Ask Tage Thompson about the identity of some of the top teams in the NHL, and he doesn’t hesitate to explain what a winner looks like.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, he said, created an identity based on a zippy, high-octane offense, and by thriving on special-teams play.
The Florida Panthers, he explained, embraced the persona of the rat. A team that suffocates its opponents and gives it no time or space to create plays.
Ask Thompson about his own team’s identity – the reflection of what he sees in the Buffalo Sabres for this season.
“Blue-collar, speed and work ethic,” Thompson said. “The simpler we keep things, the better success we set ourselves up for.”
How quickly does Thompson, one of the faces and major personalities of the Sabres, want to see his team crystalize its own identity?
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“It’s already had to happen,” he said in the final days of training camp.
Ask the Sabres to look in the figurative mirror at their team, at the organization as a whole, and here are some of the answers you get about the reflection they see.
“We’re young,” left wing Jason Zucker said. “We’re fast. We can make a lot of plays. But we’re still trying to work on what it’s going to be for this year, to be quite honest. I think we have what we’ve been in the past, and I think we’re trying to update that, to be a grittier team, to be a bit harder to play against.”
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams: “We have to be team that, at the end of the night, when we’re home, teams will say: ‘That’s a tough building to come into; that was a tough night.’ I think we’ve been too easy to play against, and I’ll take responsibility for that. That’s not anything to do with age or fighting, but it’s being more competitive. Harder to play against. Competitive.”
Derek Gee, Buffalo News
On the eve of training camp, general manager Kevyn Adams offered his ideal blueprint.
“We have to be team that, at the end of the night, when we’re home, teams will say: ‘That’s a tough building to come into; that was a tough night,’ ” Adams said. “I think we’ve been too easy to play against, and I’ll take responsibility for that. That’s not anything to do with age or fighting, but it’s being more competitive. Harder to play against. Competitive.”
The Sabres see themselves and see a vision of what they want to be and what they could be: A defensive-minded unit that makes life difficult for its opponents, one that utilizes and maximizes world-class talent such as Thompson, right wing Alex Tuch and defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.
From the outside, the Sabres are seen as enigmatic at best, or as a misfit toy at worst. Or, as one ESPN hockey analyst put it: “They’re like that shopping cart with the wobbly wheel.”
“It’s not a neglected child, but it’s just kind of … there,” said John Buccigross, a studio analyst and commentator for ESPN’s NHL broadcasts. “Until something happens – luck, or organically – whether you get the right 10-13 guys and things click, or make the right hire, who wills the Sabres to the next level?”
The threshold for that next level: Make the playoffs. Just make the playoffs.
The Buffalo Sabres and goalie Alex Lyon completed the preseason with a 5-4 overtime loss Friday in Pittsburgh, and open the season at 7 p.m. Oct. 9 against the New York Rangers at KeyBank Center.
They came close in 2022-23, edged out by the Panthers for the final postseason berth in the NHL’s Eastern Conference, 92 points to the Sabres’ 91. That season, the Panthers reached the Stanley Cup final, losing to the Vegas Golden Knights – and the Panthers, two Stanley Cup wins later, haven’t looked back.
Ray Ferraro, an 18-year NHL veteran, can’t pinpoint exactly what it is that makes the Sabres … well, the Sabres.
“The biggest problem the Sabres have had over the last bit is, they’re kind of swirling around,” he said. “You try to fix one problem, and another one springs up. Then you make yourself stronger in one area, and then you become weaker in another.”
These aren’t flattering portrayals, but they’re realistic, given the recent state of the franchise, one that’s produced 18 Hockey Hall of Famers, made Stanley Cup finals in 1975 and 1999, made the playoffs 26 times and needs 46 wins to reach the 2,000 mark.
What must change?
The Sabres last made the playoffs in 2011. Buffalo and the NFL’s New York Jets have the longest active postseason droughts among North America’s professional sports leagues.
There’s impatience surrounding the franchise in terms of player development, winning games, reaching the playoffs and making competitiveness an organizational priority.
The Sabres had 10 former first-round draft picks in training camp. Their AHL farm team in Rochester had winning records in seven of the last eight seasons.
