Until the Sabres Fix Their Culture, Nothing Else Matters

The team brought in the right players and talent, but they were missing two things: a competent general manager (GM) and a good head coach. It seemed that the team would rely too heavily on talent, and this was evident at times. That’s a big part of why the Sabres would be one of the best teams for the first 30-35 games of the season, then fall off a cliff and miss the playoffs. There were no coaching adjustments, and it felt like whoever was the head coach would sit behind the bench and be a spectator rather than a game manager and a coach.

During the shortened 2021 season, the Sabres were in the midst of one of the longest losing streaks in NHL history, and they decided to finally fire head coach Ralph Krueger and hire assistant coach Don Granato as the team’s interim head coach to finish the season. When Granato took over, it felt like the culture was starting to shift, and I could see the team’s up-and-coming young prospects and players beginning to develop. From Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin to Dylan Cozens and Mattias Samuelsson, it felt like things were changing.

From 2021 to 2023, we were finally seeing the Sabres’ talent paired with a good culture for once. Players were playing hard for a full 60 minutes; they were a fast, young, and skilled team that everyone in the NHL community thought would be a legit contender by now. All the team was missing was goaltending, but they had one of the league’s top goaltending prospects in Devon Levi, who they acquired in the Reinhart trade. They also had Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who had his moments but still needed time to develop.

Now, fast-forward to the present day, and it seems players still don’t want to play in Buffalo. J.J. Peterka, who was recently traded to the Utah Mammoth, would not re-sign with the Sabres, then immediately following the trade, signed a five-year contract worth $7.7 million average annual value (AAV) with the Mammoth. Top free agents are not willing to sign with the Sabres. Players who have a no-movement clause or a no-trade clause almost always have Buffalo on their lists. Winning fixes everything, but having a great culture does too.

Let’s look at the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks for a second. They are worse than the Sabres; however, free agents are willing to sign there. It’s the culture the teams are building in the organization. Last offseason, we saw Tyler Toffoli sign with the Sharks, and this offseason, Mikael Granlund signed with the Ducks. The Sabres have the star power with Thompson, Dahlin, and a few others, but ultimately, players will not come to play for you if the organization is a mess, and that starts with the ownership.

Fixing the Culture Starts at the Top

The Sabres have gone through numerous GMs, coaches, and front office members, but there is one common denominator: ownership. Terry Pegula purchased the Sabres in February 2011, and in his introductory press conference, he stated, “Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres’ reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup.” They have not even been close to winning a Stanley Cup, and he has not instilled a culture or organization that players want to play for.

It all starts with ownership, from not bringing in the right coaches to help the team become successful again. An owner who claimed he did not care about money seems to care only about money. An owner who said he would “drill a gas well” if he wanted to make money. A good culture starts from the top and trickles down throughout the organization.

If an owner brings in the correct general manager (GM), then eventually the GM will find the right coach for the team. When the Florida Panthers hired Bill Zito in Sept. 2020, he stuck with the head coach at the time, Joel Quenneville, before firing him seven games into the 2021-22 season (7-0-0 start). The team would then hire Andrew Brunette as interim head coach, and they went on to win the Presidents’ Trophy. Still, they got upset in the second round by the Tampa Bay Lightning. So what did they do? They decided not to bring back Brunette and hired Paul Maurice as their next head coach, and the team has had the most success in franchise history.

My point is that the Panthers could have kept Brunette as head coach, coming off the team’s best season in franchise history, but they decided it was not good enough. There was a standard set the second they fired him. They did not care that they finished with 51 wins; the end goal was a Stanley Cup, and the Panthers clearly did not feel that Brunette was the right person to bring them a championship. Since then, the Panthers have won back-to-back Stanley Cups and have been Eastern Conference champions three seasons in a row.

Look at the Panthers compared to the Sabres. They were an average team at best most of their existence, but since they were able to change the culture and bring in the right management group, coaches and players, they have been the most successful team since 2021. It can change within a few seasons for the Sabres, but Pegula needs to show the fans he cares, and so far, he has not shown that at all.

At the end of the day, if the Sabres want to attract good players to the organization again, they will have to build a culture first by bringing in the right coaches to set a standard in the locker room. Once the losing culture is eliminated, the team will be set up for success.