WGR 550 radio host Jeremy White was the leading voice a decade ago when the Buffalo Sabres went all-in on the McEichel sweepstakes, which was the nickname given to the not-so-secret tanking effort aimed at landing Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel in the 2015 NHL Draft.
Now White, who often clashed with Buffalo News reporter Mike Harrington about the merits of the tank, is laying the groundwork to begin Operation Gavin McKenna. The dynamic Penn State forward is viewed as the likely No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 draft class.
"Whispers — A bad road trip from the hockey team and it might time to talk about Totally Another Needed Kleaningofhouse," White wrote Friday on Twitter/X. (Note: This message was posted before the team announced Rasmus Dahlin would be taking a leave of absence for family reasons.)
Of course, the last four words, well three words and a conglomerate, spell out: TANK.
White's cheeky message comes as the Sabres have sunk to last place in the highly competitive Eastern Conference with a 5-5-4 record (14 points). They've lost five of their last six games after a brief hot streak following a miserable 0-3-0 start to the 2025-26 campaign.
WGR's Jeremy White hints at a return to the NHL tanking conversation following the Buffalo Sabres' recent poor form
The Sabres, who've played 10 of their first 14 games on home ice, have a difficult stretch on the horizon as they prepare to visit the Carolina Hurricanes, Utah Mammoth, Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings over the next week.
There are no layups in that series of games, and Buffalo, which has been struck by a series of high-impact injuries, will need to seriously elevate its level of play to embark on a successful road trip.
If the Blue and Gold's recent struggles continue, however, it wouldn't be a surprise to hear tank advocates begin to rise up in Buffalo once again. That's especially true with a high-end prospect like McKenna being the potential prize for a franchise desperately seeking offensive talent.
The idea of tanking will receive pushback since the Sabres have never fully recovered from tearing their roster down to the studs to ensure the best odds as McDavid. The Edmonton Oilers won the lottery, but Buffalo still landed a franchise cornerstone on Eichel.
On one hand, tank supporters say the mission was successful because Eichel lived up to his status as a generational prospect, ultimately helping the Vegas Golden Knights win a Stanley Cup title and emerging as the NHL MVP favorite in the early stages of this season.
They'll argue everything that happened after the tank — the Sabres front office being unable to build a competitive roster around Eichel and Sam Reinhart, who's also established himself as a high-end player for the Florida Panthers — is a separate failure.
On the other hand, those who were steadfast against trying to lose games on purpose have gained the high ground because of the organization's active 14-year playoff drought. That's the longest such streak in NHL history.
They'll contend trading away so many useful depth players to ensure victory in the race to the bottom of the NHL standings created a culture of losing in Buffalo, and the various front office regimes have since struggled to attract veteran leaders that come help establish a winning identity.
In the end, there's no perfect answer.
The Oilers have become a perennial Cup contender in large part because McDavid was indeed the best player of his generation, and Eichel's success in Vegas shows he was a tremendous consolation prize capable of leading a top-tier team.
Yet, a lot of problems that still exist for the struggling Sabres can be traced back to purposefully creating the worst roster possible back in 2014-15.
Perhaps one question rises above the rest as Buffalo possibly weighs joining the McKenna chase: What does the franchise have to lose?
The Sabres are a fringe playoff hopeful at best and their prospect pool doesn't have a ton of future game-changers ready to dominate the near future. So, they don't have an imminent path to emerge as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.
McKenna could change the equation. The 17-year-old winger, who scored 129 points in 56 games for the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers last season before joining the Nittany Lions for the current campaign, is a future first-line scoring sensation.
Coincidentally, who's the biggest donor to Penn State hockey? Sabres owner Terry Pegula.
The bottom line is it appears Buffalo may need a new direction and, while another full rebuild is far from ideal, it may be the team's best path forward.