Tanking Was Totally worth It for the Sabres

This story originally appeared on VICE Sports Canada.

The Buffalo Sabres were intentionally bad in 2015. Tim Murray, the team's general manager, took a risk and tanked for the chance at landing Connor McDavid. He accomplished his goal of being awful, as the Sabres finished dead last in the league with 54 points, but the pingpong balls didn't bounce his way. Though the Sabres lost out on the McDavid sweepstakes, they secured the second overall pick and walked away with their own generational talent in Jack Eichel, even if Murray was initially unhappy with the process.

Buffalo, now loaded with a franchise player, a new coach and a much-improved roster, is taking the next step in its rebuild and had perhaps the most impressive offseason of any NHL team.

Ted Nolan was fired at the end of the 2015 season, and the club aimed big with his replacement. The Sabres reportedly thought they landed Mike Babcock but were spurned at the last minute in favour of Toronto. Buffalo ended up with another big coaching kahuna, though, bringing in former Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma, who guided the team to a Stanley Cup during the 2008-09 season. Bylsma made the playoffs in each of the six seasons he coached in Pittsburgh, and Buffalo is hoping he can bring that winning attitude to western New York.

While the future is bright, Bylsma does have a lot of work to do. The Sabres couldn't buy a goal in 2014-15—finishing second last in even-strength goals to the Arizona Coyotes—but there's hope and reason to believe this season will be different. For starters, there's Eichel.

The 18-year-old, a worthy No. 2 pick behind McDavid, scored in his first career NHL game with a nasty snipe.

And he did this on Monday.

Eichel has tantalizing skill and game-breaking talent. He's worth all the hype. It would be a lot for the Sabres to ask the teenager to carry the load right away, though, which is part of the reason Buffalo landed a much-needed No. 1 centre in Ryan O'Reilly, and promptly signed him to a seven-year deal. Driving issues aside, O'Reilly is an excellent two-way player, who drives possession and still has upside as a 24-year-old.

Joining them is a mostly forgotten piece in fellow 24-year-old Evander Kane. The Sabres made a huge move in 2014-15 to acquire a then-injured Kane from the Winnipeg Jets in hopes they could plug him into the lineup going forward. The former Jets captain gives the Sabres a hard-nosed player, who, if he can stay healthy, can hit the 30-goal mark.

With the new upgrades, players like Matt Moulson, Tyler Ennis and Brian Gionta—all asked to do way too much last season—will have less pressure on them to produce, which should stabilize the club's scoring depth.

Buffalo's defense was also something that needed a major redesign. The Sabres gave up a staggering 2293 shots at even strength in 2014-15, which amounted to an impossibly bad 34.6 shot attempts per 60 minutes. The club is counting on Rasmus Ristolainen, 20, and Zach Bogosian (on the injured reserve) to play big minutes. Buffalo also waited on free agent Cody Franson and snagged the puck-moving defenceman for an extremely cheap two-year, $6.6 million deal. The club didn't do enough to fix its D-unit this offseason, so the position should still be an area of weakness, but nothing can be worse than last year's mess.

Sabres goaltenders performed admirably, given the shitstorm they faced last year, but the club lacked a young No. 1 starter to build around. Buffalo rectified that by paying a steep price on draft day (a first-round pick) to acquire Robin Lehner from the Ottawa Senators. The 6'4" Swedish netminder posted a well-below average .908 even-strength save percentage with the Sens, but in 78 starts since 2011 has averaged a much better mark of .920. Goaltending is voodoo, and Lehner plays with fire, has the size and is young enough to bet on.

Unfortunately for the club, Lehner suffered an injury in Thursday's season opener and will be out for 6–10 weeks, so Buffalo will have to rely on 29-year-old backup Chad Johnson. It's a situation that could turn ugly. The Sabres will have to act immediately to acquire an upgrade between the pipes, otherwise their season could be over in a hurry. Still, regardless of this season's results, the team is setup well for the future.

Murray accelerated a rebuild by icing a horrible team, and Buffalo should quickly see an immediate return for those struggles.

Buffalo isn't going to win the Stanley Cup this season and probably won't make the playoffs, either. But Murray has completely revamped his roster and added some great young pieces to the club. Yes, the Sabres were unwatchable last year, but with Eichel, plus Kane and O'Reilly, the team is worth the price of admission.

Tanking was absolutely worth it.