But average annual attendance has plummeted in the last 14 years, from a peak of 18,970 in 2012-13 to as low as 9,998 coming out of the pandemic. By comparison, the Sabres averaged 15,998 fans in 2024-25.
Sabres left wing Jason Zucker: “We’re young. We’re fast. We can make a lot of plays. But we’re still trying to work on what it’s going to be for this year, to be quite honest. I think we have what we’ve been in the past, and I think we’re trying to update that, to be a grittier team, to be a bit harder to play against.”
Derek Gee, Buffalo News
Zucker played for four NHL teams in the first 12 years of his career before joining the Sabres as a free agent in July 2024. He played on teams that had clear identities, whether they were veteran-laden teams in Minnesota, or teams in Pittsburgh with future Hockey Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
“It’s a little bit different when you talk about those teams, because they have their identities,” Zucker said. “Pittsburgh won three Cups (in 2009, 2016 and 2017). They know what they’re doing. Nothing’s changing there, but you knew very clearly what your role was, what you’re supposed to be doing out there. It changes, team by team.
“But for us, having a younger team over the years, guys are trying to figure out what their identities are, as a person, individually, and then how that fits into a team system and a team role. That’s something we’re still trying work through. Most guys are pretty good at it, and we’re trying to get better at it as a unit.”
Creating a team identity also comes with obstacles. Players can get traded. A superstar’s season could end with an injury, and roles suddenly shuffle within the lineup. A 10-game losing streak in December can deflate morale. Maybe someone in the locker room just doesn’t buy into the whole team concept.
A team can carve its identity by how it collectively hurdles those obstacles.
“Adversity and inconsistency,” Thompson said, when asked about those obstacles. “Every team faces adversity at some point throughout the year. It’s how you overcome it. It’s easy for a team to write down its goals or what their identity wants to be, on a piece of paper. But to do it every single day, especially when you are not feeling your best, that’s a lot harder to accomplish.
“What it comes down to is the leaders in the room, leading the way, approaching every single day with those characteristics and those identities that we want shown.”
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff has made one of his team’s defensive goals clear: Cut that goals-against number by at least 50.
Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
Consistency and habits
James Patrick was a defenseman with the Sabres from 1998-2004, playing for Lindy Ruff in those six seasons. He also coached current Sabres forwards Peyton Krebs and Zach Benson when they played for the Winnipeg Ice in the Western Hockey League. Patrick was a part of the Sabres’ glory years, but he has also witnessed the recent struggles that have marked the last 14 years.
What helped Patrick to a lengthy NHL career – 22 seasons with the New York Rangers, Hartford Whalers, Calgary Flames and Sabres – was how he adhered to everyday habits, and how he gave no space when it came to facing opponents.
There’s a word that moves around a lot in hockey: Consistency. Creating consistency isn’t an act but a habit — do it every day, or as much as you can, until it becomes second nature. And then keep doing it.
Building it and repeating it, Patrick explains, is one way for an individual or a team like the Sabres to be harder to play against on a daily/nightly basis.
“Every night, you do it the same way,” Patrick said. “This is how we play. This is how we play on the defensive side of the puck. Every night, if you do that, it adds up. Tying a game. Protecting a lead. That adds up, at the end of the year.”
An example: The Sabres gave up 68 first-period goals last season, which was 13th in the NHL. They gave up 107 in the second (31st) and 107 in the third (30th). The Sabres finished 36-39-7 – but of those 39 regulation losses and seven overtime losses, 20 came after the Sabres scored the first goal in a game.
“If you look at a team like the Sabres, (consistency) could be the difference between winning and losing, and making the playoffs,” Patrick said. “Can each guy be 1% better, and what could that do for the team? If you can get more consistency from more guys, what difference will that make to the team? They have to play together and push each other, and you have to take care of yourself. How can you be more consistent? How do you not have those lulls? How can you not have those spells when you’re not noticed?”
Sabres center Tage Thompson on the team’s identity: “Blue-collar, speed and work ethic. The simpler we keep things, the better success we set ourselves up for.”
