The Buffalo Sabres lost 2-1 to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night. It was their third straight loss, dropped their record to 4-7-1 and put them in a tie with the Canadiens and Flyers for last place in the Eastern Conference.
This is Kevyn Adams’ fifth season as general manager, and this is the Sabres’ worst record through 12 games during his tenure. This is the Sabres’ worst point total through 12 games since 2017-18. That was Jason Botterill’s first season as general manager, and the Sabres finished last in the NHL.
This was not supposed to be one of those years. That was not the organizational message when Adams hired Lindy Ruff to replace Don Granato as coach after an underwhelming 84-point season in 2023-24. Adams said this team was ready to win now, that this core of players was craving accountability and that the team needed to raise its standard.
But the first dozen games of the season have looked familiar to anyone who has watched the Sabres during their league-record 13-year playoff drought. For starters, the special teams play has been an anchor. The Sabres allowed two more power-play goals against the Red Wings, dropping their penalty kill to 71 percent, fifth worst in the NHL. They also went 0-2 on the power play in Detroit, which put the power play at 8.6 percent this season, last in the NHL.
That’s one glaring problem that keeps showing up, but it’s not the only one.
The Sabres continue to miss the net at the second-highest rate in the NHL. They’ve scored six goals combined in their last three games after scoring 13 during their three-game winning streak leading into this stretch. They’ve been inconsistent, in part because they are unable to solve all of their issues at once.
We are live with head coach Lindy Ruff after tonight’s game in Detroit. https://t.co/jGjqJ3ucGy
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) November 3, 2024
When the power play was scoring, the Sabres in the same game were blowing defensive assignments that led to odd-man rushes. The Sabres had 10 or more high-danger chances at even strength in five of their first games but haven’t hit that number in the six games since.
You could go down a list of disappointing metrics and individual performances for this team. Jack Quinn, who was supposed to be a breakout candidate for the Sabres, has one goal (an empty-netter) and looks like a shell of the player that excited the team as a rookie in 2022-23. Dylan Cozens, who is an alternate captain and makes just over $7 million per season, also has just one goal. The Sabres are still too overly reliant on Tage Thompson’s line and Rasmus Dahlin to generate offense. They’ve also run into some bad luck and gotten below-average goaltending at times during the first 12 games.
The big change was supposed to come behind the bench. The early-season results have shown that it’s going to take some time for Ruff’s coaching points to sink in with players. The Sabres are taking untimely penalties like Quinn’s delay-of-game penalty against the Red Wings. They’re also missing defensive assignments too often and not getting enough traffic in front of the other team’s net.
There’s a lot that needs fixing, and Ruff is searching for answers. He shuffled every bit of Buffalo’s lineup coming into this game. All four forwards lines and all three defensive pairs looked different than they did the night before against the Islanders. Here was the lineup to start the game:
Forwards
Jason Zucker – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka – Dylan Cozens – Jack Quinn
Jordan Greenway – Ryan McLeod – Jiri Kulich
Beck Malenstyn – Peyton Krebs – Sam Lafferty
Defense
Bowen Byram – Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power – Henri Jokiharju
Mattias Samuelsson – Jacob Bryson
Even with all of the changes, the results stayed the same, which has been a familiar story for this franchise. Ruff can tinker only so much. The real question about this season for the Sabres is whether the roster as constructed is good enough to become a playoff contender. Adams is in his fifth season as general manager, and he handpicked most of these players. Five players on this team already have long-term contracts. Five others are restricted free agents at the end of this season.
Since the start of last season, Adams traded Casey Mittelstadt for Bowen Byram, bought out Jeff Skinner, traded for Ryan McLeod and then signed Jason Zucker, Beck Malenstyn, Sam Lafferty and Nicolas Aube-Kubel. While some of those players have played well, the needle hasn’t moved for this Sabres team. And the Mittelstadt trade is looking worse with every point he scores for Colorado.
Adams said at the start of the season he was confident the Sabres’ scoring would rebound because of the players on the roster. The Sabres are now through 15 percent of the season, and the internal improvement hasn’t come. The Sabres also have $7.2 million in unused cap space and plenty of prospects and picks, so there’s no excuse not to add to this roster at some point.
A 2-1 loss in early November isn’t typically a reason for alarm, but the Sabres would now need to play at a 105-point pace for the rest of the season to hit the 95-point mark. Are they capable of playing that well with what they have? Adams has to answer that question fast. And if the answer is no, his job could depend on what he does to fix it.
(Top photo of Detroit’s Dylan Larkin scoring on Buffalo’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen: Brian Bradshaw Sevald / Imagn Images)
