NHL Anti-Thread: Bad Business Decision Aggregator

[Chromatic]

I read that the limited number of seats available for the Sabres reopening went on sale to the general public, which would mean season ticket holders declined to purchase them. I think Buffalo is trying to give Arizona a run for its money on most exasperating team.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

23 minutes ago, Chromatic said:

I read that the limited number of seats available for the Sabres reopening went on sale to the general public, which would mean season ticket holders declined to purchase them. I think Buffalo is trying to give Arizona a run for its money on most exasperating team.

 

The Sabres were the toast of the league back in 2004/2005, fell off a cliff, and have been just terrible ever since. And to me, it doesn't even feel for lack of trying. It's one thing to suck at drafting and team building (which I suppose they have), but it's another to not invest in the team at all (which they are not guilty of).

 

It sucks doubly because the Bills finally seem to be headed in the right direction and they share an ownership group.

 

My prime hockey fandom years were like 98 through 2002 (or, really, prime Hasek years). Such a shame the team has been mostly garbage. Maybe a return to black and red is in order?

[SFGiants58]

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Maybe a return to black and red is in order?

LOL nope. They’d still be awful in black and red.

[Chromatic]

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Maybe a return to black and red is in order?

As a Canucks fan I hear this type of thinking all the time, and I'm really not enthralled by the idea of changing colours to "fix" the team. Besides, Buffalo just changed their colours this year. We finally got Calgary to change, we don't need yet another team going to red and black.

[charger77]

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

The Sabres were the toast of the league back in 2004/2005, fell off a cliff, and have been just terrible ever since.

 

Toast of the league during the lost season lol!

 

I know you meant '05/'06 

[Sport]

The 06 Sabres are genuinely one of the most heartbreaking "what if" stories in sports history. They lost 4 out of their 6 defenseman to injury before Game 7 to Carolina and still had a one goal lead going into the third period. And then lost that game in part because of the puck over the glass rule, which is one of the worst rules in sports and we've been trying to change it for 15 years now. If healthy that would've been the first time in Buffalo's championship drought since the Bills played the Giants that they played in a championship final where they had the better team. They probably would've handled Edmonton fairly easily and won a championship for Buffalo. 

 

This is a good recount

https://theathletic.com/980964/2019/05/16/it-haunts-you-for-the-rest-of-your-life-reliving-the-2006-eastern-conference-final-when-the-sabres-magic-ran-out/

[DEAD!]

6 hours ago, Sport said:

The 06 Sabres are genuinely one of the most heartbreaking "what if" stories in sports history. They lost 4 out of their 6 defenseman to injury before Game 7 to Carolina and still had a one goal lead going into the third period. And then lost that game in part because of the puck over the glass rule, which is one of the worst rules in sports and we've been trying to change it for 15 years now. If healthy that would've been the first time in Buffalo's championship drought since the Bills played the Giants that they played in a championship final where they had the better team. They probably would've handled Edmonton fairly easily and won a championship for Buffalo. 

 

This is a good recount

https://theathletic.com/980964/2019/05/16/it-haunts-you-for-the-rest-of-your-life-reliving-the-2006-eastern-conference-final-when-the-sabres-magic-ran-out/

... and we would have had the Buffaslug forever be a symbol of success!

[The_Admiral]

The Pegulas are frustrating because on one hand I respect their willingness to throw their ill-gotten money around and try to make Buffalo a little better instead of being a total parasite like some sports teams, but on the ops side, man, they just can't get the right people to hire the right people. As with the Bills, anyone who claims to have any root-for-the-underdog spirit should want the best for Buffalo and the Sabres, such a shame they can't get there. 

FUN FACT: the previous owner of the Sabres, a fat and decrepit old man who ran some payroll-outsourcing firm, is married to Monica Seles, many years his junior. Dudes rock!

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Tom Galisano owned Paychex, which processed/processes payroll for many, many businesses. Galisano was also the Ross Perot of New York, running as an independent for governor several times but never able to get past the Pataki/sex predator gauntlet.

 

I didn't know he was married to Monica Seles! That's wild.

