Granato fired as Sabres coach, no replacement named

Don Granato was fired as coach of the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.

No replacement was named.

The Sabres (39-37-6) finished sixth in the Atlantic Division. They have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs an NHL-record 13 straight seasons.

“I’m going to move forward as quickly as possible because I have a very clear direction in my mind of where we’re going to go,” Buffalo general manager Kevyn Adams said. “But previous NHL head coaching experience, pedigree, is important.

“I want the next head coach to be someone that has experience and can push this group to the next level and win hockey games. And I think that’s … I have it in my mind exactly what I’m looking for and that’ll be starting today.”

Assistant Jason Christie and video coordinator Matt Smith were also fired. The Sabres will seek their sixth coach since Ron Rolston replaced Lindy Ruff on Feb. 20, 2013.

"I would like to thank Don for his time in Buffalo and commitment to the Sabres organization," Adams said. "He has been integral in the development of many of our players and has undoubtedly been the right coach to bring us to where we are now, but I felt it was necessary to move in a different direction at this point in time. My expectation is to be a consistent contender and unfortunately that goal has not been met.

"I would also like to thank Jason and Matt for their contributions to the team. This is not a decision I take lightly but know it is in the best interest of our team moving forward."

Granato, 56, was 122-125-27 in 274 regular-season games over four seasons after being hired March 17, 2021, to replace Ralph Krueger. He coached his final game for Buffalo on Monday, a 4-2 win at the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"There were a lot of great efforts out there tonight," Granato said after the game. "Obviously, I can reflect that we're not where we wanted to be for the season, and let's leave it at that."

The Sabres were expected to compete for the playoffs after missing by one point last season, when they finished fifth in the Atlantic (42-33-7). They were eliminated from contention April 9, when they lost 3-2 to the Dallas Stars shortly after the New York Islanders defeated the New York Rangers 4-2. Buffalo is 22nd in goals per game (2.98) after being No. 3 (3.57) last season and 28th in the NHL on the power play (16.6 percent) after finishing ninth in 2022-23 (23.4 percent).

The last time the Sabres qualified for the postseason was 2010-11, a seven-game loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, their fourth appearance in six seasons.

"I'm not going to be thinking about much other than not being in the playoffs," Buffalo forward Dylan Cozens said Monday. "That's the biggest thing that will be on my mind. It will be on my mind every day this summer, every time I’m on the ice, every time I’m in the gym. It's going to be a big summer for a lot of us. We've got a lot to prove and we're hungry."

Granato is the eighth NHL coach fired this season joining Jay Woodcroft (Edmonton Oilers), Dean Evason (Minnesota Wild), Craig Berube (St. Louis Blues), D.J. Smith (Ottawa Senators), Lane Lambert (Islanders), Todd McLellan (Los Angeles Kings) and Ruff (New Jersey Devils).

“First and foremost, I want all of you to know I’m up here talking about Donny and I’m talking about the coaching staff and we’re going to need to get better, but I need to get better,” Adams said. “It’s on me since I’m the leader, and I will be. I take that very seriously, and I look at every part of this organization and feel very strongly that if there’s a trust with relationships and how you deal with each other, then you can challenge each other. And I do believe we have that, and we have the people in the room that can handle that. So, that’ll be something that we definitely dive into as we move forward.”

NHL.com independent correspondents Heather Engel and Corey Long contributed to this report