Wow. Holy shit. Throw up every single swear word of shock known to man on this. It is pretty hard for me to wrap my head around all of this because there is so much to digest. So, I'm just going to go bullet point this without much procrastinating. Plus, I'm at work, so, I have to fucken hurry which means tons of babbling
Darcy is gone- THANK GOD! I think everyone can agree with this. I'm not going to spend too much time retelling the war stories about how big of a buffoon this guy was because it has been repeated 100 times on here. He sucked ass at his job and finally it is closure to what has been a pretty shitty tenure. Sure, you can always play the "He was handicapped by previous ownership" crap, but his last 3 seasons under an owner who opened the vaults proved he was an idiot.
In fairness, I do feel slightly bad for Darcy because he obviously wanted to try and sell the rebuild of going through the draft. He pitched that to the hierarchy in the summer and they signed up for it with probably the prerequisite that it was going to take 2-3 years to do this. You don't pitch this idea if you think you are going to get fired 1 month into the season, right? You want instant results if that's the case.
I'm sure if Darcy had known this was going to happen or ownership's patience would wear thin, he would have emptied the bank accounts for FAs and traded his draft picks for established players. Anyways, I don't feel too sorry for him because he had been given sooooooooooo many chances to turn the franchise around.
Bottom line: I was fine with a Sabres rebuild, but we all just couldn't take it that Darcy was in charge of it. It was messed up that he got to clean up a mess that he started. That's the main reason why the Bills got the rights of passage with rebuilding this year under a new regime from the fans while the Sabres got zero love. Even if you aren't on board with the hires (More on that later), it was worth it because we finally were able to get rid of Darcy. Anyways, fuck off.
Ron Rolston sent packing- 8 wins in regulation since he's been coach. Amazingly bad. He inherited a terrible roster and was totally in over his head from the start. You could just tell with the way he was handling the media when they asked easy questions and how he'd either be short with them or flip out. He was on the verge of a nervous break down it seemed like after every game with either him crying or punching the cameraman.
It is amazing that Darcy gave this guy a contract to be the head coach without out any NHL experience and very little AHL experience while not even interviewing another a coach. Did he get a raw deal because he inherited a AHL team with a few vets who are proven shit heads? Maybe. However, in the short-term dealings with watching this guy coach, he offered zero in terms of confidence and future goodwill. My lack of confidence had nothing to do with the losing, but just how they were losing. Just compare the Bills first 9 games to the Sabres and you know what I'm getting at.
WHY NOW? -I have zero fucken idea. It has been so bad over the last two years and you could easily make the case this should have been done about 10 different times. Obviously the terrible start played into it, but I've always considered Pegula to be ultra-sensitive when it comes to criticism and I think the last month or so has been a living hell for his baby on and off the ice. From the Kaleta/Scott crap to the Pominville tribute which has been rumored to have been squashed by Darcy, it may have just been the breaking part. It amazes me how terrible it has been and we are only like 6 weeks into the season and have like 6 months more to go!
Pegula has always been a fan boy and being the guy who loves hanging out with the cool kids, so, he wants the cool kids to have a good time. No one was having a good time this season and I think it just reached a boiling point. Players probably hated their coach and had zero confidence in Darcy making a decent move at this point.
Take Steve fucken Ott. Last year, the guy came off as being this giant leader with loving to play in Hockey Heaven and loving the team's direction. Did you hear his interview 2 weeks ago on WGR? That motherfucker couldn't wait to get the hell out of here. It was hell for everyone in that building.
Also, the whole not having a hockey guy to tell Darcy what to do may have been something that Pegula finally figured out that needed to change.
The love for nostalgia- If I got a dollar for every time someone would call into a radio show and beg for Ted Nolan to come back or for any ex-Bill or Sabres player to take over their team in any capacity as GM or coach, I'd be able to buy the team. Now, I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't say that I've used nostalgia a number of times to feel good about the Sabres/Bills. Hell, if it wasn't for the Bills of the 90s, I wouldn't be blogging today. However, I've always joked about people's fixation with reliving their youth by bringing folks back from the dead to run their teams.
The Ted Nolan years have always been viewed as the Jedi archives when it comes to Buffalo nostalgia. Those older fans who loved the Sabres signing guys like John Scott or trading for Ott, use those years as if it is the Genesis of the Sabres bible.
We hold onto nostalgia more in this town because we've gone through so much shit that we have to hold onto something that felt special in order to believe that something good will happen again. The team that won the division in 96/97 felt special because it was an underdog team with a bunch of tough guys.
Pat LaFontaine..Same thing. He was one of my favorite players growing up and we all know how much he did for the community. He was only here for like 5 years and yet, he's arguably the most popular player in team history. Again, memories..
