THE BUFFALO SABRES ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE… NHL EXECUTIVE REVEALS THE TRUE PROBLEM WITH PEGULA

THE BUFFALO SABRES ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE… NHL EXECUTIVE REVEALS THE TRUE PROBLEM WITH PEGULA

So, I’m right here along with the ride with all of you because what I wanted to talk about in this video was the Buffalo Sabres. And no, not the Boston Bruins. I wanted to talk about the Buffalo Sabres because I’m not going to lie, I can’t really provide any analysis on this. I just wanted to read and react to what Sabres fans are talking about in regards to their ownership. It’s been a very big topic amongst NHL circles. Not really too much on this YouTube channel because I’m not too educated on it to be honest, but looking at everything laid out the way it is, oh boy, it’s looking really bad for the Buffalo Sabres here. Now, the reason we are on Henry Yoki Haru’s elite prospects page is because of the trade which sent Yoki Haru from Buffalo over to Boston earlier this season. He had 20 points in 74 games last year and then had a lot fewer points this year, 18 games with the Bruins and four points after getting traded over there. And if you take a look at the trade itself, this is what the deal was. Boston acquired Yoki Haru from Buffalo in exchange for a six, no, excuse me, a fourthround pick. That’s it. 2026 fourth from Edmonton is all it took for Boston to acquire this defenseman. They then resigned him, too. So, he’s got a contract going on till 2027, 2028. 3 million bucks a year. Not bad. Keep this trade in mind, though, as we dive into this video. Yoki Haru for a fourth. That’s it. Because earlier this week there was an article published on the Athletic, which you can’t go out there and read unless you have the Athletic itself, but it dives into Terry Pagula’s ownership of the Buffalo Sabres, and how Kevin Adams is the latest in this hamster wheel of Sabres playoff drought hockey. The reason we are talking about this is because it was posted onto the Buffalo Sabers Reddit page by Seal Dodger 47. The title is here. It’s linked to the article, but the full quote that is being talked about by a former NHL executive really spells how bad everything is. Any self-respecting GM who takes that Buffalo Sabres job is going to say, “I have to be able to run this for you. I know it’s your team and I have to talk to you about things, but I have to be able to build a team and make decisions. If I have to run a simple Yokiharu trade for a fourth by you, what are we doing here? The Sabres are in trouble if Pigula is really that involved with a decision over a marginal NHLer. The idea being presented here is that Pigula had to be maybe sold on the trade of Yoki Haru for a fourth round pick. He had to be consulted. He had to be put in a meaningful position to get involved with the decisionmaking of this move. And I think in most hockey markets for most fans paying attention to the game, they’d look at that and they’d say, “Wow, that owner is really meddling here.” Now, full disclosure, it’s not the owner’s job to make trades. The owner’s job is to own the gosh darn team and let the people that he hires to run the team and make trades to run the team and make trades. That’s what the GM is for. They’re going out there and doing all the things with decisions and what players to sign and money and all that stuff. Yes, the GM needs to ask the president or the owner, excuse me, for permission to do some stuff like, “Hey, we want to sign this guy to a $100 million contract. Can we do that? It’s your money. Can we get that okay to make this transaction work?” And I think that generally speaking, most owners would be okay with what it is that their GM wants to do. Not Franchesco Akalini in Vancouver and not the Beigulas over here in Buffalo. A reply from Okay Fish 346 says, “I’d love to hear more context on this. I think it’s reasonable for an owner to require sign off on trades, even minor ones. If Adams had to make a 30-second phone call with TPEGs for approval on the Yokiharu trade, that’s perfectly fine. If Adams had to spend days making a 4-hour PowerPoint presentation on that trade, that’s a problem. I’m curious if TEGS has ever vetoed a trade or had one fall through while waiting on his approval. I would interpret this like any business. At some point, there are decisions that are beneath the consideration of the owner. If the NHL GM needs owner permission for relatively minor moves, it’s not a good sign. It indicates micromanaging, which would mean the owner was essentially the GM. And that is pretty much the verdict you can think about when talking about a worst case scenario for an owner who gets really involved with the operations of his hockey team. Wasn’t Terry reported to have called himself the Po president of hockey ops to someone who had offered their services in that role? According to After the Whistle, that someone was Brendan Shanahan after his exit from the Leafs this year. Let’s go over to another comment thread over here. Adam’s needing to go out there and get some approval for Yokiharu. It may be reasonable for Peggula to do that from an I own this crap point of view. But from a successful organization point of view, what top mind in their field wants to take a GM job where their performance will reflect massively on their next job when ownership is going to question and slow you down about every decision you make. The answer is nobody with a better choice. Most owners are not that involved in decisions like that because the owner has no gosh darn clue what Yokihario is worth and can’t offer a valuable opinion other than make me feel involved. It’s baby caretaking stuff. Which is exactly why Buffalo gets stuck with crap GMs and first timers like Adams cuz no self-respecting real GM wants this crap show of a job. There are some other comments over here. This is why I’ve been more lenient on Kevin Adams. I honestly don’t think it matters who our GM is. We all know Terry is running the show. If the Sabres were playing in the Northeast, like Boston, New York, and Philly, or up further north in any Canadian market, they’d be getting even more grief for this neverending drought. And Buffalo is already a rabid hockey market as it is. Peula needs to admit he’s not a deity and let the hockey people take over day-to-day operations like he did with the Bills. It’s beyond incompetence. Now, this is malpractice. Another reply says, “We should all know now it’s improbable statistically to go 14 years and not make playoffs in a league where 50% of the teams make it. Anyone looking to pick apart stats or rosters doesn’t matter what’s the one constant in this failure of an organization? It’s Terry.” Not to be pedantic, but it’s basically statistically impossible. Not literally statistically impossible. Yeah. Okay. The Sabres haven’t made the gosh darn playoffs since 2011. A playoff run which I hold very near and dear to my heart. Not because I’m a Sabres fan, but because I’m a fan of the team that made the gosh darn finals and ended up losing to Boston in seven games. But Buffalo made the playoffs that year. They lost to, I believe it was Philadelphia in the first round. And that was their last taste of playoff hockey since. Ryan Miller was a net at that time. It was long ago. Kevin from accounting has the job because he’s the only one that lets Pigula have input which probably means he gets to keep the job as long as he wants. We are screwed. So all this stemming from a Yoki Haru trade conversation that admittedly is pretty bad. The guy got traded for a fourth round pick and that’s being treated like the end of the world because hey, if the ownership is not going to allow a trade that small to be made without his permission or his input, then what else is he going out there and asking this team to do? What else is he demanding his GM do instead of other things? And how can Kavan Adams do his job? This is a story to follow for the next however many years the Buffalo Sabres miss the playoffs. And for however many years the Buffalo Sabres are going to have star players that aren’t star players on their team but are star players everywhere else. From the Eles to the Reinhardts to the O’Reillys and then some. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. How do you feel about the Kevin Adams Pigula show in Buffalo and where do you think it goes over the next few years? I hope you enjoyed this British 999 and bye.

