The Buffalo Sabres are an organization that has been down in the dumps over the last decade plus with the team missing out on playoff contention every season since 2011.
The Sabres have been expected to make the playoff leap in recent seasons with the club coming closer to reaching the promised land the last few years only to snap back into their modern mediocre reality.
This seemingly never ending rebuild in Buffalo has caused the team to go into multiple cycles of shuffling around their core deck in order to reset and attempt to get the ship righted. That could be on the cusp of happening again as reports suggest 2 of the team's top core players future with the club could be in jeopardy if the Sabres usual struggles continue.
What is the outlook in Buffalo?
Those 2 players whose long term future's in Buffalo are up for debate are Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson. Via insider Elliotte Friedman, Thompson and Dahlin could be on their way out from the Sabres in the near future if the club is unable to turn its fortunes around.
That timeline in question is even sooner than Buffalo Sabres fans would wish to see. The prospects for the team reportedly must see drastic improvement this season according to Friedman if the duo are to stick it out in Buffalo. The question is what does that improvement mean exactly, is a return to the playoffs this season the expectation?
This would not be the first time in the current era of Buffalo Sabres hockey in which the team were to lose core players that they have spent time drafting and developing over the years. Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and JJ Peterka are just a few recent examples of big time players who have left Buffalo for greener pastures. We'll see if the Sabres can avoid a repeat of history here and get the train back on the tracks.