Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Though it's widely regarded as one of the best sitcoms of all-time, I have never watched an episode of Seinfeld in my life. Just never got around to trying to get into it, and quite frankly, probably never will.
However, in the time working with Howard Simon and Jeremy White as their producer, there is one moment from that show I do remember, especially as we approach Christmas on Wednesday: The Story of Festivus.
The secular holiday of Festivus takes place on Dec. 23, and part of the celebration includes a dinner where you gather around and tell others in attendance how much they've disappointed you over the last year, otherwise known as an "airing of grievances".
While there's no dinner or anything else that goes into celebrating Festivus on this Dec. 23, it's time to air some grievances with the Buffalo Sabres.
Let's go back a bit to before the start of the 2023-24 season, Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams made it clear with this group of players in the organization that the time is now to win, with the ultimate goal of making the playoffs for the first time since 2011. This after missing the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs by just a single point after a fun and exciting push at the end of the regular season.
However, instead of looking to add pieces to the group that could've helped push the Sabres over that hump and into the playoffs, Adams elected to bring back most of the group that was in Buffalo for that late push the season prior. That included re-signing players like Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons, while believing the additions of Connor Clifton and Erik Johnson to the blue line was going to bring some added grit and veteran leadership to a relatively young group.
While it would've been nice to add some more scoring and another top-six forward to the group, many bought in in to the belief the Sabres could come back, continue the swing of success to close the 2022-23 season and be a playoff team in 2024.
Instead, the group regressed, a couple of pieces were moved out, they missed the playoffs (again) by six points, and head coach Don Granato was fired.
During end-of-season press conferences with the players, the talk amongst many of them was "accountability", and wanting a head coach to hold the players more accountable when the team wasn't playing well enough.
Ask, and you shall receive.
Enter Lindy Ruff as head coach for his second tenure with the organization, though with some controversy that was no fault of his own.
After firing Granato due to expectations of being a consistent contender not being met, Adams began exploring the coaching market for a new leader behind the bench and in the locker room. While the writing appeared to be on the wall with the direction Adams wanted to go, he said he spoke with "many" different candidates leading up to Ruff’s hiring.
In what seemed to be a short period of time, speaking to as many as 10 or more coaching candidates before hiring Ruff, the general manager jumped to the decision when he had time to maybe further evaluate his options, and see some of the other names pop up on the market.
Heading into the regular season, there was plenty of optimism that the culture Ruff brings - one many in Western New York are all too familiar with - was going to have a positive impact on the group of players in the Sabres locker room. There would be accountability, there would be a certain toughness to Buffalo's game, a change in mentality that will get the young group of players to buy-in.
And, once again, there was the overlying message from the head coach and general manager that now was the time to win, and make a push for the playoffs.
While there have been spurts of exciting play and promise within the group of players, the results have been far from ideal, especially over the course of this recent 13-game winless streak.
Through the first 21 games of the season, the Sabres were sitting in a playoff spot with an 11-9-1 record and 23 points. That was good for Buffalo to sit in a tie with the Boston Bruins for third in the Atlantic Division with one game in-hand. The Sabres were also ahead of teams like the Tampa Lightning, Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators in the standings.
13 games later, the Sabres' fall from grace has been a downright embarrassment.
Through 34 games played now, the Sabres are 11-19-4, sitting with 26 points in the standings, and, once again, sit dead last in the NHL along with the Chicago Blackhawks. To make matters worse, Buffalo now sits 12 points out of any playoff position in the Eastern Conference, and four points back of the next worst team (Detroit Red Wings) in the conference.
And you name it with the ways the Sabres have lost over the course of 13-straight games: Getting "goalied" by an opposing netminder, blowing multi-goal leads, one mental slip up costing the team a game, critical late-game mishaps that result in blown chances at a point, simply just not showing up to play from start-to-finish.
