Groundhog Day: Sabres Bugaloo

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

 6-13-3. That is where the Buffalo Sabres stand after another loss to the New York Islanders Saturday afternoon. I'm pretty sure this has been put through the meat grinder three times over, but this team is bad. No way to sugarcoat it, and they're a mess in the front office, or whatever was left after last season. How did it get this way? There are many answers, but I will tackle one part of the problem, which is their ability to develop prospects. 

For this exercise, I will reference the Hockey News prospects magazine that is usually put out every year around this time, specifically, 2011. The top 10 prospects of the team for that year will be listed, along with what they went on to accomplish, with hockeydb as a source. 

• Zack Kassian: the team's top ranked prospect that year, he was a first round pick in 2009. He would suit up for 27 games with the Sabres in 2011-12 before getting traded for Cody Hodgson at the trade deadline. Never known for his offense, he's had stops in Vancouver, Montreal (he never suited up for them), and Edmonton, where his physical play is a welcome addition for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
• Luke Adam: a second round pick in 2008, Adam had the most time in the NHL in the 2011-12 season, playing 52 games. He would only have 38 other NHL games to his resume and 26 points total. He would be more of an AHL player in North America, leaving for Germany after the 2015-16 season, where he currently plays. 
• Marcus Foligno: A fourth round pick in 2009, Foligno actually spent five-plus seasons with the Sabres, providing quality third-line minutes on a Sabres team that lacked offense. 13 goals was his career high, accomplishing that in his final year with the team. In the 2017 offseason, he was traded with Tyler Ennis to Minnesota for Marco Scandella and Jason Pominville. In Minnesota, he has been the same player, this time, on a team that finally has a game breaker on offense.
• Mark Pysyk: The 2010 first round pick was never able to be a regular with the Sabres in four seasons with the team, amassing 55 games in the 2015-16 season as a high with them. He would be traded to Florida after that season for Dmitry Kulikov and a swap of second round picks, where he became a regular on their blue line. Prior to this season, he signed with Dallas, and despite the regular time the last few seasons, Pysyk was never the offensive defenseman the Sabres envisioned, with 18 points being a season high, accomplished in 2019-20.
• Brayden McNabb: The 2009 third round pick of the Sabres spent most of his tenure in the AHL, only in 37 games with the parent club before getting traded during the 2013-14 season to Los Angeles. He would begin his NHL career in earnest the following season, playing with the Kings for three seasons before getting claimed by Vegas in the 2017 expansion draft. A noted stay-at-home defender, McNabb is a regular on the shutdown pairing.
• Jhonas Enroth: The 2006 second round pick was not a big guy, limiting his potential as a starter in the league. He bounced between the Sabres and Portland of the AHL for a couple seasons before earning the backup job in 2011. He would play a season high of 37 games in the 2014-15 season with the Sabres before getting traded at the deadline to Dallas, where he would play 13 more games that season. His GAA numbers told the story of the team in front of him, as he posted a 3.27 GAA in Buffalo. In comparison, that number was 0.89 lower in Dallas. He would have his best season as a backup in Los Angeles in the 2015-16 season, playing 16 games and have a 2.17 GAA. That wasn't enough, as he would spend the following season mostly in the AHL, with a 6 game cameo for the Maple Leafs before heading to Europe after the season, where he's played in the KHL, Austria, and Sweden. 
• Marc-Andre Gragnani: The third round pick in the 2005 draft can be best classified as a 4-A player, way too good to be in the AHL, but not good enough to be in the NHL. 2011-12 was his "best" year in the NHL, as he played 58 games between Buffalo and Vancouver. However, his offensive touch from the blue line was nowhere to be found, as the AHL numbers never translated. In 2016, he went to Europe, where he has spent time in the KHL and Sweden.
• Drew Schiestel: The second round pick in 2007 never played in the NHL, having played in the AHL, ECHL, Germany, Denmark, Austria, and the English league.
• Jerome Gauthier-Leduc: A third round pick in 2010, he also never made the NHL, spending most of his North American career in the AHL. He has played in the Czech Republic, English league, Sweden, and Austria.
• Dennis Persson: The 2006 first round pick in 2006 never played in the NHL, as he struggled to adapt to the North American game. He was last on the ice in Sweden in 2016.

What did we learn from this list? It's a microcosm of one of Buffalo's biggest problems since the start of last decade: their inability to develop young talent. Of the players on the list, the only one you can say developed properly was Foligno, and he was never considered a top tier guy. Everyone else either had their best seasons on other teams or leagues, or never developed at all. This is not a new trend with the Sabres, as the only players they've drafted that became something are Jack Eichel, Rasmus Dahlin, and Sam Reinhart, and even then, the Sabres are on the verge of messing that up. The clean out of the staff after last season doesn't help, and given the team's struggles this season, it's not going to get better.