It's no secret that the Buffalo Sabres are currently mired in the longest postseason drought in the National Hockey League today. They haven't played beyond the 82nd game of the regular season since the 2010-11 NHL campaign, a span of 14 years and counting.
Nearly all projections from NHL Insiders have the Sabres missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2026, and based on their first three games, it looked as though that prediction would come to fruition. The Sabres lost all three games, the last of which resulted in a Sabres fan tossing his jersey onto the ice at KeyBank Center out of frustration.
The good news for the Sabres is that since then, they've managed to win two straight games by a combined 11-4 score, including an 8-4 win over the Ottawa Senators, followed by a 3-0 shutout win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
Still, their beginning to the season hasn't exactly been encouraging, and naturally, has fans and pundits wondering how much longer head coach Lindy Ruff has to turn things around before a potential change is made.
Following their three-game losing skid to begin the season, Ruff took his team to task during his weekly appearance on the “Jeremy and Joe Show” on WGR.
“When the guys in the lineup get their chance, and usually a chance comes when somebody gets injured, you step up in the lineup. It's the chance you've been waiting for. We need guys to grab a hold of that and take it right now,” said Ruff via Audacy.com.
“We need to get a win tonight, and then we move on to the next game and get a win,” Ruff said with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase. “We know we're a couple points behind, and through the year, you'll have that five-game winning streak, you'll have a couple-game losing streak. Let's hope this adversity we faced in these first three games with no offense and different players in the lineup is what's going to push us through to get into a situation where we can run seven, eight games together and make up for the two points that we've given up that we need in this first five games.”
Right now, it appears that the message may have been received, but how much longer does Ruff realistically have in his second tenure as head coach of the Sabres?
Why the Sabres must not fire Lindy Ruff after their nightmare start
Simply put, Ruff can be considered the best coach in Sabres team history, considering what he was able to accomplish during their seasons not only as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, but when he was able to get more out of them than what most would have reasonably expected.
Ruff's arrival back in Buffalo prior to last season may have been confusing for some, but it was a chance for him to return where it all began for him and also to try and rekindle some of the old magic that he and the organization once enjoyed with one another.
His contract to return to the Sabres was reportedly for two seasons, the second of which he's in the midst of now. While the Sabres still aren't likely to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season, Ruff can still try and get the most out of the club that he can in this campaign and then go out on his own terms following its conclusion.
GM Kevyn Adams, who has faced intensifying criticism for his team personnel moves, said following last season that he has no doubt that Ruff's burning desire to return the Sabres to prominence is as bright as ever.
“He has a burning desire to make sure the Buffalo Sabres become a successful team,” Adams said via The Athletic. “As personal as it is with me in this job, in growing up here and being from Western New York, it’s extremely personal for Lindy, too, because he spent such a big chunk of his professional career with the Buffalo Sabres. He wants nothing more than to get this thing going in the right direction. I believe he is as energetic and passionate about the game as he was when I coached with him more than 10 years ago. So I have no concern on that.”
The Sabres should let things play out for the remainder of the season with Ruff in charge, allowing him to author how he ultimately chooses to move on, depending on how things go.
