The Buffalo Sabres have been the poster children of failure and showing the rest of the league what soft gameplay looks like. The constant excuses, followed by the regular losses due to an inability to close out games in very winnable scenarios have been the crux of their existence this season. Where they wanted to establish an identity of winning and a positive culture, they have instead found a pattern of losing and inconsistency as a team. This is what has highlighted their season despite a number of their players having had some very good individual success. The issue continues to lie with a lack of change.
Sabres’ Season Failures
The Sabres are the only team this season to lose as badly as they do. They are the only one that has lost 13 games in a row, with the next longest being held by the San Jose Sharks at nine games, so they are the only one in the league to pass double digits. For a team with so much supposed talent and potential, that should never happen compared to some of the other teams that are in “rebuilding” mode. Beyond the common losing trends, they lack an ability to perform on their special teams. They sit at 17.9% on the power play, which is ranked 23rd in the league, and at 78.2% on the penalty kill, which is ranked 20th. Appearing in the bottom half of both, while regularly having stretches where they are slumping well below the league average, has been a kryptonite for them all season long, and despite Jason Zucker‘s recent power-play successes, there has not been enough from the team as a whole to make a noticeable difference.
When the year turned to 2025, there was a small hope that the slate was going to be wiped clean and the team was going to turn over a new leaf. Boy did they disappoint everyone with flying colors, when they put on another master class in failure when they choked yet another winnable game to the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 2. In case anyone forgot the first time they did it, was when they blew a 4-0 first period lead and lost the game 5-4 on Dec. 3, they really felt the need to go for round two and blow not only a 3-0 first period lead but also a 5-3 lead with less than two and a half minutes left in the game to let the Avalanche bring it to overtime. Then they allowed Devon Toews, a defenseman, a breakaway in that overtime to seal the deal, and soil the fact that Zucker scored a hat-trick in the game to complete their magnum opus of failure so far this season.
Seeing them go down in flames has been too regular of an occurrence as the season has gone on, and it has truly become what their identity is. It does not matter what the players that seemingly care the most do. There is not enough in this team to go far, and their general manager is the biggest failure of all of them to not see it, or change it.
Kevyn Adams is the easiest target of all of them since he has made almost zero changes to this team since his press conference where he famously mentioned “taxes and palm trees”. His only move has been a minor league trade to move some pieces around in Rochester, but nothing has been done with the actual NHL roster. Multiple young players have been traded for cheap, or waived and claimed (i.e Oliver Wahlstrom, Arthur Kaliyev, Kasperi Kapanen, Kaapo Kakko, and Mike Tomasino) and Adams has continued to allow these assets to be picked off by other teams while his is gasping for air. The failures of this team rest on all of them, but it begins with Adams.
Sabres Who Are Having Individual Success
Despite the failures and negatives, there are a handful of players that are having some individual success this season. The most notable player in question is Zucker, who has been an absolute dynamo for them as of late, and at his one-year, $5 million salary, he is earning every cent of that contract while making a case for an extension. He has been the hottest of any Sabres player, putting up six goals and eight points in his last five games. Then there is Bowen Byram, who is blossoming well into a top-pair defender alongside Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin. He has been a steady hand at both ends, and it has been a joy to see him back to playing like he was on the Avalanche. Then there is Dahlin himself, who, since coming back from his injury, has been their best player as he has been contributing on the scoresheet; putting up 10 points, all assists in his last seven games, and finally playing like the top-end defender he should be.
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All three of these players have been the backbone of this team while the rest of them struggle and scrape to find something within themselves most nights. The scoresheet is only one indicator of who is having success, and a lot of the rest of this team is struggling to find confidence. These three look confident, dominant, and prepared, and those traits are what set them apart from the rest of the group.
Failure Will Win the Day If Sabres Don’t Change
Calling for some sort of accountability at this point is moot, as the time for sitting players is far beyond being effective. The Sabres need a shakeup, but they lack a general manager with the capacity, or the ability to pull off a necessary move that will make his team better. The message was clear in his meeting with the team back when owner Terry Pegula showed up to speak with them, that “the solution is in the room”, and Adams has been sticking by that principle. The unfortunate reality is that it is sinking this team fast, and there is no lifeboat in sight. So while the Sabres may string a few wins together here and there for the remainder of the season, without a competent leader at the helm, they will find themselves staring at the No. 14 on the playoff drought whiteboard.
