For Sabres fans, it's been a rough 14 years since Terry Pegula took over as the owner of the team. Pegula has shown little effort in improving the team, and during his time as owner, has yet to bring playoff hockey to Buffalo.
I don’t count 2011 as Pegula’s success, as he bought the team in February, and they made the playoffs just two months later. Since then, he has gone through a plethora of coaches and GMs who have failed to put the team in a winning position.
Not to mention the amount of franchise talent that he has had on the ice and failed to keep. Starting with Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Brandon Montour, Ryan O’Reilly, Linus Ullmark, the list goes on and on.
However, Pegula will take no blame for his actions, and doesn’t understand why the team isn’t successful. Instead, finding excuses as to why they can’t win, even having his GM go on record saying, “We don’t have palm trees in Buffalo.”
Kevyn Adams last summer mentioned what Pegula has done to make the team successful, saying,
“Terry has done everything he can to provide us with every possible resource to win hockey games,” Adams stated. “How many pro scouts we have versus what other teams have isn’t something I overly get concerned about.”
If Pegula is doing as much as Adams says he's doing, then why is Buffalo still unsuccessful year after year under his control? I think Pegula is starting to realize that what he’s doing isn’t enough, and if he wants this team to be successful, he has to put full effort into this team.
Pegula finally made a change this offseason as he brought in a new Chief Commercial Officer in Jake Vernon. Pegula brought in Vernon to help with game day and fan experience, as he made the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA the best fan experience team in the league.
Vernon will also help oversee the Keybank renovations and the contract that the Sabres are hoping to re-sign when their lease runs out next season. It is good to see that Pegula is actually responding to feedback, and is starting to make the team better, but once again its just a start.
Where will Pegula go from here?
With many big-name coaching staff and front office members filtering to other teams, it's unclear what Pegula is going to do the rest of the offseason. Sabres fans are waiting for changes but aren’t getting any. This tweet from Chad DeDominicis sums up where Sabres fans are currently.
With the NHL Draft lottery and draft quickly approaching, Pegula needs to have a somewhat set coaching and front office staff that will be on the same page for next season. The Sabres are in a great spot to be playoff contenders next season, but it all lies on how Pegula forms his staff for next year.
Until then, Sabres fans will just have to pray that big changes are coming in the future, and this team can finally gets over the hump.