There's no denying Terry Pegula is a great man. I'm happy he's building up the waterfront and has done a lot for the community. That's endearing for him, and awesome for the city, but it doesn't steer away from the fact that the Sabres are two years into his reign and the team isn't better than before he took over.
They are the same if you go by win/loss.
Spare me with the locker room or 50% sales or salary cap or valorous cliches from Ted Black. The biggest problem is they made it too comfortable for a regime with a history of failing. Again, five playoff series wins since "No Goal." Just let that sink in a little.
They needed to make it uncomfortable. They needed to hire a few outside hockey men to tell Pegula what he needed to hear instead of Darcy and Lindy telling him what they wanted him to hear. On the record, the Sabres have pretty much said Ted Black doesn't have a say in hockey matters. If that's the case, then they failed to bring in the arbitrator they needed.
Instead, it was The Titanic, except they stopped by Ireland before they hit the iceberg and added a new band, a kick ass chef, and a better master of arms.
Just because he's a great guy and generous, doesn't mean we should goto hell if we have the audacity to criticize him for giving Darcy an extension. Everyone loves the guy. Stop with the strawman arguments. This is about hockey. I can separate his fracking and rebuilding the region from the hockey team. I do have faith money and his love for the Sabres can turn things around, but it isn't going to be under Ruff/Regier. That ship has sailed and sunk.
They have proven to be failures who have enabled T-pegs into believing they had it bad before he got there. Don't believe me? Look up his video interview he did with TBN on Pegula Day and how he was defiant against the reporters because they had the audacity to shit on Tim Connolly.
I'm willing to bet he was fed an earful about how the Sabres had it sooooo bad here. Oh, poor you. This is sports. Winning is everything. That's what makes it great. You can't handle the heat, stop whining and get the hell out of it.
Yes, they did have it bad under the nickel and dime approach from Tom Golisano, but two years is enough and there has been very little progress. As Bill Parcells said, "you are what your record says you are."
They are 62-44-16 since Pegula day. I guess you can say they are 18 games above .500 or if you count the OT losses, they are average. Eyes of the beholder, I guess.
Pegula being a fan isn't the problem, it is him being too nice of a guy who wants to give people chances. I'm the same way. I will give people 2nd and 3rd chances. However, when they fail, it is time to say goodbye.
He did his due diligence by giving the carryover regime a 2nd chance. Two years is enough. If the team fails to make the playoffs or at least make tons of noise in it, no way DR/LR should have jobs. The Sabres were never rebuilding before or after Pegula took over. They had two years to re-tool and to misquote one of our old owners, "They didn't get the right tools to finish the job."
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