Buffalo Sabres fans have been through this movie before. A team left for dead just past the midway point of the season makes a valiant run for the playoffs only to fall just short. It's nothing new. In fact this trend dates back to at least the Lindy Ruff years from 2007-2013. Ruff's Sabres generally struggled through the first half of the year only to make that run save for the 2009-10 season when they took the Northeast Division crown after being at near the top of the division the entire season. In the other years during that span Buffalo was in the middle to back of the pack and ended up finishing third in the division three times and fourth on one occasion. They closed out that span with a pre-tank fifth-place finish in 2012-13. In those six years they made the playoffs twice getting bounced in the first round both times.
We're now well into the 2020 portion of the season and once again the Sabres are in a position where they'll need to make a near miraculous run to get into the playoffs. Coming into the new year Buffalo found themselves in a tough position being five points out of third place in the Atlantic Division, eight points out of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. A 5-3-0 record prior to their "bye-week" and the All-Star break gave fans hope for the team as they would be coming out of the break with nine of 10 games at home.
KeyBank Center had been very friendly as the Sabres came out of the break with solid 14-6-3 record at home and a very winnable game against an Ottawa Senators team that was near the bottom of the division. Buffalo was run out of the building giving up three powerplay goals on three opportunities to the NHL's worst powerplay team.
Perhaps an excuse could be made that they were off a very long time and they weren't quite on their game yet. Two days later the Sabres followed up with a 3-1 loss against the Montreal Canadiens, a divisional foe who controlled the play for much of the game. Two winnable games, two losses and a rant heard round the NHL. A caller into WGR550 radio went off on the entire organization in a nearly four-minute call that unloaded with both barrels and started a #WeAreAllDuane movement that eventually spawned a mini-protest outside KeyBank Center on February 8.
The call started out calmly enough but Duane soon vocalized his discontent by jumping on ownership and the oblivious nature with which they seem to approach the team and the fan base. "Look, I don't need a Jerry Jones-type of owner," began the emotive Duane while referencing the control-freak, always in front of the camera owner of the Dallas Cowboys. "I need an owner who's going to answer to the fans when they misspell names on jerseys and have Chinese knockoff (jerseys) on alumni!
"Like what is going on!? What are we doing!?
Duane went on and directed this next, all encompassing question to host Chris "Bulldog" Parker, "have they ever sucked the passion out of you like they have me!? I don't need a damn camera in front of (owner) Terry Pegula every day but address our concerns! Be there when you screw up. Answer for the mistakes. Be accountable!"
Duane was right on. The tank years, and the "suffering" that came with it was supposed to be worth it. By now the rebuild should have taken hold and they should have been battling for a playoff spot in the very least. Instead, it's been a series of mistakes and blunders that made the Sabres the laughingstock of the entire league and it finally took it's toll. Duane was speaking for a multitude of Sabres fans in that call and to prove how out of touch ownership was with the fan base and their feelings towards the team, ownership asked WGR to remove a tweet featuring Duane's full rant and the radio station obliged.
The full rant is below and (hopefully) saved for posterity.
With that hovering over the Sabres, the team started February with a 2-1 overtime win against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Jack Eichel, who was Buffalo's prize for tanking the 2014-15 season made a case that some assists are not worthy of a point as he gathered the puck in his own zone, skated through and around the three Jackets players on the ice and deposited a nasty wrister for the game-winner. With that goal Carter Hutton won his first game in net since October 22.
Would that finally break the negativity and give them enough momentum into the next game against the Cup-contending Colorado Avalanche? Nope. After pulling to within one goal after one period of play, the Sabres came up extremely lame and inept in a 6-1 loss and the fans at KeyBank Center let them know it with a chorus of boos. Two days later they lost to the worst team in the league, the Detroit Red Wings, in the shootout as rookie goaltender Jonas Johansson suffered the loss in his first NHL start.
