Near the end of January of this year, general manager Kyle Davidson mentioned six prospects playing outside of the NHL/AHL that caught his eye and stood out. This list of talented young players in the Chicago Blackhawks' organization included Nick Lardis, Sacha Boisvert, Oliver Moore, Sam Rinzel, Roman Kantserov, and Ryan Greene.
Three of these players made the jump right to the NHL at the end of the season in order for the Blackhawks to see what they can do. Davidson had said, That's where we are building this thing and they are showing up. Their play and development are showing us we're on the right track."
Moore and Rinzel played nine games to end the season with the Blackhawks while Greene joined later and played two. Lardis is in his fourth and final year in the OHL, Kantserov is still in the KHL, and Boisvert is switching schools and is remaining in the NCAA for at least another season.
I think Rinzel has the best shot at not playing an AHL game in his career as he fits right in on the top pairing in the NHL. Moore might spend a little time at the start of the season in the minors like Frank Nazar did and then force the hand of the Blackhawks, but Greene will benefit from a full season in the AHL. Lardis can score as he put up 71 goals in 65 games, but the room might not be available on Chicago just yet.
If the Blackhawks can bring Kantserov over in a couple of years, that would be ideal. Allow him to play the minutes against top KHL talent to see him grow before entering right into the NHL. As for Boisvert, he is tracking well and will make a stop in the AHL before becoming a full-time NHLer.
There is great reason to be excited and next season will bring more talent to watch for in the Blackhawks' organization.
Brock Boeser has been quoted saying "it's unlikely at this point" that he will be returning to the Vancouver Canucks next season, and the free-agent market for the 28-year-old will be large and competitive.
Boeser recorded 25 goals and 50 points this season in 75 games, following a 2023-24 season where he set a career-high of 40 goals and 73 points. The former 2015 first-round pick is one of the more efficient scorers in the NHL, owning a 17.2 shooting percentage this season – the 41st highest percentage in the league among players with 70 or more games played
The Maple Leafs could be entering an offseason where major change is needed if they fall short of their playoff goals. Mitch Marner and John Tavares are pending UFAs, and the team needs to re-sign pending RFA Matthew Knies. If they decide to let Marner walk in free agency or he elects to seek a new opportunity, rumours have already swirled about the possibility of the Maple Leafs using Boeser and the Jets' Nikolaj Ehlers as replacements.
Boeser is quite different in terms of play style compared to Marner. Marner is a pure playmaker, looking to pass as his first option, while Boeser is known as a shooter. The styles might be different, but the skill the Maple Leafs currently have should allow everyone to gel quite quickly.
Minnesota Wild
The Wild are an obvious choice for the Burnsville, Minn. native. They’ll have over $20 million in cap space this off-season and will be looking to add another scoring winger to complement the likes of Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marco Rossi.
With prospects such as Liam Ohgren, Danila Yurov, Zeev Buium, David Jiricek and Jesper Wallstedt all expected to be key contributors sometime soon, Boeser would fit nicely in the Wild's lineup.
When Boeser is at his best, he’s one of the league's most efficient scorers. Pairing him with a playmaker who generates chances at an extremely high rate, as Kaprizov does, it’s not far-fetched to envision Boeser possibly recording multiple 40-goal seasons.
Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings have been attempting to put the final touches on their rebuild for quite some time. In the Atlantic Division, they’ve been compared to the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens and the Buffalo Sabres. Missing the playoffs this season and watching the Senators and Canadiens make it has upset some of the players.
"It was hard that we didn't do anything, and I felt the group kinda — we didn't gain any momentum from the trade deadline, and guys were kinda down about it," said captain Dylan Larkin during the team's exit interviews. "So it'd be nice to add something and bring a little bit of a spark on the ice and maybe a morale boost as well."
Although adding Boeser to the fold wouldn’t solve every problem they have or instantly make them into a playoff team, it would be a good start. They’ll also need to sure up their goaltending and continue to integrate more of their top-end prospects to compete with the other wild-card teams.
Carolina Hurricanes
GM Eric Tulsky showed the NHL world that he’s not afraid to make a big move after he traded for and then traded away Mikko Rantanen. Moving Rantanen and Martin Necas has opened up a lot of cap space for the Hurricanes, and it’s expected that they’ll be pursuing many of the top free agents this summer.
