sabres4cup
November 10th, 2007, 2:28:21 PM
he “managing partner” (read: part-owner) of the Buffalo Sabres pretty much controls this entire organization and has overseen its fall from Stanley Cup contender to mediocrity in a single offseason. Before any sycophants blame the trap or some silly curse, I suggest you read on and open your eyes to the damage Larry Quinn has done to the Buffalo Sabres organization during his tenure here.
Firing John Muckler and Ted Nolan
Under the auspices of part-time coach, part-time GM John Muckler, the Sabres had finally broken their string of frustrating one-and-out playoff exits and were on their way to building a solid Cup contender under Ted Nolan. However, Quinn decided to fire Muckler. Exactly why is still unclear to this day. Furthermore, goaltender Dominik Hasek, also known as the Czech Republic’s answer to Terrell Owens, claimed that Ted Nolan slept with Hasek’s wife, and Quinn believed him. So, he offers an insultory one-year contract to Nolan, one that Nolan obviously refused. So, what does Quinn do? He blacklists Nolan. For nine years, Ted Nolan could not find a job in the NHL until the New York Islanders finally took a chance on him. The Islanders, upon hiring Nolan, went from the farce known as “Wang’s World” to a playoff team in Nolan’s first year.
Lafontaine for Peters
Still in 1997, Pat Lafontaine had been struggling with severe concussion problems. After being diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, Lafontaine insisted on refusing doctor’s orders to not play and demanding a trade. Quinn, not even considering the fact that one of the Sabres’ best offensive talents may not have been in his right mind, and without regard to his future health, obliged and traded him to the New York Rangers for a second round draft pick. Now, some of you may say that it’s better to get something out of Lafontaine rather than to let him walk, but let’s consider what that second-round draft pick in 1998 turned out to be. Brace yourself…
…Andrew Peters.
That’s right, Larry Quinn traded away one of Buffalo’s few top star free agent acquisitions in exchange for one of the worst players in Sabres history. More on Peters later.
The Angry Goat Head
With absolutely no regard for Buffalo tradition, Quinn decided it was a brilliant idea to scrap the Sabres’ traditional Buffalo Sabres logo– you know, a version with actual sabres– with this grotesque red and black pattern featuring some sort of “demonic goat head,” with the sabre being relegated to the sidearm logo. Not to mention that god-ugly jersey font.
Elbowing out Hormoz Mansouri
Quinn, fortunately, was fired by John Rigas and sons in 1998. His lone strength, financing, was outweighed by the fact that Rigas was a billionaire (largely funded by stolen stockholder money, as it turned out… but I digress).
However, when the Rigases were forced to give up their franchise in 2002, a group led by eccentric Rochester billionaire executive and politician Tom Golisano rose to the forefront with a collection of owners that included Democratic Party activist Steven Pigeon and financier Hormoz Mansouri. Quinn saw opportunity and decided to make a pitch to Golisano for a piece of the franchise, seeing that Golisano was a hockey novice. Unaware of Quinn’s notorious history in Sabres history, Golisano agreed. Quinn was in, Mansouri out.
“This team must make the playoffs”
That was the infamous quote Larry Quinn made before the 2003-04 season. It implied that if the team did not make the playoffs, significant changes, particularly in management, would have to be made.
The Sabres didn’t make the playoffs. No management changes were made because, as it turns out, current GM Darcy Regier was the same lackey Larry Quinn picked many years before.
Now, to his credit, Quinn was present when deals to acquire Chris Drury and Daniel Briere were orchestrated, but let’s not go overboard here. Quinn had barely arrived when Drury was picked up.
The Slug
After the 2005-06 season, Quinn and company made a big deal about returning to the “Blue and Gold” with new jerseys. What resulted was an abomination known infamously as “the slug.” Designed by the same minds as the goat head, this one also lacked a sabre in the logo and looked like a buffalo with no legs and a curved silver blade (supposedly an allusion to a Sabre) for a bottom. After a revolt, the team brought back the original jersey as the third alternate jersey.
