Back in early April, 2014 I was asked by hockeybuzz to do a "State of the Buffalo Sabres" piece as a guest writer. The theme I came up with was
"Reset, Redefine, Rebuild." It's been a little over one year since that piece and the ride that we Sabres fans went on over the course of that time worthy of a full day at the "Rollercoaster capital of the world," Cedar Point.
Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray was at the controls and was forced to apply the brakes on a number of occasions last season when things began slipping out of control on the side of winning. True to his words when he took the reigns of the franchise in January of 2013, Murray kept the team focused on the long-term and in the end the Sabres, despite losing the lottery again, are set to bring Boston University center Jack Eichel into the fold with the second overall pick in this year's draft.
In any other year dating back to Sidney Crosby, it's arguable that Eichel would be the top-overall prospect. This year he'd have been the consensus No. 1 overall pick had it not been for the presence of some guy name Connor McDavid, who is roundly considered the best prospect, bar none, since Crosby. A consolation prize in Eichel? You could say that. But it's more like winning a Lexus instead of a trip to Hawaii.
Murray has said all along that he wanted two drafts to set the franchise up for success, and that's where he's at right now. Anything at the 2016 draft is icing on the cake, and what's cool about the 2016 NHL Draft as opposed to this year is that all non-playoff teams will be in the lottery for a shot at the top-three picks. Since it's hard to imagine the Sabres making the playoffs next season after two dreadful last place finishes they should be in the running for another generational player in Auston Matthews or one of the next two prospects in defenseman Jakob Chychrun and Finland's Jesse Puljujarvi, a right-winger.
The 2016 draft is neither here nor there right now as Murray has said that he's not interested in a long rebuild. He backed that up when he pulled the trigger on a blockbuster to further the cause as the Tyler Myers for Evander Kane deal will attest to. Kane and defenseman Zach Bogosian were players in his wheelhouse and when the opportunity knocked, Murray sent a bevy of young assets Winnipeg's way to get the deal done. And the cool part about the whole thing is that he landed a player he coveted while not disrupting his long-term plans as Kane was out for the season after opting for shoulder surgery.
It fit right into the reset-mode the team was in.
Kane's reset was a bit more personal as the physical aspect (surgery) will allow his body to heal while the eight months away from competition will give him an opportunity to step away from his "troubled past" in Winnipeg and start fresh in Buffalo.
As for the Sabres organization, with everything in line and the long-term wheels in motion the team went somewhat "back to the future" as they proceeded to do what they'd done prior to the beginning of the 2013-14 season--allow their players to develop at their own pace. A prime example of that is sending 2014 second-overall pick Sam Reinhart back to his junior team after his nine-game NHL audition.
Reinhart's talent-level was way above most players on the Sabres roster when he was sent to Kootenay of the WHL and a case could have been made for him to stay despite his one, singular assist with the Sabres. But why rush it? Said Murray of Reinhart's demotion, “Great players have gone back to junior, 99 percent of the players that have played here have gone back to junior. He’s still going to get something out of it.
"He was emotional. I guess he was emotional walking out of the rink. He should be disappointed. I told him that, ‘Be disappointed. You’re allowed to be disappointed.’"
The poster-boy for developmental "reset," a term used by Kris Baker when referring to the Sabres approach to this player, is Mikhail Grigorenko, and he's another example of the team taking a step back and allowing for a young player to get proper development.
Grigorenko came into camp in top shape and had a strong preseason which included starting the final preseason game as the top-line center. But much to his dismay he was sent to Rochester. Part of it was that he didn't need to clear waivers, yet another part was that he still needed seasoning and to the AHL he went. He found coaching stability in Rochester and produced 14 goals and 36 points in 43 games for the Amerks. He finished the season in Buffalo recording two goals and two assists in 12 games after being called up for good on March 20th.
Center Johan Larsson is the biggest success story when it came to a developmental reset.
The 5'11 "206 lb. center was mastering the AHL having shown steady progress for three seasons, but he was having trouble at the NHL-level. He yo-yoed back and forth for most of last season until after the trade deadline. He was called up, started in a bottom-six role and finally passed through the NHL-threshold. Larsson would end up centering the top-line with Tyler Ennis and Matt Moulson on his wings. In those 19 games post-deadline Larsson had five goals and seven assists while logging an even plus/minus rating.
A player lost in the reset, however, was defenseman Mark Pysyk.
Pysyk was NHL-ready last season but got caught up in numbers-game during an Olympic year. He was shipped to Rochester mainly because he was waiver-exempt and the team also wanted him get playing time during the Olympic break.
This year he was caught up in the numbers game as well and despite him being better than most defenseman on the team, he only played seven games for Buffalo. He had an impressive stat-line of two goals, one assist and was a plus-four in Buffalo, but because of the direction of the club he ended up spending 54 games in Rochester. Although his ego may have taken a shot, like longtime Amerks
broadcaster Don Stevens said of Pysyk, "I think he's smart enough to know that he has a long career ahead of him and that he can settle in for the long haul."