The Hurricanes will likely prioritize a second-line center before looking for additional help on the wing, but if they do, Boeser could be a great fit.
Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks are in a different position than the other four teams mentioned. They are at the peak of their rebuild, beginning to incorporate many of the players they hope to be key contributors in the future.
Making the playoffs seems quite unlikely for Chicago, but they'll be hoping to be in the race by the time the post-season rolls around in 2026. Pairing Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar and possibly a top-two pick with a proven scorer such as Boeser would help them accomplish that, similar to what Tyler Toffoli did for Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, William Eklund and the San Jose Sharks.
The Florida Panthers have assigned forward Jesse Puljujarvi to the Charlotte Checkers, it was announced Friday.
Puljujarvi, who joined the Panthers organization midway through the season, has seen time in both the NHL and AHL this year. In 31 NHL games with the Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins, he scored four goals and added six assists for 10 points. Across 26 AHL games with Charlotte and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he put up six goals and 16 points.
Drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the 2016 NHL Draft, Puljujarvi has played in a total of 387 career NHL regular season games with the Panthers, Penguins, Oilers and the Carolina Hurricanes. In that span, he has collected 58 goals and 70 assists for 128 points.
With Puljujarvi being assigned to the AHL, he will have an opportunity to play a big role for the Checkers as they look to make a run to the Calder Cup. Still a capable depth player on an NHL roster, Puljujarvi has not been able to secure a full-time role over the last couple of seasons but could see another team take a swing at him during the offseason.
Kigns forward Adrian Kempe (9) skates away as the Edmonton Oilers celebrate a goal by forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the first period of the Kings' 7-4 loss in Game 3 of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. (Curtis Comeau / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Edmonton Oilers played like they couldn’t afford to lose Friday. And they didn’t, scoring two goals 10 seconds apart late in the third period to beat the Kings 7-4 in a wild first-round playoff game in which both teams overcame deficits.
The Kings still lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 heading into Game 4 on Sunday in Edmonton. But the Oilers’ win means the series will return to Los Angeles for Game 5 on Tuesday.
Evan Bouchard and Connor Brown both had two goals for Edmonton, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Evander Kane also scored.
McDavid’s goal and Brown’s second goal were empty-netters after Bouchard scored on a power play to put Edmonton ahead with 6:32 remaining. Edmonton scored four unanswered goals in the final seven minutes.
But the game turned on a decision by Kings coach Jim Hiller to challenge Kane’s tying goal in the third. The unsuccessful challenge gave the Oilers a power play, leading to Bouchard scoring what proved to be the winning goal.
“We understand the situation,” Hiller said. “But clearly we felt that that challenge was in our favor. The next step would have been for us to kill a penalty. That didn't happen either.
“So it's a tough stretch for us, no question. That's hockey. That's playoff hockey.”
The Oilers, desperate to get back in the series, benched goalie Stuart Skinner, who gave up 11 goals in the first two games, in favor of Calvin Pickard. But Pickard hardly fared better, giving up four goals on 28 shots.
Still, Edmonton played with urgency, taking its first lead of the series less than three minutes in when an unguarded Nugent-Hopkins took a Zach Hyman pass directly in front of the net and pushed the puck under Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper.
Bouchard doubled the lead six minutes later, firing a slap shot past Kuemper from the top of the circle three seconds after the Kings’ Andrei Kuzmenko went off for interference. It was Edmonton’s first power-play goal in six tries in the series.
The Kings responded with three unanswered goals.
Kempe started the rally late in the first period, deflecting a left-handed shot off Pickard from the center of the right circle with the teams skating four on four. It was his fourth goal of the playoffs, matching Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy for the NHL lead.
More importantly, it took momentum away from the Oilers, allowing Fiala to even things early in the second period with a power-play goal from nearly the same spot. Doughty’s power-play goal less than five minutes before the second intermission then put the Kings in front for the first time.
The Kings were 0 for 12 with the man advantage in last season’s series loss to Edmonton, their third consecutive to the Oilers. This year against the same team, the Kings have converted seven of 12 power-play opportunities.
After Brown pulled Edmonton even again, Moore scored nine seconds later when he drove to the net and poked the puck past Pickard.
Things got really wild in the third period, with the Oilers scoring four goals in less than seven minutes. Edmonton also scored four goals in the third period of Game 1.
Kane tied the score again, scoring off a mad scramble in front of the net, then waiting several long minutes for a replay review to confirm he pushed the puck in with his stick, not his skate.
