The Athletic’s piece on fan and public confidence in club management has Buffalo ranked 26th in the NHL
The Buffalo Sabres have not made the playoffs in 13 years and the frustration of the club’s passionate fanbase is reflected in an article in The Athletic, grading the 32 NHL clubs on roster building, cap management, drafting and development, trading, free agency, and vision.
The Sabres, after being ranked 8th last season in a similar piece, declined to 26th in the NHL, receiving near-failing D grades in four of six categories from the fans, with an average grade for cap management, and an above-average B for drafting and development.
Buffalo’s failure at this point to use the cap space opened up by the buyout of winger Jeff Skinner is cited as another example of a front office that is unwilling to spend what it takes to win. After not being able to make trades for potential available options like Martin Necas, it appears that the Sabres are counting on the switch from Don Granato to the more hard-driving Lindy Ruff and the growth of youngsters like Zach Benson and/or Jiri Kulich to get them over the hump, but there is no confidence that will be enough.
GM Kevyn Adams currently has over $8 million in available cap space and a deep prospect pool, which puts the Sabres in an advantageous position to acquire an impact player at some point during the season if they are in contention for a playoff spot, but as with last summer when the club was openly pursuing a top-four defenseman, they were not proactive enough and only made the move (acquiring Bowen Byram from Colorado) when their postseason fate was almost certainly decided.