It's a stretch of losses that has left the head coach - a veteran of the league and one who has a rich history in Buffalo - at a loss for words just 34 games into his tenure. We usually see that from coaches after a couple of seasons of below average hockey, but this seems to be a brand new low for the Sabres.
While the Sabres sit just below the middle of the pack in a number of statistical categories in the NHL over the course of the year, let's examine how bad it's been for Buffalo in this 13-game stretch of losses:
- A league-worst 2.15 goals per-game while averaging 27.3 shots per-game (20th), which equates to a shooting percentage of 7.9%.
- A total of 216 missed shots, which is the third-worst rate of teams in the NHL.
- A shot attempt rate of 50.8%, which is actually tied for 13th in the NHL.
- An abysmal 4.08 goals-against average, worst in the NHL by a good amount, while allowing an average of 29.1 shots per-game.
- Special teams have been a disaster with a second-worst power play (8.3%), and seventh-worst penalty kill (69.2%).
- Second periods have been a calamity for Buffalo, giving up a league-worst 20 goals, while scoring only eight goals (second-worst). The Sabres have also scored the fewest goals in the third period with six.
- Winless in eight games on home-ice, including losses in all five games of a homestand to start the month of December.
The loss that was the straw that broke the camel's back came on Dec. 3 in a matchup against the Colorado Avalanche, the first game of their five-game homestand at KeyBank Center.
The Sabres jumped out to an impressive 4-0 first-period lead, chased Avalanche netminder Alexandar Georgiev, and appeared to have Colorado ready to run out of the building with its tails between its legs. Instead of keeping the pedal to the metal, the Sabres backed off, opening the door for the high-powered Avalanche to make their comeback.
Through 40 minutes, the Sabres still held a 4-1 lead, and for most teams, that'd be enough to tighten the clamps and secure a victory, especially after dominating the opening 20 minutes the way Buffalo did.
However, the Sabres ended up collapsing in epic proportions. The Avalanche came hard at Buffalo, using their speed and tenacious forecheck to pressure the Sabres in every facet. That sent the players on the ice into an absolute panic, and the team broke down in front of their goalie, resulting in four third-period goals-against and a 5-4 loss in regulation.
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Since then, the Sabres have played as a broken group. It resulted in collapses against the likes of the Winnipeg Jets, Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs, no-show appearances against the likes of the Utah Hockey Club, Montreal Canadiens and Maple Leafs again, and everything else in-between.
While the play of those on the ice continues to deserve scrutiny, who else can be held accountable for the failures of this season?
In the few days after that dreadful loss to the Avalanche, Adams decided to accept a request from members of the media and speak about his team's recent failures, the group's lack of mental toughness, etc.
The most scrutinized portion of Adams' press conference, though, came when discussing possible scenarios to improve the roster, and make any potential changes to the group to help make the Sabres an organization that can turn the tides and win now.
"You’re always evaluating, you’re always looking at every possible scenario to improve your team. We should be in on every conversation, which we are," the Sabres general manager said.
"Honestly, we’re not a destination city right now where you’re going to be able to go out and get UFAs [unrestricted free agents] that are the key guys. I don’t think that’s the way to build a sustainable winner, so you evaluate your core, you look for trades. If there’s UFAs that you can add that make sense and work, of course. So yes, you always look at everything.
"We don’t have palm trees, we have taxes in New York. Those are real, and those are things you deal with. I’m in conversations every day, and there’s a lot of players in this league that we’re on their [no-movement] lists. So we need to earn the respect, and that starts with getting over the hump, getting in the playoffs and competing."
While Adams may be right with many players in the NHL not wanting to come to Buffalo, aside from the palm trees and state taxes, it is because the organization is widely seen as a circus with the inability to build a consistent winning team. While Adams also acknowledged that in his press conference, it's not as simple as comparing his group to the Buffalo Bills with Josh Allen, as he attempted to.
"I would assume this wasn’t a destination or sign up to play for when they were in a 17-year playoff drought, and they’ve done a phenomenal job over there," Adams said. "You get Josh Allen, and people are lining up, because they have a chance to win the Super Bowl every year. That’s what we’re working to build here."
