BN Bucky : Pegulas in over their heads...

[Mace]

The Pegulas now own two franchises going nowhere rather than just one. The Bills missed the playoffs for a 16th consecutive season with no end in sight. The Sabres entered Tuesday’s games in 26th place in the NHL. They were two points ahead of Anaheim, which had two games in hand and was one stop from the bottom.

http://buckyandsully.buffalonews.com...r-their-heads/

Well I happen to agree with him. But I believe the Pegulas are still the way to go and will learn and adapt over time. I'm not happy with the job they've done to date, but I'm happy the Pegulas own the teams and will lead to better days ahead even if I don't last long enough to see them some day.

[Night Train]

The Sabres hit rock bottom and are improving. Regarding the Sabres, he's FOS. Nothing expected this year but I don't wear his biased blinders. Murray was left with a major rebuild, due to Darcy.

He's making the same initial mistakes with the Bills and the jury is out on how Ryan will recover.

[trapezeus]

This act between these two are so tired. But it is on the bills for being such a terribly run organization that pretty much any negative article will always end up right. It's the same brass at the top. The pegulas have changed anything.


As for the Sabres. He should try and watch the games. They were outclassed last year. This year they hold their own. They have played the Lightning well. The black hawks and the Kings. They beat a red hot Bruins team. But they are young. You can see the build. And you can see a few string of wins at this point they go from 26 into the thick of playoffs. No one was expecting a playoff appearance. They wanted improvement and a sign that it's getting better. It clearly is. Whether that shows up as a playoff appearance or cup win is to be seen. To call the experiment off now is the sign of complete baffoonery

[Mace]

I think my money is still on the Pegula's doing it right though they are having a struggle.

[cookie G]

This is why Pegula is talking to Polian. He knows he's an engineer, not a football guy.

[Mace]

This is why Pegula is talking to Polian. He knows he's an engineer, not a football guy.

Well I think he's a football guy who is an engineer not an engineer trying to be a football guy, but I can go along with this

[YardRat]

It is what it is.

[Crisis]

This act between these two are so tired. But it is on the bills for being such a terribly run organization that pretty much any negative article will always end up right. It's the same brass at the top. The pegulas have changed anything.


As for the Sabres. He should try and watch the games. They were outclassed last year. This year they hold their own. They have played the Lightning well. The black hawks and the Kings. They beat a red hot Bruins team. But they are young. You can see the build. And you can see a few string of wins at this point they go from 26 into the thick of playoffs. No one was expecting a playoff appearance. They wanted improvement and a sign that it's getting better. It clearly is. Whether that shows up as a playoff appearance or cup win is to be seen. To call the experiment off now is the sign of complete baffoonery

Agreed, it's extremely old and tired with the Sabres stuff.

The Eichel-O'Reilly-Risto-Reinhart core is looking great. The only deadweight on those teams are the veterans (Moulson contract looks terrible right now, Gionta at least expires soon). The sabres are headed in the right direction, have been playing well with Lehner out all year.

[sukie]

New paint jobs and some logo blazoned carpeting?

[OpIv37]

The Sabres hit rock bottom and are improving. Regarding the Sabres, he's FOS. Nothing expected this year but I don't wear his biased blinders. Murray was left with a major rebuild, due to Darcy.

He's making the same initial mistakes with the Bills and the jury is out on how Ryan will recover.

This ^

And many of us saw the same mistakes coming.

[Turf]

Ryan and Roman don't have he skill set to be NFL coaches. I don't have as much a problem with Roman as OC, since a real coach could reel him in. But Ryan is a ****ing tool with no Head Coach skills.
The Pegulas are paying this guy elite money to lead a team and he down graded the performance on the field. I guess its this that and whatever. Whatever horse**** spews out of his mouth at the moment. Things like that. Blah blah blah. **** you Rex.

[POTLAND PSILBYLO]

How many football crazy billionaires are there that want to own the Bills? Be glad there is one...

[OpIv37]

How many football crazy billionaires are there that want to own the Bills? Be glad there is one...

