14 years. That’s how long it’s been since the Buffalo Sabres made the playoffs. Since April of 2011 when Buffalo blew a 3-2 series lead against the Philadelphia Flyers and were eliminated in seven games in the Conference Quarterfinals they haven’t sniffed the playoffs. The drought has encapcilated four general managers and seven head coaches (eight if you count Lindy Ruff twice as he was the coach the first year of the drought). Buffalo started this season 14-14-4 at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings when on December 15th Terry Pagula fired Kevyn Adams and replaced him with Jarmo Kekalainen; who was the General Manager for Columbus for eleven seasons. Since that decision was made the Sabres have gone on a tear which includes a 20-3-1 record in their last 24 games and currently sit at 67 points; 3rd place in the Atlantic Division.
What’s interesting about that decision is when Kekalaienen was promoted to the role, the only notable move he’s made via player acquisition was obtaining defenseman Gavin Bayreuther from Carolina on January 24th. The big decisions he’s made were to fire associate GM Jason Karmanos and signed forward Justin Doan to a seven year contract extension. So what’s the main reason for the Sabres turn around?
They’ve gotten elite goaltending from Alex Lyon and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, boasting a 93 percentile save percentage during this current run. This includes great offensive output as the Sabres have excelled off the rush thanks in part to their stud defensemen in Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power, who have combined with players like Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch which has driven the team to a top ten offense. And on top of that Ruff has gotten the defense fully structured as Buffalo has maintained one of the best penalty killing units in the league.
Sometimes a new voice in the room is just what’s needed. Kekalainen has brough a renewed energy that has transferred from the front office to the coaches and players on the ice. There’s still a lot of hockey to be played and we’ll see if Buffalo makes any moves at the trade deadline as they gear up for a playoff run, but the Sabres are in the best position they’ve been in years to finally put an end to the longest playoff drought in the NHL.
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