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Ryan S. Clark
The Buffalo Sabres‘ last trip to the playoffs was in 2011. The NHL has since added franchises in Las Vegas and Seattle, and both expansion teams have made the playoffs.
The Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in 2023.
Meanwhile, multiple former Sabres have found success elsewhere — winning major individual awards (Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark) or the Stanley Cup (Ryan O’Reilly, Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour, among others). Dylan Cozens, who was traded to the Ottawa Senators on March 7 and could suit up for them this postseason, is the latest example of this trend.
How is it that the rest of the NHL can benefit from the Buffalo Sabres — but the Buffalo Sabres can’t benefit themselves?
The lack of success is set against a backdrop of the Buffalo Bills — also owned by Terry Pegula — being perennial Super Bowl contenders.
From losing players to better teams, to a lack of continuity in the front office, to difficulties in luring big free agents to a cold climate with a high state income tax, the challenges are myriad. ESPN spoke with a dozen people — including current and former Sabres — about what it will take to turn the franchise around.
“I always tell people if you can figure out a way to win in Buffalo, it’s a pretty damn good place to play,” Montour said. “You see the Bills and the passion they have there. Sabres fans are just waiting for a season or something to turn there.”
TIED WITH THE New York Jets for the longest playoff drought among MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL teams, the Sabres haven’t struggled to acquire talent; it’s making the most of that talent through proper development that’s been the issue.
The Sabres’ average first-round draft position since their most recent playoff appearance is 10th overall. Their first rebuild attempt saw them draft Eichel and Reinhart in the first round, and use later-round selections on J.T. Compher, Brandon Hagel, Victor Olofsson and Ullmark, among others. They also signed undrafted college free agents such as Evan Rodrigues, who played with Eichel at Boston University.
Some players, like Compher, were moved in trades. Others, like Hagel, never signed with the team. But the Sabres also made deals, like acquiring Montour ahead of the trade deadline back in 2018-19.
Eichel was a three-time All-Star with the Sabres before he was traded following a disagreement with the team about his preferred method of care for a neck injury.
Reinhart and Ullmark became All-Stars after leaving the Sabres. Montour departed and emerged into a top-pairing defenseman, while O’Reilly left and further cemented his status as one of the game’s best two-way forwards.
Four of those five players have also won a Stanley Cup and were instrumental in their teams capturing those championships.
Deciphering why players’ careers take off after they leave Buffalo is a complex exercise.
“There’s a lot of different variables. There’s also a lot of different people,” a former Sabres player said. “Some people thrive in different environments. I played with a lot of great players during my time in Buffalo. At that point, did I feel we didn’t unlock our true potential? Yeah, I really think that we had a team that could go far into the playoffs.”
Eichel, Reinhart and Ullmark each had varying degrees of success before they left Buffalo. Eichel had five straight 20-goal seasons and scored 36 in his final full season. Reinhart was a five-time 20-goal scorer, while Ullmark won 41 games with a .916 save percentage over three seasons as a full-time NHL goalie.
Compare that to what they did when they left:
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Eichel, who averaged 0.95 points per game with the Sabres, is averaging more than a point per game with the Golden Knights, with whom he won the Cup in 2023.
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Reinhart is a four-time 30-goal scorer who scored 57 for the Panthers last season when they won the Cup.
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Ullmark joined the Boston Bruins, where he won 88 games and had a .924 save percentage in three seasons before being traded to Ottawa. Ullmark would win the Vezina Trophy for the NHL’s best goaltender in his second season with the Bruins.
“That’s where I ask, ‘Did some of those guys really get better when they left or were they already on that [trajectory] and another team saw the benefit?'” the former team employee asked. “Jack was an All-Star, while we knew Sam was already really, really good.”
But what about those non-homegrown players?
Montour had 13 goals and 0.38 points per game in 112 games for the Sabres. He joined the Panthers and nearly had more points in his first season in Florida than he did during his entire time with the Sabres, while also being on the Cup-winning team in 2024.
O’Reilly was an All-Star in Buffalo who finished 11th in consecutive seasons for the Selke Trophy, which goes to the NHL’s best two-way forward. He was a three-time 20-goal scorer who averaged 0.79 points per game for the Sabres. He was traded to the Blues and would become a two-time All-Star who won the Selke, averaging 0.82 points during his five seasons in St. Louis while — you guessed it — winning the Stanley Cup in 2019, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs.
“When I went to Florida, I was more of a depth piece and then when [coach Paul Maurice] came in, he let me run free and play my game,” Montour said. “You have to find the right opportunity and a situation that fits. In Buffalo, when I was there, you win a couple games and then you lose a couple games, it was like an automatic change.
“I wasn’t there long, but there’s change all the time.”
DO THE SABRES have the infrastructure in place for their young talent to succeed?
The former Sabres player and former team employee suggest part of the reason Eichel, Reinhart and Ullmark thrived elsewhere is the teams they joined had established winning cultures.
“People get so caught up in looking at how it’s going for [the Sabres] and then looking at other players that might have been there,” the former player said. “They think, ‘Oh, he’s playing better hockey.’ Well, he’s part of a team that’s playing really good hockey.”
When Eichel joined the Knights, they had a strong culture in place with players like Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, Shea Theodore and Reilly Smith. Stars from other teams, like Alex Pietrangelo and Mark Stone, had succeeded after they joined the Golden Knights.
The same applied to Reinhart joining a Panthers team that provided opportunities to newcomers, while Ullmark joined a Bruins team that had a strong culture thanks to Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.
