What is wrong with the Buffalo Sabres?

They haven't made the playoffs since 2011. Their captain was Jason Pominville, and their star players were Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller. Tyler Myers was their best defenseman. Once the 2013-14 season began, it was anchors down to the bottom. And they had more chances than the Oilers to be good, and why are they still failing?

I think the short answer is the Pegula's. I don't think it has to do with the city of Buffalo, in fact I think it's an underrated place to play given you're near great lakes and parks, including Niagara Falls which is one of the wonders of the world. Also low-key a great sports town where the practice facility is near the arena, that also includes one of the nicest dressing rooms. Sure it can get snowy, but it's not as cold as Winnipeg. Speaking of the Jets, their ownership shows more commitment to building towards always being a great hockey team. For the Pegula's, they're more focused on football but this isn't about football. 

One big answer is they're in a difficult division that consisted from the 2016-2025 season mostly of competitive teams known as the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, and the Montreal Canadiens with Carey Price. Those five teams literally put Ottawa, Buffalo and Detroit in the corner in being in the bottom for consecutive years, you couldn't compete with them. Buffalo also had bad coaching throughout the years and seemed to go through them like tissues even firing long-time coach Lindy Ruff before re-hiring him again, who in my opinion is a very overrated coach; I even think Andrew Brunette took New Jersey into the playoffs more-so than Lindy Ruff did. But the choice they made were even worse going forward. Their management was terrible too. 

I think the big thing they went wrong was the Evander Kane trade, which is a trade they didn't need to make and only because he was injured in their attempt to draft McDavid. I found he poisoned the locker room and made Eichel's entrance to the NHL a little more rocky given Kane hogged the puck when Eichel could've worked magic with it maybe getting him more points. I think had they never bothered with Kane or Lehner they'd be on the right track given there was rumoured clashing between them along with other players making the locker room dysfunctional. I also don't think they needed to chase O'Reilly and if they kept the teams age balanced I think the chemistry would've been a lot better to help the team grow as they were quite spread out in age. I think an age core is important in todays NHL given if at most half or as little as a third. The other thing was the difficulty of hiring coaches, today personally I'd love to see them try and hire either John Tortorella or Peter Laviolette. I think trading Ryan Miller away was a dumb idea given he was a heart and soul player, but they were that committed to tanking for McDavid. But crazier enough, I think what hurt them long-term was trading Derek Roy, a heart and soul player for the Sabres who loved playing there who didn't need to be traded to Dallas. I think him staying in Buffalo for the remainder of his career would've helped the Sabres even as a locker room guy. What I wouldn't change is the Vanek trade, in fact maybe traded him during the 2012-13 off-season because I think they could've fetched more for him. 

How would I fix the team?

I would try to hire a coach that's easy to work with when it comes to new NHL players, handling the media, and has an incredible track record. No, not you Mike Babcock, maybe John Tortorella because he did fix Columbus, or Peter Laviolette because he's not only had multiple cup appearances but has helped Carolina win their first cup in franchise history. 

Next, find the most experienced General Manager out there who needs a challenge, won't ruin their assets and make sure they leave with something not nothing, actually knows how to build a team not find the best things out there but more importantly needs to see eye-to-eye with the coach so there's no problems because you can't just have a good team on the ice, but off the ice you do too. 

I'd say an owner who cares, but the thing here is I do think the Pegula's do care, but they don't have a mindset or a goal on how to get to the finish line. 

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