Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo Sabres coverage. Related to the Sabres, their prospects and the minors.

Five Things to Watch in the Stretch Run

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By the end of this weekend, the Sabres will only have 30 games left to play meaning by the time they wrap up with the Devils on Sunday, they’ll be firmly in the stretch run. 

The season went up in flames weeks ago, ending any realistic hope of ending Buffalo’s playoff drought. While an Andrew Hammond-esque miracle run could put the Sabres back into the playoff race, the reality is that these final 30 games will be little more than a formality as the club prepares for the offseason and the 2025-25 season. 

While the outcome of the games won’t matter much, there are still a few storylines worth tracking in the coming weeks and months as the Sabres inch closer to game 82. 

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The Instigator Podcast 13.19 – Trade Winds Start to Blow

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The Canes and Avalanche swung a blockbuster this weeknd as Mikko Rantanen was shipped to Carolina in the biggest trade since the Jack Eichel deal. We run through Saturday’s blockbuster before wading into the latest developments on Elias Pettersson and the Canucks. We wrap up this week’s episode with a discussion of Jiri Kulich’s impressive stretch of hockey and the impact he’s had as a rookie. 

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Over Thought: The Miller Drama Endures

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Overthought is a semi-regular series that takes a look at some of the more interesting and notable tidbits shared by Elliotte Friedman in his weekly 32 Thoughts column. Each edition will feature some unique thoughts on the state of the Sabres or league as a whole before digging in on some of the notes from Freidman’s weekly column.

This week’s 32 Thoughts was a bit shorter than usual, so it’s not overflowing with threads to pull on, but three are still a few good tidbits. Friedman starts the column with a deep dive on the potential growth in the salary cap. He points out that not all of the league’s teams may be willing to spend up to a cap that’s north of $100 million per year, raising the question of what the league would do if they reach a cap ceiling that only a handful of teams would be willing and capable of spending to. 

Assume for a moment that figure it $110 million as Freidman suggests. If only a few teams spend to that limit, the league could quickly be back in a situation akin to the days before the 2004-05 lockout. If the league’s parity was threatened by the ever increasing cap, I’d like to know if the league would need to take action to either depress the cap ceiling or create another function to adjust for smaller revenue clubs. It’s a lot easier to come up with plans that help clubs be more competitive in the cap landscape – the proposed tax adjustment comes to mind – so I’ll be interested to see how this all develops. 

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The Instigator Podcast 13.18 – Would You Rather?

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Would you rather see the Sabres finish with a lottery pick or make a heroic run to 9th place? That’s one of our topics on this week’s episode. We chat about the potentail outcomes if the Sabres were to finish with a top 3 draft pick vs. a run to 9th or 10th in the East. Prior to that, we talk about reports of a future NHL salary cap at $100 million in addition to the latest on JT Miller’s trade saga. We also touch on Connor McDavid’s suspension and whether or not the punishment fit the crime. (It did.)

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Sabres, Adams Inaction in the Face of A Lost Season is Damning

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Tristan Jarry was the latest victim of the NHL waiver wire and the third notable move made by Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas this year. Meanwhile, the team sitting last in the Eastern Conference has yet to make any meaningful change to their roster. 

The Penguins have struggled to keep their head above water this year, sitting five points out of a playoff spot while sporting a conference-worst -36 goal differential. After missing the playoffs last season, the Penguins are entering a transitional period as the glory years led by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang wind down. Yet, despite their struggles to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Penguins and Dubas have taken action, bringing in Phillip Tomasino and dealing Lars Eller in November and now waiving Jarry after the netminder’s subpar play continued to haunt the team. 

The same cannot be said of Kevyn Adams and the Sabres, whose most notable accomplishments this season include a disastrous press conference, a 13-game losing streak and a dreadful loss a day after the owner joined the team on the road trip to reinforce the club’s belief in the roster. It’s become quite evident that the answer is, in fact, not in the room, yet Adams has not made a single change to the roster he constructed. 

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The Instigator Podcast 13.17 – Ruff Times for the Sabres

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Yet another horrible loss from the Sabres led to damning comments from Lindy Ruff. With the team firmly in the Eastern Conference basement, all the talk of accountability feels like ancient history now. We talk about the shortcomings behind the bench, in the locker room and the front office. We also touch on how other teams that have struggled this year haven’t been shy about improving, while Kevyn Adams sits on his hands. 

