That the Sabres had a string of top player malcontents, Vanek, O’Reilly and Eichel, seems unprecedented. Vanek was a crybaby and the other two clearly sent a message that they felt it sucked here. I often wondered how their attitudes reverberated in the locker room and how far it carried league wide as a negative reflection on the Sabres organization.
I can’t speak to the integrity of this roster, but there’s a longstanding stigma of some kind here that can’t be shook.