Sabres are nine points behind for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot
The Buffalo Sabres are headed into the NHL All-Star break nine points in back of the Detroit Red Wings for the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race, and are a longshot (8.8% chance) of making the postseason. The Sabres regression has not been one specific thing, but more of a multi-system failure.
GM Kevyn Adams and head coach Don Granato in the offseason chose to bring back the entire club that missed the playoffs by one point last season, re-signing veteran forwards Tyson Jost(who was demoted to the AHL last month), Zemgus Girgensons, and team captain Kyle Okposo, going with the trio of 21-year-old Devon Levi, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and Eric Comrie in goal instead of adding a veteran netminder, and bringing in the experienced Erik Johnson and Connor Clifton instead of trading for the likes of Noah Hanifin or Brett Pesce, who were rumored to be on the market last summer.
The focus of training camp and the messaging prior to the season was for the young club that scored 296 goals to cut down on the 300 goals allowed to get them over the hump, but the defensive improvement has been incremental, while the offensive production has dropped like a stone.
Injuries have hampered the Sabres in the first half, as leading scorer Tage Thompson and top liners Alex Tuch and Jeff Skinner have missed significant time. Youngsters Dylan Cozens, Owen Power, and Mattias Samuelsson (who all signed long-term extensions in the last year) have regressed, and All-Star blueliner Rasmus Dahlin has not shown enough defensive improvement.
Questions now are beginning to rise whether missing the playoffs for the 13th straight season may spell doom for Granato. At the end of last season, the club’s hierarchy bristled when questioned whether this season was ‘playoffs or bust’, but the Buffalo fanbase is just as frustrated with the lack of progress of the hockey club as they are with the NFL Bills not being able to make it past the Divisional round of the playoffs.
The 56-year-old Granato is well-liked by management and owner Terry Pegula and has not even started a two-year contract extension agreed to in 2022, but professional sports are a results-oriented business and another year without the playoffs will likely bring about some changes. That could mean a significant augmentation of the roster, changes to the coaching staff or perhaps a major move behind the bench.
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