The Pegula Effect

Sabres Nation is in love with Terry Pegula.

Whether it's Top Shelf, Willful Caboose, Nick Mendola, or even Schopp yesterday on WGR 550, the love affair is on.

Fans have been dreaming about what Terry Pegula would be like as soon as they learned that the guy that donated $88 million to Penn State was working to buy the Sabres from Tom Golisano.

Would Pegula spare no expense to win?

Would Pegula come in and let Ruff & Regier go and hire a new GM and coach to take this team to the promised land?

Would he send the fans' whipping boy players out of town before the trade deadline?

Would he go nuts and add a star player or three?

One thing happened yesterday that nobody thought about, but was perfect. He got choked up when addressing Gilbert Perreault.

It was Pegula's "You had me at hello" moment yesterday and a huge fan crush was born.

I expect all Sabres fans loved the talk about how winning was priority #1 for the team and the quote about how he'd drill another gas well if he wanted to make money was music to the ears of fans that have heard "Small market economics" a million too many times.

Some people will be a tad upset that Pegula talked up Darcy Regier. A few people will be upset that he said that Lindy Ruff won't be going anywhere.

I cringed at the talk about winning multiple Cups and something about winning within three years simply because winning isn't guaranteed to those that want it really bad and do all the right things. Health and luck play a lot into who wins Lord Stanley's Beer Mug every year and that isn't affected to a large extent by how much the owner spends on scouts.

I DVR'd NHL Power Play on the NHL Network last night to hear the interview with new Sabres president Ted Black and I liked what I heard from Ted, as well. The comparisons to where the Penguins were when Black and senior advisor Ken Sawyer were there were obvious. The interesting thing will be can they get where they want to go without the advantage of 4 top 2 overall picks on the roster.

And while some fans want big changes between now and Monday's trade deadline, I want to wait until August 1st to see where the roster is to judge how well Regier does after Pegula removed the shackles.

If it looks pretty much like what we have now, I hope that Pegula has another press conference that fans love: replacing Regier.