As we countdown the days to the inevitable trades of Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart, it feels right to get things in writing. We can look both back and forward on what happened to get the Buffalo Sabres here, and what they must learn from their mismanagement to assure things finally get better.
The Sabres are not likely to win this trade. You can factor the injury into a potential diminished return, but even if he was at the peak of his powers, a trade involving a player of that value is one you plan to lose.
It’s been reported that the team took calls on Eichel last offseason and decided it was "not the right time" to move him. So before we even get to the conversation about this year’s inevitable trade, his desire to be here, the general manager's obsession with saying "guys that want to be here," the disconnect over a spinal surgery, the narratives about leadership, and all of the rest of it, consider they thought about moving him more than a year ago.
At that point, the Sabres had just finished 25th in the NHL standings, with 24 teams making the NHL’s Return To Play tournament. Eichel had his best season as a pro, cementing himself as one of the league’s premier talents. A roster coached poorly by a coach that we would soon learn coached to his own (#)principles rather than what suits the players.
The Sabres were getting tanked by their own coach, and Eichel was carrying it all. And Buffalo considered moving their captain and keeping the coach, which they did.
It’s eerily similar to the Ryan O’Reilly situation, isn’t it? Shop a great player in the midst of another run of ineptitude, and stick with the no-history-of-success-and-also-losing-at-a-crazy-clip head coach.
Phil Housley made it longer than O'Reilly, and Ralph Krueger nearly outlasted Eichel. Just beyond words, really.
Seemingly, the only things that happen to the Sabres that go well are happy accidents. The last few of these would include Will Borgen seeing time in the lineup, Reinhart playing center, and their new head coach, Don Granato, being a guy on the staff behind the guy that played Jeff Skinner on the fourth line.
They’ve also had a run of bad luck, no doubt. COVID-19 hit the team, as did the injury to Eichel, and the crazy shooting slumps of both Eichel (probably injury related) and Taylor Hall.
The next stroke of bad luck is holding an asset that they apparently wanted to move, and having that asset sustain a career-threatening injury.
It’s… it’s not great, Bob.
Anger, frustration, apathy, elation… whatever you feel about what the Sabres are about to do, there’s one thing that is coming:
Change.
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So this is where you kind of have to compartmentalize the anger of what has happened, and the possibility of what will happen.
The Sabres do have an opportunity to stop being the worst team in the league. I know, it’s not a very high bar to clear, but there are moves to be made, assets to be dealt, and a future to pursue.
I’m not here to tell you to have faith that it will work, but that having hope is justified. Faith means you believe it will work, while hope means that you understand that it could.
Fans of this organization held out their own versions of hope and faith through two submarined last place seasons, and packed more than 10,000 fans to see a prospects tournament back in 2015.
Show fans a plan, and they’ll pay attention. This time, though, it’s going to take some time before real belief is earned.
The Sabres will be young (they’re already one of the youngest teams in the league), and entirely overlooked by the NHL at large. They’ll have a chance for young guys to grow into spots. You know the names, the “new core”.
So here’s hoping that these inevitable changes bring about a change in what is most important - Results.
They’re starting at the bottom. General manager Kevyn Adams has to be careful not to award his team the “Jason Botterill Trophy.” That’s where you attempt to congratulate yourself for building a 25th place team and compare it to the 31st place one you just iced.
Steps forward for this group will come. But as we’ve seen time and time again, a jump from 31 to 25 doesn’t mean anything is really any different.
So on to the next era, I guess.
For now, we wait.