Hiller challenged the goal, arguing there was goaltender interference.
“We got a good look at it. We had plenty of time,” he said. “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It cost us big-time.”
Bouchard needed just 10 seconds to make the Kings pay, scoring Edmonton’s second power-play goal on a tip-in from Kuemper’s left. Kuemper made 29 saves.
“It sucks,” Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “But again, I look at it, we're still in a good place. You get to come back in two nights and get another stab at it, which is the best part.”
The Florida Panthers will host their first playoff game on Saturday since Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final.
Florida opened their first-round matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a pair of impressive road victories earlier this week.
Now the Cats have returned to South Florida and will look to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series when they host the Lightning in Game 3 at Amerant Bank Arena.
Exactly how the Panthers roster will look is still a bit of a mystery.
Florida Captain Sasha Barkov was injured during the third period of Thursday’s 2-0 win after an illegal check by Tampa forward Brandon Hagel.
Officials gave Hagel a five-minute major for interference during the game, and he has since been handed a one-game suspension from the NHL Department of Player Safety.
As for Barkov, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said Friday that he had not been cleared to play but he had not been ruled out either, so it sounds like a game-time decision.
One change that we know is coming to the Panthers roster is the addition of defenseman Aaron Ekblad to the back line.
Ekblad has completed a 20-game suspension that he was handed back in early March or violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.
He’s been back skating and practicing with the Panthers for the past couple weeks and it will be interesting to see how quickly he can re-adapt to the intensity and speed of not just the NHL, but the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“It’s a very unusual situation, normally, a player that’s out 20 games has a significant injury and that really effects their rehab,” said Maurice. “We’ll put him right back with his partner and we’ll put him right back in all the situations. It’s about getting him up to speed as fast as we can. There’s going to be about a 10-minute adjustment to playoff hockey, because it’s just different. He’ll make that adjustment and away he goes.”
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Game 3 against Tampa:
Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights offer unforeseen value heading into back half of first round series that shouldn't go ignored
The Stanley Cup Playoffs offer many twists and turns with come-from-behind wins, unforeseen upsets and plenty of opportunities to cash in on some massive values.
We see many already listed on sportsbooks after most series enter their fourth games. It happens often where teams can go down 2-0 or 2-1 early in the series and sportsbooks completely write teams off, which we can look to exploit.
All betting lines are from FanDuel Sportsbook and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
Tampa Bay Lightning - Eastern Conference Champions (+2000)
Winning four of their next five games is a tough challenge for the Bolts, especially with four of those matchups on the road. Still, it's far from impossible — just last season, the Dallas Stars bounced back after losing the first two games of their series at home, reeling off four straight wins to clinch and move on to the second round.
If anyone could do it, it's the Bolts as they have the league's top scorer this season in Nikita Kucherov and are long overdue for a swing in their direction when it comes to this matchup. They've dropped six of their last seven playoff matchups versus Florida, dating back to last season and would like to renew their playoff success that saw them reach three straight Stanley Cup Finals just three seasons ago.
The Lightning will likely be without 35-goal scorer Brandon Hagel after he interfered with Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov for a mean body check that potentially hurt the Finnish centre. Tampa will need their star players to produce as you see around the league, other teams like the Wild feature dominating top lines that could change the outlook of a game.
Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel and Kucherov all sitting with one point each so far while forwards Anthony Cirelli and Yanni Gourde still haven't found the scoresheet. I expect a massive surge of production from this bunch that will need to reclaim some stability in this series with a Game 3 win that will certainly see these odds drop exponentially, so get in while you can. A subtle $10 bet on Tampa would pay out a staggering $200 or 20-to-1 payout.
Vegas Golden Knights - Western Conference Champions (+650)
The Golden Knights are most certainly not out of their series with the Wild after dropping two straight games and their odds have dropped to a pretty great place. After being listed as the favourites to win the West following Game 1 of their series, they now sit with the fifth-best odds.
This most certainly is a play as the Golden Knights have proven to be a resilient team with the experience of a Stanley Cup win just two seasons ago. They are only one game down in their series and could even things up and plummet these odds back to Vegas being the favourites at odds somewhere around +300 to +400 by Saturday night.
