The Montreal Canadiens must avoid what the Buffalo Sabres are

The Buffalo Sabres turned over their front office, and the Montreal Canadiens must ensure their track record doesn’t get as bad to warrant something similar.

Let’s make something clear off the hop, the Montreal Canadiens are not the Buffalo Sabres. Sure, they were trending on missing the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons before the NHL went on pause. And for all intents and purposes, they could very well miss if they wind up losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Qualifier Round. Even so, the Habs are not as bad as the Sabres.

Buffalo has become one of the comedic pieces of the league as their “rebuild” has hit year number nine. In that time span, they haven’t gotten anywhere close to a playoff spot despite two 10-game winning streaks in the last two seasons. They’ve drafted superstar talent in Jack Eichel and Rasmus Dahlin but have failed time and time again to fill in the rest of the roster with skill.

A lot of that comes to the decisions of their front office. Victor Olofsson has been the only team’s draft success in a long time as he was taken in the seventh round of the 2014 NHL Draft and took some serious strides this year. Unfortunately, that’s been it.

Sam Reinhart, Rasmus Ristolainen and Casey Mittelstadt have been shaky. Jeff Skinner had an incredible debut year scoring 40 goals and 23 assists, which earned him a $9 million cap-hit leading to a down season. And to make matters worse, one of their biggest moves in trading Ryan O’Reilly sent him to a franchise that allowed him to grow, lead, and win the Conn Smythe as the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup.

The franchise player in Eichel was frustrated once again when asked how it felt to miss the playoffs once again. Sabres ownership gave a vote of confidence to general manager Jason Botterill who has had the gig since May of 2017. And three weeks later, the Pegula family decided enough was enough.

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Not only was Botterill fired, but so was the general manager of the AHL affiliate Rochester Americans Randy Sexton as well as the entire coaching staff. Even members of the scouting staff were let go. It seemed as if no one was safe as the Pegulla’s made it clear they wanted to revamp their team, and most importantly, have more say in the hockey decisions that are made for the Sabres.

Nothing has worked in Buffalo, so it’s understandable to see such a cosmic shift in personnel. Its clear ownership didn’t like the direction things were going and were tired of having their team in the higher-end of the draft lottery every single season. But desperate times.

The Montreal Canadiens must avoid this outcome. We already know that there is a fluid wall between ownership and management, as Geoff Molson said while denying the hiring of a president that Marc Bergevin will continue to report to him directly. We’ve also seen Molson continuously express his trust and confidence in what Bergevin has planned for the team.

He refuses to use the term “rebuild,” but the Montreal Canadiens apparently decided to retool the organization two years ago. That saw the exits of Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk with the additions of Max Domi, Joel Armia, Tomas Tatar and prospects Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Nick Suzuki.

Bergevin is relying on the future to fill in the pieces to improve the team. That’s what seems to be the focus of his plan and why he refuses to salvage the prospects to add talent to the team via trade.

What if it fails?

Molson may not go for a Red Tuesday-like cleanup, but hockey minds all expect changes if the Montreal Canadiens miss the playoffs again, starting with Bergevin and Julien.

The Habs can’t become the next Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres were rebuilding and were mistaken when they felt they were ready to compete. The Habs are a team that refuses to walk into a season with admiration to tank. Every year is a competitive year for them, which increases the scrutiny and perception of their play.

If things get to the point where the city is six or seven years in without playoffs, it can get to that regardless of the confidence Molson wants to throw. The Buffalo Sabres are a cautionary tale. Learn from them.