Sabres Owner Terry Pegula yesterday made rare public comments about the state of the franchise, in which he supported GM Darcy Regier, talked about Buffalo as a destination and his spending on players. Appearing on Buffalo-based WGR-AM, Pegula said of Regier, "When you look at the history, even with the Sabres, what's he done wrong? ... One of the things that I like about what I see is there's a very capable person there, a lot of knowledge under Al Arbour, very knowledgeable person. I built a pretty good company for my life, and one of my main areas in life is you start with a good person, good people, and you work from there. Darcy is in that category." Pegula said of failed contract negotiations and Buffalo as a free-agent destination, "When the Buffalo Sabres go after a free agent, I get a kick out of some comments, 'Why didn't they get this guy? Why didn't they get that guy?' Does anyone ever think that maybe that other person has a say in the decision? And maybe he didn't or doesn't want to come to Buffalo. You can't force people to do things." He continued, "I can tell you that every free agent, major, some of the minor ones that have come down the pipe the last couple of years, we've been heavily involved with them. ... As far as I know we set the standard and won the war, but they made the decision and I think last year's market was a pretty good example of that." Pegula also hinted that his arrival as owner in February '11 "hasn't been universally accepted." He said, "If you probably talk to other owners around the league, they might think that I may spend too much money. ... You might talk to some of the other owners around the league, and they'll tell you, 'Who's this new owner? What is he, crazy? Why did you give this guy money or that guy? Hey, it's my decision. It was something I wanted to do" (BUFFALONEWS.com, 6/18).
SOCIAL STUDIES: In Buffalo, John Vogl writes the Sabres hiring new Social Media Manager Craig Kanalley is a "coup" for the team. He generated a "substantial following as the founder of Breaking Tweets, a blog that focused on how breaking news was analyzed on Twitter." Kanalley "parlayed that into a job with the Huffington Post, which has more than 3 million Twitter followers." He said, "It was really like a no-brainer to be honest with you. I think everything kind of prepared me for this step, so I'm excited." Vogl notes Kanalley "isn't planning immediate, sweeping changes to a Twitter feed that includes everything from game updates to plugs for singers on owner Terry Pegula's record label." He promises to "listen to a vocal fan base that can be extremely critical" (BUFFALO NEWS, 6/19).
