Buffalo Sabres: What have we learned over the past 15 years?

The Buffalo Sabres spent most of the last 15 seasons in the NHL’s doldrums, toiling in irrelevance.

The Buffalo Sabres have have become one of the NHL’s most unstable franchises. But throughout the 2000s, the Sabres once ranked among the NHL’s elite.

In May 2007, the Sabres were a completely different franchise. They were coming off of winning the Presidents Trophy, having achieved the best record in hockey that season. Thomas Vanek led the team in goals scored while Ryan Miller recorded 40 wins.

The Sabres also dominated the postseason, taking out the New York Islanders and later, the New York Rangers. Unfortunately, they could not best the Ottawa Senators, losing the Eastern Conference Finals in five games.

What have we learned about the Buffalo Sabres over the past 15 years

Since 2013, the Sabres have had six head coaches, all of whom lasted an average of 1.5 seasons. They have also had four general managers, and more disappointing draft picks than one could count.

And it makes sense that the Sabres have not earned a playoff berth since 2009-10, nor have they won a playoff series since that magical 2006-07 season. We learned constant turnover at head coach that has plagued the team following Lindy Ruff’s firing in 2013 is a recipe for disaster as it does not give the team adequate time to build a solid foundation for later success.

Teams who suffer from constant vetting at head coach rarely succeed on the ice. This is because incoming coaches may embrace entirely different philosophies, leading to new systems and strategies. And that requires a learning curve.

Compounded with turnover at coaching comes constant roster turnover. Most of the Sabres recent draft picks were either perennial busts or players like Jack Eichel who grew frustrated with the organization and wanted out.

What can we learn from recent history to finally enjoy the magic 2006-07 brought to the Sabres faithful? We can start by hanging onto Don Granato for more than two seasons.

Granato took over for Krueger halfway through the 2020-21 season. He’s 34-49-14, and has done a far better job than anyone could have projected. Especially given how bad the Sabres were when he took over.

He has also turned around careers of players like Jeff Skinner, Tage Thompson, and Rasmus Dahlin. Granato has become a coach the players want to play for. And for that, Sabres Brass must keep Granato around for the long haul.

If they learned anything these past 15 seasons, it’s that the cycle of losing won’t end by hiring a new coach every two years. They need to give Granato more time than they gave his predecessors.