The Sabres didn’t have the greatest roster or lineup heading into the 2024-25 season, but if you asked me to rank them among their Atlantic Division rivals, I’d have put them at No. 6. The Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens weren’t as threatening on paper, but fate’s said otherwise.
The Sabres are now seven points behind the Detroit Red Wings heading into Tuesday, and the Senators and Canadiens have 50-plus points. Yeah, it’s a sad time to be a Sabres fan. Okay, that’s out of proportion. When isn’t it a sad time to root for the Blue and Gold?
The point, though, is that it wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Sabres were supposed to at least look like they were somewhat in contention, and myself and everyone else could’ve concocted some fantastical scenario that they were a true playoff contender.
Alas, that’s not the case, and now the Sabres find themselves in the hunt for the top overall pick in this summer’s draft. Yeah, these are mad times indeed, but it reflects on Kevyn Adams for bringing in solid role players but nobody with an elite game to take the Sabres to another level.
While it sounds complicated, there are only two major ingredients a general manager needs in his toolbox to bring in a high-quality player who could have provided a spark for the franchise and its fans. No, I’m not talking about using sleazy tactics to bring in a player or anything remotely close to that.
Sabres wouldn’t be a bottom-three team if Kevyn Adams exerted more effort
Kevyn Adams only needed to sell the city and the organization to a prospective player, and that’s it. Yeah, it’s a hard sell in the eyes of many, given Buffalo’s small market status and the fact that it’s a cold-weather city with a hockey team that hasn’t won in forever.
But we’ve seen small market teams in cold-weather cities in the World Series in baseball at certain points. Others have at least enjoyed a successful run. In the NFL, there’s a certain franchise that still calls Green Bay, of all places, home, and it’s not entirely different from Buffalo.
Green Bay is a much smaller market, but that hasn’t stopped the Packers from attracting quality players seemingly at the drop of a hat. And remember, this team has struggled through its fair share of rough stretches when it wasn’t busy contending for Super Bowls.
In the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers are having arguably their best season in franchise history without an in-his-prime LeBron James leading the way. Cleveland’s also had more than its fair share of bad basketball teams.
And Kevyn Adams had a decent team at his disposal, but he couldn’t make a hard sell to a free agent or potential trade acquisition. Adams also seemingly couldn’t sell the positives that the city of Buffalo brings, and until he or someone else sitting in his seat can do that, we’ll keep watching bad hockey.