The Buffalo Sabres have been trapped on the backside of a chasm of futility for the higher a part of the final 11 years. We’ve mentioned a couple of of the explanations for such, together with the 2014 commerce of Ryan Miller that ushered within the period of atrocious hockey administration that cemented the Sabres because the laughing inventory of the NHL, however that’s not the place it actually started.
In actuality, the workforce’s downward spiral had been underway lengthy earlier than then, and the second that will have been the true starting of it doesn’t get acknowledged as such. Satirically, it additionally concerned Miller.
When Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins trucked the celebrity goaltender in November 2011, it sparked the hearth that burned the Sabres as we knew them to the bottom and the workforce was actually by no means the identical once more afterwards. How, you might ask? Let’s return in time.
Sabres Appeared Promising Beforehand
Optimism was abound within the fall of 2011 for Sabres followers. The 2010-11 season, the workforce’s fortieth anniversary, had been outstanding. After sitting within the basement of the league at midseason, Buffalo caught fireplace within the second half and went on maybe their most spectacular run up to now, rallying to safe the Jap Convention’s seventh seed. A seven-game defeat within the first spherical was disappointing however didn’t kill the particular feeling and the Sabres entered the 2011-12 marketing campaign decided to proceed it.
At first, they did. With Miller and newly-promoted captain Jason Pominville main the best way, the brand new season began effectively and the Sabres went 10-5-0 by means of their first 15 video games. On Nov. 12, they traveled to Boston for his or her first matchup with their loathsome divisional rival Bruins, the defending Stanley Cup champions. The B’s had suffered the proverbial championship hangover early within the season however had been heating up by the point Buffalo got here to city, thanks largely to considered one of their largest items (actually and figuratively).
Contemporary off a breakout yr during which he established himself as one of many Bruins’ greatest gamers and was integral to their championship, Lucic was maybe the NHL’s premier energy ahead on the time. Combining his 6-foot-3, 235-pound body with ability and pace, the winger may do no matter he needed on the ice, and steadily did. Along with his ability, he was able to manhandling anybody who dared to problem him and earned a popularity as one of the fearsome gamers in hockey.
The Sabres knew Lucic effectively and he had been a thorn of their facet for a lot of the earlier two seasons, however they hadn’t seen something but and their robust begin was about to return to a screeching halt.
The Hit That Ruined a Crew
The Saturday night time contest started with Buffalo leaping out in entrance early. At simply previous the 13-minute mark of the primary, the Sabres had the Bruins pinned of their zone with Pominville, Thomas Vanek, Paul Gaustad, Tyler Myers and Andrej Sekera on the ice. Vanek bought a go from Pominville on the level and took a shot {that a} charging Lucic blocked. The puck caromed out to heart ice however was too far for Lucic to corral and he gave chase into the Sabres’ zone. Miller got here out to the suitable faceoff dot to chop him off on the go after which, BOOM.
The winger bulldozed Miller (nearly 70 kilos lighter than him) with a large hit that despatched the previous Vezina winner barreling to the ice. And that’s the place time momentarily stood nonetheless. Provided that Miller was the center of the Sabres and that they despised Lucic, it will be straightforward to imagine that each Sabre on the ice chased him down with bloodlust, proper? That didn’t occur, in reality, nothing even remotely near it did.
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Vanek, Pominville, Myers and Sekera all converged on the perpetrator however seemed extraordinarily reluctant to have interaction him. Gaustad had been deep within the Boston zone and was the final participant to reach on the scene however was intercepted outdoors the pileup, which then ended with out additional incident. A livid Miller had swung his stick at Lucic after the hit and continued to trade phrases because the latter was escorted to the penalty field for charging.
The speedy lack of response was stunning sufficient however what was actually baffling was that Buffalo didn’t do something for the remainder of the sport both. No problem to Lucic, no run at Boston goaltender Tim Thomas or different star gamers (as had been the case in 2007 after Chris Drury was elbowed by Ottawa’s Chris Neal), nothing. Their goaltender and greatest participant had been violated by one of many sport’s most infamous belligerents, the Sabres ought to have emptied the bench after Lucic, suspensions be damned. As a substitute, they tucked tail.
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Miller was clearly not proper after the hit and left the sport within the second interval after the Bruins chased him with three straight targets en path to a 6-2 win. He would later be identified with a concussion and whiplash and could be out till early December, lacking the subsequent 9 video games. Nonetheless livid after the sport, he caught round for the media solely to name Lucic out in no unsure phrases.
Buffalo Suffers the Penalties
The NHL and Buffalo media alike laid into the Sabres afterward, rightly branding them as chickens. Gaustad specifically took a pasting given his standing because the “robust man”, despite the fact that each single considered one of his teammates additionally did nothing. The middle admitted that he was upset in himself for not doing extra, however why was it solely incumbent upon him to reply? What was stopping Pominville, Vanek and the workforce’s different massive stars from stepping up? Why didn’t head coach Lindy Ruff incite his workforce to face up for its cornerstone?
Lucic was massive and scary, positive, however that doesn’t matter. Hockey precept states that you just get up on your workforce when opponents take liberties, most particularly if it’s your goaltender. The Sabres as a complete confirmed their true colours and their popularity took a heavy and well-deserved blow. Fortunately for them, a possibility to reply was across the nook.
The Bruins traveled to Buffalo for a rematch every week and a half later and followers and media alike knew it will be stuffed with fireworks. Whether or not they realized that they needed to proper their flawed or if it was merely simply to save lots of face, the Sabres answered the bell this time round. Gaustad fought Lucic lower than 1:30 into the sport, a brawl erupted after Bruins’ agitator Brad Marchand took a run at Nathan Gerbe and Robyn Regehr courageously took on the huge 6-foot-9 Zdeno Chara.
The Bruins triumphed in a shootout, however the Sabres had gone to respectable lengths to atone for his or her sins and there was a way of catharsis after the sport. Sadly, it was too little too late to dispel the brand new picture they’d created for themselves and the workforce’s confidence was clearly shot. Lucic had uncovered the Sabres as a bunch of softies and, coincidentally or not, their season went right into a nosedive instantly following.
After coming into the Nov. 12 contest at 10-5-0, Buffalo went 9-19-5 over the subsequent 33 video games and sat at 14th within the Jap Convention on the All-Star Break. To be honest, a large outbreak of accidents performed a job within the breakdown, but it surely may all be traced again to November. Lucic had despatched ripples by means of the Sabres they usually spent fairly some time making an attempt to get well.
To their credit score, nevertheless, they turned it round in spectacular style. In almost equivalent style to the prior season, the Sabres shifted into turbo and went 17-5-5 after the All-Star Break to surge again into the playoff image, at one level occupying the East’s closing berth. Sadly, this time they have been unable to complete the job and misplaced 4 of their final 5 video games to complete in ninth place, the primary of an NHL-record 13 straight postseason absences.
Although the Sabres’ gallant second-half efforts helped the Lucic incident fade from reminiscence, the workforce by no means actually bought over the embarrassment. That offseason, administration decided that will finally influence the franchise for years to return. The Sabres have been about to get a makeover.
Sabres Rebrand Themselves
The brass made quite a lot of paradigm-shifting choices in 2012, beginning on the commerce deadline when Gaustad was despatched to Nashville. Some speculated that this was on account of his perceived failure to face up for Miller, but it surely was more likely as a result of he was approaching the ultimate yr of his contract and the Predators provided that yr’s first-round decide for him. As necessary because the Goose was to the workforce, a first-rounder was a steal in return and the Sabres took the straightforward no-brainer.
It was after the season that the true transformation started. The Lucic incident had left the Sabres wanting weak and pathetic and that caught with them. Although he had satirically traded their grittiest participant that season, common supervisor (GM) Darcy Regier got down to make his squad extra formidable by buying two gamers. The Sabres traded with the Dallas Stars for infamous agitator Steve Ott and signed mammothlike enforcer John Scott as a free agent.
The 2 strikes undoubtedly made the Sabres edgier, however they got here on the expense of expertise. To accumulate Ott, Buffalo gave up longtime high heart Derek Roy. Roy was coming off the worst season of his profession (simply 44 factors in 80 video games), however he was nonetheless considered one of their largest offensive weapons and the commerce was of venture. Ott, although very efficient in his personal method, was by no means going to fill that void. As for Scott, the 6-foot-8, 260-pound robust man was there for one motive and one motive solely.
It was apparent to all who have been watching that the Sabres have been going all in on a rougher, ground-and-pound model that instantly contrasted their longtime finesse-based system. Ott was introduced in to facilitate the transition and he was successfully the workforce’s new centerpiece, even with high stars Pominville and Vanek nonetheless aboard.
The Downfall Begins
The 2012 Lockout negated the primary half of the next season and the Sabres didn’t take the ice once more till January 2013. Once they did, it grew to become clear that they weren’t the identical group of pushovers from the yr prior. They met the Bruins for the primary time that season on Jan. 31 in Boston and gave their tormentors a whooping each bodily and on the rating sheet, skating away with a 7-4 win.
Sadly, that was the one constructive. Although Ott and Scott delivered as promised, it was evident that expertise had been sacrificed within the title of toughness. With out Roy, the Sabres’ assault was a lot much less harmful and, outdoors of the newcomers, the workforce largely lacked the grit that they so desperately sought, making Regier’s imaginative and prescient unattainable. After a 6-10-1 begin, longtime head coach Lindy Ruff was relieved of his duties, a transfer that despatched waves by means of Western New York and Southern Ontario.
The firing didn’t repair their points, nevertheless. One season after ending one spot out of the playoffs, Buffalo all of the sudden seemed to be on the quick observe to a rebuild and the franchise appeared to bow to the inevitable in March, buying and selling Pominville to Minnesota. Ending the 48-game season at 21-21-6, the downward development continued the subsequent season, resulting in Regier’s firing. Tim Murray took the helm as GM and naturally, everyone knows what was to observe.
Sabres Are Nonetheless Paying for Their Errors
The Sabres’ choice to give attention to not being bullied finally proved to be very silly. As a substitute of taking their drugs from Lucic and the Bruins, they tried to emulate them. By bringing in two gamers identified for the tough stuff, Regier and co. thought they may remodel a workforce in any other case composed of smaller, ability gamers into the Broadstreet Bullies, however that was by no means going to occur. The Sabres merely weren’t outfitted to be.
The gambit was by no means going to succeed and the repercussions have been appreciable. The Sabres have been pressured right into a rebuild that will not have been needed in any respect had they merely stayed the course. Hindsight is all the time 20/20, however who is aware of how in a different way issues would have gone? Would the last decade of darkness for Buffalo hockey that was the remainder of the 2010s and early 2020s have occurred if not?
