On February 22, 2011, Terry Pegula sat before the Buffalo media and proclaimed with great confidence that the tide was beginning to turn for his newly purchased hockey franchise.
“Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup.”
Fast forward ten years to today, February 22, 2021.
One could argue that the Buffalo Sabres are actually further away from the Stanley Cup now than they were when Pegula originally made that proclamation.
In 729 games since Pegula officially took over the Sabres, they have amassed a record of 281-354-94. The math breaks down to a league-worst .450 win percentage.
Buffalo’s win-loss record puts them 30th in the National Hockey League, out of 31 teams.
The only team with fewer victories in the last ten years? The Vegas Golden Knights, who did not begin playing until the 2017-18 National Hockey League season.
To put this into a little more perspective, the Golden Knights have 143 wins in 250 games. That averages out to a .618 win percentage.
Furthermore, the Buffalo Sabres have averaged 2.41 goals per game (1,754 goals overall) since Pegula took over. Those marks also have Buffalo ranked dead-last, 31st out of all 31 franchises.
Of the aforementioned 1,754 goals that have been scored in the Pegula era, it should come as no surprise that Jack Eichel’s 139 goals in 368 games rank him first during the past ten seasons.
Sam Reinhart comes in second with 114 goals in 412 games.
Buffalo’s inability to score goals over the past ten years has not come as a welcome sight, when the team has allowed 2.99 goals per game throughout the last ten years.
That ranks T-3rd-worst in the National Hockey League, with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Buffalo has allowed 2,180 goals in 729 games, while Toronto has allowed 2,192 goals in 734 games.
Only the Edmonton Oilers (2,234 goals allowed in 736 games) and the Ottawa Senators (2,211 goals allowed in 736 games) have recorded worse numbers.
Everything involving the Buffalo Sabres has not been going well, which comes as no surprised to all who have watched over the past ten years.
At some point, you would figure that something would have to give.
Then again, as mentioned, we have been clearly watching the same old story over the past ten years.
One can only begin to hope the upswing back to relevancy is coming soon and the next ten years do not turn out like the first ten years did.