The leaves are changing, the air is crisp, the Bills are starting to click and it is finally time to start talking about Sabres hockey. Buffalo will face the Blue Jackets in Columbus tomorrow for an exhibition match which will give the Sabres’ faithful their first opportunity to see the blue and gold in what figures to be a down season. In anticipation of the start of the season, it’s time to talk about the expectations for the young 2021-2022 Sabres squad.

It’s tough to pin down exactly what fans want out of this year’s squad. The Sabres are still lacking in high-end talent despite being godawful for the better part of a decade which has many fans hoping to finish in last and land the best odds to select Shane Wright, who is widely accepted to be the consensus number one pick in the draft. The organization has been down this road before as they tried to lose on purpose to land a high-end talent in Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel. That concept has panned out poorly and the team is now paying Jack Eichel $10m to go home to Boston because the team and the former captain can’t agree on an injury remedy.

The team undoubtedly has some nice pieces in Rasmus Dahlin, Casey Mittelstadt, Dylan Cozens, Jack Quinn, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and JJ Peterka, among others. There isn’t any truly elite talent there, though, unless Rasmus Dahlin reaches his potential and achieves the heights of his pre-draft billing. The centers, now including Quinn, are not elite-level prospects/players and the best-case scenario of the trio currently looks like Sean Monahan of the Calgary Flames. Each of those three center prospects have their warts: Mittelstadt lacks high-end speed, Cozens has a lower offensive ceiling and Quinn is a total unknown commodity who hasn’t played much center at all until last season in Rochester.

It makes sense on some level, then, that Sabres fans would want to tank the season and roll the dice to get a difference-making player down the middle. That plan is no sure thing as history has shown and all the losing has become tiresome and boring, frankly. Head Coach Don Granato surely doesn’t have any desire to be a patsy for another brutal team and it doesn’t appear the Sabres players have any interest in being awful, either.

"It's a big opportunity for us," Mittelstadt told the assembled media late last week. "I think we know that. More than anything, just come to the rink and make sure everyone's welcome and just let everyone go play their game and try to have some fun at the same time.
"I think there's a huge, quiet belief in our group. We know what people say about us but we also know what we have in the room."

It’s no surprise that Mittelstadt has no interest in being on a terrible team as he is one of the young leaders on the squad, and frankly I hope he can help lead the squad to something approaching mediocrity instead of abject awfulness. Rooting against the team to win in order to secure another top pick is such a dirty concept at this point that it shouldn’t even be considered. This team, and the young pieces that comprise it, need to taste a little bit of success instead of the constant, unending losing that typified the last core of Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and Rasmus Ristolainen.

That’s not to blame the failures of the club on the shoulders of those three players, but that core was born and raised in the cauldron of tank culture and some of that stench undoubtedly permeated the group and made losing acceptable. The Sabres can ill afford to foster that atmosphere again with this group and they need to show the burgeoning group of young leaders that winning is to be commended and not avoided for some imaginary “greater good” that supposedly can only be achieved by being terrible and landing a savior in the draft.

The Sabres notoriously traded goalie Michal Neuvirth during the 2014-2015 season because he was playing too well and was generating too many wins for a team that was designed to be horrible. That kind of activity can’t be acceptable anymore, even if that means that the Sabres lessen their already slim chances of selecting at the top of the draft in 2022. This team, on paper, is not horrible. With proper coaching and the potential emergence of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, they could finish this season much higher than observers realize. There are smart analytics pieces in the mix like Mark Pysyk and Vinnie Hinostroza, and there are even depth organizational options like Peterka and Brett Murray who could help make the team better should injuries arise.

Rooting for failure needs to be put in the trash bin of the past. The Sabres have to take concrete steps toward respectability by trying to compete this season all the way to-and-through the trade deadline without throwing in the towel. The team doesn’t need late round picks in exchange for Craig Anderson, Hinostroza, Pysyk or Will Butcher at the trade deadline. They need to keep themselves in competitive shouting distance of a playoffs spot that will undoubtedly be out of reach, but maybe not so far that the season clearly needs to be punted into the sun.

Act as if you’re trying to win.

The concept of fandom was so warped over the course of the tank years that I’m beginning to wonder if the fans are even capable of cheering for the team to win at this point. It’ll be up to the players to provide something to cheer for, but I sincerely hope that those who attend the game don’t boo the young core too much, or actively cheer against the squad similarly to what happened against Arizona all those years ago.

It’s time to take steps toward respectability, even if that means losing a chance at another “savior.”

Join the Discussion: » 573 Comments » Post New Comment

» Introducing New Sabres Writer: Bradley

» That’s All, Folks!

» Tracking the Sabres: Devon Levi

» Levi Shines in Debut, Sabres Top Rangers

» Storylines To Watch As The Season Winds Down