Minnesota shouldn't be counted out of this series but they are just a wild card team compared to a Vegas team that won the Pacific Division title. We most certainly won't see odds like this again unless the Golden Knights are put in a position where they are truly in trouble and not worth taking a look at anyway.
For a moment on Friday, it looked as if the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins were going to avoid a repeat of last season's first-round Calder Cup playoff loss against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and force the series-deciding Game 3 on Sunday.
But, unfortunately for the Pittsburgh Penguins' AHL affiliate, victory just wasn't in the cards.
The Penguins took a 2-1 lead approaching the midway point of the third period, but Lehigh Valley scored the tying goal a minute and a half later and potted a third goal with two minutes left in regulation to hand WBS its second consecutive first-round sweep.
After a relatively uneventful first period, Phantoms forward Anthony Richard finally broke the scoresheet open with a little more than five minutes remaining in the second. But the Penguins responded before the end of the middle frame, as forward Tristan Broz snapped a wrister from the right circle on the power play to knot things up at 1-1.
Then - six and a half minutes into the final frame - Ville Koivunen took a hit along the wall in the defensive to start a breakout, getting the puck to Broz, who carried the puck up ice and into the offensive zone along the right wall. He fed a perfect pass to defenseman Harrison Brunicke in the slot, and Brunicke backpedaled himself into a fadeaway shot through the left circle, which found the twine and gave him his first goal in professional hockey.
— x - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 26, 2025
The Penguins were feeling pretty good about themselves, but old habits came back to haunt them. Their 2-1 lead didn't last long, as Lehigh Valley forward Jacob Gaucher scored less than a minute and a half later to tie the game again.
Both teams played with a high degree of desperation for the next 10 minutes, but the back-breaking, game-breaking goal came at the hands of Phantoms defenseman Helge Grans, who put Lehigh Valley up 3-2 with only two minutes remaining in the game.
The Penguins pulled Murashov almost immediately, but, unfortunately, they could not muster anything with the extra skater at the end and will go home early again this season.
Wheeling will square off against the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday, as a 4-1 win in Game 4 on Friday forced a Game 5. The Nailers trail the Admirals 3-1 in the series.
Welcome to The Hockey News Playoff Frenzy Live, streaming nightly during the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs.
After the big game of the night, our experts go live to react to the match that was, break down the key moments and storylines, provide updates on the rest of the night's NHL slate and read your opinions.
They also take a quick look around the NHL, with the Tampa Bay Lightning's Brandon Hagel getting suspended and Calvin Pickard starting in net for the Edmonton Oilers.
Tampa Bay Lightning left winger Brandon Hagel is suspended for Game 3 after his Game 2 hit on Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov.
Hagel received a major penalty for interference against Barkov in the third period of Thursday night's game, a 2-0 win for the Panthers over the Lightning.
Barkov tried to win a puck battle against Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh, but the latter swatted the puck around the boards. Barkov hadn't touched the puck and turned to pursue it, said the NHL Department of Player Safety's video explanation of the suspension.
"Long after the puck is gone, Hagel loads up and delivers a high, hard bodycheck that makes some head contact on Barkov," the video said.
Hagel reportedly argued he approached the play as if Barkov had touched the puck, but NHL Player Safety's video said the onus is on Hagel to ensure the player he's hitting is eligible to be hit. In this case, Barkov was ineligible.
This is Hagel's first instance of supplementary discipline.
The 26-year-old has no points through two playoff games this season, and he had 35 goals and 55 assists for 90 points in 82 regular-season matchups.
Mayhem broke loose after the second period in Game 3 between the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens.
As the Canadiens and Capitals headed for the dressing rooms after the horn, subtle bumps and shoves between both teams escalated into a fight on an empty bench.
Capitals right winger Tom Wilson found Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj in the large crowd before Josh Anderson pulled him away from the group. Wilson and Anderson eventually fell into the Capitals' bench and continued to throw punches at each other while a linesman tried to break them up.
Washington coach Spencer Carbery needed to step over the bench to get out of the way.
Both players received two-minute minors for roughing and 10-minute misconducts. Xhekaj and Lars Eller also got two minutes for roughing.
It was only a matter of time before the Habs got their licks on Wilson. Before the game, during warmups, Xhekaj and Wilson were talking at the red line. This is Xhekaj’s first career playoff game.
In between whistles, there have been plenty of scrums, shoves and bumps in efforts to throw each other off their games.
