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That's why I said that Adams needs to also go. But would different players make Granato's powerplay work? Would different players develop team toughness and grit if Granato didn't hold them accountable for playing in all 3 zones? Can you imagine Granato standing on the bench screaming 'You don't run our captain' at the other coach? The problem is roster construction and coaching. Both Adams and Granato need to go.

First off, the power play is terrible. No movement, same plan over and over again. The defensive zone coverage is slightly improved, however they still give up way too many high danger chances. In the offensive zone, they are still a perimeter team. They have been poor on their high danger chances, but they also do not sustain pressure and lack net-front presence to score on rebounds. The team lacks general toughness and they are not difficult to play against. Ruff used to preach 'playing out of character' to elevate the team's play; Granato does not motivate his team to do the same. His in game management is bad to blah. There's obvious misses like not calling a timeout against Ottawa last week in first period. But besides examples like that, has there been any point in his tenure that you thought that he coached a great game? Are you impressed by his line combinations, management or matching? His team has a terrible home record. The Sabres have the worst 1st period goal differential in the league. This goes directly to a lack preparation on by the coaches. Too many times the team has just disappeared during a game. Going 10 or 15 minutes without a shot on goal. When you need the coach to figure out how to help the team to win a shift or two, Granato has come up empty. His choice of assistant coaches is terrible, and he has made bad decisions maintaining his staff. His management of preseason this year was terrible, contributing to the Sabres slow start. He purposefully ignored coaching the team to play a 200 ft game for 3 seasons, emphatic that letting his young players focus on offense would be better for their development. This is just an absurd approach, as it instilled a host of bad habits in his young players. To sum up, I don't think Granato is a good NHL coach. There is too much focus on developing individual players and too little on developing a team. His team lacks the mental focus and accountability to win on a nightly basis. Granato is 7th in NHL history on most games coached with no playoffs list. This shows that he's been given a longer leash than other most other coaches have to make the playoffs, and he has failed. It's time to move on. There are too many things that Granato needs to fix in his coaching style to realistically believe that he is going to pull it all together next season. And Adams should be shown the door with him.

Nah, Granato is bad. He's the sixth longest tenured coach in the league right now. What are we going to learn next year that we already don't know about him? He's looked good in comparison to Krueger, but that's a low bar. I'd rather role the dice with the unknown than spend another year of failure with Granato. The same goes with Adams.

Roy was a playmaker who had success despite his lack of elite skills. Benson could develop into a similar player, based on what he's shown this year. Again, he's 18. If he's on the same development arc most players in the league, he probably won't really emerge as a solid player for 4 or 5 more years.

So you don't think there are players in the NHL who have high hockey IQ, but not elite skills? He's 18. Nobody can say how good this guy will be, but I think he's shown enough to not be considered a bust. He's probably closer to Derek Roy than Girgensons. He's not going to be as physical as Girgensons, and won't be a 4th liner. At the same time, he's probably smarter than Roy.

His hockey IQ is off the charts. He doesn't seem to have an elite shot, though, or elite speed. Not sure about his puck possession skills because he does tend to get knocked off the puck a lot. One criticism is that he doesn't always move his feet while backchecking, which causes him to reach, which results in penalties. You would think that Granato and staff would have addressed this during the season. Right now he is often outmatched physically, but his skills should continue to emerge as he gets stronger. At this point he seems like a puck mover/playmaker. He'll score by being in the right place at the right time. He also seems to have leadership ability. Hopefully he doesn't have that beaten out of him by the team's overall lack of success.

What coach worth a damn would want to work for Adams? Who wants to coach the youngest roster in the NHL? Fire Adams and Granato and hope that Pegula gets lucky hiring the new guys, like he did with Beane and McDermott.

Has anyone checked if he has uneven eyes?

See that graphic with the youngest teams in the league? They're all missing the playoffs.

Marty showing again how the Sabres have no idea how to play in the defensive zone.

Nice to see Quinn back in the swing of things.

Must have pulled that photo off of a milk carton.

A recent Athletic article mentioned that Granato is 7th on the list of coaches who have coached the most games without making the playoffs. That's 7th in the history of the NHL, not 7th on an active coaches list. Granato being on that high on the list even though he has barely coached 4 seasons worth of games, shows the short leash given to coaches who do not make the playoffs. Think about it, of all the seasons played in the NHL, by all the teams, there are only SIX other franchises who would be okay with Granato's record of incompetence. In other words, 99% of other franchises would have fired this guy long ago. So giving a mulligan to a coach who is that high up on that list is not the norm for NHL teams. Asking Sabres fans to continue to be patient with a coach who has historically failed to make the playoffs, after the fans have endured the franchise's historic playoff drought is beyond the normal or reasonable expectation of any NHL fan. And before anyone wants to give Granato a pass because he is a newbie, he is currently the 6th longest tenured coach in the NHL. Adams and Granato aren't trailblazing a new way to win in the NHL. By all NHL standards, they are failures. Giving them a fifth season isn't going to somehow magically turn them into winners.

I'm going to go against the grain and say that Pegula does clean house after the season. Both of his previous GM firings were a surprise, and before he canned Krueger, some were lining him up for an executive job. But Terry swung the ax. He's actually good at firing people. Sucks at hiring them, but excels at firing them. As for the new COO, hopefully he's contemplating WWJD (what would Jordan do).

Watch the defensive zone coverage, power play strategy, and the opposing zone net-front presence. Coaching is the problem.

It should convince the owner he needs a new GM.

They're probably going to be younger next season by replacing Jost, Girgensons, Comrie, Olofsson, and Bryson. The Sabres started the season with an average age of 26. They are now at an average age of around 25. Anyway, here are the 10 youngest teams in the league right now: Sabres, Coyotes, Blue Jackets, Senators, Canadiens, Ducks, Devils, Blackhawks, Flyers, Blues. The only team in that group in playoff position is the Flyers. Their average age is 27. Two years older than the Sabres' average age. Trying to create the youngest roster in the league is a dumb way to build a team, because as we've witnessed, a young player's developmental progression is not linear. Look at Thompson, Middlestadt, Cozens, Power, and even Dahlin. The Sabres inconsistency can be attributed to the large number of players experiencing this non-linear growth. Adams needs to go. 4 years of his plan, no playoffs, and the Sabres are still the youngest team in the league, where being young brings no advantage.

Sabres 22nd overall in the league. They might have some good players on the roster, but they are a bad team.

They know they have to win, they just have no idea how to win. This annual rush to futility should highlight the need to fire the front office and coaching staff. Sabres do have something going on, they just need better management/coaching to draw it out.

Well the sense of urgency has only been around for 10 of 40 games this season. So it makes sense.

Maybe he's a veteren who is learning how to win.

When has KO ever been a veteren who 'knows how to win?'

The Sabres weren't trying to make three goalies work, they were trying to make one goalie, Levi, work. Adams (and Granato) took a huge risk trying to make a 22 year old rookie their starter this season, instead of sending him to Rochester to develop. When Levi faltered, they turned to Comrie, who was injured or sucked, depending on the day. That forced them turn to UPL, who was shaky at best last season, but he was only 23 for most of that year. The vast majority of goalies are not ready to be NHL starters at 23. Miller, Ullmark and Hasek weren't #1 goalies until they were older than 25. So instead of trusting UPL's development as a 24 year old, Adams and Granato went with Levi. It was a cluster#### of a decision that will probably cost the Sabres a playoff spot this season.