I often wonder if fans would have met the rebuild with less divisiveness if Darcy Regier never uttered the phrase “there will be suffering”.
This year’s season seems to be trending down an all too familiar path. On the ice, the Sabres have stumbled out of the gates to a 4-8-2 record. On our phones the battle lines have been redrawn, Pro-tank vs Anti-tank.
I’m someone who championed the idea of tearing everything down and starting fresh. The organization exhausted every drop of hockey from our last core group of players. They were never going to win a Stanley Cup with Thomas Vanek, Ryan Miller and Jason Pominville leading the team.
Sinking to the bottom of the standings is the natural course taken when an organization transitions from a group of players who failed to meet expectations. The Sabres didn’t rewrite the playbook to rebuilding, they were just more accepting to the reality of their situation.
Although I am steadfast in my stance that losing was more beneficial for the team in 2014-15, I grossly miscalculated the time it would take to right the ship. Poor drafting by Darcy Regier pre-tank and a lack of patience by Tim Murray post-tank are the reasons the Sabres continue to flounder.
Blaming the front office for positioning themselves to draft a franchise-altering player is severely missing the target. If the Sabres didn’t tank, they still wouldn’t be anywhere near a contender and they would be without services of Jack Eichel.
I welcome anyone in the anti-tank crowd to tell me what the Sabres should have done instead. Even with all the losing, I still believe the path to sustained greatness is acquiring elite talent by drafting as high as possible.