They start on backyard rinks or sheets of community ice in their hometowns. Over time, their skills grow and so does their notoriety. Juniors. College. Memorial Cup. Frozen Four. Then they reach their dreams, going through the draft and making it to the NHL.
Even at 22 years old, Byram has experienced what no one else in the Sabres’ dressing room has in the NHL. The left-shot defenseman played a key role for the Avalanche when the franchise won the Stanley Cup less than two years ago.
The Stanley Cup is the goal. But as the old saying goes, you’ve got to be in it to win it. The Buffalo Sabres haven’t survived the 82-game grind of the regular season for 13 years running now.
For the young players in the Sabres’ dressing room, there was a sheer slap of reality on Tuesday when coach Don Granato was fired. And what you and I heard from GM Kevyn Adams at the podium in the wake of the decision likely paled in comparison to what Adams told his players in private.
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When you get to the NHL, it isn’t all fun and games anymore. This is big business.
Just imagine the flow of red ink in Terry Pegula’s books for his franchise since the days of the tank. Go ask the folks in Arizona, who watched their team play its last game Wednesday night and were likely to officially lose it to Salt Lake City on Thursday in a vote of the NHL’s Board of Governors.
Come next season, Rasmus Dahlin will be playing for his fourth NHL head coach (Phil Housley, Ralph Krueger, Granato and the new hire). Dylan Cozens also dates to the Krueger days and both Dahlin and Cozens were first-round picks of former GM Jason Botterill.
Granato largely made a lot of these players into what they are. From big names like Dahlin and Tage Thompson all the way to 18-year-old Zach Benson, whose 71 games played this season are more than anyone in the 2023 draft class, including Connor Bedard. But he didn’t win enough games and didn’t push certain players behind the scenes, as we learned in some exit interviews Tuesday. So now he’s gone.
Tuch battled injuries and inconsistency this year, falling from 36 goals to 22 and from 79 points to 59. He's almost certain to wear a letter next season and he knows he needs to be better than that as a top-line player. This should be a summer like no other for a bunch of Sabres.
“A lot of guys in here owe a lot to him,” Cozens said when he met reporters Wednesday in KeyBank Center. “You can’t help but think it’s our fault as players for not being good enough. We weren’t good enough for him and and that’s why he’s not here anymore.
“It’s the tough part of the game. It’s a part of the game that you learn of quick when you’re in the NHL. I had to go through that my first year with firing the coach (Krueger) and even before that with the GM (Botterill). So I got exposed to it quick but as tough as it is, it’s a normal side of the game.”
Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, on the mend after shoulder surgery, called the move “honestly shocking” but added “I kind of grew up in this world” so he understood it. The reference was to the career of his father, longtime NHL defenseman Kjell Samuelsson.
Before the search for the next Buffalo Sabres coach began, General Manager Kevyn Adams laid out the qualities that he wants in Don Granato’s replacement. The requirements will include, but won’t be limited to, NHL head coaching experience, a track record of success, being able to hold players accountable while building relationships and being a tactician who can get more out of a team that missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a 13th consecutive year.
The same can’t be said for fellow blueliner Owen Power, who did not experience this kind of turnover in the USHL or the University of Michigan.
“I’m not used to it at all. It’s never kind of happened and it definitely grabs your attention, obviously brings a lot of uncertainty,” Power said. “You realize it’s a business and that’s just kind of how it goes.”
“It was obviously hard and I like Donnie a lot,” said JJ Peterka, who blossomed into a 28-goal, first-line player this season. “I think he helped me a lot this year, especially with video sessions with talks and just helping my game go to the next level. Getting that message was pretty hard.”
Buffalo Sabres forward JJ Peterka speaks to the media during locker cleanout in KeyBank Center, Thursday, April 18, 2024.
Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen became a No. 1 in the NHL for the first time under Granato after the coach was forced to do a 360 from Devon Levi and Eric Comrie, the pair that shared the first six games of the season before Luukkonen finally got a start in Game 7.
Luukkonen has a dramatically different feeling heading into this summer following 54 appearances and 27 wins. He starts camp next season as the unquestioned No. 1 but his summer will include negotiations on a new deal with the club as a restricted free agent.
“It’s obviously a cool experience, but it’s a new one for sure,” Luukkonen said. “Kind of learning the ins and outs of in-season stuff and offseason stuff has been exciting.”
There is utter desperation within this organization to break this 13-year playoff drought that is an embarrassment of the highest order, Harrington says.
There’s less excitement, of course, from seeing the coach head out the door.
“I owe Donnie a lot. He gave me my chance to be the NHL goalie,” Luukkonen said. “He’s been a big part of my development here. He has helped me a lot. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions in this business. And maybe as a team, that’s what we need.”
There was quite the undercurrent of chatter the last couple of days. It sounded like some of the young players were held in too high a regard by Granato and didn’t have repercussions for mistakes. Thompson and Alex Tuch, both big Granato supporters, agreed the room was too casual at times. Samuelsson said Wednesday that practice speed was up to snuff but that players’ attention spans during it and mental focus could have been better.
“You gotta have success in this league. It’s definitely a reality check,” Benson said. “It’s my first time kind of seeing a coach get fired firsthand.”
“It’s obviously unfortunate, and obviously not on him,” Power said of Granato. “We weren’t nearly good enough.”
April 19, 2024 at 02:50AM
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Mike Harrington: The NHL's harsh reality hits hard for Sabres' young players - Buffalo News
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