Mike Harrington: How is it possible Sabres have done nothing to try to fix season?


I stare at the NHL standings every day. Multiple times a day, especially at night when the games are going on and the numbers are changing on the NHL app. It's part of this gig, after all.

In fact, I pick them apart: Who's hot in the last 10 games? Hello, Edmonton and Detroit. Who's winning a stupid amount of road games? Props to you, Montreal. Who is dominant at home? Shoot off your infernal arena cannon, Columbus. What are the best divisional and conference battles? Who's already in draft lottery land?

You find the Sabres on these lists and nothing computes. This wasn't close to a Stanley Cup team, but there's no way it should be a laughingstock, either.

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From left, Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams, owner Terry Pegula and assistant GM Jerry Forton chat during a development session in July. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News

And incredibly, the higher-ups have done nothing about it.

The Sabres sat mired in Nowhere Land on Friday morning, and no matter how many ways you attack the picture, the view is the same: They're in the miracle zone. We're talking St. Louis, circa 2019. Remember the Ryan O'Reilly Blues? They were last in the league on New Year's Day at 15-18-4 and didn't just sneak into the playoffs; they somehow won the franchise's first Stanley Cup in 52 years just over five months later.

These Sabres were 29th at 14-20-4 on Jan. 1, the day before their absurd collapse in Colorado. These Sabres aren't pulling a St. Louis. That team was badly underachieving and figured it out. This one is badly underachieving and doesn't have a clue. Merely finishing in eighth place in the East to get the last playoff spot is too much to ask for.

When we woke Friday morning to start prepping for the night's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in KeyBank Center, the Sabres were last in the Atlantic Division at 17-22-5 – and at least seven points behind everybody else. Which is simply embarrassing.

They were last in the Eastern Conference, and everybody was at least five points clear of Buffalo except the New York Islanders. And they were 29th overall, closer to last-place Chicago (eight points) than they were to last-playoff-team Boston (10 points).

And all this from a team that has an outside chance to have six 20-goal scorers and has an elite player as its No. 1 defenseman. Still, it's not nearly enough.
So where are the moves?

No trades, no waiver claims, no minor-league callups, no richly deserved firing of general manager Kevyn Adams or anyone in the hockey department. No contract extensions for Jason Zucker or Bowen Byram, either. Just nothing. (Most teams would have fired the coach during that hideous 13-game winless streak, but you just brought Lindy Ruff back to save everything, so that wasn't an option.)

What's going on here? How is this possible? A lot of theories are out there.

The first one is that owner Terry Pegula is like most of you in that he's spending sleepless nights pondering Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and the rest of the Baltimore Ravens, and doesn't have a moment to spare on his woebegone hockey team.

Is this a stealth tank, with Pegula getting Adams to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his lose-to-win scheme by standing pat so he can try it again? Wrong year, Terry. Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini were the prizes the past two years. Good players are at the top of the 2025 draft, but nobody like that.

Besides, this team needs NHL veterans and not some new 18-year-old to be a savior. If everyone in Western New York's seven counties knows this, surely the folks inside the arena know it, too. You hope.

Not a lot of trades go down this time of year, but Adams appears frozen. Is he too scared to make a move for fear of another team robbing his desperation blind? Has the owner told him not to, especially if it means paying out more salary?

Or is Pegula just biding the time with his hockey team until the Bills are either eliminated or raising the Lombardi Trophy with their fans in Niagara Square next month?

The NHL, remember, is going dark from Feb. 9-22 for the 4 Nations Face-Off. That would give Pegula a prime time to excise the GM, who should not be allowed to retool this team at the trade deadline in March, and give the duty to somebody else. Even if it's just one of the assistant GMs, Jason Karmanos or Jerry Forton, on an interim basis.

Now, here's the fairness doctrine part of the program: On the ice, the Sabres haven't quit. They entered Friday 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, which isn't bad. In the last 10 days, they've beaten two of the East's top four teams, Washington and Carolina. They're ready to play every night, having scored first in 27 of their 44 games, having taken a 2-0 lead in three straight. They hold a plus-17 goal differential in the first period that's second in the league to the Capitals' plus-18.

But absent some long winning streak, they're toast. And they haven't won as many as four games in a row since January 2023. Bet you didn't know the rest of the NHL has put together 77 winning streaks of at least five games – yes, 77! – since the last time the Sabres won even four in a row.

But they just carry on, and nothing changes.

The Penguins hit town for Friday's game reeling at 2-5-3 over their last 10 games. They're seventh in the Metropolitan Division, five points out of the wild card and staring at a third straight year out of the playoffs.

The Penguins flamed out Tuesday in a 4-2 home loss to Seattle, and what did they do Wednesday? They put struggling starting goalie Tristan Jarry on waivers, even though he signed a five-year extension less than two years ago for $5.375 million per season.

They showed a pulse.

The Sabres could take a lesson from that. Do something. Anything.
 
This could be it's own NetFlix series.

There were warning signs before this, but it became a problem in the fall of 2023. You'll remember the Sabres had an amazing offense in 22-23. Missed the post season by one point. An extremely young core. I remember one person who writes about the NHL on Twitter posted "what team not in playoffs has the core to win a cup within 5 years and why is it Buffalo?"

Tage was coming into his own
Dahlin was becoming a franchise defenseman
Cozens was scoring 30

Their center position was locked in long term for a great price. All Adams had to do was round out the roster.

He did nothing. Banked on youth growing and internal competition. It backfired spectacularly.

The team regressed everywhere. And still, because of all that youth and talent, still were in the running into April.

Surely, Adams learned and is going to make impactful moves, right? A reshuffled bottom 6 and a buyout. And bringing back an old coach. And that's it. And they've gone from almost surefire playoff team to lottery team.

It's broken and the only guy who can fix it thinks things will fix themselves
 
This could be it's own NetFlix series.

There were warning signs before this, but it became a problem in the fall of 2023. You'll remember the Sabres had an amazing offense in 22-23. Missed the post season by one point. An extremely young core. I remember one person who writes about the NHL on Twitter posted "what team not in playoffs has the core to win a cup within 5 years and why is it Buffalo?"

Tage was coming into his own
Dahlin was becoming a franchise defenseman
Cozens was scoring 30

Their center position was locked in long term for a great price. All Adams had to do was round out the roster.

He did nothing. Banked on youth growing and internal competition. It backfired spectacularly.

The team regressed everywhere. And still, because of all that youth and talent, still were in the running into April.

Surely, Adams learned and is going to make impactful moves, right? A reshuffled bottom 6 and a buyout. And bringing back an old coach. And that's it. And they've gone from almost surefire playoff team to lottery team.

It's broken and the only guy who can fix it thinks things will fix themselves
The fans need to storm the Sabres ownership and front office with demands that Adams be replaced immediately
 
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