On cusp of NHL playoffs, Sabres have 'outright conviction' much better days ahead

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)-- The Sabres are so near ending their postseason dry spell they can taste it. Completing one triumph of the Stanley Cup playoffs with the NHL's youngest roster, Buffalo expects to cross the threshold into contention next year.

Rather of lamenting a lost opportunity to break the longest skid non-playoff seasons in NHL history, the Sabres are scouting the postseason, envisioning their arrival in due time.

" A lot of times it's extremely tough to watch the playoffs when you're not in it," coach Don Granato stated Wednesday at his postseason interview. "This year … … you see it with the intent you're there. You'll exist 12 months from now."

A year back, the Sabres began to believe in themselves after winning a bulk of their games over the last third of the season. That carried over into the very first winning record of the 12-season playoff drought. And ending up 9-2-1 to keep their playoff hopes alive into the final week of the 2022-23 season has actually reinforced Buffalo's belief that better days are ahead.

" I thought that winning the last two video games was a substantial thing for me as a coach," Granato said. "Because I required and we desired these guys to see how close they are and were, and through their effort and work so that belief would end up being conviction."

" They understand that they have enough, that they must have that as the target to make playoffs and to be effective in that," Granato said. We have to keep our nose to the grindstone and work and remain in the minute. Since when we get out of the minute and we got too far ahead of ourselves this year, that was some of the worst stretches.

General supervisor Kevyn Adams bristled at the idea that missing the playoffs by two points in the standings totaled up to "a lost season."

" Lost opportunity? No, I think there was a remarkable gained chance," Adams stated. "I would say the precise opposite, of what our men found out and the pressure that they had to go through, the ups and downs and feeling must-win video games and how to handle that, being the youngest team in the league."

Adams, a Clarence local who won a Stanley Cup throughout his NHL playing career, is committed to constructing sustainable success in Sabreland. In his 3rd season as general manager, he has actually stayed patient in enabling young gamers to develop and playoff expectations to grow naturally, rather than coming from outside impacts.

" I believe it's amazing to see our gamers raise expectations internally," Adams stated. "I indicate, there was a big disappointment at the end of the year from all of us. You felt you get close, you push so hard. The gamers felt that, the coaches, the staff, everyone. To not get in, it stings and it takes a bit of time to kind of breathe, procedure it, and after that turn attention to a lot of the fantastic things that occurred."

" Absolutely, we want our players believing and having high expectations that that's what you get up daily working towards," Adams included. "So, appearance, absolutely nothing external, whether it's from media, fans, will ever be more than what we internally expect from ourselves and the difficulties that we put on each other to raise our requirements and to be much better. Which's the way it need to be."