Buffalo Sabres: The State of the Team at the End of the 2014-15 Season

Be thankful, Buffalo Sabres fans: It's almost over.

At about 10 p.m. ET Saturday night, the 2014-15 season will (finally) come to a close, and Buffalo hockey fans can turn their attention to some hockey that matters for a few months. 

While this will not be the Sabres' worst on-ice season in history, it may have been the worst off the ice by far.

No one expected the Sabres to be contenders this season. If someone did feel that way, he or she is never to be trusted with matters of hockey ever again. However, many saw the writing on the wall and climbed onto the "Finish 30th" bandwagon last summer. 

The reasons why are well known: Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel. 

There is no debate that McDavid and Eichel are two of the best prospects in years, and, after an offseason that seemed geared toward reaching the salary cap floor, many felt the Sabres' best chance at a speedy turnaround was to land one of the two in this year's draft.

This notion has led to what can only be described as a fanbase civil war—one that has progressed as the season went on.

At first it was almost a joke: "Oh, let's lose every game so we get Connor McDavid," followed by a laugh that was more a signal that you were really not kidding seemed to be the most you heard of it. It was framed more in a "this is Buffalo and we don't get anything nice, so why should we expect something really, really nice?" sort of way.

Then things started to become a reality. 

The Sabres started off the season 2-8-1 and found themselves at or near the bottom of the standings for most of the month of October. And while they inexplicably found themselves amid a 10-3-0 stretch in mid-December, a stretch of 14 games without a point in January left them in 30th, a spot they have not relinquished since. 

That is about the time being a Sabres fan became hard.

It's not because of the on-ice product. That was expected, and, while not easy to watch, it became the status quo very early in the season. 

Instead, it was the off-ice vitriol between fans that made it difficult.

The whole tanking conversation has taken on a life of its own, and Sabres fans have rushed to either side of it. Sabres Twitter has been a soul-darkening place as of late, with the radio and newspaper personalities taking their sides and fueling the rest of the populous. The lines have been drawn and it seems you're either 100 percent pro-tank or 100 percent anti-tank these days.

But there is a middle ground.

There exists a spot on the tanking spectrum where a Sabres fan can be livid with where the team is in terms of the on-ice product, but also can see that getting McDavid or Eichel is one of the best ways for the team to get better in the short-term.

And you can argue how smart it is to put the fate of your team in the hands of an 18-year-old all you'd like, but no matter how valid that argument is, what other options exist?

Free agents cost money. Trades cost organizational assets. 

The draft is as close to free as it gets in professional sports. You pick a kid, he hops into your organization, be it immediately or a few years down the line, and there's generally nothing they can do about that.

Sure, you can attempt to trade for Ryan O'Reilly, a guy who at least has the ability to slot in as your No. 1 center, but the price is going to be extremely high, especially after seeing the Colorado Avalanche would like to keep him. 

Now, don't take this as the only way for the Sabres to get better is to land McDavid or Eichel. That couldn't be further from the truth. This is to say that the easiest way for the Sabres to get better is to take McDavid or Eichel. 

And while that notion is not set in stone quite yet, the Sabres have a single regulation loss—or win by Arizona—between them and clinching 30th for the second year in a row. The odds of accomplishing that feat are at an incredibly comforting 94-percent, according to Sports Club Stats. 

So where does all of this leave the Sabres?

In reality, the team has been preparing for a state of limbo since the season began, and general manager Tim Murray has a ton of work to do this offseason.

The Sabres have three defensemen who have played significant time heading to unrestricted free agency. Two of their goaltenders are also going to become UFAs. Patrick Kaleta and Matt Ellis have probably also come to the end of their Sabres journey. 

Mikhail Grigorenko, Phil Varone, Johan Larsson and Mark Pysyk headline the list of restricted free agents for the team. Most of the RFAs, and especially the four listed, are expected to be back with the team, with Grigorenko, Larsson and Pysyk, assuming he's healthy, looking to take on bigger NHL roles next year. 

That in turn pushes out guys like Cody McCormick and Zac Dalpe, or guys who have been able to find a home in Buffalo because of the lack of depth on the roster. 

You also have a few guys in Rochester looking to break into the Sabres lineup a bit more regularly. Jake McCabe and Chad Ruhwedel have played very well in the AHL and have made a case they belong at the NHL level. With a crowded blue line, what do they do, especially with Ruhwedel who is a RFA at year end?

But the roster is not the only place there will be change. 

Many believe Ted Nolan will essentially leave the bench on Saturday night, get into his car and drive off into the sunset. 

At the beginning of the season, when the writing seemed to already be on the wall, there was a sizable contingent that seemed to feel that his likely firing was unfair, mainly because he has not gotten a shot with a contending roster.

As the season has progressed, it seems that sentiment has died down. It's hard to measure, and there are certainly those who still feel Nolan is getting a raw deal, but the Nolan brand of hockey has taken a hit. 

It's no secret that the Sabres have gotten some pretty amazing goaltending from some average-at-best goalies this year. It's come in spurts, like Jhonas Enroth's during the 10-3-0 run, Michal Neuvirth's right before the trade deadline and Anders Lindback's current one, but it seems easy to say that if one of those goaltenders had played consistently at their career average level, the Sabres would be in 30th by a mile right now. 

What's crazier is all three of those goalies have played for other teams and have played embarrassingly poorly. Enroth has a .892 save percentage since going to Dallas, Neuvirth at .881 since being moved to the Islanders and Lindback had a .875 before coming over from Dallas. 

Essentially, it's become clear that Nolan really only finds success when he has a goaltender playing out of his mind, as many can remember this guy doing most nights during Nolan's first stint in Buffalo.

Not only is that completely unsustainable in today's NHL, it's forcing a square peg in a round hole because the roster that Murray is building is shaping up to be a Chicago- or Los Angeles-type possession team. That requires skilled guys fused with big, strong but talented forwards who excel on the forecheck supported by three-zone defensemen who can move the puck. 

It's easy to laugh and say "Where has that been all year?" but if you take a step back it becomes clear, especially when you look the prospect cupboard. With guys like Sam Reinhart, Nick Baptiste, Justin Bailey, Hudson Fasching and J.T. Compher on the way, the Sabres can reasonably become that type of team soon.

But puck possession and Nolan are like oil and water, with the Sabres finishing 30th in the league in Corsi-for percentage and Fenwick-for percentage this year and 29th in the league in both categories last season.

Even overlooking the atrocious possession numbers, the Sabres currently rank 30th in both the penalty kill and the power play this season, even with the Sabres power play looking somewhat reasonable the past 10 games.  

So now Sabres fans wait.

They wait to see whether or not they will be guaranteed McDavid or Eichel in June.

They wait to see how much the roster is shaken up this offseason.

They wait to see who will be behind the bench in early October.

But what's great about it all is that they wait. 

After two of the more trying seasons a hockey fan could ever imagine going through, Sabres fans are just as passionate today as they were when Chris Drury and Daniel Briere captained the team. 

It's been a long road, but the future is bright and Sabres fans will bask in it when the time comes.

For now, they wait.

Advanced stats courtesy of war-on-ice.com.

Follow me on Twitter for NHL and Sabres news all season long: @mattclouden.