[Cosmic]

On 3/15/2021 at 7:45 PM, DEAD! said:

... and we would have had the Buffaslug forever be a symbol of success!

First season out of the lockout was still the goat head, then a season with the slug on the old template, then Edge hit.

 

On 3/15/2021 at 9:07 PM, the admiral said:

on the ops side, man, they just can't get the right people to hire the right people.

I don't know how much they meddle, but I don't tend to blame them for the Sabres' failures. They tried stuff and it didn't work. The same way Jamarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf, etc. would have gone #2 or #3 overall if they weren't picked #1, I don't think anyone was really criticizing the GM hires at the time. The losing culture became a boulder rolling downhill at some point, and it's hard to snap out of it. Now, I think the pandemic has got the Pegulas on the ropes and they're cutting back instead of investing money to turn things around, but that's almost a separate issue.

[DEAD!]

1 hour ago, Cosmic said:

First season out of the lockout was still the goat head, then a season with the slug on the old template, then Edge hit.

Yeah. For whatever reason, I remember the 2007 season more so than 2006. 

[Sport]

8 hours ago, Cosmic said:

First season out of the lockout was still the goat head, then a season with the slug on the old template, then Edge hit.

 

I don't know how much they meddle, but I don't tend to blame them for the Sabres' failures. They tried stuff and it didn't work. The same way Jamarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf, etc. would have gone #2 or #3 overall if they weren't picked #1, I don't think anyone was really criticizing the GM hires at the time. The losing culture became a boulder rolling downhill at some point, and it's hard to snap out of it. Now, I think the pandemic has got the Pegulas on the ropes and they're cutting back instead of investing money to turn things around, but that's almost a separate issue.

 

I think they kind of got f***** by their covid pause and people aren't really giving them the benefit of that doubt. The Devils are dealing with the same thing. They were 4-4-2 on January 31, had to take two weeks off, and they're 2-14-2 since then. I don't think they're good as it is, but shutting down for two weeks while their opponents kept playing and training combined with now having to play a compressed schedule. I think it's a little unfair to call them the worst team ever. 

[Cosmic]

17 hours ago, Sport said:

 

I think they kind of got f***** by their covid pause and people aren't really giving them the benefit of that doubt. The Devils are dealing with the same thing. They were 4-4-2 on January 31, had to take two weeks off, and they're 2-14-2 since then. I don't think they're good as it is, but shutting down for two weeks while their opponents kept playing and training combined with now having to play a compressed schedule. I think it's a little unfair to call them the worst team ever. 

Are people really trying to claim they're the worst team ever?! You probably only have to go back to last year's Red Wings to find a worse team! These people obviously haven't been watching the Sabres for the last ten years, either! In the lockout-shortened 2013 season, the team had a respectable 48 points in 48 games... the next year, they had 52 points in 82 games! In the McDavid/Eichel tank year, they traded Michael Neuvirth because he was too good! 

 

I think they're a mediocre team that also is demoralized. The Devils thing is pretty insane... from 2 positives to 17 right around when they were playing the Sabres, but the Sabres don't get the benefit of the doubt because they haven't actually shown much recently. The rain isn't the reason I didn't run that 5k today; it was never going to happen. It'd be like if your Jackets got screwed on that disappearing penalty in a 4 goal loss.

[Cosmic]

Four teams have lost 14 in a row since the shootouts started. Two of them are the Sabres.

[AustinFromBoston]

Speaking of Buffalo 

Remind when executive meddling has ever worked out for a franchise? 

[charger77]

NHL ref Tim Peel to no longer call games after getting caught on a hot mic.

 

 

[Sec19Row53]

The mic is always hot. Treat it that way.

Here's another article on this https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/03/24/hot-mic-remark-causes-nhl-to-sever-ties-with-referee/

[Kevin W.]

He was due to retire next month anyway, so they probably just moved him to a desk job for the rest of his time.

[DTConcepts]

35 minutes ago, Kevin W. said:

He was due to retire next month anyway, so they probably just moved him to a desk job for the rest of his time.

 

He'll be in the review room in Toronto, deciding every call against the Predators.

[DEAD!]

Tim Peel is no Chris Hansen.