One player that "escaped" developmental reset this season was defenseman Nikita Zadorov. The Sabres wanted to send him back to the CHL but got caught up in a tug-of-war between his junior club and the KHL. Had they sent him to the London Knights, the team that held his KHL rights were set to bring him to the motherland. Buffalo didn't want to risk having him in Russia for a year so they kept him on the big club.
Zadorov was a case of extremes last season as his potential on the ice was matched in equal parts by his immaturity off the ice. The kid is a gem and placed in a the proper setting his child-like demeanor coupled with his impressive size and skill-set makes for an intriguing defenseman who has a ton of upside.
Reinhart, Grigorenko, Larsson and Pysyk, as well as defenseman Chad Ruhwedel all could have been in Buffalo for most of the season but ended up in lower leagues which is good for long-term development and all look to be a part of the next wave of players headed towards the big club. They'll be following in the footsteps of Marcus Foligno, Zemgus Girgensons, Rasmus Ristolainen and Nicolas Deslauriers.
In 2016-17 another wave will begin their drive to the NHL lead by defenseman Jake McCabe and forward William Carrier. Just behind them are the likes of goalies Linus Ullmark and Andrey Makarov along with forwards Nicolas Baptiste, Justin Bailey, Hudson Facshing, and JT Compher. Thus, for the next three or four years, a parade of players will be filling the ranks in Buffalo, all allowed to develop at their own pace because of the reset the organization went through over the better part of the last two seasons.
In addition to sending the youngins on a lifeboat away from the sinking ship that was the Buffalo Sabres the last two seasons, the team, mainly Murray, has a golden opportunity to redefine what it means to be a Buffalo Sabre.
It began back at the 2012 Draft when AGM Kevin Devine touted "bigger, stronger, faster" as the path away from the "soft-but-skilled" previous era. Murray continued that theme when he adds in the phrase "hard to play against."
In one fell swoop back in February, Murray brought that concept to the fore. He traded offensive-minded defenseman Myers, inconsistent forward Drew Stafford, highly-skilled yet mostly compete-adverse prospect Joel Armia, prospect Brendan Lemieux and a 2015 first-round draft pick (25th-overall) to Winnipeg for powerfoward Kane, a mobile yet rugged defenseman in Zach Bogosian plus goalie Jason Kasdorf.
Myers, Stafford and Armia were all picks of the previous regime and all fell into the "soft-but-skilled" mode to one degree or another. Lemieux was a player that fit into what Murray wanted, but the edgy forward was insisted upon in the deal. Out with the old and in with the new.
"You watch him play on the ice," said Murray of Kane, "he plays hard, he plays in traffic, he doesn't play a perimeter game, he plays a heavy game, he scores goals from around the net, he plays the game right.'
And of Bogosian, Murray said, "He's big, strong, athletic kid who plays hard, has a ton of character. In my estimation, he has leadership qualities."
Bogosian is a redefine on two fronts. He's one of those "heavies," whom Murray began bringing in with the trade for Fasching and Deslauriers, both of whom came from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for defenseman Brayden McNabb in a hockey trade of organizational depth.
The 24 yr. old Bogosian also has leadership qualities something Murray began bringing to Buffalo in earnest when he brought in Brian Gionta and Josh Gorges last summer.
Adding those leadership traits are the 21 yr. old Girgensons and the 20 yr. old Ristolainen, two skilled players who play a heavy, hard to play against game. They both have some pretty thick skin as well having developed while playing the better part of two seasons on Sabres' teams that managed a total of only 44 wins over the course of the last two 30th-place finishes.
Yet far from being a team full of pluggers, Buffalo does have skill. Diminutive yet spunky forward Tyler Ennis hit the 20-goal mark again last season and is anything but "heavy" at 5'9" 169 lbs. What he lacks in size he makes up for in skill and chutzpah. If you can corner the "greazy" forward, he can be knocked off the puck, but the 25 yr. old Ennis is hard to play against because he's rarely cornered.
Finally, the rebuild is now in the building phase.
Murray began laying a foundation with former Montreal Canadians captain Gionta and a rock-solid defenseman with a ton of character in Gorges, both of whom were acquired last July. They're joined by Girgensons, Ristolainen, Ennis, and Foligno, a homegrown group that endured an incredibly dismal 2014-15 season yet came away with their sanity intact. They'll be looked upon to do the heavy lifting along with Bogosian, Kane and Matt Moulson whist the next wave--Eichel (if drafted by Buffalo,) Pysyk, Rienhart, Grigorenko, and Larsson--solidify their NHL games.
As that wave grows into their games they'll help bear the weight while the next wave develops. And so on and so on.
After an incredibly dreadful two years at the bottom of the league, it's time to start pushing that boulder up the hill. This year's state of the Sabres puts them in full-on build-mode, which can be a lot of fun, especially with a GM like Murray who isn't afraid to make a splash and owners who aren't afraid to spend money.
Suffering be gone.
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