The Sabres hit the road for one game and took it to the NY Rangers for 57 minutes at Madison Square Garden before the Rangers made it interesting with two goals to make it 3-2. Buffalo held on and headed back home where they lost to the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 before defeating Detroit 3-2 and Columbus 4-3 in overtime once again.
Buffalo is 4-2-1 in February and with those back-to-back wins the Sabres find themselves eight points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs with the two teams going at it on Sunday. Buffalo is 11 points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild card spot.
Is there room for hope with maybe a shade of optimism?
Actually, there is.
Hutton has been playing extremely well and finally got out of a funk that had him go 0-8-4 with a 4.04 goals-against average and .872 save percentage. He's 4-1-0 in his last five starts with a 2.85 GAA and .904 sv% and although the stats outside the record aren't Vezina-worthy, he's making saves and playing with confidence, as evidenced by the re-emergence of his puck-moving abilities.
The Sabres also have Eichel, who's having a Hart-worthy season. With a goal and two assists last night, his 32 goals and 73 points are both sixth in the league. Eichel's been carrying this team and at times they've fed off of him. Should he continue this pace and should the team somehow miraculously make the playoffs (or even take the chase into April,) he would be the first Sabres plaer to score over 100 points in a season since 1992-93 (Pat LaFontaine and Alexander Mogilny) and could very well take home Buffalo's first Hart Trophy since Dominik Hasek in 1998.
Buffalo is also starting to get healthy. Jeff Skinner missed time and although he's still goal less in his past 20 games surrounding a 10-game stint on the injured list, he is a former 40-goal scorer who has a tendency to score in bunches once he gets rolling. Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was really missed in the Colorado game but since has points in four of his last five games (1+4) and even though Buffalo's $6 million man, Kyle Okposo, isn't even close to producing to the levels of that contract, his return to the lineup after missing six games completes a strong bottom-six checking line and gives head coach Ralph Krueger a line he can count on to do their jobs on a nightly basis.
Perhaps the biggest return is that of rookie forward Victor Olofsson. The 24 yr. old missed 15 games with a lower body injury and an already below-averaged forward group was rendered even more helpless. Last night the Sabres and the fans at KeyBank Center welcomed him back as he scored two goals on primary assists from Eichel. The first came on the powerplay as the Sabres captain looked to set Olofsson up for the one-timer and finally fed him a perfect pass that went directly in from his home in the circle. Olofsson's second goal came in overtime as Eichel rightfully drew the attention of the Jackets leaving the winger wide open for a drop pass that the Olofsson smacked home.
Those are all good things for Buffalo and gives Sabreland some hope. However, they still need more top-six/nine players and it's up to GM Jason Botterill to decide whether he wants to add to the club this year. It's been the position here that he should as this team has been through hell this season and after their incredibly inept post-tank seasons, they really need to start winning right now. The lower round picks he'll get for selling lower-end players just isn't worth it.
The Blue Jackets were faced with two superstars who were pending free agents last year at the deadline. The common refrain coming from the hockey community is that they'd move both of those players for assets as they'd be walking anyway. Columbus didn't do that and actually added four players to make a push. Although it didn't end in a Stanley Cup, they showed what they were all about and even though this year's team is minus Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky and have been devastated by injuries, they're in a battle for top-three in the Metropolitan Division.
The Sabres should take note of that.
Today Buffalo announced the waiving of defenseman Zach Bogosian who's Sabres career has been marred by injury and who also asked for a trade this season after being injured at the start of the season and being benched on numerous occasions since. Buffalo will save just under $1 million with his waiving and it's important as it gives them a little more space under the cap. What Botterill does with that extra space remains to be seen but the option is there to add a player with a little bit more of a cap-hit.
Sunday's game against Toronto is a big one for Buffalo. A win could get them closer to Botterill bolstering his club while a loss could very well mean we'll see them sell once again at the trade deadline.
Should fans get their hopes up? They know better, but invariably end up getting drawn in to some degree.
Duane's rant:
Sabres fans protest:
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