Now that the Buffalo Sabres have lost eight games in a row, they’ve once again found themselves in a familiar place: The unenviable status as the NHL’s laughingstock. Hey, missing the playoffs for 13 straight seasons isn’t an easy endeavor, and neither is finding new ways to lose and dramatically underperforming in front of your loyal fans.
The 2024-25 season is so much different than the last time I remember the Sabres being so dreadful, which occurred in that truncated 2020-21 season. And yep, that season resulted in a coaching change.
That team was outright awful, and this year’s version of the Sabres is just a muddled mess of disappointing acts that, laughably, might I add, look like they’re dramatically trying to lose hockey games. Okay, so maybe they’re not dreadful; they’re just an undisciplined bunch of underachievers.
So, how does head coach Lindy Ruff even begin to fix this mess? Well, he can start by benching underperforming players more by cutting away their ice time. One player who hasn’t played well this season is Dylan Cozens, even if he’s looking better in December than he has in a while. Still, he’s performed like a lower-liner overall, and one player behind him could be a better fit for the top six.
That player is Ryan McLeod, arguably one of the most underrated centers in the game today. McLeod is currently averaging a little under two minutes of ice time than Cozens. But with a 20.7 shooting percentage, it’s clear that McLeod knows how to find twine more consistently than Cozens, and it’s something the Sabres need if they plan on busting out of this slump.
It’s time for the Sabres to start shuffling ice time among two players at least
It’s also worth pointing out that McLeod has been way more reliable than Cozens at the faceoff dot, winning 53.9 percent of his draws as opposed to Cozens’ 48.8. He’s also shown more playmaker potential. And he’s been less of a bruiser, unlike Cozens, who seems to hit, hit, and hit some more.
The latter isn’t a bad thing, and it’s part of Cozens’ game that’s been raring to break free. Still, if I were an outsider looking in, I’d much rather see Ryan McLeod take up top-six minutes a little more, and it’s still trending that way since December 5th, when he logged 18:34 in a loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
Better yet, between November 7th and November 23rd, we also saw McLeod record 15-plus minutes per game, and the Sabres went 6-2-0 in that span. Not to mention, he finished that stretch with two goals and four points.
In five of the last eight games, McLeod recorded fewer than 15 minutes, and well, you know what’s been going on. Case in point: It might be time to ensure McLeod is permanently getting at least 15 minutes per game, or at least that should be the case in the short run.