“Culture is earned” | Sabres’ veterans outline plan for 2025-26 turnaround

The Buffalo Sabres concluded their 2024-25 campaign with Thursday’s 5-4 win over Philadelphia. After missing the playoffs for a 14th consecutive year, the Sabres’ leadership group made clear their primary takeaway from the 36-39-7 season.

“Ultimately, we failed,” said forward Jason Zucker. “We didn’t accomplish our goals of getting into the playoffs and becoming a playoff team, and I think that’s a big piece of what we need to take into the offseason.

“There’s things we can look positively on – guys having career years and guys playing well and a lot of little things that I think we can take as positives – but we ultimately need to look at it as we weren’t good enough.”

Zucker, followed by Alex Tuch, Jordan Greenway, Rasmus Dahlin, Ryan McLeod and Tage Thompson, held their end-of-season media availabilities Friday at KeyBank Center. The group addressed several topics including individual performances, leadership tactics and the ongoing development of a team culture to lift the Sabres back into contention.

• Read: Top quotes from Day 1 of locker cleanout

In diagnosing where things went wrong, the Sabres first point to the 13-game winless streak from Nov. 27 to Dec. 21, and rightfully so. Those 13 games could’ve gone Buffalo’s way if not for some bad bounces, unfavorable calls and blown leads, but the cumulative result – three of a possible 26 standings points, from a playoff position to last place – looms largest.

“You can go back 82 games, you can look at all of them and say, ‘Oh, if we did this, this would have happened,’” Tuch said. “You can nitpick all you want, but over the course of a 82-game season, we just weren't good enough.”

For stretches, of course, the Sabres played quite well. They followed an 0-3-0 start with an 11-6-1 record in their next 18, capped off by a sweep of November’s California road trip. And they won 12 of their final 20 games, including five straight wins – their longest streak in more than two years.

“We got better, especially the leadership,” said Dahlin, who acknowledged the learning curve he faced in his first season wearing the C. “… We took the right steps and played the right way, night in and night out. We played a more mature game. I think we can, for sure, build for next season.”

The results verified that, despite being effectively (and, eventually, mathematically) eliminated from playoff contention, the Sabres approached those final 20 games with a purpose. Now, as Dahlin and others alluded to, the challenge is carrying that late momentum from this season to the next.

“I think that’s something, when you don’t have a winning season, that you try to take – that you can get something out of every single game,” Thompson said. “There’s lessons in the adversity that you go through and the experiences that you have, and I think that’s how you grow.

“If you don’t take anything out of it, then you’re gaining nothing.”

Thompson expressed confidence that the team has learned from its shortcomings this season and will be better equipped to handle that adversity moving forward. Doing so, and playing consistent, winning hockey in 2025-26, would signal progress toward the team culture this group is striving for.

The word “culture” dominated Friday’s press conferences. What does it mean in this context, and how can the Sabres build it?

“I think culture is earned,” Zucker said. “Ultimately, throughout the season, you earn it by doing the right things with your teammates and doing the right things throughout the league. And I think that ends up changing the way teams play against you. It turns into a lot of things that ultimately help you win games. I think we took a step in the right direction, especially this last month, but again, it wasn’t good enough.”

Tuch added that culture isn’t about prioritizing individual performance. Six Sabres exceeded 50 points this season, and five reached the 20-goal mark. Scoring wasn’t an issue for Buffalo, which ranked 10th in the NHL with 265 goals. Its 287 goals against were tied for third most in the league, though; finding a happy balance between scoring and defensive commitment would help the Sabres reach a new level.

“It’s needing to play to an identity, needing to buy into that identity as a team, and needing to look at a team-first mentality when going into games,” Tuch said. “I think a lot of guys realize that, when the team has success, your own personal success also elevates. So, playing the right way might not always put you on the scoresheet, but it’ll help another guy, and it’ll help your team win.

“More wins lead to confidence, and confidence leads to personal success. So, that shift the last 20 games – you can definitely see it in the way guys approached the game. The way guys maybe backtracked a little harder and sold out. … And I think we can take a step further in that direction as well.”

Together, Friday’s conversations left no doubt about the Sabres’ goal for next season and the intensity with which they’ll pursue it.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to get us in a playoff spot,” Dahlin said.

Here’s more from the first of two end-of-season media days.

Power-play problems

Of Buffalo’s 265 goals this season, 212 came at even strength – fifth most in the league. But the Sabres’ power play, despite a 26-percent success rate in the last 20 games, ranked 24th for the season at 18.8 percent.

“We were definitely fighting an uphill battle every time we got on the power play this year, just with frustration,” said Thompson, whose seven power-play goals trailed only Zucker’s 11. “You have a tendency to overcomplicate things, try to do too much and force stuff when things aren’t going your way, instead of simplifying. And I think that’s kind of the situation we got ourselves into.”

Like many areas of their game, the Sabres aim to build on their late-season power-play success and carry it into October.

Contract conversations

A couple players were asked about their contract situations entering the offseason.

Tuch, scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency following the 2025-26 season, becomes eligible to sign an extension this July 1.

“I love it here in Buffalo,” said the 28-year-old, adding that he hasn’t thought much about his contract status. “I’ve really enjoyed my time here, and I would like to win here in Buffalo. But I haven’t even really talked to my wife about it, honestly – that's the first person I'm going to have to talk to.”

McLeod, meanwhile, becomes a restricted free agent this summer. After blowing past his previous career high with 53 points (20+33) in his first season with the Sabres, the center expressed interest in remaining in Buffalo.

“Good relationships, and I’d love to be back here, be here for a while and help us take that next step to make the playoffs and do something special here,” McLeod said. “Yeah, I love it here.”

Who’s at Worlds?

Thompson previously announced he’ll play for Team USA at next month’s World Championship. There, the Sabres’ 44-goal scorer figures to strengthen his bid for a spot on the 2026 Olympic roster.

Tuch said he would’ve liked to play, but his wife is due with their second son in four weeks.

Dahlin said he is unsure of his status for Worlds.

Greenway’s status

Greenway’s regular season ended March 23 in Winnipeg, where he aggravated the middle-body injury that required surgery in December.

The forward’s physicality and penalty-killing presence was missed in the final few weeks of the season, but his resting should set him up for an uninterrupted offseason.

"I’ll be pretty much good to go, I think," Greenway said. "That was the thought process for me, just in the rehab that I’ve done and the workouts that I’ve done, to where I can go into the offseason ready to train, ready to do what I need to do to come back and be 100-percent effective at training camp."

Up next

Additional players will address the media Saturday, as will coach Lindy Ruff and general manager Kevyn Adams. Stay tuned to Sabres.com for complete coverage of their press conferences.