Pegula's Sabres reaping what he allowed his management team to sow

Every business owner has the right to run his business the way they see fit. In sports the direct result of how it's run plays out on a yearly basis in a win/loss record and most predominantly who's left standing at the end of the playoffs. From great sports franchises like the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers under the Rooney family (six Super Bowls with only three head coaches since 1969) and the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers (11 NBA titles since 1979) under the Buss family to the struggles of the Cleveland Browns, NY Knicks, and the Buffalo Sabres, what ownership does and how they run their franchise matters.

When it comes to the Sabres, ownership had noble ideas initially but when things weren't going as planned or moving fast enough, they decided to tank in 2013-14 and, especially, in the 2014-15 season for a shot at Connor McDavid, a player that looks to be approaching a Mario Lemieux/Sidney Crosby level of play. The circular debate as to whether tanking is the best way to get the best talent most certainly will rage forever on the sandlots of social media and most will point to the Pittsburgh Penguins as a sample of success when it comes to outright tanking. They'd be correct. The '83-'84 Penguins tanked their season, drafted Lemieux and eventually won two Stanley Cups in the 90's. 

Lemieux then took a similar approach earlier this century as owner of the Penguins to save a franchise on the brink of financial ruin. From 2001 to 2004 Pittsburgh finished 26th, 29th and 30th, respectively just before the 2004-05 NHL lockout. With no season prior to the 2005 NHL Draft, the league used a weighted lottery system to determine the draft order and the Pens won the right to land Crosby. They've won three Cups since.

The word 'tank' is thrown around a lot when it comes to bad teams acquiring talent and often times it's misused to define a full rebuild. Cases are made that the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings, the two most cited examples, followed the tank path to their five combined Stanley Cups from 2010 to 2015, but it doesn't really fit. Those who posit that narrative point to the drafting of future Hall of Famers like Chicago's Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane as well as the Kings Drew Doughty as "fruits of a tank," yet there are major distinctions between what the Pens did for Lemieux and how those two teams were built.

While the '83-'84 Pens were openly selling their collective soul for a savior, the 'Hawks and Kings were looking to acquire talent at the top of the draft to rebuild and they were doing so in drafts where, at times, there wasn't even a consensus top overall pick. Prior to landing Toews, Chicago finished 29th in 03-'04 and then 28th in '05-'06, the year he was drafted third-overall. The following season they finished 26th but via the lottery jumped the maximum of four spots to land Patrick Kane first overall. 

The Kings finished 28th in 2006-07 and drafted fourth-overall after dropping down via the lottery and finished 29th the following season before drafting Doughty with the second pick in that 2008 NHL Draft. They were 26th-place finishers in '08-'09 and selected fifth.

One could make the case that the Toronto Maple Leafs embarked on a stealth tank to land Auston Matthews at No. 1 overall in 2016, but only two teams have lost in an overtly and defiantly proud manner in an attempt to land that savior at the top of the draft--the '83-'84 Penguins and the '14-'15 Buffalo Sabres (along with their tank-counterparts, the New Jersey Devils and Arizona Coyotes, respectively.) It worked for Pittsburgh, not so much for the Sabres.

That said, it all starts at the top with how ownership wants their franchise to be run. The Sabres followed the Pittsburgh Penguins tank model and it didn't work and now they're on the precipice of losing Jack Eichel, "the consolation prize" in the McDavid draft, along with Sam Reinhart who was selected second-overall after a tank the prior season. They're also in the midst of an NHL record-tying 10-year playoff drought and they have their second 31st place finish in the Eichel-era.

Although there were factors other than tanking that contributed to the Sabres demise under Pegula, the stench of the tank still lingers and it's doubtful we'll ever hear apologies from owner Terry Pegula, who allowed that approach. The Penguins never apologized for their tanking, Peter Pocklington and his Edmonton Oilers never apologized for skirting the 1979 NHL Draft using a "personal services contract" with Wayne Gretzky either. And God knows the storied Montreal Canadians franchise would never admit to general manager Sam Pollock hording talent and dictating expansion draft rules to build the juggernaut that was the 70's "Flying Frenchmen." Au contraire. Pollock is considered one of the greatest GM's ever. 

That's not how they do it. At least when your plan works and you win. 

The Sabres lost with that plan and they lost in a big way. The boulder is back down at the bottom of the hill and we're not sure which players will make up the roster to start rolling it back up. We're not even sure who the coach will be next season either. What we do know is this, Sabreland does not like what's transpired over the 10 years Pegula has owned this franchise and the fans proved it when Covid-19 restrictions were eased in April to allow 10% capacity (1,900) at KeyBank Center. It had been over a year since fans were allowed to see their beloved Buffalo Sabres live and only 302 people showed up.

