Isaac Berg Sports Journalism Paper #3

Sabres’ Future Success Depends on Current Youth Management Isaac Berg | NHL.com | February 8, 2018

I have been paying attention to the organization for about a decade of my life; during those ten years, the organization as a whole has been a massive flop. From 2007 to 2017, the Buffalo Sabres have missed the playoffs eight times and were bounced in the first round of the playoffs the only two times they made it in. This is not what anyone would call a successful run by any stretch of the imagination. I would argue that the blame for this stretch of bad hockey shouldn’t only be placed upon the management of the NHL team, but on ownership as well. During the same 10-year period the Sabres’ minor league affiliates-- Rochester (’07-’08) and Portland (“09-’11 only made it past the first round of the playoffs one time. Since rejoining their partnership with Rochester (’11 to present), the Americans, have failed to qualify for the playoffs in the last three years. Further evidence proves that player development in the (AHL) or other minor leagues is key to NHL success in Buffalo. The last time the Sabres made it past the second round of the playoffs was in the 2006-2007 season. Their AHL affiliate had made the playoffs 16 out of the last 17 years and some of the players who made the jump to Buffalo that year were the likes of Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek, and . Need I say more? As a Rochester native, I have had an interesting view of the Sabres’ player development process in the AHL and up until the last few years, it has been terrible. There are never any exciting, young players who find their way to being regular players on the Americans. If there were any promising players showing up, they would find themselves immediately buried on the fourth line with the Sabres or sitting in the club’s press box as a “healthy” scratch. Former Sabres general manager Tim Murray was the first to break the reputation of not developing talent when he refused to call up the Sabres’ 2016 first- round draft pick Alex Nylander during the 2016-2017 season. Thanks to this and other moves by Murray, the Americans are stacked with young talent and the Sabres are left with a situation that will make or break their future. That philosophy broke as Murray was promptly fired at the end of the 2016- 2017 season. Everyone involved—ownership, front office, coaches, and fans need to be patient and stick with the players they currently have on the big club for a few more years at least. This will allow their young talent to gain chemistry and experience with a successful Americans team rather than barely playing on a struggling Sabres team. When it comes to rebuilding a franchise, current head coach Mike Babcock said it best “If you think there is no pain coming, there is pain coming”. The only way that Buffalo will find success in the future is if they embrace the rebuild and endure the pain for the next few seasons.