So, is this a PR stunt to put out the flames the fans have for the Sabres? It is possible. However, if you are 10-25 years old, you aren't exactly going to remember those two guys at their apex, right?
If anything, I think it is exactly what Pegula said in his press conference..He's a people's person and LaFontaine is definitely the people's champ in terms of love. We all know Pegula tends to be the ultimate fan boy and I'm sure this helped because he's in awe whenever he's around these guys.
Just remember..Ted Nolan talked about how this is all about "Entertainment" and I think with these two hires, it definitely entertains a part of the fan base.
Patty's return- As of now..I'm fine with the hire. Ex-Players in all 4-sports have risen pretty fast to the "Big Cheese" chair. John Elway, Nolan Ryan, Danny Ainge, and Steve Yzerman to name a few. I think LaFontaine can help with recruiting players because of his name and can also bring in a fresh face to an organization that has been stagnant for years.
Now, I'm not getting all fan boy here with the signing. I'm just going with this because it has happened a number of times in sports. Also, he's an unknown. He's not a proven failure or some who has succeeded. He's not a retread (As long as you don't count those 6 weeks in Long Island). It does have a freshness to it. I'm curious to see who he will bring in as GM. I'm hoping it is a GM with experience. Marty Biron tweeted about Mike Peca. No thanks. I think we have our fill of 90s Sabres here.
This is the move that will hopefully change the franchise. Coaches in the NHL get fired all the time, GMs however have staying power.
Ted Nolan's return– How fucken surreal was it to see Ted Nolan today. Holy shit. That may be the most shocking unpredictable occurrence in the last 20 years or so for Buffalo sports.
I always felt Ted Nolan was pretty overrated when he was here. The ONLY reason that team won the division was because of Hasek. I assure you, if Corsi stats were around then, the Sabres would be near the bottom of the league with puck possession or whatever that stat means. In a nutshell, that team pretty much hit the shit out of you but couldn't score. They had very little offensive flavor and would always win 2-1 games. In fairness though, Nolan had to deal with the financial issues of the team because the Knoxes were losing money and had to cut payroll (See: Mogilny trade).
Nolan loved tough guys like May, Ray, Barnaby, Boughner and Peca.You can already phone in that Pat Kaleta is going to get called up by next week. You can plug in Steve Ott, Cody McCormick, Mike Weber and pretty much anyone who knows how to hit to get some ice time.
The good..Yes, it is cliche for hockey coaches to say all they want is effort, but you can't emphasize that more with Nolan. If you are lazy and not giving effort, he's benching your ass and he's going to rip you a new one in public. This was the same coach who actually questioned Hasek's injury and got into it with his GM on multiple occasions. He's a fucken hot head. He's also a great motivator. Pretty much, I'd term him as the ultimate tough love coach.
However, can he really coach?
I remember a lot of folks called out his Xs and Os and pretty much he was just a great motivator that leaned on Hasek to save the day. Since Hasek/Nolan's divorce, Teddy hasn't exactly been lighting the hockey world on fire. Some feel he was blackballed because of his fights with Muckler and all those damn Hasek rumors. There's a lot of smoke with the guy.He doesn't exactly have a great track record with developing kids and his success was primarily due to Hasek being his goaltender.
I think my biggest worry is that he better have evolved since his last stay in Buffalo. If there's one thing we have learned about the NHL this year it is how the NHL is trying to get rid of head shots and is wussafying the league. This ain't 1997 anymore and guys like Barnaby/Ray/May would probably have a hard time adapting to today's game.
Heather B. just emailed me that she is a little worried that his "Entertainment" comment could mean more fights and that's exactly why most fans thought the '97 team was entertaining. If that's the case, I'm not going to be entertained at all unless Enroth becomes Hasek.
In other words, he better have picked up some Xs and Os since his last time here.
Final word: I'm curious to see if LaFontaine will continue with the youth movement. He's obviously not going to be married to the prospects like Darcy was. Maybe he gets rid of the kids for vets? Maybe that's too impulsive.
Anyways, if they go the same route with the kiddies, things aren't exactly going to change over night in terms of the hockey product, but at least we have the peace of mind that Darcy is finally gone. I'd have taken Andrew Peters coaching this team if it meant that Darcy would get canned.
It reminds me of when the Bills fired Donahoe and fans just couldn't wait to get his ass out of here and there wasn't much of a backlash with the Jauron/Levy hire because people were just thrilled that Donahoe was gone. Darcy is 10 times worse when it comes to being the bane of our existence than Tommy.
Anyways, it is a new day and I'm going to enjoy. Darcy is gone and if you meet Terry Pegula for lunch, you may end up with a job running his team.
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