Pegula's on the losing end of this one and he's reaping what he's sown. The fruits of his failed approach was summed up by WGR550's Paul Hamilton on Sportsnet's Halford & Brough in the Morning. "Here [the fans] blame the Pegulas," said the longtime Sabres beat writer while talking about a woeful Sabres team owned by the same family that owns a recently successful NFL team. "It's strange because the Pegulas own both teams, so they love the Pegulas when we're talking about the Buffalo Bills and they despise the Pegulas when we talk about the Buffalo Sabres. And I mean despise. I have never in my years in Buffalo covering both teams seen a team and a franchise hated as much as the Buffalo Sabres.

"The fans despise this team. They hate this team."

But hey, it's Pegula's team and he has the right to run it how he sees fit. Even if it's off a cliff.

Buffalo Sabres 2020-21 Team Stats--March

You may have heard the expression "in like a lion out like a lamb" used to describe how the month of March goes weather-wise. When it came to the Buffalo Sabres place in the National Hockey League it was "in like crippled lamb out like overcooked mutton" in March.

Buffalo finished a rough month of February by being shut out 3-0 by the Philadelphia Flyers in consecutive games at home. It dropped them down to a tie for 31st in the league with only six wins on the season and if you watched them on the ice the listless, apathetic play surely was a sign that head coach Ralph Krueger had lost his team in a big way. However, it would take nine more winless games to extent their streak to 0-10-2 before Sabres management would get word to fire the head coach. 

What's worse than that brutal winless stretch and 43-19 goal differential that featured the team being shut out four times was watching Krueger's players totally diss him on-ice and having to listen to post-game interviews where he remained without answers but still tried to push an epic failure of a hockey philosophy. Much respect to the worldly man that is Ralph Krueger and a hearty good riddance to him as a head coach.

The kids are alright in Sabreland

It's taken a few weeks, but the Buffalo Sabres have gotten rid of the stench left by former head coach Ralph Krueger. The defensive, systemic load that Krueger shoveled for the entirety of his 97 games as Buffalo's bench boss has been sent to the incinerator of extreme ineptitude and has been replaced by a refreshing dose of speed and puck control with an emphasis on driving play and creating offense. 

And Sabreland couldn't be happier.

2021 Buffalo Sabres trade deadline possibilities--Taylor Hall and Brandon Montour

Taylor Hall is said to be ready to waive his no-trade clause, which isn't too surprising as who wouldn't want to get out of a situation in Buffalo where the Sabres have totaled six wins on the season. 

Yeah, it's been a hellaciously devastating ride for Buffalo this season, which was far worse than the .500 mark suspected here after the NHL placed the Sabres in the toughest division in hockey, but they can reboot in the off season. As long as franchise center Jack Eichel is still on board there's hope and when you add in Dylan Cozens as their No. 2 center next year, Buffalo has their one-two down the middle and they can build around them. 

Where's the bottom for this Buffalo Sabres franchise?

In 1956 the New York Football Giants won the NFL Championship and for five of the next six seasons they made it to the NFL championship game only to lose. Regardless of that fact the Giants were considered a model franchise but after their 14-10 loss to the Chicago Bears in the 1963 championship game, New York went 17 consecutive seasons without making the playoffs and got progressively worse (4-23-1 in 1973 and '74 combined) before stagnating well below the .500 mark until the 80's.

Football fans largely ignored the Giants and in a pre-ESPN era where game highlights were mainly shown via local news broadcasts and in Sunday pre-game or halftime shows (think Monday Night Football with a national audience,) out of sight, out of mind. As the New York football Giants continued floundering through another lost season, just when you thought it couldn't get worse, it did. On November 19, 1978 with New York up 17-12 over the Philadelphia Eagles late in the game, the 'brain'-trust on the sideline scoffed at the thought of kneeling to run out the clock and 'boldly' decided to run a complicated play. Quarterback Joe Pisarcik's handoff to Larry Csonka was flubbed and Eagles cornerback Herm Edwards scooped up the fumble for the winning touchdown.

Why this story in a blog about the Buffalo Sabres?

It's about finding the bottom.

Time for the Buffalo Sabres to strip it down...again

It's the perpetual question in Sabreland, how many failures will we go through before this organization to finally gets it right? It gets tiring having to revisit the amount of turnover that's existed since Terry Pegula bought the Buffalo Sabres in 2011 so we'll make it as quick as possible: numerous changes in upper management including a very brief, four-month stint for a hockey operations vice president, a fourth general manager, this one with no pro hockey administrative experience and after a recent firing of their head coach, the Sabres are on their seventh bench boss who is interim status means (we suspect) an eighth one is coming soon.

