The Buffalo Sabres are riding a 14-year playoff drought and some people are already ready to consider Year 15 clinched after the team's lackluster start to the season. It's a sad reality for perhaps the worst organization in North American professional sports.
Yet, the question is where should most of the criticism be directed after the team's losses to the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche. The Sabres had far too many noncompetitive periods during that 0-3-0 stretch to open the campaign.
For this exercise, we're going to leave team owner Terry Pegula out of the conversation. Although there's no doubt Pegula is part of the problem for Buffalo's hockey team, as we've covered extensively in recent months, you can't fire the owner. He's here to stay.
So, we ran a poll on Twitter/X asking who Sabres fans pointed their finger at between the remaining options: the front office, the coaching staff or the players. The front office, led by general manager Kevyn Adams, has received a vast majority of the votes.
Let's take a deeper dive into the situation for the latest edition of our Sabres debates series to decide whether the fans got this one right.
Which area of the Buffalo Sabres franchise shoulders the blame for the team's miserable start to the new season?
The case for the front office
Buffalo missed the playoffs by 12 points last season. Adams proceeded to have a mostly quiet offseason. He completed one blockbuster trade, sending JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth for Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring, and then made a variety of smaller low-impact moves.
Adams' decision not to directly replace Peterka with a proven top-six forward already looks suspect as the Sabres have scored just two goals in the season's first 180 minutes. Yes, injuries have been a definite factor, but that's still an unacceptable rate of offense.
It speaks to the larger problem of Adams' tenure: His summer work often looks like he believes the team is one or two moves away from contention when that's simply not the case.
The 51-year-old executive, who won a Stanley Cup as a player with the Carolina Hurricanes, is in his sixth year leading Buffalo's front office. That's an almost unfathomable amount of leeway for a first-time GM who hasn't been able to break the NHL-record playoff drought.
If the early losing skid continues, Adams will have no choice but to try making some moves to spark the roster. It's too late for any type of significant overhaul, though.
The case for the coaching staff
Head coach Lindy Ruff and his assistants (Seth Appert, Mike Bales, Matt Ellis and Marty Wilford) were all retained despite last season's on-ice failures. It was a point of frustration for the fanbase.
Appert, who previously coach the team's AHL affiliate (the Rochester Americans), was particularly in the spotlight coming into the new campaign given his role leading the power play, which finished 24th in the league at 18.8% in 2024-25.
The early signs from the unit are highly concerning. The Blue and Gold are 0 for 11 with the man advantage so far, and the same problems that plagued the group last year remain persistent. That includes ineffective zone entries and poor movement when the PP does get set up in the zone.
Buffalo has also shown very little cohesion when it comes to transition plays. Everything is sluggish, which allows opponents to get into their defensive structure. Nothing is coming easy offensively, which is leading to a lot of long, low-danger shots.
It feels like the coaching staff is out of ideas to get more out of the roster, and it's a sign Ruff's legendary coaching career may be nearing its conclusion.
The case for the players
Alex Lyon has been the Sabres' best player through three games. A 32-year-old journeyman goaltender who's only starting because incumbent starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is injured has outshined Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch and the rest of the roster.
That's sad, and speaks to the underwhelming performance put forth by Buffalo's cornerstone players during the early stages of the campaign.
As mentioned, injuries are playing a role and the Blue and Gold would likely be far more competitive at full strength. Every team deals with injury absences, however, and what fans have witnessed through a trio of contests can't be pinned solely on missing players.
Dahlin and Thompson need to step up their games starting with Wednesday night's clash against the Atlantic Division rival Ottawa Senators. They need to take over. Show why they're considered two of the NHL's best.
The depth players need to make a larger impact, too. The across-the-board effort to forecheck, win puck battles and create pressure on the opponent has been severely lacking so far. Far too many skaters are just going through the motions.
Verdict: The front office
All three categories deserve their fair of the blame here (as does Pegula). This isn't an operation that's mostly working with a few faulty parts. It appears broken from the top to the bottom.
That said, Adams was promoted to general manager despite zero high-level NHL front-office experience and is being given a sixth year to figure it out. That's unprecedented, and his inability to bring high-end players to Buffalo via trade, free agency or the draft is killing the roster.
If the Sabres don't turn things around quickly, Pegula will likely have little choice but to fire Adams and promote senior advisor Jarmo Kekalainen, who was hired over the offseason, to guide the team through the remainder of the campaign. They can't simply stand pat much longer.
Here's the bottom line: Buffalo sports fans deserve better.