Sabres GM shares vision for future, success

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- When the Buffalo Sabres woke up Nov. 28, they had won 10 straight games and were 17-6-2. They were No. 1 in the NHL standings.

For a day.
They have gone 13-22-6 since, tied for 28th in the League in that span, and are 30-28-8 overall, 11 points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
For a hockey-crazy city that hasn't seen the playoffs since 2011, it's frustrating.
"I can certainly understand the market and can understand the history over the last seven, eight years," Sabres general manager Jason Botterill said on the second day of the NHL general managers meetings Tuesday. "And I think there was certainly a feeling that in November with the streak that we had arrived.
"As good as it was, we haven't arrived yet. There's still things that we have to improve on as a team. We knew that too as we were going through the streak."

From a big-picture perspective, this is the Sabres' second season under Botterill and coach Phil Housley, and they are making progress.
They won 11 home games last season; they have won 19 already this season. They finished 31st in the NHL standings with 62 points last season; they're 21st with 68 points now with 16 games to go.
Jack Eichel (25 goals, 47 assists), Sam Reinhart (18 goals, 40 assists) and Jeff Skinner (36 goals, 22 assists) are having career years on the top line, and Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, ranks second among NHL rookies with 37 points (eight goals, 29 assists) and averages 21:04 of ice time as an 18-year-old defenseman.
Botterill is trying to sign Skinner, who can become an unrestricted free agent July 1; look for trades, like the one that brought defenseman Brandon Montour from the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 24; and draft and develop well.
"We can understand a fan's perspective," Botterill said. "But it can't impact our decisions, our vision of how our team needs to eventually look."
Botterill shared his thoughts on Housley's performance, Dahlin's development, Skinner's status, what the Sabres lack and more in an interview with NHL.com:
On the 10-game winning streak, which included four overtime and three shootout wins, and whether it was deceiving and skewed perceptions:
"I think we understood what was going on in the 10-game win streak. We were certainly happy that the group found confidence in winning tight games. But we also knew the numbers, how fortunate we were during so many of those games.
"I thought it was great for a group that hasn't had a lot of success together, and the fact that we had so many new players come into our organization last summer, just the fact that they could go on a run like that, gave them some camaraderie, gave them a lot of confidence as a group.
"You take a step back a bit. We entered the season not knowing exactly where we were going to be but wanted to be competitive, wanted to be battling for a playoff spot at the end of the year. And in the second half, I think we've had a real challenge in winning these tight games.
"I think especially coming back from the All-Star break, just the intensity of the games, the details of the games, you could really feel that teams, once they got back in the swing of things, took it up another notch. For so many of our young players who are playing significant roles for us, it's a new experience for them and a new challenge for them."

On coach Phil Housley:
"At the end of last year, we asked our players to be challenged, to change things about just how they went about training in the summer, how they went about preparing for games. I've seen that throughout the year. The interaction with our young players and the coaching staff has been very good from that aspect.
"When I say young players, everyone immediately thinks about Dahlin, the (20-year-old forward Casey) Mittlestadts, the (21-year-old forward Tage) Thompsons. But it's also the (23-year-old) Reinharts and the (22-year-old) Eichels who are continuing to develop right now. [The coaches have] done a great job from that aspect of trying different things and trying to develop our young players and also have success here in the National Hockey League."
On evaluating the coach in the context of the personnel at this point in the process:
"That's certainly fair. That's where you're still looking for development of the players. You're looking for development of the individual players, you're looking for development of your team, and understanding that there are going to be ups and downs.
"Just because young players are playing more, they're not automatically going to get better. There's the physical toll, especially for rookies in the National Hockey League. You talk to any of our young players -- or any of our players who played in the National Hockey League at a young age, whether it's [Zach] Bogosian, Eichel, Reinhart -- they've talked about just the physical and mental drain in the second half of the year, and that's challenging.
"I think for our group, the break this year, the way it was set up at the All-Star break, was very beneficial, and you saw Dahlin and Mittlestadt come out of that with some very solid games right afterwards, just being refreshed."
On who has taken a step beyond the first line:
"One that doesn't get nearly as much attention is probably Evan Rodrigues. Look at Evan, has really stepped up and played so many different roles for us. At center, wing. Has been on the power play, penalty killing. That sort of versatility has been a big asset for us."
On Dahlin's development:
"It's been such a joy watching him this year, and I know our coaches love interacting with him. He's looking for knowledge. He's looking for information to get his game better. Just his work ethic after practices, working on his game, whether it's his shot, whether it's leverage down low, working on picking guys' sticks up in front of the net, he's always working with our coaching staff on those little details.
"You know, he came in and just helped our team out so much right off the bat, just that puck-moving ability to get out of our own zone, to ignite our transition game. His strength is a perfect fit for what we're looking for.
"And then you look in the second half, it's been a challenge for him. Teams have certainly keyed on him more. It's no longer just a nice story of an 18-year-old kid playing in the National Hockey League. Teams realize when we have success, he's a big part of our team, and so they focus in on him more.
"But I think he's accepted all the challenges. You look now, he's part of our first power-play unit. His progression throughout the entire year has been very impressive."

On Skinner's status:
"Look, it's been a situation where we've been very honest with it. We didn't want to do a play-by-play of the negotiations in the media. All that I can tell you is, it's been a very good fit, I think, for both sides. Myself and his agents, our main focus is to find a deal, because that's what both parties are looking for, and hopefully we can find a resolution here."
On the addition of Montour, a 24-year-old who played 169 regular-season and 21 playoff games with the Ducks:
"We understand that we have a very young group, and our ultimate success in years to come is going to be developing players within our system. But we also did trade some NHL players for draft picks, and we've always talked about if something came along where a player had term left on his contract and helped our group continue to grow, we would make the trade. And that's why we went with Brandon.
"We view him as a guy that can come in and help our team right away but also has a higher ceiling to his game in the future. Right-shot D-man who can get up with the play. Just like Dahlin's helped us get out of our end quicker, that's what we're looking for from Brandon. Just that ability to utilize his feet or his passing ability to get pucks up to our forwards.
"I think he's fit in very well with our group so far. For a group that doesn't have a lot of playoff experience, at his young age, he already has that coming from a veteran team like Anaheim. He has experiences that can certainly help our group."
On what the Sabres lack and the next steps in the process:
"You look at our top line. Certainly we've leaned on them a lot this year. You just look at our division and the quality of forwards in our division, and the difficulty of winning on the road, you have to have a lot of depth. I think just adding to that as we move forward here.
"We've talked a lot about our D-zone too and the things that we certainly have to tighten up defensively in our coverage. But I'm also a big believer in we have to spend less time in our D-zone, and that's where Rasmus has certainly helped us out a lot this year, and that's why we [made] an addition of Brandon Montour to our group."
On defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen using an unprintable word Tuesday to describe his performance:
"Look, I think it's just a self-assessment of how our team's performed over the last couple weeks here. Risto plays huge minutes for us in all different situations, and he's a competitive individual who wants to have success for our organization.
"I think that's what you've seen from our group, is that there is a level of frustration, because they want to have success for our organization. They want to have success for our city. And that's the disappointing thing. They had a little bit of a taste of it early in the season, and they want more of it.
"They feel they're going about doing a lot of the right things, but the second half, you look at our games, they're always tight, and just small breakdowns don't give you the results you want. And that can certainly be frustrating, and that's where our team's at right now."