To understand what's going on we nerd as brief history lesson....
The sabres were s frequent playoff team in their histoty.
They made the fin as l in 1999 then dtopped a bit after trading Hasek but had good drafts and their farm team won AHL in the 04/05 lost sesson.
During this time the owners went in tu o bankruptcy and Gallissno aka scrooge took over.
Scrooge cut the scouting staff which curt their drafting in 2005-2011 period.
Also at this time the sabres made two playoff runs losing in conf finals. In these ccx off sessons th err y lost plsyers to free agency. And scrooge as owner. There were reports the sabres had agreed to terms with Brierre but Sctooge nixed it.
As a result buffalo started to trade UFAs to be to try and tank/rebuild.
The first time was 2013-15 targeting mcdavid.
They brought in a new gm to do this in tim Murray. Later they hired botterill. Both smat the time of hiring were leading candidates for gm jobs. Not much of a reach
Murray seemed to have s palan in mind. But the problem was buffalo did not have much in the system. What they did have got trsded aesy.
Murray ho fired, not for team, but because of media leaks by an asst gm
Botteril gog gired ffg pi r another reason as well that wasnt related to current team progress
They then hired kevin Adams.
Background' he was an NHL player who has his name on the cup (05/06 Hurricanes). After his hockey playing ended he did work in hockey area as an agent then under team management working his way in different areas of operation then taking over as GM.
He got GM because Pegula had a level of trust with him.
I dont know why people li e say he was unqualified. Hr has had similar experience as other former players.
The change occurred just before the draft a d free agency in 2020.
In 20/21 he signed Hsll and ss iij d let's have the sabres compete. It failed and eith rivhrl issues and Reinhart not resigning he went into s rrbuild plan.
He trsdedboff richelle, tejnhsrt, and ristolainrn and drafted
20/21 was bad, fired coach, picked 1OA
21/22 they finished strong. They had a statistically unusual schedule facing 20 of 21 top 20 teams in a 22 g stretch They finished thrir last 25 or so on a 100 pt pace
22/23 they had a 90+ pt sesson just outside the plsyoffs.. this could be blamed on an 8g losing streak where 5 of starting 6 D were out for some or all of these games. The team did have a top 10 PP
23/24. Scoring for went down but so did defense. They had a stretch ccx wherrc5 of top 6 F were out and many played with injury. Skm ef one in herr posted team advanced stats. Sabres s top d Tampa were nearly identical except ffg or PP/PK stats. Tampa p.o a was much better. Buffalo was bottom 5 in PP with the dame players
This season.......
the sabres went th rrg ough an 0-10-3 sresk. They go 5'5-3 they are in WC race.
Of the teams 35 L it OT/SOloses, 26 of them they were snd/or
1. Down 1 g in 3rd with por PP
2. Tied in 3rd but lisr in orbit OT
3. They had a late lead they lidt in reg/OT
4. One game they had a +2 g lead early in the gane
Their PP is bottom 5
Thry Can easily find 10 g they turn into Ws and ga im n 10-14 or so pts where they turn Ls into W around 4 times with 2pts in reg and other 5 or so extra pts earned from ties.
The Sabres were near top of the league in 1st period scoring
They likely also have a bad stat in record of those who score 1st or trans who blow 2+g leads
Buffalo had a bunch of extra picks in 21-23 drafts they had gotten 3 extra 1sts, and 2 extra 2nds. Got Levi, Krebs, Tuch. In trades and used a 2nd for greenway.
They also seemed to have done well drafting in 3rd or later
They dont need more picks and prosprcts. Thry want to ffg o hockey trsfes to improve their 23 m.j an next yr.
The team wants established players who would be under 27 with term. Their needs are in
1. Mid pair RD
2. 2nd line center who can play defense
3. Winger with size if they trade both greenway and Tuch
If they make nhl moves dont he surprised if they emerge ne t season
