CHRISTIAN EVANS
Special to The Leader
Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula is at it again with yet another year of complete housecleaning of one of his beloved Buffalo sports franchises. Reports came out early last Thursday morning that Sabres Head Coach Dan Bylsma and General Manager Tim Murray had been relieved of their duties. This came only one day after multiple reports had been made saying that Sabres star forward Jack Eichel quoted that he would not sign a contract extension with the team if Bylsma remained the head coach.
After these reports had risen, Eichel came right out and, to his credit, personally disputed those reports by saying he had no interests in sabotaging his coach or making management decisions.
If that were the case, then why did it only take less than 24 hours for both his head coach and general manager to be fired after him saying that? Only one person can answer that question, and that is Pegula.
Many fans are starting to question the decision-making process that Pegula has. He has not shown that he has any patience. He simply seems to make moves based on what he hears and sees in the media, as opposed to making his own decisions based on what he believes is best for both the Buffalo Bills and Sabres organizations.
The dismissal of top staff at the Sabres is reminiscent of Pegula cleaning house at the Bills, removing Rex Ryan and company, though they did still keep GM Doug Whaley around. How much longer will he last? My guess would be not too much longer.
From their standpoint though, there is some common understanding. Since they have taken over both franchises, they have not been successful at all. That has to be extremely frustrating for them since they promised the fans that both of their teams would finally bring home a championship and be winners. This could be the reason for them becoming impatient with their head coaches, but they have to learn that patience is sometimes the key to success.
However, everything that the Pegulas have done for the city of Buffalo cannot go unnoticed. They have genuinely saved the city by bringing in loads of money and rebuilding much of the waterfront. They care about the people of Buffalo with all of their hearts and want to make the city great again.
But talk about having a ton of stuff on your plate; these people are owners of two major league sports franchises and are rebuilding a city from the ground up. Maybe it’s time for them to take a step back and focus more on rebuilding Buffalo and let the sports people handle the sports stuff.
Returning to Eichel, the fans have known for a while now that there was much dissatisfaction coming from the players regarding their head coach. Players like goaltender Robin Lehner openly admitted to the media mid-season that many players were not doing what their coach was asking them to do during games. When the coach cannot get his players to play for him, you know there needs to be a change one way or the other. You either have to fire the coach or trade away the player. In this situation it would be absolutely ludicrous for the Sabres to trade the face of their franchise after spending two full seasons of losing just to get him.
An interesting comparison may be when the Tampa Bay Lightning gave Vincent Lecavalier the captaincy in March of 2000 when he was only 19, making him the youngest captain in NHL history at the time. Lecavalier constantly butted heads with his head coach, John Tortorella, in the following two seasons, and questions started funneling out from the fans and the media about whether or not the head coach would be fired or if the star player would be traded. Interestingly enough, both Tortorella and Lecavalier remained with the organization, and two years later the team went on to win the Stanley Cup.
So, did the Pegulas make the right move by canning their team’s head coach and general manager? Were they afraid of Eichel possibly wanting to leave and made a knee jerk reaction to what they heard in the media whether it be true or not? I guess we all will have to wait and see what’s to come of all of this. The Tampa Bay story is a little disheartening when you look at it now as a Sabres fan. The question now is whether or not the Pegulas are moving too fast for their own good.