Then there's figuring out the identity of the team which, seemingly, will transform again (if there ever really was a fully conceptualized one to begin with). Again, we'll try to keep it brief: two tank years followed by a focus on a western conference, heavy style, which was followed up by an eastern conference stretch-the-ice, offensive style and, most recently, a defense-will-lead-to-offense philosophical approach.

Got that?

The Covid-19 shortened 2021 hockey season may go down as the worst season in Buffalo Sabres history. This despite a small core of upper-end talent augmented by the signings a former League MVP and and aging, but still productive (until this season) Stanley Cup winner. 

It was an epic fail.

As written here, this Sabres team was not built for the rugged 2021 MassMutual East Division which was part of an NHL restructuring with coronavirus travel limitations in mind. The sad part about this team as constructed is that even if they were in their regular Atlantic Division instead of the rugged east as constructed this for this season, they'd be bottom-three at best and undoubtedly barreling towards a 10 consecutive season outside the playoffs and yet another high draft choice.

Buffalo Sabres 2020-21 Team Stats--February

If you can make it through these numbers without hurling your latest meal, God love ya for it. Rather than me harp on the play of this club in February, let's let the words of 22 yr. old defenseman Rasmus Dahlin speak after the Sabres finished the month with back-to-back shutout losses at home against the Philadelphia Flyers. A Flyers team, by the way, that came into the weekend with the eighth-worst goals-against averaged (3.25) in the NHL.

“I’m very embarrassed,” said Dahlin. “This is not acceptable. This sucks. It’s the worst.”

Out of the mouths of (relative) babes.

Rasmus Dahlin has only seen three years of the abomination that has been the Buffalo Sabres, but those words were routinely uttered in one way or another for the better part of eight years since the organization tanked for two straight seasons. A quick glance at each team stat category below shows just how bad it was at the end of the previous seven seasons...and still is after the first two months of this season:

--number of wins, no higher than 23rd in the league

--division standing, no higher than 6th

--league standing and points percentage, no higher than 23rd

--goal differential, no higher than 20th and all in the minus

--goals per game, no higher than 21st

--5v5 goals, no higher than 20th

--goals-against no higher than 15th

All of this as Sabreland was assured the "suffering" of the tank years would pave the way to "hockey heaven."

Not!

The Jeff Skinner saga

Anyone in the Buffalo media following the Sabres has had a front row seat to the Ralph Krueger/Jeff Skinner saga which began last season. Skinner was coming into the 2019-20 season fresh off a career high 40-goal campaign armed with a recently-inked 8yr./$72 million contract after skating on the top line with captain Jack Eichel and his trusty sidekick Sam Reinhart. In a training camp move Krueger, Buffalo's new head coach, decided to shift Skinner down to the second line for more scoring depth.

The premise for Krueger's decision, it would seem, was based upon the 2018-19 season where the Sabres were clearly a one-line team under his predecessor. The players on the Eichel line had accounted for 90 combined goals while the other 20-plus players lit the lamp for 131 goals. Buffalo ran a hot streak early in the season that lasted from October 20 to November 27 where they went 14-2-2 scoring 64 goals in the process. Skinner amassed 19 of his 40 goals during that stretch with Eichel (21) and Reinhart (11) combining for 32 assists. Beating the Sabres meant containing the top line and shutting down secondary scoring. As Buffalo's fall from the top of the league to a non-playoff team might indicate, opponents took that to heart.

As the new bench-boss, Krueger said he thought it was best that to spread the scoring out a little and proceeded to moved rookie Victor Olofsson to the top line. That dropped Skinner to the second line where he skated with winger-turned-center Marcus Johansson and former St. Louis Blues' checking line winger Vladimir Sobotka at right wing. The team got off to a hot start going 9-2-2 in the month of October with Skinner scoring seven goals in his new second-line role while Eichel and Reinhart would combine for 12 goals and 16 assists in those first 13 games. Olofsson contributed six goals, all on the powerplay.

The synergy was there...until it wasn't.

Not built for a rugged MassMutual East division

From the get-go we knew here that this was going to be a very difficult season for the Buffalo Sabres as they were moved into a newly formed MassMutual East division in a realignment designed by the league to limit exposure in the world of Covid-19. The Sabres and their Atlantic division foe, the Boston Bruins, were thrown into a group of Metropolitan division heavyweights featuring the Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers and NY Islanders. The NY Rangers and New Jersey Devils, both up-and-coming teams with young talent topped by first-overall draft picks, round out the division.

