Will a former Buffalo Sabres general manager get another chance?

Rumor has it that former Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill could be interviewing for vacant general manager positions. 

While the 2022-23 NHL Season is over for 28 of the league’s 32 teams, the “fun time” of the year has only begun. Rumor season, and from now until free agency in July, we will be subject to varying takes across the NHL landscape, and the Buffalo Sabres are no exception to them.

As far as they go for the Blue and Gold, the Connor Hellebuyck rumors are swirling, along with the take that general manager Kevyn Adams will trade for a top four defenseman. Honestly, I hold more stock in the latter rumor than the former, something I outlined in my ‘If I were the Sabres GM’ piece.

But there is also a rumor swirling about former Sabres general manager Jason Botterill, and that he could return to lead yet another NHL front office. The team in question? The Pittsburgh Penguins.

Will former Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill get a second chance?

Many fans of the Buffalo Sabres would be warning teams like the Penguins not to pursue if they want to turn things around next season. Pittsburgh has been arguably the NHL’s model franchise over the past 15 seasons, perhaps even more so than the Tampa Bay Lightning, and they have a pair of Stanley Cups to show for it in that span, and three since the turn of the century.

But with an aging “Big Three” in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang, plus a down year in 2022-23, the Penguins current window of success has all but closed. And Botterill is someone whose track record is spotty, at best.

While he undoubtedly made some good moves like drafting Casey Mittelstadt, Rasmus Dahlin, Dylan Cozens, Mattias Samuelsson, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and trading for Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner, all fixtures on the Sabres current roster, Botterill missed more than he hit. He’s also responsible for pulling off what could be the worst head coaching hire in NHL history.

While Botterill has ties to the Penguins, he has made it clear that he’s ill-equipped to be the man in charge. Living just 30 minutes outside the Steel City, I see and interact with Penguins fans on a daily basis. So my words to them are, “Beware of Jason Botterill if your team ultimately decides to bring him on.”

He made a mess out of the Buffalo Sabres, and it’s taken Kevyn Adams a full three seasons just to get this team back into playoff contention. Seriously, unless you want someone to set your team back at least a half-decade, roll with someone other than Botterill.

Source: Inside the NHL: As Penguins continue to ponder new GM, return of Jason Botterill seems like an option by Mike Harrington, BuffaloNews.com