
Sharks have Burns
Lightning have Hedman

And before you throw the "Letang sux" at me, that's an example of a team that won with a well balanced, highly powerful offense.
- TheSabresTaco

also of note, those above with the stud won multiples.... but ya who needs the stud right

Pietrangelo
Carlson
None
Letang


You do not NEED a franchise dman. But a good majority of cup winners have them.

At time of winning-
Detroit-Lidstrom
Ducks-Neidermeyer
Pens-Letang
Hawks-Keith
Kings-Doughty
Blues-Pietrangelo
Bruins-Chara
Caps-Carlson

Sens and Vegas had Karlsson and Theodore
Sharks have Burns
Lightning have Hedman

And before you throw the "Letang sux" at me, that's an example of a team that won with a well balanced, highly powerful offense.
- TheSabresTaco

So those guys are Franchise Dman
Lindstrom yes
Carlson yes
They are good Dman that helped there TEAM win.

Sounds like u were down there a day too late
Missed your chance to make your voice heard

Also,
You’re whining about a straw?
Instead of being all p!ssy you could’ve used it as a teachable moment with your daughter about how terrible single use plastic items are for the environment,
and what a cool thing is that they’re spending the extra $$$ (significant extra $$$ btw) to be conscious of the effect our daily habits have on the environment

But instead... u came here to b!tch... congrats
- jdfitz77

Just don't, you are really barking up the wrong tree here. I came here upset that I spend 3800 on season tickets and when I purchase a fountain pop there are no franking straws, good for them for changing to paper straws, maybe someone should of planned ahead? I don't think it was too much to ask for.

Also is this not the place to display my displeasure.. or should I just drink the koolaid? you tell me, you seem to have all the answers.