With the Buffalo Sabres season ending before the playoffs once again this year, it was a season that was a disappointment to the team and all their fans. Coming off last offseason, where there was a lot of excitement building in Buffalo, the team was not even close to living up to the hype.
With the team acquiring former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall and trading for veteran center Eric Staal before the season started, it was easy to see why there was some reason to believe for the Sabres. But doing all of this just to lead to a massive disappointment obviously will not lead to an excellent final grade for the season.
We never really got to see a team that we expected to see with all of the new players this year. When the season first started, it seemed that the chemistry was off, the head coach at that time, Ralph Krueger, changed the lines what felt like every game, and it just never felt like it was going to work.
Then the Sabres were forced to take a two-week break due to a COVID outbreak just a few weeks into the season. And once they came back from that, they looked totally lost. Frustrations grew very quickly, especially during Buffalo’s 18-game winless streak. During this streak, the Sabres decided to move on from Ralph Krueger and bring in Don Granato as their interim head coach.
After the Sabres traded Eric Staal and Jonas Johansson for draft picks, it was clear that the Sabres were nowhere near where they wanted to be. And after they traded Taylor Hall to the division rival Boston Bruins and got much less than the fans wanted in return, the Buffalo faithful were pretty much over the season.
With really the only positives coming after the Sabres were eliminated from playoff contention, it is hard to give Buffalo anything above a passing grade for this season. But, Don Granato showed that he is a viable head coaching option for Buffalo, and they did have some players that shined, although the team as a whole did not. Players like Dylan Cozens, Casey Mittelstadt, and Linus Ullmark were very impressive this season. And for that reason, I cannot give them an “F”, but I can give them something close…