The Buffalo Sabres 2008-2009 NHL season came to a disappointing end as for the second straight year the Sabres closed out the NHL season without earning a berth in the NHL's Stanley Cup Finals, making them the first team in league history to win the Presidents Trophy, then miss the playoffs the next two seasons.

The word that could be said the most about the Buffalo Sabres season was inconsistency. The team was never able to identify themselves, playing multiple brands of hockey many different nights.

Buffalo faces an off-season with many players' contracts expiring.

Among that group is Maxin Afinogenov, who said at locker room clean out day, he thinks he needs a change after 10 years playing in Buffalo. 

Leading scoring defenseman Jaroslav Spacek, who finished the season with a career-high 45 points, is set to become a free agent this off-season.

Dominic Moore, who was traded to Buffalo from Toronto at the deadline, had a disappointing end to his stay in Buffalo, amassing a whopping four points.

Drew Stafford, who had a career-high 45 points, is an RFA at the end of this season, and could attract other teams being only 23 years old with a ton of potential.

Andrej Sekera, Mikael Tellqvist, Patrick Kaleta, and Clarke MacArthur, along with 2007 AHL All-Star MVP Mark Mancari are among the others who have no contracts coming into the 2009-2010 NHL Season.

First thing I would do if I was in the Sabres Hockey Department is step back and look at the roster, games, and say "What went wrong? What did we lack?"

Easy. Team toughness. As I sit back and watch teams like Philadelphia and Vancouver in the playoffs, I see a roster made up of hockey players.

Not pretty goal scorers who look to make the cute pass, but players like Ryan Kesler, Scottie Hartnell, Mike Knuble and Kevin Bieksa, who are in your face, hitting anything that moves, and that is something this Buffalo team lacks severely. 

Long ago was the days the Buffalo Sabres came flying out of the lockout, skating circles around the slower, bigger teams.

In this NHL, teams need to have speed, which Buffalo does have, but you also need strong defense, and puck-carriers on the back end who can make the outlet pass. Buffalo doesn't have any of that.

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