The Pegulas rapidly expanded the Sabres' staff upon purchasing the franchise in '11GETTY IMAGES
The Sabres fired GM Jason Botterill as part of a "drastic cost-cutting purge of front-office staff and scouts on a team preparing to sit idle for what could be the remainder of the calendar year," according to John Wawrow of the AP. Sabres co-Owners Terry and Kim Pegula "cited a lack of communication and philosophical differences in announcing the decision to fire Botterill, three weeks after saying the GM would be retained." What also "became clear" during a Zoom conference call with the Pegulas yesterday was their "sudden focus on keeping costs in line, with Terry Pegula twice mentioning a need to have an effectively, efficiently and economically run franchise." Wawrow notes the Sabres "failed to qualify for the NHL's proposed 24-team expanded playoff format, meaning the team will be off until the start of next season, which could be pushed back to January." Meanwhile, the cuts yesterday "went deeper" than Botterill, with Assistant GMs Randy Sexton and Steve Greeley "also fired." Later in the day, the Sabres "announced the firing of minor-league coach Chris Taylor and his assistants, Gord Dineen and Toby Petersen." A source said that 12 members of the Sabres' 21-member scouting staff, including Assistant Dir of Amateur Scouting Jeff Crisp, "were also let go." Wawrow writes the cost-cutting moves are a "major shift for the Pegulas, who rapidly expanded the Sabres staff and spent hundreds of millions of dollars on signing players and upgrading team facilities upon purchasing the franchise" in February '11 (AP, 6/17).
NO SEARCH NEEDED: In Buffalo, Lance Lysowski notes Terry Pegula confirmed there was "no formal search" for a GM to replace Botterill. He and Kim Pegula "explained there was comfort in promoting" Senior VP/Business Administration Kevyn Adams to the role, whom they have been "grooming for a high-level job within the organization since he was hired" as a development coach in '09. Terry Pegula said that the NHL's decision to "delay the draft until possibly the fall encouraged ownership to make a change" at GM. Botterill "never deviated from his vision for the Sabres, even when faced with the possibility of losing his job" (BUFFALO NEWS, 6/17). However, NHL Network’s Mike Johnson said, “It does looks like they are not quite on the same page and there are some mixed messages there. It’s not that the decision was made, it was how they got to this point is a bit head-scratching” (“NHL Tonight,” NHL Network, 6/16).
DARK DAY FOR ALL: In Buffalo, Mike Harrington writes yesterday was "one of the darkest days in franchise history." It was a "bloodletting, a clean sweep of virtually every corner of hockey operations, except head coach Ralph Krueger and his assistants." It is "not that unusual for scouts to be fired when the GM is fired, but the depth of dismissals was shocking." The Pegulas are "bleeding money on hockey and cutting back in all areas." Terry Pegula "wouldn't even commit to a single assistant GM under Adams to replace Sexton and Greeley." He also said that the Sabres have "no interest in hiring a real team president" (BUFFALO NEWS, 6/17). THE ATHLETIC's John Vogl wrote it was a "colossal firing spree that shook the NHL for its size and scale." The Pegulas yesterday "clearly hinted they were moving in a different direction, but no one foresaw the scale of the housecleaning -- including those who were fired" (THEATHLETIC.com, 6/16). THE ATHLETIC's Tim Graham wrote, "Time and again, the Pegulas remind us they're making things up as they go along." Their moves "seem impulsive, betraying their own declarations and revealing more and more that they probably fell back asswards into a competent Bills setup" (THEATHLETIC.com, 6/16).