The Sabres have always had trouble with heavyweights, like the Bruins who combine skill, speed, toughness and a relentless pursuit of the puck. They've also struggled against the Capitals, a big, tough team with plenty of top-end skill and a ruggedness up and down the lineup. The Islanders are now presenting everyone with problems. Ever since Barry Trotz, who had coached the Capitals to the 2018 Stanley Cup Championship, took over the reigns on Long Island, his team has featured relentless forechecking and a lock-down defensive system that's harder to penetrate than Fort Knox when they have the lead. And they have some high-end skill that can get them out front as well. 

Philadelphia plays an irritating brand of hockey predicated on sandpaper running through a team that has plenty of speed and skill. The Penguins aren't really a rugged team, but when you have a triumvirate of Hall-of-Famers who led the team to three Stanley Cups in nine years with veritable nobodies riding shotgun, as long as those three are on the ice, they're always a threat to win.

And in come the Buffalo Sabres, a team that hasn't had an identity since 2007 when they were the toast of the league after two consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances. Since an ignominious '07 off season that will live in infamy, they've been wandering in the wilderness trying to figure out who they are and/or what they want to be. In the last 10 years alone since Terry Pegula bought the team, they went from a general manager seemingly hell-bent on a rugged, west-coast style, to his successor who shunned that and began to build more of a skilled team. Both combined for five years of futility and burned through three coaches with their teams never finishing with more than 81 points in any one season. Oh, and one more thing, this non-descript Sabres team was left to carry a nine-year playoff drought into the toughest division in hockey this season.

Buffalo is not bereft of talent. Captain Jack Eichel had a 2018-19 season that saw him on the threshold of joining some of the best players in the league. Winger Jeff Skinner was fifth in the league in even-strength goals from his 2010-11 rookie season to 2018-19 and had a 40-goal season that year. Right-winger Sam Reinhart was dubbed "The Quiet One" by this writer as he quietly racked up 205 points (87+118) between his rookie campaign and 2018-19, good for second on the team behind Eichel. And this past off-season, new GM Kevyn Adams used the relationship between head coach Ralph Krueger and free agent winger Taylor Hall to lure the 2018 league MVP to Buffalo with a one-year deal.

Despite questions in goal and the reliance upon an unchanged blueline that made many a hardened heart skip a beat last season, most expected this team to play a style that was conducive to scoring. But it hasn't been happening. Other than an impressive 6-1 victory over the Flyers in Game-3 (possibly giving them hubristic, false sense of security,) this group of players has struggled mightily and it doesn't look as if will get any better in a division that has no Ottawa Senators or Detroit Red Wings to beat up on.

Then again, as we delve s bit deeper into the past two seasons, it's really not surprising as collectively the top four Sabres' 2021 offensive roster players haven't done very well versus a combination of Boston, Washington, the NY Islanders, and Philadelphia, four of the toughest teams to play against in the entire NHL.

From 2018-19 through the Covid-shortenened 2019-20 season, the foursome of Eichel, Skinner, Reinhart and Hall (who played for New Jersey and the Arizona Coyotes those two seasons) combined for 189 goals and 450 points in 536 games worth an average of .35 goals/game and .84 points/game. Against their new division foes they've put up similar averages over that time frame with 48 goals and 102 points in 128 games (.38 goals and .80 points per game, respectively.)

However, those numbers took a little dip in 77 games against those four heavyweights of the newly formed East division as they've combined for 19 goals and 52 points or .25 goals/gm and .68 pts/gm, respectively. Also of note, over those two seasons, the Buffalo's top four offensive players have a combined for a minus-73 rating in 536 total games overall but a minus-38 rating in 77 games versus the Bruins, Capitals, Islanders and Flyers (Eichel's minus-5 leads that group.)

Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner and Hall have fared better against Pittsburgh and the Rangers as they were on par with their overall averages. In 38 games against those two teams they have combined for 14 goals (.37/gm) and 28 points (.76/gm) and are a collective plus-1 (Reinhart plus-6.) And they do have one team that they like to play against, New Jersey. Eichel, Reinhart and Skinner (because Hall played for New Jersey most of the time) combined to play in 13 games against the Devils scoring seven goals and 14 points (.54 goals/game and 1.08 points/game.)

On an individual basis, against Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and the NY Islanders, Eichel was able to hold his own with 20 points (9+11) in 20 games, a point/game production just below his 1.10 points/game over that period, but the other three have faltered or failed miserably. 