That's what we had with Ralph and it got us maybe 12 good seasons peppered amongst 50+ years of mediocrity.

I watched the 30 for 30 on the Super Bowls today. It reminded me how knowledgeable and loyal our fan base is but it often comes at a price: blind loyalty to the point where mediocrity is accepted. The passion, the commitment, the tailgates are great, but when does it get rewarded with winning?

We need to lose the mentality that simply having a team is enough

[swiper]

This ^

And many of us saw the same mistakes coming.

LOL. Some of you should just stay lost in the football forum, because you're even more lost trying to talk hockey. The FACT is that the Sabres have a new coach, a new GM, some shiny new players and are one point out of last place. One point. They played the Capitals on Monday, got 31 SOG and couldn't score to save their lives. They are terrible. No matter how you want to spin it.

If it wasn't for the nightmare AKA as the Maple Leafs the Sabres would be cellar dwellars for the 3rd season in a row. That is a terrible owner. The Pegulas are a joke. As much as an a-hole as Gleason is, he is correct here.

[trapezeus]

the only thing you could tag the pegulas with is that they went Lafontaine who left him high and dry within weeks and tim murray was somewhat accidental. he's trying the same thing with the bills. bring in old names to get people excited. and even polian's comments seem off. Hopefully polian's continuous spurning of the bills makes him look to a new guy who is willing to fix the whole thing. to me, it seems like the pegulas will let whaley and ryan figure this out for one more year. Too many contracts to call it off now. and when we hit 17 years, they'll gut the whole thing and people will given them the patience of building a long term winner properly. it just sucks that we are 3-5 years away from anything remotely competitive.

[trapezeus]

LOL. Some of you should just stay lost in the football forum, because you're even more lost trying to talk hockey. The FACT is that the Sabres have a new coach, a new GM, some shiny new players and are one point out of last place. One point. They played the Capitals on Monday, got 31 SOG and couldn't score to save their lives. They are terrible. No matter how you want to spin it.

If it wasn't for the nightmare AKA as the Maple Leafs the Sabres would be cellar dwellars for the 3rd season in a row. That is a terrible owner. The Pegulas are a joke. As much as an a-hole as Gleason is, he is correct here.

try and watching the sabres this year before just spouting off non-sense. I can't imagine another team that wouldn't want the sabres core for the future.

[yanklovver]

LOL. Some of you should just stay lost in the football forum, because you're even more lost trying to talk hockey. The FACT is that the Sabres have a new coach, a new GM, some shiny new players and are one point out of last place. One point. They played the Capitals on Monday, got 31 SOG and couldn't score to save their lives. They are terrible. No matter how you want to spin it.

If it wasn't for the nightmare AKA as the Maple Leafs the Sabres would be cellar dwellars for the 3rd season in a row. That is a terrible owner. The Pegulas are a joke. As much as an a-hole as Gleason is, he is correct here.

A terrible owner???......you are fkn crazy......I am glad he bought both franchises....yes, at least they are here....but the pegulas will spend and do what it takes to win in the nfl and nhl.....so get lost if you think the bills would still be here...They might be in over there heads...But they will get there...Sports franchises are a lot different than oil wells....They will Succeed....Ralph Wilson was a terrible owner!

[elroy16]

Is this a joke? Seriously, what an awful article.


NFL players take three years to properly evaluate and NHL players can take longer depending on if they go to the juniors, etc. The Pegula's are in year four with the Sabres and year one with Bills and we're already coming to conclusions about their ineptitude? If it takes 3-4 years to evaluate a player, how the hell are we able to judge a freaking owner after four years with one organization and one with another?


The Sabres need some help, mainly at goal (maybe that's Lehner), a few depth forwards, and a top 4 D lineman or two, but they're looking good. Still lower third of the league, but if you watch, you know they're a 100x more competitive this year. They're less than half a year in a new system with a bunch of new players. There was a bump or two in the road to start their ownership, but now they're looking solid with a good GM, good coach, and very good, very young core. I for one am very excited about their future. They won't win a cup this year or next, but they're going to be fun to watch, should fight for a playoff spot next year, and hopefully continue to get better from there.



