Jack Eichel hopes to finally lead the Sabres to the playoffs since 2011
The Buffalo Sabres have been snake-bitten all season long with the most obvious example being their recent COVID-19 outbreak. The spread was caused by a meeting with the New Jersey Devils over a weekend homestand at the end of January.
Before diving into that mess, it feels necessary to bring up Sabres fans’ massive amount of irritation that comes with supporting the team. Flashback to the 2018 NHL Draft—Buffalo is going crazy over having the first pick in the draft and getting the chance to select a once-in-a-generation prospect in Swedish defensemen Rasmus Dahlin.
Things start to look even better after the selection, as the Sabres acquire forward Jeff Skinner from the Carolina Hurricanes, giving themselves a solid top-six lineup including players like all-world forward Jack Eichel and his long-time linemate, center Sam Reinhart.
The 2018 season started off well too. The team secured a ten-game winning streak led in large part by the newly acquired Skinner and Dahlin. After this streak, however, the team began their stint in hockey hell as their record since has been a measly 50 wins, 70 losses and 20 overtime losses. If recent developments have anything to show, things are only going to get worse for the much-maligned franchise.
After their meeting with the Devils on Jan. 31, news emerged that several New Jersey players had been identified as having COVID-19 even though they had already participated in the game versus the Sabres. The next day it was announced that 17 New Jersey players were placed on the COVID-19 protocol list, including players who had recently been in contact with the Sabres the day before.
The following day, the Sabres suffered the same fate as they were shut down by the league following the positive results of forward Taylor Hall and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. The number increased to nine players within days, and even head coach Ralph Krueger, who is 61 and at high risk for the disease, came down with it as well.
Unsurprisingly, the Sabres were absolutely furious, with one report stating, “Buffalo is furious … They asked for more info from the league and from NJ on both Saturday and Sunday when Zajac and Palmieri went out and they didn’t get it.”
This is blatant mismanagement and incompetency on the NHL’s part and far from an isolated issue. There have been several other outbreaks across the NHL in spite of the league’s ramped-up testing and safety protocols that require testing every day.
What really seems to be going on here is more of the same for the NHL as they continue to focus solely on maintaining their image of being strict with their COVID-19 rules and gaining as much revenue as possible, all while allowing games to happen when they are aware of positive tests for some active players.
This often means putting teams into dangerous situations to better fit the NHL’s vision, and the Sabres were no exception according to sportswriter John Vogl. “The Sabres believe they were forced into a dangerous situation,” he said. “[They] were wary about playing Sunday, having already faced one Devils player who went into the league’s COVID-19 protocol, but the NHL continued with the scheduled game.”
The Sabres already had terrible luck, but to play in a league that cares so little about its players surely is not helping either. One has to wonder when the sun will shine on the Sabres again, as they are not only being ravaged by COVID-19 and the NHL, but by some of the league’s worst shooting luck.
It all adds up to what has been a miserable 4-6-2 record in Buffalo this season, but there is hope on the horizon that the Sabres have already put up with some of the worst that the NHL can offer. There’s not much else to do but go up from here.