Hall's two goals in 14 games and Skinner's four goals in 21 games come out to only .14 and .19 goals/game respectively, exactly half of their overall average those two seasons. Reinhart posted .18 goals/game versus .29 and .59 points/game versus .76 overall. And while Eichel remained consistent against all four of those heavyweights, others faltered or failed against some teams in that group.  Skinner had zero points in 21 games against the Bruins, Caps, Flyers and Isles. Reinhart had zero points in five games versus the Isles and only one goal in 12 games against Boston and Philadelphia while Hall was shut out against the Bruins (three games,) had zero goals in three games vs Washington, and two goals in eight games vs. the Islanders and Flyers.

As we look to this year's edition of the Sabres, they sit at 4-6-2 having just lost two in a row against the NY Islanders by a combined 6-1 score, which includes an entire third period in the first game where they went without a shot on goal. That lone goal in the two-game series was scored by Victor Olofsson with Reinhart getting the secondary assist. Here's how it's gone for the team against the rest of the MassMutural East division so far and how Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner and Hall have fared:

Washington 1-2-1

Eichel: 0 goals, 4 assists (1 shootout winner)

Reinhart: 0 goals, 2 assists

Skinner: 0 goals, 1 assist

Hall: 1 goal, 2 assists

Philadelphia 1-1-0

Eichel:  0 goals, 3 assists

Reinhart:  2 goals, 0 assists

Skinner:  0 goals, 0 assists

Hall:  0 goals, 3 assists

NY Rangers 1-0-1

Eichel:  2 goals, 0 assists

Reinhart:  1 goal, 1 assists

Skinner:  0 goals, 0 assists

Hall:  0 goals, 1 assist

NJ Devils 1-1-0

Eichel:  0 goals, 2 assists (1 shootout winner)

Reinhart: 0 goals, 0 assists

Skinner:  0 goals, 0 assists

Hall:  0 goals, 2 assists

Eichel ($10M,) Skinner ($9M,) Hall ($8M) and Reinhart ($5.2M) combine for $32 million in salary for the Sabres while 'leading' the team to a 4-6-2 record. In 12 games they've combined for six goals and 28 points.

And Buffalo has yet to play the division-leading, 10-2-2, Boston Bruins who have given up the third-fewest goals in the league.

Buffalo Sabres 2020-21 Team Stats--January

Record:

January  4-4-2

Heading into this shortened, 56-game season featuring 8 games each against division foes in the newly formed MassMutual East, the Sabres wanted to improve in some specific areas that looked to have accelerated their fall last year. First and foremost was the penalty kill.

Buffalo missed the expanded playoffs by a couple points in the shortened 2019-20 season and the PK was the primary culprit. Their 74.6% kill rate was only .30 of a percentage point better than the Detroit Red Wings, by far the worst team in the league. As the saying goes, your goaltender should be your best penalty killer and last year that aspect failed as a 3.12 overall goals-against average wasn't nearly enough to get the job done.

In the estimation of many, an improved PK, even slightly, may have led to enough added points to break the Sabres playoff drought, which stands at nine years and counting. 

Moving to the offensive side of special teams, Buffalo's powerplay last season was worse than the prior year dropping to 20th overall with an 18.9% success rate. Slight upticks in goals-for/game and 5v5 goals/game did little in the goal scoring department as they increased their average by only .10 goals per game.

The Sabres were woeful at generating shots last season (29.3/game good for 30th in the league) and they've shown a marked increase in that department by pumping 32.2 shots/game (7th) through the first month of the season. However, that's offset by a poor shooting percentage which has kept them at the exact same goal-scoring rate as last season (2.80 gf/game.) 

It's been a Jekyll and Hyde season thus far (mostly on the Hyde side) and it still may be a bit too early to find any definitive trends other than a much stronger PK and a definitive increase in their faceoff percentage. The Sabres came in at a 55.9% win-rate on the dot to end the month which is second in the league only to the Boston Bruins. New center Cody Eakin leads the Sabres and is fourth in the league (59.7%) for players who've taken at least 125 draws while team captain Jack Eichel sits 19th at 54.5%, which is world's better than his career average of 43.7% prior to this season.

