Buffalo Sabres: LaFontaine’s Departure Looks Bad, but Should Not Impact Future

Sabres fans have become all too familiar with the end-of-season locker clean-out interviews before the NHL playoffs begin.

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It’s usually an opportunity to get tiny shreds of honesty from players on how they felt about the season and, as I stated before, another year of not making the post-season. You get comments of frustration, disappointment, missed opportunities, and hopeful optimism for the next season. Again, all too familiar. Jack Eichel, since being drafted in 2015, second overall is usually the focus on these dreary days. Reporters in a non-covid world would circle him in the locker room and ask questions regarding his thoughts on what went wrong when it went wrong and if it’s a coaching or player personnel issue. However, this year, Eichel dropped a bombshell on the media and fanbase that could go down as the single worst day in this franchise’s history. Right up there with “No Goal,” losing Briere and Drury on the same day, and when the team filed for bankruptcy. This also comes after Sam Reinhart’s interview, which also didn’t go as well as fans would have hoped either.

 

After the media waited for Eichel to get out of his exit interview with Sabres management, he entered the zoom call, actually looking in high spirits. He was smiling and almost happy to talk to members of the media. He opened up, commenting on his desire to get healthy and that it may require surgery to do so. Eichel had suffered a herniated disk injury against the Islanders earlier in the season, which kept him sidelined for 35 games. Eichel then commented on the team’s performance after Ralph Krueger’s firing. It was nice to see younger players get opportunities and even better see them succeed once Don Granato implemented his system. He was happy for Michael Houser getting the chance to play and live