Chris Drury
Fast forwarding now to 2007, right after the Ottawa Senators choke job. Fans knew that at least one of the team’s two captains absolutely, positively had to be retained. Buffalo decided to focus on Chris Drury. When they failed, they came out and told the story that “Chris didn’t want to play here, he wanted to play for his hometown team.” This seemed plausible until you look up where Trumbull, Connecticut actually is. Trumbull is a town approximately 50 miles from Hartford, Connecticut and 70 miles from New York City. During the time Chris Drury grew up, this would have put him in the territory of… the Hartford Whalers, who absolutely hated the Rangers. So obviously Quinn was lying through his teeth. To this day, so may Sabres fans still buy it.
Daniel Briere
Daniel Briere didn’t even get so much as a phone call from Quinn, even after they claim that they couldn’t reach a deal with Drury. Same story with Dainius Zubrus, the only player that gave a rat’s endside during the Ottawa series.
Quinn paid no attention to the fact that it was in fact Drury and Briere, not just the change in rules, that led to the Sabres making the massive turnaroud they did in 2005. Think about it. Before Drury and Briere: bottom of division. With Drury and Briere: top team. After Drury and Briere: bottom of division again. See a pattern here?
Thomas Vanek
Quinn’s utter ignorance of Briere and Zubrus led to Quinn being forced to set his focus on restricted free agent Thomas Vanek. Vanek, of course, had one good year in 2006-07 after absolutely bombing during his rookie year. Despite the fact that Vanek was playing with a fire seen only in those in their contract year, Quinn decided to make it public that they would match any offer that was given to Vanek. Of course, this led to the predictable: the Edmonton Oilers offered an outlandish $50 million, 7 year contract to Vanek. Quinn was true to his word and matched, forgoing 4 first-round draft picks. Now with $50,000,000 in the bank, Vanek is back to his rookie year again. Why am I not surprised?
Free agency anathema
One of the things that Larry Quinn’s tenure in Buffalo has been plagued by is an anathema to high-profile free agents, something that Quinn and the organization are unafraid to admit. In 2006, after letting Jay McKee walk to St. Louis, the Sabres could have easily gone out on the free agent market and got a real defenseman. Instead they waited and let all the good ones get snatched up, settling for Jaroslav Spacek, who ended up being a huge bust.
The same thing happened again in 2007. After losing two (arguably three) centers, the team decided not to sign a single forward to replace them despite former captain Michael Peca sitting out there for months. (Peca is now in Columbus.) The defensive hole in the system still remained as large as ever as Teppo Numminen, one of the few halfway-success stories of Quinn’s free agency escapades, had heart trouble and was suspended immediately after a new contract extension. Yet several solid defensive prospects were available for a reasonable price (at or below Spacek’s salary) in the offseason, including Danny Markov, who was available well into the regular season (he is now in Russia). Quinn never talked to any of them. Instead, after three Sabres defensemen went down, he rushed to Tampa Bay and instead signed Nolan Pratt, who lived up to his $625,000 salary by getting injured in his first game.
Andrew Peters, Michael Ryan and Tim “The Vegetable” Connolly
“Our trade-deadline acquisition is Tim Connolly.” Such was the quote when the Sabres initially refused to engage in a trade-deadline move in 2007. Well, as it turns out, Connolly (who, like Vanek, had only one good year) was his usual overrated self. Connolly, as you may recall, was signed to a three year, 9 million dollar contract while still recovering from a concussion.
Meanwhile, Andrew Peters, despite apparently forgetting how to skate and being a mediocre fighter who only gets into cheesy, orchestrated scuffles, has had two contract extensions in the past three years, both of which as it turned out ate up valuable cap space that could have been used for callups. A similar situation occurred with career AHLer Michael Ryan, who upon given a two year one way contract, proceeded to barely break the fourth line.