As we watched this team through it's first 10 games of this season, we're still trying to figure out what they're all about. Buffalo has talent up front but often look disjointed and they've got a coach who stresses individual freedom, but wants that done within a defensive structure. Ralph Krueger is the team's fourth head coach under their third general manager since their dive to the bottom of the standings beginning in 2013-14 and as you look over his process post-tank, not much has changed overall. Having said that, no one should count them out this early when you have the likes of Eichel, Taylor Hall and Sam Reinhart leading a solid group of forwards, a revitalized Rasmus Ristolainen who along with young vet Jake McCabe has stabilized the defense, and a talent like defenseman Rasmus Dahlin who's beginning to turn his awful start around. But...they need to get it together quick. There's no time to waste and the sooner they figure out that talent alone won't get them to where they want to be, and the coach figures out how to maximize the talent on hand, the better off they'll be.

Wins

--January: 4 (T-16th)...(TOR, PHI 7)

--2019-20:  30 (25th)...(BOS 44)
--2018-19: 33 (26th)...(TBL 62)
--2017-18: 25 (31st)...(TBL 54)
--2016-17: 33 (25th)...(WSH 55)
--2015-16: 35 (23rd)...(WSH 56)
--2014-15: 23 (30th)...(ANA 49)
--2013-14: 21 (30th)...(BOS 54)


East/Atlantic Division Standing

--January: 6th...(WSH, PHI)

--2019-20: 6th...(BOS)
--2018-19: 6th...(TBL)
--2017-18: 8th...(TBL)
--2016-17: 8th...(MTL)
--2015-16: 7th...(FLA)
--2014-15: 8th...(MTL)
--2013-14: 8th...(BOS)


Eastern Conference Standing

2020-21:  N/A


--2019-20: 13th...(BOS) 
--2018-19: 13th...(TBL)
--2017-18: 16th...(TBL)
--2016-17: 15th...(WSH)
--2015-16: 14th...(WSH)
--2014-15: 16th...(NYR)
--2013-14: 16th...(BOS)


League standing/Points

--January: T-14th/10...(WSH, TOR/15)

--2019-20: 25th/68...(BOS/100)
--2018-19: 27th/76...(TBL/128)
--2017-18: 31st/62...(NSH/117)
--2016-17: 26th/78...(WSH/118)
--2015-16: 23rd/81...(WSH/120)
--2014-15: 30th/54...(NYR/113)
--2013-15: 30th/52...(BOS/117)


Points Percentage

--January: .500 (T-19th)...(FLA .917)

--2019-20: .493 (25th)...(BOS .714) 
--2018-19: .463 (27th)...(TBL .780)
--2017-18: .378 (31st)...(NSH .713)
--2016-17: .476 (26th)...(WSH .720)
--2015-16: .494 (23rd)...(WSH .732)
--2014-15: .329 (30th)...(NYR .689)
--2013-14: .317 (30th)...(BOS .713)


Goal Differential

--January: -2 (T-18th)...(COL +13)

--2019-20: -22 (25th)...(BOS +23)
--2018-19: -45 (26th)...(TBL +103)
--2017-18: -81 (31st)...(TBL +60)
--2016-17: -36 (24th)...(WSH +81)
--2015-16: -21 (20th)...(WSH +59)
--2014-15 -113 (30th)...(NYR +60)
--2013-14: -91 (30th)...(BOS +84)


Goals/Game

--January:  2.80 (20th)...(MTL 4.13)

--2019-20: 2.80 (21st)...(TBL 3.47)
--2018-19: 2.70 (23rd)...(TBL 3.89)
--2017-18: 2.41 (31st)...(TBL 3.54)
--2016-17: 2.43 (24th)...(PIT 3.39)
--2015-16: 2.43 (25th)...(DAL 3.23)
--2014-15: 1.87 (30th)...(TBL 3.16)
--2013-14: 1.83 (30th)...(ANA 3.21)


Shots/Game

--January:  32.2 (7th)...(TBL 34.0)

--2019-20: 29.3 (30th)...(VGN 34.5)
--2018-19: 32.9 (8th)...(CAR 34.4)
--2017-18: 31.2 (20th)...(FLA 34.4)
--2016-17: 30.4 (15th)...(PIT 33.5)
--2015-16: 29.5 (17th)...(PIT 33.2)
--2014-15: 24.2 (30th)...(CHI 33.9)
--2013-14: 26.3 (30th)...(SJS 34.8)


5v5 Goals 

--January:  15 (T-14th)...(VAN 30)

--2019-20: 133 (20th)...(TBL, TOR 161)
--2018-19: 154 (21st)...(TOR 206)
--2017-18: 119 (31st)...(TBL 196)
--2016-17: 126 (28th)...(MIN 187) 
--2015-16: 121 (28th)...(DAL 167)
--2014-15: 110 (29th)...(TBL 181)
--2013-14: 96 (30th)...(ANA 190)


