Sabres GM promises changes after finishing last in NHL

BUFFALO -- Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill was honest, frustrated and angry during his end-of-season press conference Wednesday, and vowed changes will be made after the Sabres finished with the worst record in the NHL this season.
Botterill made it crystal clear Buffalo's 25-45-12 record (62 points) was not acceptable.

"There certainly has to be change and there will be change," Botterill said. "When you finish where we were, you have to look at everything. That means looking at even changing up some of our core players. From a free agent standpoint, we'll be involved in free agency. But I'm a believer that you just can't build a team just through free agency. It has to come from within our organization."
The Sabres have a team with a young nucleus, including centers Jack Eichel, 21, and Sam Reinhart, 22, and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, 23, to lead them into the future. But those three have only experienced losing seasons during their time in Buffalo.
"Right now, we have a losing culture," Botterill said. "We haven't won here and it's up to [coach] Phil [Housley] and I to work with our players to work through that to make sure we change our culture.
"As excited as we are about Jack moving forward as a leader, it's imperative that we have more players in that locker room step up from that standpoint. This game cannot have one player lead the entire team. It's imperative that we have stronger bases in there. We have younger players that have been part of this organization now for three, four, five years who can't sit in the background anymore. [They] have to be a part of it. We have to have a stronger leadership group."
Housley will not be affected by any ensuing moves, Botterill said; he and Housley each completed his first season in Buffalo.

"One hundred percent Phil Housley will be our coach next year," Botterill said. "I have certainly enjoyed working with Phil over the past year here. I think the way I want to put our team together, the way he wants to play is a good mix, and he'll certainly be here as our coach next year."
Botterill said Sabres owner Terry Pegula also is upset about Buffalo missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the seventh straight season.
"His level of anger is fairly high, it is high, and I don't blame him," Botterill said. "I've been here for one year and I was pretty [ticked] off and upset throughout the year. I guess I could be articulate, but I'll just say it [stinks] that we won't be watching live playoff hockey right now, it will just be all on TV.
"I certainly feel that I have a strong relationship with Terry. I've certainly communicated with him on a daily occurrence. I've tried to keep him abreast of everything and just making sure he understands everything. He's been very supportive of Phil and I about difficult decisions we've had to make. But yeah, similar to a lot of people in our organization, he's disappointed."

One of the first opportunities to change the Sabres roster is likely to come at the 2018 NHL Draft in Dallas on June 22. Buffalo will have an 18.5-percent chance of winning the first pick in the NHL Draft Lottery in Toronto on April 28; it's the third time in the past five years the Sabres have had the best odds of winning the lottery.
"No matter where we pick, one through four, we're going to get a good young player in that regard," Botterill said. "That's where over the next couple weeks here, sitting down with our coaching staff and then next month sitting down with our pro scouts and our amateur scouts, we'll devise a plan, seeing how much we have to change, what makes our team a better opportunity to have success next year."