His words cut to the chase. "Right now we have a losing culture here," said
Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill at his season-ending news
conference. "It stinks that we won't be watching live playoff hockey right
now."

The Sabres had missed the postseason again, extending their franchise-worst
playoff drought to seven seasons. They finished last for the third time in five
 years. It was an unfamiliar place for the GM who spent his last two seasons as
 an assistant GM for the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrating Stanley Cup
championships.It was a tough year for the 31st place Sabres. (Amy Irvin / The
Hockey Writers)

It was a sobering welcome to the bottom of the NHL for Botterill. Steaming mad
and visibly irked, he vowed then to stir things up, including shaking up the
team's core group of leaders. "When you finish where we were, you have to look
at everything," said Botterill.Related: Botterill Slams Door on Sabres'; Season
 - Now What?Losing, Losing and More Losing

For nearly a decade, the Sabres organization put forth inconsistent teams. They
 needed to tear it down to the ground. Then, while trying to dig out, they fell
 into holes and made some poor decisions. It will take time and patience to
reimagine the organization.

Botterill and head coach Phil Housley have their hands full with a dressing
room that has known nothing but losing for almost five years. Some of that
losing was courtesy of chasing the No. 1 overall draft pick. As we've
witnessed, tanking is far from a guarantee of success. Worse, it exposes young
players to an atmosphere and culture of losing, often exacerbated by
disgruntled veterans. It's a toxic recipe. The growing number of empty seats
for most of the season was indicative of fan indifference.Moving on from
Murray's MenTim Murray (Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports)

Botterill is delivering on his promise to inspire change in the organization.
He's shed most of the core players who were the responsibility of former Sabres
 GM, Tim Murray. Center Ryan O'Reilly, winger Evander Kane and goaltender Robin
 Lehner, all prominent acquisitions made by Murray, are no longer with the
team. All three had become polarizing figures, lightning rods for criticism and
 poster children for the sorry Sabres.Ryan O'Reilly

O'Reilly began his tenure with the Sabres by making an immediate impact. His
extended mini "O'Reilly practices" were a hit, helping younger players after
practice with creative drills that focused on stick-handling, shooting and
improving reaction time. He also played a solid two-way game while chipping in
on the power play. He logged huge minutes and took every important faceoff.

As time went by and as the losses piled up, O'Reilly became a broken record of
"we gotta be better" and "it starts with me" excuses. He was hard on himself
and rarely satisfied with his game. Nothing was ever good enough. While honest
to a fault, his admission on locker cleanout day that he had "lost his love of
the game" was almost writing his ticket out of town. The reality is, many had
lost their love of him as well. He was one of the franchise's most heavily used
 players during a period where the team was mostly a failure.

Ryan O'Reilly with some pretty powerful comments. "It's sad, I feel throughout
the year I've lost the love of the game multiple times..." @WKBW #Sabres
pic.twitter.com/rzqBdcHltt

- Matthew Bové (@Matt_Bove) April 9, 2018

Robin Lehner

Lehner was burdened with the baggage of being traded for a first-round draft
pick by Murray. Over his tenure with the Sabres, he had moments of goodness-not
 greatness. He had the misfortune of playing behind a pathetic offense-the
lowest scoring squad in the league-and an even worse defense. In the end didn't
 make enough saves and win enough games; Botterill chose not to re-sign him.

He suffered an injury in his first game, likely contributed by the excess
weight he carried and his inability to condition due to concussion
recovery.Lehner never took control of the crease for the Sabres.  (Jerome
Miron-USA TODAY Sports)Evander Kane

Kane was no stranger to controversy. His outgoing, brash and hubristic
personality rubbed some the wrong way. He was reluctant to practice hard and
relied on his gifted athletic ability to get by. By definition, he was opposite
 of the kind of player that blue-collar, earn-your-paycheck fans of Western New
 York demand.

Though he learned to stay out of the news and his off-ice antics quieted, the
Sabres were never going to sign Kane long term. Knowing that, it was obvious
that he became absolutely invisible and didn't hustle for big chunks of action
last season.The Culture Club of Poison

Only the players in the dressing room every day know who the problem players
were. Even members of the media who are in the locker room for interviews don't
 see or hear everything. Anyone who tells you they know is full of…
speculation. The fact that O'Reilly, Kane and Lehner were moved doesn't
automatically point them as poison or the only poisons.Evander Kane finally
made the playoffs with the San Jose Sharks. (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

"We felt, as a management group at the end of the season, we had to change the
dynamic," said Botterill. "The bottom line was there's a lot of great people in
 that locker room but when you finish 31st, you have to look to make changes."

O'Reilly was shipped off to St. Louis with five years remaining on his
seven-year, $52.5 million contract. He'll likely be remembered for admitting,
"We're stuck in this mindset of just being OK with losing." Kane, moved at the
trade deadline last season, has a shiny new seven-year, $49 million contract
with the San Jose Sharks. This summer, Lehner inked a one-year, $1.5 million
deal with the New York Islanders.Related: Sabres Fans Bickering: A Great
ThingChanging the Culture

Since taking over, Botterill has stressed the importance of bringing the right
types of personalities into the organization. Rochester Americans coach Chris
Taylor said he can already feel a change in the culture from at this year's
development camp. "The guys seem a lot more eager and a lot more happy," said
Taylor.

For example, Mattias Samuelsson, drafted with the 32nd pick in the 2018 Entry
Draft, was captain with the U.S. National Team Development Program and Brandon
Hickey served as captain last season at Boston University. "Culturally, these
are the guys who are going to change the organization around," Taylor said.
"You're not going to bring an older guy in and just all of a sudden, the room
changes. It starts within and I think it all starts with the draft."Samuelsson
was captain at BU last season. (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

The overhauled 2018-19 roster is filled with talented, young, exciting players
with an upbeat attitude. Rasmus Dahlin, the Sabres No. 1 overall draft pick and
 Casey Mittelstadt's positivity may help rekindle Jack Eichel's fire to
dominate. Fully healed Zach Bogosian is chomping at the bit to get the season
started. Rasmus Ristolainen's offseason has been spent flipping giant tires and
 whipping around chains to build muscle and stamina.

There's a big movement coming for the @BuffaloSabres and they're looking to
show it off this year. #31in31 https://t.co/yhABPO8zQ2
pic.twitter.com/gwMxUAZZAJ

- NHL (@NHL) August 4, 2018

And of course, the nearly completely dehydrated Sabres fans are already gulping
 down the team's enthusiasm as evidenced by the attendance at the mini tourney
right after the draft, the buzz on social media and the building excitement for
 training camp.

The 2018-19 Sabres should be fun to watch. That in itself is a shift of seismic
 proportions.

The post The Sabres Seismic Culture Shift appeared first on The Hockey Writers.

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