Powerplay

--January: 30.8% (7th)...(WSH 44.4)

--2019-20: 18.9 (20th)...(EDM 29.5)
--2018-19: 19.5 (16th)...(TBL 28.2)
--2017-18: 19.1 (20th)...(PIT 26.2)
--2016-17: 24.5 (1st)
--2015-16: 18.9 (12th)...(ANA 23.1)
--2014-15: 13.4 (30th)...(WSH 25.3)
--2013-14: 14.1 (29th)...(PIT 23.4)


Goals-against/Game

--January:  3.10 (22nd)...(CAR 1.67)

--2019-20: 3.12 (22nd)...(BOS 2.39)
--2018-19: 3.27 (24th)...(NYI 2.33)
--2017-18: 3.39 (29th)...(LAK 2.46)
--2016-17: 2.82 (19th)...(WSH 2.16)
--2015-16: 2.62 (15th)...(ANA 2.29)
--2014-15: 3.28 (29th)...(MTL 2.24)
--2013-14: 2.96 (25th)...(LAK 2.05)


Shots against/Game

--January:  30.4 (19th)...(BOS 22.9)

--2019-20: 31.1 (14th)...(PHI 28.7)

--2018-19: 33.0 (23rd)...(CGY 28.1)
--2017-18: 32.7 (23rd)...(CAR 28.9)
--2016-17: 34.3 (30th)...(LAK 25.9)
--2015-16: 30.6 (22nd)...(NSH 27.3)
--2014-15: 35.6 (30th)...(LAK 27.0)
--2013-14: 34.3 (28th)...(NJD 25.5)


Penalty Kill

--January: 82.6% (10th)...(COL91.7)  

--2019-20: 74.6 (30th)...(SJS 85.7)
--2018-19: 80.9 (12th)...(TBL 85.0)
--2017-18: 77.9 (22nd)...(LAK 85.0)
--2016-17: 77.6 (25th)...(BOS 85.7)
--2015-16: 82.6 (9th)...(ANA 87.2)
--2014-15: 75.1 (30th)...(MIN 86.3)
--2013-14: 81.4 (20th)...(NJD 86.4)


Faceoff Percentage

--January: 55.9% (2nd)...(BOS 58.7)

--2019-20: 45.9 (31st)...(PHI 54.6)
--2018-19: 47.9 (T-27th)...(PHI 54.7)
--2017-18: 51.5 (7th)...(CAR 54.1)
--2016-17: 49.6 (17th)...(ANA 54.7) 
--2015-16: 49.4 (21st)...(ARI 54.7)
--2014-15: 44.9 (30th)...(BOS 53.6)
--2013-14: 46.8 (29th)...(NSH 53.1)

Buffalo Sabres 2020-21 individual stats leaders--January

Record

--January:  4-4-2

The Buffalo Sabres started out the season with six new forwards in the mix:  Taylor Hall, Eric Staal, Riley Sheahan and what turned out to be a completely new 3rd line to start the season, Cody Eakin, Tobias Rieder and 19 yr. old rookie forward Dylan Cozens. Hall and Rieder have made their presence known through 10 games with Rieder being a pleasant surprise as he's showing speed and scoring as well as a strong 200' game while carrying the bottom-six and helping the penalty kill on the second unit. Although Staal has contributed offensively and looks to be having a positive effect on Cozens, the 37 yr. old has looked his age as he tries to get that heavy Chevy rolling while gaffes in his own zone have been detrimental and still more turnovers have made things extremely difficult on the team. 

As for Cozens, he came straight from the 2021 World Junior Championships and hit the ice flying. Although he's made some rookie mistakes and is still getting a feel for the NHL, the game itself doesn't seem to be too fast for him and he's really impressed thus-far earning second-line minutes next to Staal. 

Buffalo has really struggled with 5v5 scoring and find themselves near the middle of the pack so far. Considering six of their first 10 games have been one-goal affairs, with two others being losses by two goals via empty-netters against, every goal counts and 5v5 scoring needs to improve or they'll end up on a road that's all too familiar. The Sabres rode two hot streaks early in each of the last two seasons with a similar formula only to fall apart when it mattered.

Right now every game matters as there are only 56 games in the season meaning every point counts. At 4-4-2, Buffalo is right in the middle of the eight-team MassMutual East division despite efforts that have been mostly sketchy save for a couple of good games and one impressive one where they beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-1. Special teams have been carrying the Sabres as they have the eighth-best powerplay and 10th-best penalty kill, but when it comes to 5v5 they mostly look disjointed.