Montreal’s Cole Caufield scored a big goal with under nine seconds remaining in the period. Emotions were high for both teams and the fans at the Bell Centre in their first home playoff game in years.
The Florida Panthers have had a fantastic start to the 2025 NHL playoffs. After defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning by a 6-2 final score in Game 1, the Panthers followed that up with a hard-fought 2-0 win over the Bolts in Game 2. With this, they are now heading back home for Games 3 and 4 with a 2-0 series lead.
As expected, the Panthers' top stars like Sergei Bobrovsky, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Aleksander Barkov have been big reasons for the team's early success in this series. However, veteran defenseman Nate Schmidt has also been a major difference-maker for the Panthers this series, scoring three goals in just two games.
According to NHL Public Relations, Schmidt has tied an NHL record with the most goals scored by a defenseman through the first two games of the playoffs. The only other blueliners in NHL history to achieve this same feat are Nicklas Lindstrom (Detroit Red Wings, 1995), Steve Chiasson (Red Wings, 1991), Mike O'Connell (Boston Bruins, 1981), Dick Redmond (Chicago Blackhawks, 1973), and George Boucher (Ottawa Senators, 1921).
This is undoubtedly a nice accomplishment for Schmidt and shows just how impressive he has played early on. He has also already matched his current career high in playoff goals, as he also scored three in 20 games during the 2018 NHL playoffs with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Since signing a one-year, $800,000 contract with the Panthers this past off-season, Schmidt has provided solid value to Florida's blueline. He has simply fit in nicely with the Panthers, posting five goals, 19 points, and a plus-4 rating in 80 games. Now, he is giving them great value in the playoffs early on and continuing to show the Panthers that they made the right call taking a shot on after the Winnipeg Jets bought him out.
Some believe that the Montreal Canadiens are as good as buried down 2-0 against the Washington Capitals in their first-round series. Others believe that you’re not in trouble in the Stanley Cup playoffs until you’ve lost a game at home, and then there’s John Scott.
Former NHL enforcer and one-time Canadiens player John Scott had this to say on X this morning:
Big game in Montreal tonight. I could honestly see the Habs taking the next two games at home and tying the series. They've been right there. I believe #GoHabsGo
While Scott only suited up for one game with the Habs, he did skate in 286 NHL games, most of which were with the Buffalo Sabres. The tough guy racked up 544 penalty minutes in his career and was elected to the All-Star Game during the 2015-16 season when a “Vote John Scott in the All-Star Game campaign took social media by storm.
He played for the Arizona Coyotes then but was traded to the Canadiens along with Victor Bartley in return for Jared Tinordi and Stefan Fournier. The Habs immediately sent him down to the St. John’s Ice Caps. Some believed the trade aimed to keep him out of the All-Star Game, but he did participate. He was even named the MVP of the game, thanks to scoring two goals and another social media campaign.
After the event, the NHL amended its rule book to make players demoted to the AHL ineligible to play in its All-Star Game. Whichever way you look at it, Scott was liked by the fans, and after that post, he must have conquered a few new fans in Montreal.
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The Stanley Cup Playoffs are off and running, and The Hockey Show is all over it!
We’re one week into the best postseason in all of professional sports and there has been no shortage of great storylines, exciting moments and controversial topics to discuss.
Joining hosts Roy Bellamy and David Dwork this week was friend of the show Adnan Virk from NHL on Prime.
Among the topics discussed with Adnan were the Los Angeles Kings possibly, finally getting out of the first round against the Edmonton Oilers, the New York Islanders parting ways with Lou Lamoriello, the surprising starts to the playoffs by the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars, and the disappointing start by the New Jersey Devils.
Adnan also stuck around for the weekly Florida Panthers segment, where they got into the Cats taking a surprising (to some) 2-0 series lead on the Tampa Bay Lightning after picking up a pair of victories on the road.
A big topic of discussion was the hit on Panthers Captain Sasha Barkov by Tampa’s Brandon Hagel, and the reaction by some in the media following the dangerous hit.
You can check out the full episode in the video below:
In a series where Ottawa Senators winger Ridly Greig and Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz have both been accused of trading some serious cheap shots, it was almost comical on Friday when the NHL stepped in with swift justice for some harmless warm-up antics.
The league has fined the Senators $25,000 and fined Nick Cousins $2,083, both for unsportsmanlike conduct just before Game 3 on Thursday. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman posted a grainy video of the “incident” on social media.
