Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - It has been a tumultuous stretch of hockey for the Buffalo Sabres, as the organization has missed out on the Stanley Cup Playoffs now for 13-straight seasons.
Despite missing out on the playoffs by a single point during the 2022-23 regular season and entering the 2023-24 campaign with sky-high expectations, the Sabres regressed and ended up missing out on the playoffs by seven points. It also cost head coach Don Granato his job after parts of four seasons behind the Buffalo bench.
Heading into the 2024-25 season, the Sabres' expectations are, once again, geared towards making the playoffs and ending a record 13-year playoff drought in the NHL. To do that, Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams turned back to a familiar face behind the Buffalo bench with the hire of Lindy Ruff as head coach.
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If Buffalo was to fail in its quest of making the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, some league pundits believe it may result in a number of people atop the organization losing their jobs.
"For Terry Pegula and the entire Sabres organization, this drought has to end," said Jeff Marek from Sportsnet during an appearance on WGR on Friday.
"I think everybody in the organization understands if there's not playoffs next year for the Buffalo Sabres, it's going to be ugly. It's going to be a bloodletting, and a lot of people are going to be loading up the fax machine with pink paper. I think everybody understands that with the Buffalo Sabres organization. There is so much riding on next season, so many careers, so many jobs that are riding on next season, more so than any other team in the NHL."
Ahead of the 2024 NHL Draft, starting with Round 1 on Friday, June 28, Marek feels the Sabres should not be focused on trying to continue accruing prospects with their draft picks. Instead, he feels Adams should be looking at trying to trade the No. 11 overall pick, and even a prospect in their pipeline, in order to try and get a proven commodity already playing in the NHL.
"You know what business Buffalo is no longer in? The green banana business. They are no longer in the green banana business. Picks and prospects, it's time to start turning these into players," said Marek with Joe DiBiase.
"They've been close for a couple of seasons now, right now is the time. If you're gonna move prospects, if you're gonna move draft picks, now is the time to do it, because you have a team that's right there, ready to take the next step. All the pieces are in place now. It just needs to move from a team that we look at and talk about potential, to a team where we talk about actual."
Marek believes the path for the Sabres to get to the playoffs isn't going to get any easier, especially with such a stacked Atlantic Division. The Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs all made the playoffs this past year, while the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators are among the teams knocking on the door in the coming years to make the playoffs.
As the time continues to tick away toward the NHL Draft in Las Vegas, Marek fully expects the Sabres to move their first-round pick this year, and also move a prospect.
"They will be one of the most interesting teams to watch at the draft," he said. "Everybody understands the score in Buffalo. I think Kevyn Adams gets to work as early as the moment he touches down at Vegas for the draft."