Losing top talent has only added to Buffalo’s struggle for continuity and culture-building. The Sabres have also had seven coaching changes and four GMs since their last playoff appearance 14 seasons ago.
The former team employee said those constant changes were part of a larger issue that was facing the franchise, that they were trying to rush their rebuild, only to hit the reset button more than once.
“When I was there, and I wasn’t there long, they fired their coaches right away,” said Montour, who played for three different coaches in Buffalo. “[Former Sabres GM Jason Botterill] had maybe three years. Was that enough time for a rebuild? You’re firing a guy, bringing a new guy in. It feels like every two or three years, you’re bringing a new guy in.”
The closest the Sabres have come to reaching the playoffs came in 2022-23 when they finished a point out of the final wild-card spot.
One agent said the Sabres entered the ensuing offseason needing more experience on defense and in goal. The 2022-23 season saw them regularly play five defenseman who were younger than 25, while goalie Craig Anderson was retiring.
Buffalo signed defensemen Connor Clifton and Erik Johnson. The Sabres didn’t sign a veteran goalie, but chose to rely upon Eric Comrie, Devon Levi and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. The trio had a combined 100 games of NHL experience.
Clifton was sixth in ice time among Sabres defensemen. Johnson played 50 games before he was traded. Their goaltending finished tied for 15th in team save percentage.
The Sabres finished seven points out of the playoffs — and would go through another coaching change.
“[Clifton and Johnson] are fine players, but were those the moves you needed to take a team that missed by one game to a contender level?” the agent asked. “I’ve seen [Sabres GM Kevyn Adams] talk about taxes and palm trees. I’m sure it is not the same in Buffalo as it is in Florida, but this is also a team that has basically spent at the cap floor for the last couple years. When you are that close to making the playoffs, you can go out and overspend for the right person.”
A second agent explained that Buffalo isn’t a city players are openly avoiding. But that’s not to say there aren’t challenges.
The agent said there’s the climate — with an average annual temperature of 53 degrees that dips to an average of 42 degrees during the span of the NHL regular season. They also said New York has the third-highest income tax in the nation, at 10.9% (for individuals making over $1,077,550). And with the Sabres consistently missing the playoffs, that makes it difficult to sell a vision that the franchise is trending upward.
“It’s one of those markets where you do need to develop your young stars to be the veterans in order to get over the hump,” the second agent said. “As much as people want that to happen the right way, it’s still going to take some time.”
MOVING ON FROM Eichel, Reinhart & Co. allowed the Sabres to get the needed assets to build their current core.
The Sabres had the No. 1 pick in 2018 and again in 2021, using those picks on defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power, respectively. They’ve used top-10 picks to draft forwards Zach Benson, Jack Quinn and Cozens, before he was traded. Trades have brought in former first-round picks such as Bowen Byram, Peyton Krebs, Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch along with Josh Norris, who was part of the trade package involving Cozens.
That has allowed the Sabres to build a promising roster, with five top-five picks and 10 first-round picks who are younger than 25. They’ve seen Dahlin and Power become legitimate top-four options while Thompson, who arrived in the O’Reilly trade, has emerged as a top-line center.
But they still have the worst record in the Eastern Conference, and the third-worst record in the entire NHL.
“You don’t add veterans to what is still the youngest team, and it just never seems to get done,” the first agent said. “Is it the guy behind the guy who walks behind the guy? I can’t really tell you which of those people is to blame.
“The problem is everything seems to go wrong. Every time they take a step, you think, ‘Hey, they’re going to take a step’ and then 16 other things go wrong.”
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Why acquring Dylan Cozens is a ‘big trade’ for Ottawa
The “TradeCentre” crew reacts to the news Dylan Cozens is being traded to the Ottawa Senators.
Byram and Thompson both said the Sabres’ current roster has created more opportunities for younger players that might not have existed elsewhere. Byram is averaging more ice time in his first 62 games with the Sabres this season than what he had with the Colorado Avalanche in 51 games in 2023-24.
Thompson said the opportunity has led to individual success, while everyone is trying to figure out a way to parlay that into team success.
“We have a great group of guys, I don’t think that’s the issue,” Byram said. “We’ve got a really young team. We’re trying to grow together and build something together. That doesn’t always happen overnight.”
But how much will things change in order for the Sabres to get to their desired destination?
They have only two pending unrestricted free agents: defenseman Jacob Bryson and goaltender James Reimer. They have six players with contracts that have more than three years remaining, including Norris, Thompson, Dahlin, Power, Luukkonen and Mattias Samuelsson.
This summer could bring significant change, considering Byram is one of eight players who are pending restricted free agents this year or next.
There are also questions about Adams’ future with the team. Adams has been Sabres GM for four seasons. That’s one season longer than Botterill lasted, and a half-season more than Tim Murray, an in-season replacement for Darcy Regier in 2014.
The Sabres were 112-175-37 under Murray and 88-115-30 under Botterill. As of this week, the Sabres’ record under Adams was 140-145-30. The Sabres have had three seasons of more than 75 points, which doesn’t sound like much, but it makes Adams’ tenure the most successful the club has had since its last playoff appearance.
This season, they are projected to finish with 76 points, a decline from Adams’ second season when they had 91 points and last season’s 84 points.
Adams declined to be interviewed for this story.
“I don’t know for sure if it’s ownership or if it’s Kevyn,” the first agent said. “But it seems if I was ownership — given Mr. Pegula owns the Bills and has vast resources from his other businesses — I’d be willing to spend rather than have an arena that’s half full with people that’s calling for me to sell the team.”
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