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Escape the Sabres with a Hockey Road Trip

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Judging by the yawning sections of seats throughout KeyBank Center these days, it’s no secret that the Sabres aren’t exactly a hot ticket. You can’t blame fans for staying away from 13 (going on 14) years without postseason action, especially when the Sabres have been so inconsistent on home ice. 

If you’re looking to scratch your hockey itch, a road trip may be just what you need. Western New York locals can always partake in Niagara and Canisius University home games without venturing too far from home. Not only are those games affordable, but both teams tend to have one or two good weekend visitors per year that are well worth the price of admission. But the real gems lie slightly further away, though many can be accomplished in a day trip. 

Niagara Ice Dogs

I can’t give a strong enough recommendation for an Ice Dogs title. It’s a quick trip over the border and not only is their arena gorgeous, but it’s located right in the center of St. Catharines, meaning you won’t need to venture far for food or drink before or after the game. It’s an extremely manageable trip and a great junior arena to boot. Scope out their schedule for a good matchup (Porter Martone and the Brampton Steelheads are in town in March) and find your way up for a game. They even have a few weekend matinees on the schedule that would be well worth taking advantage of. 

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Over Thought: Rumor Season is Upon Us

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Overthought is a semi-regular series that takes a look at some of the more interesting and notable tidbits shared by Elliotte Friedman in his weekly 32 Thoughts column. Each edition will feature some unique thoughts on the state of the Sabres or league as a whole before digging in on some of the notes from Freidman’s weekly column.

One piece of the post mortem on Hockey Canada and the World Junior Championship that I found particularly interesting was the focus on their decision to lean into role players over skill. Canada has some of the deepest skill to draw from for the WJC but opted for a more well rounded roster. Many have pointed out that they would’ve been better off leaning into their skill for a short tournament. I believe something to the effect of “In a short tournament, skill can grit but grit can’t skill” was said with respect to their roster.

It made me think about the final choices made by the Team USA roster for the 4 Nations Face Off. While the players who rounded out the US roster are still proven producers at the NHL level, they do draw some parallels to what happened with the Canadian WJC team. Brock Nelson, Vincent Trocheck and Chris Kreider are more than capable NHLers, but will the Americans regret not having Clayton Keller or Cole Caufield once the tournament is rolling? It’s something I referred to when the rosters came out, but as this is a bit of fan service that will tease interest for next year’s Olympics, there was a perfect opportunity for the various decision makers to be more creative with their choices. It didn’t need to be a Very Serious tournament, yet the rosters were built as such. As we just saw in an event with actual stakes, trying to find a perfect fit for every role vs. finding the best possible players didn’t work out for the Canadians. Hopefully the US. doesn’t fall victim to the same issue.

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Assessing a Pivotal Season at the Halfway Point

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In a year when virtually everything had to go right for the Sabres, it feels like it’s all gone wrong.

As the Sabres prepared to open training camp for the 2024-25 season, the club was banking on a lot of things to go right in order to break their playoff drought. There weren’t too many constants to lean on from the prior campaign while improvement from the young core and better health were among key talking points for a team desperate to break their playoff drought. In a way, it felt like this was a season of “What if?” Or “If ____, then ____.” At the halfway point of a year that has been defined by a 13-game losing streak, it’s hard to say that anything Kevyn Adams and the Sabres had gambled on have paid off. In some respects, it was fair to be optimistic about certain aspects of the club. While other decisions seemed questionable at best. Little has worked for the Sabres this year, including some of the key tent poles from a pivotal summer. 

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The Instigator Podcast 13.16 – Is Elias Pettersson a Target for the Sabres?

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Rumors are swirling around Vancouver as the reported animosity between JT Miller and Elias Pettersson won’t go away. As the Canucks are said to be listening on both, many are wondering whether or not the Sabres can, or should make a play for the former 100-point scorer. We break down Pettersson’s credentials, what sort of package the Sabres would need to fork over and where he would fit if the Sabres were to pull the trigger. 

The second half of the show is devoted to a bit of a midseason check in. We hit on a few of the key talking points from the offseason and break down what’s gone right and wrong (mostly wrong) for Kevyn Adams and the Sabres.

You can find The Instigator Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts:

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