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We’re going over a recent article which dives into the Buffalo Sabres’ main problem, and ownership’s involvement in team decisions.

Article: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6396186/2025/06/02/buffalo-sabres-kevyn-adams-terry-pegula/
Reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/sabres/comments/1ml7bla/any_selfrespecting_gm_who_takes_that_job_is_going/

This video is taking place after the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, and after the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The 2025 NHL Draft 1st Round went as follows:

1st) New York Islanders, Matthew Schaefer
2nd) San Jose Sharks, Michael Misa
3rd) Chicago Blackhawks, Anton Frondell
4th) Utah Mammoth, Caleb Desnoyers
5th) Nashville Predators, Brady Martin
6th) Philadelphia Flyers, Porter Martone
7th) Boston Bruins, James Hagens
8th) Seattle Kraken, Jake O’Brien
9th) Buffalo Sabres, Radim Mrtka
10th) Anaheim Ducks, Roger McQueen
11th) Pittsburgh Penguins, Benjamin Kindel
12th) Philadelphia Flyers (from New York Rangers via Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins), Jack Nesbitt
13th) Detroit Red Wings, Carter Bear
14th) Columbus Blue Jackets, Jackson Smith
15th) Vancouver Canucks, Braeden Cootes
16th) New York Islanders (from Calgary Flames via Montreal Canadiens), Victor Eklund
17th) New York Islanders (from Montreal Canadiens), Kashawn Aitcheson
18th) Calgary Flames (from New Jersey Devils), Cole Reschny
19th) St. Louis Blues, Justin Carbonneau
20th) Columbus Blue Jackets (from Minnesota Wild), Pyotr Andreyanov
21st) Nashville Predators (from Ottawa Senators), Cameron Reid
22nd) Pittsburgh Penguins (from Colorado Avalanche via Philadelphia Flyers), Bill Zonnon
23rd) Ottawa Senators (from Tampa Bay Lightning via Nashville Predators), Logan Hensler
24th) Pittsburgh Penguins (from Los Angeles Kings), Will Horcoff
25th) Chicago Blackhawks (from Toronto Maple Leafs), Vaclav Nestrasil
26th) Nashville Predators (from Vegas Golden Knights via San Jose Sharks), Ryker Lee
27th) Washington Capitals, Lynden Lakovic
28th) Winnipeg Jets, Sascha Boumedienne
29th) Chicago Blackhawks (from Carolina Hurricanes), Mason West
30th) San Jose Sharks (from Dallas Stars), Joshua Ravensbergen
31st) Los Angeles Kings (from Edmonton Oilers via Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins), Henry Brzustewicz
32nd) Calgary Flames (from Florida Panthers), Cullen Potter

This video is also taking place after 2025 NHL Season, and after the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, where the Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the Finals.

Twitter: @LR99Gaming
Portfolio: http://giopalermo.ca/
Twitch: legorocks99

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Hi. I’m “Gio Palermo”, also known as “legorocks99” (“legorocks99Gaming”, “LR99Gaming”, or “LR99”). I post video game commentaries on YouTube revolving around “hockey”, with a primary focus on “Vancouver Canucks”, “Montreal Canadiens”, “Detroit Red Wings”, and top “NHL prospects” topics. These videos are uploaded with “NHL 25” gameplay in the background. I enjoy making these videos and I hope that you enjoy watching them!

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