The Buffalo Sabres, led by general manager Kevyn Adams and head coach Lindy Ruff, are aiming to end their 14-year playoff drought this season. The national perspective about where the organization currently stands is quite a bit different.
Mike Fink of The Hockey Writers released his 2025-26 NHL rebuild rankings on Monday. The Sabres were rated No. 3 in "Category One: Early Phases of a Rebuild," suggesting they are still multiple years away from even entering the contention conversation.
Although Fink pointed out Buffalo's solid core, headlined by Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin, he also highlighted the roster's lack of high-end depth players, and he placed much of the blame for the endless rebuilding on team owner Terry Pegula.
"Ultimately, the struggles point to the issues from the top down," Fink wrote. "The ownership is one of the worst in the NHL, and it's made the Sabres the opposite of a destination. Players and coaches don't want to go to Buffalo, which, in some ways, explains why they hired Ruff in the first place. The Sabres haven't been the same since Terry Pegula bought the team, and only got worse when he purchased the Buffalo Bills in 2015 (who have garnered most of his attention, especially since they started winning)."
It's hard to argue against the point that Pegula is at least part of the reason the Sabres have become a league-wide laughingstock.
Five years ago, Pegula announced the firing of general manager Jason Botterill during a press conference that included a quote that continues to loom over the franchise.
"I mentioned three words: effective, efficient and economic," he told reporters.
Buffalo proceeded to slash its scouting staff and has since made a habit of not spending to the salary cap. It currently sits $5.2 million below the cap ahead of the 2025-26 season, per PuckPedia.
Although Adams has repeatedly denied the existence of an internal cap, the Sabres' spending habits make it hard to believe there are no restrictions on spending.
All that said, saying Buffalo is in the "early phases of a rebuild" doesn't feel right. That's a label typically reserved for clubs that are either actively tearing their roster down or recently did so, putting them miles away from the playoff conversation.
The Sabres have a lot of promising pieces in place, especially if goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen can bounce back this season, and the defensive overhaul over the past 17 months has transformed that area of the roster from a severe weakness to a potential strength.
Now the question is whether Ruff still has his fastball when it comes to motivating a team. It's also uncertain whether his system can produce the type of results in 2025-26 that it did during the early years of his storied coaching career.
Adams will also face a lot of pressure to find the missing piece or two if Buffalo is still in the playoff race as the deadline approaches. Fan frustration will boil over if the team is in contention, no moves are made and the playoff drought reaches 15 years.
Here's the bottom line: Selling future hope to a tired fanbase grew old years ago. It's time for the Sabres to get out of the rebuild rankings and into the postseason.