The end of the 2020-21 season is near for the Buffalo Sabres with just seven games remaining on the regular season schedule.
Unfortunately for Buffalo, the start to the season put the team out of contention for the playoffs, signifying a 10th-consecutive year without a playoff appearance, matching an all-time record in the National Hockey League.
Through the first 28 games of the 56-game regular season, Buffalo went just 6-18-4, resulting in the firing of head coach Ralph Krueger. In the Sabres' 21 games since under the tutelage of interim head coach Don Granato, the team has seen drastic improvement in overall play, despite what a 7-10-4 record may indicate.
With the team out of playoff contention for some time now, the goal and focus of the group has been to develop, improve and find ways to win hockey games.
For the management group led by general manager Kevyn Adams, this has been a chance to evaluate some of the players when looking at the long-term outlook of the organization. Players like Casey Mittelstadt, Tage Thompson, Rasmus Asplund, Dylan Cozens, Arttu Ruotsalainen, Anders Bjork, Will Borgen, Mattias Samuelsson, and others will continue to be analyzed with the prospect of earning a full-time NHL roster spot come next season. A player like Sam Reinhart is being evaluated with the likelihood of a big pay day coming in the offseason.
However, this has also been a time for Adams and his staff to evaluate Granato and the possibility of having the interim tag ripped off his title. With how the Sabres have performed and the way some players have improved and come into their own since March 17, Granato continues to gain more traction in his favor to become the full-time head coach following the season.
But for now, the team is in New York City, getting ready to wrap up its season series with the Rangers on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. It will be another chance for fans to get to see the potential future of the organization, as goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will get his second-career start after earning his first NHL win this past Friday against the Boston Bruins at KeyBank Center.
Granato took some time on Tuesday to join the "Howard and Jeremy Show" on WGR to talk about the play of his team as of late from Luukkonen, to Rasmus Dahlin, to the defensive group, and much more.
Here is some of what he had to say:
Granato on Friday's debut of Luukkonen in goal:
"I was a little nervous for him [after his first goal-against]. I mentioned how many times that we were going to hold him out, and even give our team a chance to see Boston a couple of games in hopes of improving and limiting quality chances, and then the very first shot of the game was point-blank. A couple of subtle errors allowed a point-blank chance, but he rebounded immediately, made several consecutive saves and played very well. He looked good, and I'm excited for him to be in [net] tonight."
Granato on playing the younger players together in the lineup:
"Sometimes you play a younger player and he's alongside an older player, he'll focus more on getting the older player the puck just out of respect. I felt we had an opportunity to not do that and to really eliminate the potential of that dynamic, because we have so many young guys. The risk you run is being vulnerable when you put three young guys as a forward group, or pair two on defense, but these guys are fast learners because they're talented guys. If we can help them evolve quicker, that's our part on the coaching side. These guys have done really, really well with that, all our young players, which makes our jobs a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable."
Granato on the recent play of Dahlin:
"He hasn't even scratched the surface, in my estimation just in watching him. His capacity is so high, and he's just going to continue to get better and better and better. That is what I see out of him. There are still lots of situations that he's becoming more aware of. They're not necessarily new to him, but he's becoming more aware of how to take advantage of them, how to exploit them on the offensive side. The game the other night was a perfect example. He pretty much went end-to-end, drew coverage of five Rangers players, and found [Sam] Reinhart in a split-second to put a perfect pass to him for a one-time shot, which was an incredible shot as well."
Granato on the growth of Dahlin's game at the NHL level:
"There's stuff you can bring to him each and every night that's just real subtleties of how he might position off the team or posture the puck to be a threat or not be a threat in certain moments to draw coverage or open up passing lanes. He does a lot of it instinctively, naturally, but it's fun when you bring it to his attention; it's a little bit of an 'ah-ha' moment and he gets frustrated or mad at himself if he didn't do it exactly to his biggest advantage, but he re-acclimates immediately. I could show him a clip in-between a period and he'll go out and do it the next period. Some players are overwhelmed by the speed and pace of the game, they can't do that. They have to go back into a training phase before they can implement something. Not him."
Granato on the way he wants his offense to play:
"I speak to all the teams I've had about 'make a play.' Don't just throw a puck around, make a play. I'd rather have them hang on to the puck and turn it over than actually dump it [in]. When you dump it, mindlessly, you're just getting rid of the puck. You're going to have to get it back. If your intent is to dump it, it should be to a position where it's hard on the other team to retrieve it, where we can still pressure at the very least, or chip it through a space where we have speed coming. Wait a second or two, find speed that might be coming, and make a play. At least you have an opportunity to learn then with timing, space... but when you just dump it, a lot of time you make more work for yourself, it just ends up being a turnover and you get no better in the process."
Granato on the evolution of the defensive side of play:
"We want the puck back. Very simple. I think our guys have lost the feeling of 'we're on defense' and gained the feeling of 'dammit, we want [the puck] back. How do we get it back?' That's the psychology of it a bit, but we're looking forward. You're not necessarily retreating. Within that, we do not want to retreat. There are times where you have to be patient, but not retreat. ... When we have trouble, it seems like we revert right back to hesitation and a little bit retreat, and then we get confused. That was the case [the other night]. We hope to clean that up tonight and be patient when we need to be patient, and aggressive when we need to be aggressive."
You can listen to the entire interview below: