Some changes were needed with the Buffalo Sabres, but were they too afraid to make the moves?
B/R Open Ice: Frank Seravalli, when asked what the Buffalo Sabres’ problem is?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“Look, I think that Sabres have a ton of work to do. I think management has been paralyzed at times by watching some really talented Buffalo Sabres players succeed elsewhere. I think they’re afraid to make the wrong move. I think they look at their collection of players that are in front of them and individually see, like what they see, but the collective clearly isn’t getting it done.
And I see a team that really needed to make significant changes this summer. And outside of moving JJ Peterka, which they were forced to do, there hasn’t been enough change to go back to the Sabres and look at them on paper and say, ‘Oh, this is a team that can take the next step forward.’
We didn’t see any of that progress made under Lindy Ruff in his first year back with the team. And I think the players probably wear some of that as well. They’re the ones that are going out there competing. I think it’s been a relatively miserable atmosphere.
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They’ve got a lot of pressure to end the playoff drought that some of them have nothing to do with, and I get that part. But I think having your season essentially over by US Thanksgiving every year in late November has made it a really difficult place to play.
And it’s a shame, because I think we’re all hoping and rooting for the Buffalo Sabres to get back. It’s such an incredibly important market in the NHL. And it has pained me, as someone who has watched a ton of thrilling games and unbelievable atmospheres in Buffalo, to have that really be so far off of the NHL radar at this point.
It feels like they need wholesale changes, and I’m not advocating for anyone at all to lose their job. I’m just saying, as an organization, to get back on track because it has been a long, long time since we’ve seen the Buffalo Sabres on track and competitive.
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