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The Sabres did have that superstar talent for a period of time with Jack Eichel, and even had others like Sam Reinhart, Ryan O'Reilly, Brandon Montour, and a list of other players that have been in Buffalo, only to leave and find success elsewhere.
Buffalo failed to find the right pieces to build around those talents in their time in Western New York, failed to find the right leaders on and off the ice to support those pieces, and continue to find new ways to fail with the talent that is in place now.
Where some can criticize the general manager with the way he has built the team is not being willing to move on from some of his accrued talent to bring in pieces that can help the team now, whether it's leadership to help stabilize the young group or adding more proven talent in the league that can help get Buffalo over the hump.
And it doesn't have to always be trying to convince a player to waive his no-movement clause to come to Buffalo, or get a new contract extension done before making a trade. It can be acquiring players in the league that don't have control of their contract, and then allowing the team's play to dictate what happens next.
While there is plenty of young talent in the organization and it is right to try and properly develop them and let them work their way onto the NHL roster, it's also dangerous to liken yourself to certain players and never be willing to move some of those pieces in an attempt to win now.
It happened with Darcy Regier on numerous occasions during his tenure with the Sabres, and it often led to either missed opportunities to improve the current roster via trade, or guys not developing as expected and fizzling out with little-to-no results in Buffalo.
Yes, while the team has moved on from some pieces, recently Matthew Savoie and Casey Mittelstadt, in order to acquire some players to try and make the group better, Ryan McLeod and Bowen Byram, it's also on the general manager to make the bolder moves in order to make your team reputable.
When the general manager made his point of a trade he worked up this past offseason that didn't pan out, and he thought the media would probably have roasted him for, it shows a general manager that's afraid and not willing to take some risks to improve his team with his job potentially on the line.
After 13 seasons, going on 14 seasons without playoffs, that's where you get the fans that continue to care about this team bringing inflatable palm trees to games and calling on the general manager to get fired.
But the general manager and the others before Adams are not the only ones organizationally that should be held accountable.
Jump ahead a week-and-a-half later, after Buffalo's 10th-straight loss, Sabres owner Terry Pegula was reported to have been meeting with the players, the coaching staff, and the general manager the following day in Montreal, one day ahead of their game with the Canadiens this past Tuesday.
As was reported by the national and local hockey media, the meeting was Pegula showing faith in the players and the leadership of the team, feeling the solution was within the locker room. Furthermore, Pegula had apparently told the players not to expect a big trade to come.
The owner of an organization is one that can hold everyone accountable for actions on and off the ice. If what really transpired during that meeting in Montreal is true, who is the owner holding accountable for this recent stretch of failure.
The players? The coaches? The general manager? Anyone?
And how did the Sabres respond to the meeting with the owner? By getting curb-stomped by the lowly Canadiens, firmly putting Buffalo in the basement of the Eastern Conference.
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Two more losses later, the Sabres are now back in the basement of the NHL standings, and losers of 13-straight games.
It makes the Sabres the laughing stock of hockey. And if the NHL got more notoriety, the Sabres may be one of the biggest disappointments in all of sports.
During the Sabres' playoff drought, starting back in the 2011-12 season, the organization has seen three losing/winless streaks of 13-or-more consecutive games. No other team in the NHL has had more than one stretch of 13-or-more straight losses in that time.
So now what? Who's going to hold the owner of a hockey team accountable after 13-straight losses? After 13-plus years of sustained failure?
Could it be some of the diehard fans losing interest in the team? Do games that feature 75% or more fans of the opposing team in attendance at home games factor into this? Do other potential outside influences have a say?
Sorry this all comes in the timing of Christmas. It's an airing of grievances, though, that is long overdue.
We'll see if the Sabres can avoid going 14-straight games without a win on Monday, and spoiling some people's Christmases even more.