Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - While teams continue to do battle in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with second round action already underway, the Buffalo Sabres continue to look ahead to the 2024-25 season, hoping to find a solution to ending the team's 13-year playoff drought.
One element to the Sabres' offseason that many are very familiar with, at this point, is the NHL Draft Lottery, which is set to take place Tuesday night. Buffalo is currently slated to pick 11th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft, but currently have a 3.0% chance to win the lottery and move up 10 slots to the No. 1 overall pick.
This year's top consensus prospect in the draft is Boston University forward Macklin Celebrini, who became the youngest player in the history of college hockey at age 17 to win the Hobey Baker Award as the season's best player.
Another big focus this offseason for the Sabres so far has been the firing of Don Granato as head coach, and replacing him with longtime bench boss in Buffalo, Lindy Ruff.
Ruff was the head coach of the Sabres for parts of 15 seasons in Buffalo, spanning from 1997 to 2013. In his 1,165 games coached with the Sabres, Ruff led the organization to a 571-432-78-84 record and eight appearances in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including one trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 1999.
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Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams happened to start his post-playing career back in his hometown as part of Ruff's staff, where he was hired as a development coach in 2009. He eventually became an assistant coach behind the bench during the 2011-12 season.
Fast forward several years later, Adams says as he got more-and-more in depth with different coaches and conversations about the coaching vacancy in Buffalo, he kept circling back to Ruff.
"Each hour went by, it felt stronger-and-stronger that this was the right person to lead our team," said Adams on Tuesday during an appearance on the "Jeremy and Joe Show" on WGR. "I think he's evolved as a coach, which is one thing that I think is critical. You don't last as long as he has, if you don't do that.
While Adams knows what Ruff brings to the table based on his past experience with him over the years, he has also seen the evolution of Ruff being able to work with young players and understanding while you have to be hard and push players, it's also important to have the relationship and open door policy at any time to let players speak their mind and build that connectivity.
Looking ahead to the 2024 NHL Draft, the Sabres could, once again, be in line to select a player near the top of the class. However, with a loaded prospect pool already in place, that draft pick in June could be used as a piece to bring in a player to immediately help the team via trade.
"We're in a different phase right now. We need to look at every possible scenario to help our team get better," said Adams with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase. "When I talk about winning now, that absolutely comes into play. We're certainly not going to do something that doesn't make sense, but we will definitely talk about, that type of move, and does that make sense. Maybe it makes a lot more sense now, based on where our roster is and where our prospect pool is, than it did one, two, three, years ago."
In recent years, Adams has worked to sign key members of the Sabres' core to long-term contracts to ensure the players will be with the team for many years to come.
One of those players that may be in light for one of those long-term contracts as a core piece is goaltender Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen.
"Most important thing for me, he wants to be here. He's shown that he can carry a team through a tough stretch of games, giving our team a chance to win game-after-game-after-game," Adams noted. "It's exciting to see him evolve this year. and really push through to the next level. So we're open. For me, I think we've shown we're willing to go long-term with players, we're willing to look more at shorter-term. Sometimes it's dictated by financials, it just has to make sense both ways. Sometimes it's dictated by age. There's just a lot of factors that come into play, but I do believe paying players in the prime is really important, getting their prime years. He's certainly coming right into his prime."
Hear more from Adams' appearance during the "Jeremy and Joe Show" available in the player below:
