BUFFALO, N.Y. — A day after the Buffalo Sabers ended a league-record 13th consecutive season without the playoffs, the team announced Tuesday that it has fired coach Don Granato.
Granato was hired as the Sabers’ interim coach after the 2020-21 season and spent the next three seasons as the team’s head coach. During that time, Buffalo had seasons of 75 points, 91 points, and now 84 points. Granato was the sixth-longest tenured coach in the NHL until his firing, and the seventh-most tenured coach in NHL history without making the playoffs.
“I would like to thank Don for his time in Buffalo and his contributions to the Sabers organization,” general manager Kevin Adams said in a statement. “While he has been an integral part of the development of many of our players and is certainly the right coach to get us to where we are, we felt we needed to move in a different direction at this time. My hope was to be a consistent competitor, but unfortunately that goal was not achieved.”
In addition to Granato, the Sabers also fired assistant coach Jason Christie and video coordinator Matt Smith. This will keep goalie coach Mike Bales and assistants Matt Ellis and Marty Wilford on staff, but their futures are uncertain as the Sabers are once again looking for another head coach.
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Buffalo showed a lot of improvement early in Granato’s tenure, but the team was expected to take the next step and make the playoffs this season. Instead, the Sabers retreated. The power play finished 28th in the NHL, and Buffalo allowed more first-period goals than any team in the NHL, playing at a pace of 73 points in October, November, and December. The team’s scoring decreased by 47 points compared to a season ago, and not a single player reached 60 points, after five players reached 60 points last season.
On top of that, the Sabers were unable to win more than three games this season. They have played six games within four points in the playoffs this season and are 0-6 in those games. The team’s inability to handle pressure and make the necessary adjustments throughout the season sealed Granato’s fate.
Before the 2022-23 season, Buffalo signed Granato to a two-year contract extension, even though he had two seasons left on his original contract. The contract extension was scheduled to begin next season with an annual salary of just under $2 million, meaning Sabers owner Terry Pegula will pay Granato just under $4 million in exchange for not coaching the team next season.
Granato is the seventh manager Pegula has fired since he bought the team in 2011. Granato coached the most games (274) and posted the highest scoring percentage (.495) since Buffalo fired Lindy Ruff in 2013.
“There is no stability in our profession. You’re used to it, you’re used to it. This is great, but our stability is It leads to daily success.”
The Sabers haven’t had enough success and are currently searching for their eighth coach since Pegula purchased the team, as they try to end their playoff drought after 13 seasons.
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(Photo: Sam Navarro/USA Today)