I send my apologies if this comes off as a rambling, incoherent rant, but if you had to write a story on Larry Quinn and all the crap he put this franchise through, you’d be mad too. There will likely be edits later on as I remember more.
- J. Myrle Fuller
http://buffalosabrescentral.110mb.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry071110-182050
Firing John Muckler and Ted Nolan
Under the auspices of part-time coach, part-time GM John Muckler, the Sabres had finally broken their string of frustrating one-and-out playoff exits and were on their way to building a solid Cup contender under Ted Nolan. However, Quinn decided to fire Muckler. Exactly why is still unclear to this day. Furthermore, goaltender Dominik Hasek, also known as the Czech Republic’s answer to Terrell Owens, claimed that Ted Nolan slept with Hasek’s wife, and Quinn believed him. So, he offers an insultory one-year contract to Nolan, one that Nolan obviously refused. So, what does Quinn do? He blacklists Nolan. For nine years, Ted Nolan could not find a job in the NHL until the New York Islanders finally took a chance on him. The Islanders, upon hiring Nolan, went from the farce known as “Wang’s World” to a playoff team in Nolan’s first year.
Lafontaine for Peters
Still in 1997, Pat Lafontaine had been struggling with severe concussion problems. After being diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, Lafontaine insisted on refusing doctor’s orders to not play and demanding a trade. Quinn, not even considering the fact that one of the Sabres’ best offensive talents may not have been in his right mind, and without regard to his future health, obliged and traded him to the New York Rangers for a second round draft pick. Now, some of you may say that it’s better to get something out of Lafontaine rather than to let him walk, but let’s consider what that second-round draft pick in 1998 turned out to be. Brace yourself…
…Andrew Peters.
That’s right, Larry Quinn traded away one of Buffalo’s few top star free agent acquisitions in exchange for one of the worst players in Sabres history. More on Peters later.
The Angry Goat Head
With absolutely no regard for Buffalo tradition, Quinn decided it was a brilliant idea to scrap the Sabres’ traditional Buffalo Sabres logo– you know, a version with actual sabres– with this grotesque red and black pattern featuring some sort of “demonic goat head,” with the sabre being relegated to the sidearm logo. Not to mention that god-ugly jersey font.
Elbowing out Hormoz Mansouri
Quinn, fortunately, was fired by John Rigas and sons in 1998. His lone strength, financing, was outweighed by the fact that Rigas was a billionaire (largely funded by stolen stockholder money, as it turned out… but I digress).
However, when the Rigases were forced to give up their franchise in 2002, a group led by eccentric Rochester billionaire executive and politician Tom Golisano rose to the forefront with a collection of owners that included Democratic Party activist Steven Pigeon and financier Hormoz Mansouri. Quinn saw opportunity and decided to make a pitch to Golisano for a piece of the franchise, seeing that Golisano was a hockey novice. Unaware of Quinn’s notorious history in Sabres history, Golisano agreed. Quinn was in, Mansouri out.
“This team must make the playoffs”
That was the infamous quote Larry Quinn made before the 2003-04 season. It implied that if the team did not make the playoffs, significant changes, particularly in management, would have to be made.
The Sabres didn’t make the playoffs. No management changes were made because, as it turns out, current GM Darcy Regier was the same lackey Larry Quinn picked many years before.
Now, to his credit, Quinn was present when deals to acquire Chris Drury and Daniel Briere were orchestrated, but let’s not go overboard here. Quinn had barely arrived when Drury was picked up.
The Slug
After the 2005-06 season, Quinn and company made a big deal about returning to the “Blue and Gold” with new jerseys. What resulted was an abomination known infamously as “the slug.” Designed by the same minds as the goat head, this one also lacked a sabre in the logo and looked like a buffalo with no legs and a curved silver blade (supposedly an allusion to a Sabre) for a bottom. After a revolt, the team brought back the original jersey as the third alternate jersey.