The Pegula's are in year one with the Bills. Bucky brings up McCoy's deal as a poor decision by ownership. First, I don't think for a second that this was in any way shape or form a decision made by ownership. They were probably told about it, but the didn't write up the contract, decide on the $ or number of years. He says it was a poor decision because it puts pressure on their salary cap situation. They have a handful of guys they can get rid of easily to create cap space. The cap is also going up and they can restructure a few deals to create space. When they cut McKelvin he's going to save about 3.9 in cap space. When they cut Mario they're going to save 12 million next year and 15 the year after. Cap issues are rarely a big deal in the NFL these days with the way contracts are structured. Basing his criticism on the Bills and Pegula's for their use of the cap is pretty weak.

[DetDannyWilliams]

This act between these two are so tired. But it is on the bills for being such a terribly run organization that pretty much any negative article will always end up right. It's the same brass at the top. The pegulas have changed anything.


As for the Sabres. He should try and watch the games. They were outclassed last year. This year they hold their own. They have played the Lightning well. The black hawks and the Kings. They beat a red hot Bruins team. But they are young. You can see the build. And you can see a few string of wins at this point they go from 26 into the thick of playoffs. No one was expecting a playoff appearance. They wanted improvement and a sign that it's getting better. It clearly is. Whether that shows up as a playoff appearance or cup win is to be seen. To call the experiment off now is the sign of complete baffoonery

Bucky still can't get over the Sabres letting both Drury and Briere go (which looks like the Sabres were right) Drury isn't in the NHL anymore and Briere retired

[chernobylwraiths]

It mystifies me that so much onus is put on ownership of how the team performs. Some people would give new coaches one year to see what they can do and if no championship would start over. I think the Pegulas know that one thing that needs to be done in any sports organization is continuity. With the Sabres, he did his homework apparently. He asked high ranking people in hockey about Regier. I know anybody who follows the Sabres closely would know, but there are people RIGHT ON THIS SITE or WERE who kept saying that Darcy's trades and drafts were really good, pointing to trades that brought in guys like Briere, Dumont and Drury and drafts that brought in Pomminville, Roy, Vanek and especially Miller. As we well know, that didn't work out too well and the loss of Briere and Drury in one offseason seemed all laid at the feet of Quinn (whether true or not). People would say that if you gave Darcy the keys and the money, he could build a winner. Well, we got Leino, Ehrhoff, and Regheir (who was not terrible but well past his prime). He brought in LaFontaine with his shakey past. They hired Murray and at the first sight of Murray's plan, LaFontaine bolted. A lot of people didn't like the lose to win approach. It is a little hard to swallow, but getting guys and overpaying to win now and "maybe" make the playoffs or more likely to miss out and draft 10th every year wasn't working either. So, he sold off anything of value. I was fine with that as long as an end was in sight. Now the Sabres are playing actual hockey again. They have talent and a chance to win every night and not only because the goalie is stealing it. Coincedentally, they haven't had as good goaltending this year and that is why they haven't won more.

The Bills on the other hand were not in great shape when he came in. Aging leadership, no QB, fractured relationships of the people in charge and a good defense. Then the coach and starting QB decide to leave and retire. Is that his fault? I'm truly glad that Marrone is gone. I'm not sure yet about Ryan. personally I think he sort of coached this year as if the players would play his system instead of implementing a system to fit the players, but he also had to contend with several injuries and to some key players. I would have liked to see more from Mario in the absence of some leadership players, but that isn't what he is. Sadly, I think his time here is done and I'm not sure if that is a bad thing or a good thing. I will say the one thing I always admired about Ryan's defenses and Pittsburgh's also is that it seemed anyone on the front seven could play almost any position. you never know what is going to happen. For the most part, we don't have those players yet. Is that the Pegulas' fault? No.

As an owner you put people in charge to make decisions. Not all those decisions have worked out. Are the Bills bad? No, but they aren't good either. They have potential to be better and I am not off the bandwagon yet. Let's see what another offseason brings. There was enough there to be excited about with Sammy healthy on offense.