Here’s what NHL is looking at from last night. “Friend of Bieksa” Nick Cousins shoots puck at Stolarz. NHL not crazy about pre-game stuff…also clamped down on funny Scheifele/Hofer standoff in Blues/Jets series pic.twitter.com/ZF08AZwdO4
The clip shows Cousins either passing the puck toward Stolarz or, at worst, taking the lightest of shots toward him. Cousins and Stolarz, it’s worth noting, won a Stanley Cup together with the Florida Panthers last season.
When head coach Travis Green was asked on Friday by TSN's Mark Masters about the so-called incident, he leaned into the nonsense with a deadpan response that got a big laugh from the media room.
"Well Mark, it's an active investigation," Green said. "I don't know if I should be commenting."
Green gave the “story” the exact amount of seriousness it deserved, sarcastically treating it like a major crime.
"I'm kidding. Yeah, I saw the video. Cousins and Stolarz have played together. I don't know, yeah, he's probably trying to either laugh at him or make a joke or get him off his game, and it is what it is."
After back-to-back overtime losses, Green’s levity struck just the right tone on Friday, a nice respite before the Senators try to climb out of a deep hole in this series.
The Buffalo Sabres' off-season has many priorities, includng getting the team's seven RFAs signed to contract extensions. But the overarching change for the franchise is clear: there has to be an extensive culture change, one that charts a new course for an organization that has flailed often as it tries to end what is now a 14-year stretch without any Stanley Cup playoff action.
Without a change of culture, you can expect the Sabres to once again be on the outside of the playoff picture looking in at this time next year. Without an altered approach that creates a fundamentally-different prism for the franchise to operate wth, Buffalo is almost assuredly going to be at or near the bottom of the Atlantic Division -- a place that has been home for them for nearly a decade-and-a-half.
This is why so many people are calling for Kevyn Adams and Lindy Ruff to be dismissed from their respective roles as Sabres GM and coach this summer. We're not suggesting either Adams or Ruff are solely responsible for Buffalo's struggles, but there's a reason why teams just as bad or worse than the Sabres have fired their coach and/or GM already this off-season-- it's because the players and fan bases of losing teams often revolt in the wake of constant letdowns, and teams have to move quickly to try and make them happy.
To that end, what do you suppose will happen if Buffalo comes out of the gate next fall and suffers a slew of losses? You have to know Sabres players and fans will be irate, and demand change at that time. But by then, Sabres ownership will no longer have a large pool of replacements for Ruff and Adams. Most, if not all of the best of the best will have been hired by other organizations. And once again, the Sabres will be seen as a consolation prize franchise.
With that said, it should be obvious why Buffalo ownershp needs to get out in front of this potential problem, and be bold in their efforts to hire people with a better track record than that of Adams and Ruff. Because every day that passes represents another potential brick in the wall that separates the Sabres from getting back into the playoff mix. And anyone running the team has to look seriously at trading just about anyone. There can be few, if any sacred cows for this team. Drastic change is absolutley necessary.
The Sabres have to be honest -- as in, what do they believe is going to happen next season in the Atlantic standings? You know the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers are basic locks to be playoff teams. The Ottawa Senators aren't going to take a step back, either. The Boston Bruins are aiming for a retool that assures them of a playoff spot. And the Detroit Red Wings will be pushing to get back into the post-season for the first time in a decade.
With all those teams jostling for a post-season berth, how realistic is it for Buffalo to presume they'll be a playoff team? Not very realistic, in our opinion. And if the Sabres can't be a playoff team, they need to be focused on adding generational talent through the NHL draft.
Of course, some will say the Sabres have been through multiple rebuilds, and those people are accurate. However, this current group of talent simply hasn't been able to get the job done, and that's why a radical change is so crucial for Buffalo. The longer the team waits to do it, the longer meaningful improvement will be delayed.
If this all sounds pessimistic, it should be understandable why. Sabres fans have seen and heard it all in a decade-and-a-half of dismay, and current Sabres brass haven't given people reason to be optimistic. Thus, foundational change is the only way to get the team back on the path to relevance and the satisfaction of the fans who pay the freight.
Buffalo ownership can gamble once again that Adams and Ruff can get the job done, but if that gamble fails, Sabres supporters will be incensed at another lost year. And Buffalo ownership will have no one to blame but itself.