Chris Drury
Fast forwarding now to 2007, right after the Ottawa Senators choke job. Fans knew that at least one of the team’s two captains absolutely, positively had to be retained. Buffalo decided to focus on Chris Drury. When they failed, they came out and told the story that “Chris didn’t want to play here, he wanted to play for his hometown team.” This seemed plausible until you look up where Trumbull, Connecticut actually is. Trumbull is a town approximately 50 miles from Hartford, Connecticut and 70 miles from New York City. During the time Chris Drury grew up, this would have put him in the territory of… the Hartford Whalers, who absolutely hated the Rangers. So obviously Quinn was lying through his teeth. To this day, so may Sabres fans still buy it.
Daniel Briere
Daniel Briere didn’t even get so much as a phone call from Quinn, even after they claim that they couldn’t reach a deal with Drury. Same story with Dainius Zubrus, the only player that gave a rat’s endside during the Ottawa series.
Quinn paid no attention to the fact that it was in fact Drury and Briere, not just the change in rules, that led to the Sabres making the massive turnaroud they did in 2005. Think about it. Before Drury and Briere: bottom of division. With Drury and Briere: top team. After Drury and Briere: bottom of division again. See a pattern here?
Thomas Vanek
Quinn’s utter ignorance of Briere and Zubrus led to Quinn being forced to set his focus on restricted free agent Thomas Vanek. Vanek, of course, had one good year in 2006-07 after absolutely bombing during his rookie year. Despite the fact that Vanek was playing with a fire seen only in those in their contract year, Quinn decided to make it public that they would match any offer that was given to Vanek. Of course, this led to the predictable: the Edmonton Oilers offered an outlandish $50 million, 7 year contract to Vanek. Quinn was true to his word and matched, forgoing 4 first-round draft picks. Now with $50,000,000 in the bank, Vanek is back to his rookie year again. Why am I not surprised?
Free agency anathema
One of the things that Larry Quinn’s tenure in Buffalo has been plagued by is an anathema to high-profile free agents, something that Quinn and the organization are unafraid to admit. In 2006, after letting Jay McKee walk to St. Louis, the Sabres could have easily gone out on the free agent market and got a real defenseman. Instead they waited and let all the good ones get snatched up, settling for Jaroslav Spacek, who ended up being a huge bust.
The same thing happened again in 2007. After losing two (arguably three) centers, the team decided not to sign a single forward to replace them despite former captain Michael Peca sitting out there for months. (Peca is now in Columbus.) The defensive hole in the system still remained as large as ever as Teppo Numminen, one of the few halfway-success stories of Quinn’s free agency escapades, had heart trouble and was suspended immediately after a new contract extension. Yet several solid defensive prospects were available for a reasonable price (at or below Spacek’s salary) in the offseason, including Danny Markov, who was available well into the regular season (he is now in Russia). Quinn never talked to any of them. Instead, after three Sabres defensemen went down, he rushed to Tampa Bay and instead signed Nolan Pratt, who lived up to his $625,000 salary by getting injured in his first game.
Andrew Peters, Michael Ryan and Tim “The Vegetable” Connolly
“Our trade-deadline acquisition is Tim Connolly.” Such was the quote when the Sabres initially refused to engage in a trade-deadline move in 2007. Well, as it turns out, Connolly (who, like Vanek, had only one good year) was his usual overrated self. Connolly, as you may recall, was signed to a three year, 9 million dollar contract while still recovering from a concussion.
Meanwhile, Andrew Peters, despite apparently forgetting how to skate and being a mediocre fighter who only gets into cheesy, orchestrated scuffles, has had two contract extensions in the past three years, both of which as it turned out ate up valuable cap space that could have been used for callups. A similar situation occurred with career AHLer Michael Ryan, who upon given a two year one way contract, proceeded to barely break the fourth line.
I send my apologies if this comes off as a rambling, incoherent rant, but if you had to write a story on Larry Quinn and all the crap he put this franchise through, you’d be mad too. There will likely be edits later on as I remember more.
- J. Myrle Fuller
http://buffalosabrescentral.110mb.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry071110-182050