Head coach Ralph Krueger has some soul-searching to do when putting his lines together as he's caught between a hard-headed belief in players following his system and fashioning his team to his players strengths. Such is the case with winger, Jeff Skinner.

Skinner was a 40-goal scorer before the arrival of Krueger last year and he was noted as much for his 5v5 scoring (191 goals, 5th-most in the league from 2010-11 to 2018-19) as he was for his less-than-stellar defensive game (minus-96, 4th-worst in that same time period.) Since the new coach arrived, Skinner has been Krueger's doghouse under the ruse of wanting balanced scoring amongst as many lines as possible. It hasn't worked out as Skinner scored only 14 goals in 59 games last season (all of them at even strength placing 3rd on the team) and has yet to twinkle the twine this season while playing bottom-six minutes almost exclusively.

These two rams are butting heads and it's not doing anybody any good. However, common sense demands attention to Skinner's 29 goals/82 games career scoring average, his contract which has seven more years at $9 million/season and the fact that he has a no-movement clause. Krueger has resisted giving in thus far but he really needs to do something fast as Skinner looks close to taking the money and running with 46 games to play. I highly doubt the word 'kapitulieren' is in Krueger's motivational book, Teamlife--Beyond Setbacks to Success, but for as worldly as Krueger is, and he's a magnificently well-rounded and intelligent individual, this is the National Hockey League where the salary cap is extremely important, talented players are well-paid and managing egos is the betriebsart in North American professional sports.

In addition, the Sabres are in a division that's widely regarded as the toughest division in the NHL and they have the league's longest playoff drought at nine years, just one shy of the league record. Krueger may need to entertain the thought of Stolz schlucken to give his team the best chance to make it to the playoffs. If he's gonna do it, he needs to do it fast. Though his Sabres are struggling, the race for the fourth spot in the East could be a dog-fight and he'll need to get everything he can out of every player he's got if he wants them to remain in it.

Another thought Krueger might want to entertain involves Skinner taking the top left wing spot next to Eichel (where he had his career-high 40-goal season) and dropping Hall to the second line. In addition to hopefully maximizing what's left of Skinner flailing confidence, the Staal line needs more skill, speed and experience. Victor Olofsson is trying to hold his own 5v5, and he's made great progress in his sophomore campaign, but he's not there yet. Having him move to the right side to help create a third scoring line a isn't bad idea as he can still kill it on the powerplay while providing a top-nine scoring threat. Also in play with that move is the separation of Hall and Eichel. Sure, it looks deadly on paper especially with Reinhart on the right side, but those two love the puck on their stick and we haven't seen a consistently strong, complimentary relationship yet with only one 5v5 goal between them (Eichel.)

Perhaps this might work:

Skinner - Eichel - Reinhart

Hall - Staal - Cozens

Rieder - Lazar - Olofsson

Sheahan - Eakin - Okposo

And we should also keep an eye on Okposo and Casey Mittelstadt with the former looking way past his prime and the latter looking like he's on the upswing. 

Buffalo Sabres 2020-21 Individual Stats Leaders

Points

--January:  Eichel 11;  Olofsson 10;  Hall 9

Goals

--January:  Olofsson 4;  Lazar, Staal, Rieder, Reinhart 3

EV Goals

--January: Lazar, Rieder 3; Staal 2; eight with 1

Powerplay Goals

--January:  Olofsson 3,  Reinhart 2;  seven with 1

Assists

--January:  Eichel 9;  Hall 8;  Olofsson 6

Powerplay Assists

--January:  Eichel 6;  Olofsson 5;  Hall 4

Primary Assists

--January:  Hall 6;  Olofsson 5;  Ristolainen 3

Plus/Minus

--January:  McCabe, Ristolainen +2;  Lazar, Sheahan, Cozens +1; Asplund, Skinner 0

Plus/Minus (Bottom)

--January:  Dahlin -9;  Miller, Reinhart -7;  Eichel, Olofsson, Hall, Montour -6

Goalies

Linus Ullmark

--January: 3-1-2;  2.56 GAA;  .914 Sv%;  0 shutouts

Carter Hutton

--January:  1-3-0;  3.05 GAA;  .895 Sv%;  0 shutouts

Jonas Johansson

--January:  0-0-0;  3.15 GAA;  .889 Sv%;  0 shutouts

Primary Assists

Olofsson----5

Cozens------1

Eichel-------2

Hall----------6

Sheahan-----1

Staal---------2

Skinner------1

Ristolainen--3

Reinhart---- 2

Eakin--------1

Dahlin-------1