With Christmas almost here, and a new season approaching, what are the three things the Sabres should have at the top of their Christmas list?
It’s been tough for the Buffalo Sabres and their fans over the last decade. Only one playoff appearance, multiple coaches and general managers, unable to find a quality replacement for Ryan Miller, just not much to cheer for in Buffalo.
So this Christmas season, the Sabres should be asking Santa for a few things. Hopefully, Buffalo will find presents this season instead of another year of coal.
3. GM and head coach consistency
One of the biggest problems that the Sabres have had over the past decade is the massive amount of head coach and general manager turnover. Since 2010, Buffalo has had four general managers and six head coaches.
The last Sabres GM to have any success with the team was Darcy Reiger. But since he left the team in 2013, no one who has held the GM position has come close to his level of success.
Since Reiger’s departure, Tim Murray, Jason Botterill, and newly hired Kevyn Adams have held the general manager position in Buffalo. Adams just got hired in June of 2020 after the Sabres decided to move on from Jason Botterill. Hopefully, he can bring some success back to the organization, something that has been escaping them for far too long.
GM is not the only major decision making position that has lacked consistency in Buffalo. The Sabres have had six head coaches since 2010. Lindy Ruff was the only coach the Sabres have had over the past 10 years that had a winning percentage of over .500 with the team.
Ralph Kreuger was hired in 2019 to be the Sabres Head Coach, and he has got a lot of good weapons to work with, so hopefully, he can find success and stick around longer than we have seen most head coaches stay in Buffalo.
Success on the ice stems from success in the higher up positions. The Sabres have had very much a lack of success from their recent GM and head coach choices. But asking for some consistency in these positions is not too much to ask, and the sooner it happens, the sooner we can see the Sabres be contenders again.