Harry Scull, Buffalo News
Fixing the cart
How does a franchise fix a shopping cart with a wobbly wheel? Replace the wheel or find a new shopping cart? The easy fix is to return the cart for another, but it’s not that easy when it comes to negotiating the identity and makeup of an entire organization.
After 14 years, however … are there still fixes? Tweaks or overhauls?
Thompson focuses on simplification. Put in the work on the ice, form habits, repeat them.
“When you do things over and over, that’s what makes an identity,” Thompson said.
If you were to apply that to the Sabres’ habits over the past 14 years lately, they’ve forced more questions than answers. They’ve also produced that external labeling – the wobbly shopping cart, the New York Jets, the dubious drought.
“The 14 years out of the playoffs becomes this unbearable weight you carry around,” said Ferraro, who is now an NHL commentator for ESPN. “You can’t fix 14 years. The Sabres need to look immediately at where they’re at and say, What do we need to fix first?’ For me, it’s, they have to be an offensive-leaning team, because they can score, but their focus has to be — they’ve got to cut some goals against, or the story’s going to remain the same.”
The Sabres tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for 29th in goals against last season (287), only ahead of Chicago (292) and San Jose (310). Ruff has made one of his team’s defensive goals clear: Cut that goals-against number by at least 50.
Even Adams, the Sabres’ sixth-year general manager, set the bar.
“I want a better defensive team,” he said last month.
What’s going to make that happen for Adams, for the Sabres and for the franchise’s short-term fortunes?
Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, left, and center Tage Thompson celebrate Dahlin’s goal in the third period of an exhibition against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 1 at KeyBank Center.
Joed Viera, Buffalo News
Competing at a high level. Playing a system that emphasizes defense and helps the goaltending – block shots and backcheck, rather than focusing on offensive production as a means to survive. Harnessing the talent the team has – Thompson and defenseman Michael Kesselring helped the United States win a gold medal at the IIHF World Championship in May, while defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is a bona fide Norris Trophy candidate – and locking the puzzle pieces together.
“The game has changed, and it’s a more specialized game, but everyone knows how important this year is for them,” said Patrick, the former Sabres defenseman. “They can’t live in the past. They have to say, ‘What can we do now, moving forward?’ I want them to play as good, defensively as possible, and that’s how they have to play. They can’t give up easy goals.
“There has to be growth to everyone’s game. There has to be more consistency and total buy-in, from everyone on this team. ‘This is how we’re going to play, this is our system, and this is how hard you’re going to play in our system.’ ”
Addressing the now
The Sabres open the season at 7 p.m. Thursday against the New York Rangers, and Ruff is succinct about what he wants to see from his team, on the ice.
“Hard to play against, and play well, defensively,” he said at the start of training camp.
If Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is out for any extended period, it would appear the Sabres will start the season with Alexandar Georgiev and fellow vet Alex Lyon sharing the crease.
Defenseman Jacob Bryson: “October 9, there’s going to be a lot of energy and emotion in this room and in that room, that we’re playing against, too, and it’ll be a fun game, but I think bringing and playing a full, 60-minute game is a big thing. If we do that, we’ll be successful.”
Thompson: “Speed. Moving our feet. Competing on pucks. Winning the one-on-one battles. I think that’s really what the game of hockey comes down to, is who’s winning those one-on-one battles and 50-50 pucks. From there, that’s usually what leads to momentum, throughout the game.”
The Sabres will know by about 10 p.m. Thursday night if they have taken a first successful step toward defining their collective identity.
The season opener won’t define an 82-game season, but the opening-night effort could set an early tone for a team and a franchise that desperately needs – and has needed – a kick-start.
“These players can rally together, and I’m sure they’ve done that,” said Buccigross, the ESPN hockey commentator. “And they’re good at that. With all these young guys coming in and going out, that’s been tough. You saw with Don Granato (as coach from 2020-24) people got better, and he was good at development. He could be a valuable piece for someone.
“But the Sabres have to somehow build an organization, have a vision, and have the players come along for the ride. In the organization, you need to have the respect of the players, the players respecting the coach, and their own commitment from the team, and you need it to come together, top to bottom.”
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