Sabres fire Don Granato as playoff drought continues, will search for eighth coach in 13 seasons

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres have fired coach Don Granato, the team announced Tuesday, one day after wrapping up a league-record 13th straight season without the playoffs.

Granato took over as the interim coach of the Sabres at the end of the 2020-21 season and then spent the last three seasons as the team’s head coach. In that time, Buffalo had seasons of 75 points, 91 points and then 84 points this season. Granato was the sixth-longest tenured coach in the NHL before getting fired and had coached the seventh-most games in NHL history without making the playoffs.

“I would like to thank Don for his time in Buffalo and commitment to the Sabres organization,” general manager Kevyn Adams said in a statement. “He has been integral in the development of many of our players and has undoubtedly been the right coach to bring us to where we are now, but I felt it was necessary to move in a different direction at this point in time. My expectation is to be a consistent contender and unfortunately that goal has not been met.”

Along with Granato, the Sabres also fired assistant coach Jason Christie and video coordinator Matt Smith. That leaves goalie coach Mike Bales and assistants Matt Ellis and Marty Wilford on staff, but their futures are uncertain as the Sabres again look for another head coach.

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While Buffalo showed a lot of improvement early in Granato’s tenure, the team was expected to make the next step and get into the playoffs this season. Instead, the Sabres regressed. The power play finished 28th in the NHL, Buffalo allowed more first-period goals than any team in the NHL and played October, November and December at a 73-point pace. The team scored 47 fewer goals than it did a season ago and didn’t have a single player reach 60 points after five players did so last season.

On top of that, the Sabres never managed to win more than three games in a row this season. They entered a game within four points of the playoffs six times this season and went 0-6 in those games. The team’s inability to handle pressure and make the necessary adjustments throughout the season sealed Granato’s fate.

Prior to the 2022-23 season, Buffalo signed Granato to a two-year contract extension even though he had two seasons left on his original deal. That contract extension was set to kick in starting next season at a salary of just under $2 million, so Sabres owner Terry Pegula will be paying Granato just under $4 million to not coach the team next season.

Granato is the seventh coach Pegula has fired since he bought the team in 2011. Granato coached the most games (274) and had the best points percentage (.495) of any coach Buffalo had since it fired Lindy Ruff in 2013.

When Granato signed his extension in October 2022, he said, “In our profession, there is no stability. You’re used to that, you’re accustomed to that. This is nice, but our stability is success day to day.”

The Sabres didn’t have enough success, and now they’re looking for the eighth coach since Pegula bought the team as they try to end the playoff drought at 13 seasons.

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(Photo: Sam Navarro / USA Today)