You might say that this series started last summer, when we took a look at what caused Lindy Ruff’s first tenure as the coach of the Buffalo Sabres to come to an end. But as we find ourselves in another summer of the longest playoff drought in the National Hockey League, one question continues to linger: How did we get here? Twelve calendar years after Ruff was fired in February 2013.

The 2012-13 Sabres were a bad team, with their 48 points in 48 games actually outperforming their underlying numbers in the lockout-shortened season.

After a lateral trade deadline in 2012, Darcy Regier was a firm seller for the first time in years, starting with sending the expiring contract of Jordan Leopold to St. Louis for a second and a fifth. Two days later, less than two seasons after the stone-turning recruitment to get him to join the organization, Robyn Regher was sent to Los Angeles for a pair of second rounders.

Of course, the memory of this trade deadline centered around the departure of captain Jason Pominville two days later, joining Derek Roy and Paul Gaustad as pieces of the glory years to be shipped out in the 2010s. While he was not a pending UFA, there was still one year left on the 5 year deal he signed in 2009, the organization decided that the captain’s time with the organization needed to end, signaling the official white flag on this era of Sabres hockey. Regier’s comments after the trade emphasized how he didn’t want to talk about starting a rebuild, it was all but imminent now, and they managed to take advantage of the extra year of “rental” time for the Wild by getting a first, second, and two prospects in the deal — those of course being Johan Larsson and Matt Hackett.

The direction was now clear, but for this exercise, knowing what it would prelude a couple years later, were we right at the time to think that all of the core guys from that era had to be moved? Was the full gutting of the last pieces to win a playoff series in Buffalo the only option for moving on from the previous era?

Today, let’s specifically look at the epilogue of those traded players to get a better understanding of what happened as they moved to their different teams. Again, this has nothing to do with the direction that the Sabres went from there; we have all summer for that.

TO CLARIFY THE EXERCISE. the implied extensions would represent them still being treated (and paid) as part of the core of the roster build. While yes, the upcoming Darcy Regier-led rebuild would be implied to have the draft classes and prospect pool eventually pick up the slack of the back years of the contracts, I think it’s more important to figure out if the full tear down to the studs of the core was necessary.

Starting with Pominville, it’s not common in the NHL that a player gives up their captaincy in favor of another while maintaining their position on the roster. But while he did have 30 goals and 30 assists in an 82 campaign for the 2013-14 Wild before they signed him to the 5×5.6 he was on for the end of his career, it was a steady decline in production, and that contract would be his final in the NHL. Of course, he did return for the final two seasons of that contract with two 16 goal seasons. J Crew Line 4 eva.

Now, even with the point decline, he did never decline out of a Top 6 caliber with his underlyings, and because of that, if there weren’t the ceremonious circumstances of his departure, he’s probably the guy who had the greatest case to stick around.

(And once it was accepted in the trade that he wouldn’t be expected to be one of The Guys, that’s a pretty good trade from the 2017 Sabres offseason, but more on that later.)

Andrej Sekera

The lone core member to move in the 2013 offseason was on the blue line, as Andrej Sekera was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes halfway through a 4×2.75 contract. While not necessarily thought of as that era’s core, Sekera was 339 games into his Sabres tenue upon being moved, and at age 26, he was on the verge of entering his prime, as Jim Rutherford pondered in his presser following the draft weekend deal (which also included a tidbit that instead of the return being Jamie McBain and the second round pick that became JT Compher, the trade was almost a swap of the defensemen and the Sabres moving up from 8 to 5, where the Hurricanes ended up taking Elias Lindholm).

There isn’t a lot that I could find in the papers about Sekera’s 2012-13, but it was by far the worst season of his career, but became an anomaly, as he bounced back in Raleigh and then into his tenure with the Edmonton Oilers.

As for McBain, the Hurricanes were vocal about him coming back from the lockout out of shape, which influenced their motivation to upgrade the blue line, and the offensive defenseman did not have the same results or underlyings when he moved over to the 2013-14 Sabres (team context notwithstanding).

With McBain not returning for 2014-15, walking in his first year of unrestricted free agency and only playing another 73 NHL games across the next three seasons. Compher’s career after being a key piece in the Ryan O’Reilly trade returned the value for moving Sekera, but did they really have to? The Solvakian defenseman played into his age 35 season across 9 more seasons — seasons where the Sabres really could’ve used a steady left shot defenseman!

Thomas Vanek

In the closing days of the 2013 season up until the late October Sunday when Thomas Vanek was traded to the New York Islanders, it was no secret that both sides were interested in looking for a trade that would end his tenure with the Sabres. He said such in locker cleanout, knowing his age and contract status and where the rebuild would be heading. And with this one, it was the right move for both sides. Vanek eclipsed 20 goals in three of his final six NHL seasons, but his days as a top guy were past him.

His first contract after his famous July 2007 offer sheet would only be 2×6.5M with the Minnesota Wild, and his final five seasons would see him making $3M or less in salary.

The same situation went for Ryan Miller, and while it was Tim Murray and not Darcy Regier who ended up making the trade, it was clear after the 2013 season that he would not be a Buffalo Sabre after his 6×6.25 contract expired at the end of the 2013-14 season. While Miller’s 3 years with the Vancouver Canucks were relatively consistent, the Sabres didn’t need a goalie extension for a guy’s age 34 and beyond season. Numerically, Miller -2.3 GSAA with the Canucks with a 2.69 GAA and .914 SV%.

How to Answer The Question

It’s really hard to argue that the Sabres didn’t have to tear down the core of their last playoff teams. If you include Derek Roy as part of that the season prior, the state of the 2012 and 2013 Sabres led them to become peak candidates for a true rebuild. Even with a guy like Drew Stafford, there really wasn’t any reason to keep him around when he could be used in a piece for a bigger deal (as he was).

The reason I wanted to go back this far was because of what has happened in this decade. There were parts of the Eichel-Reinhart core that were probably (definitely) salvageable if better steps were taken before it was too late. And now in 2025 with there being more urgency to get this current group to the playoffs no matter what, I still feel like it’s salvageable to the point where you can’t simply just say move on from the marquee names if they miss again. But in this case way back 12 or so years ago, it was absolutely the correct decision. Just maybe don’t trade Andrej Sekera next time?

Now, the execution of that plan, well, stay tuned.

(All player cards from Evolving-Hockey)

(Photo Credit: WGRZ)