BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Buffalo Sabres have lost five straight games and a franchise record 12-straight road games.
2 on Your Side's Ben Hayes talked to USA Today hockey writer Kevin Allen about the Sabres struggles this season. "They appear to be a team that looks like it's waiting for something to happen," said Allen.
The losing streaks have dropped the Sabres to 14th place in the Eastern Conference and they are tied in points with last place Carolina.
Allen's recent column suggested the Sabres are in need of a shakeup, and he believes Sabres owner Terry Pegula could be ready to make some changes soon. "I just can't imagine him (Pegula) allowing his team to remain stagnant," said Allen. "I would assume he would say let's do something we need to send a message to the team that we're not going to tolerate and inferior level of play and send the message to fans that if things are not going well we're going to try and be aggressive to make it right."
Allen thinks the Sabres will most likely try to make a trade and not fire head coach Lindy Ruff or general manager Darcy Regier.
He believes Drew Stafford could be the most appealing player on the Sabres roster to other teams. "He had a good season last season but he has not performed well this season, usually that's the makings of a player to be traded," said Allen. Stafford has just eight goals this season after scoring 31 last year.
Buffalo is 10 points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern conference. "The hole is so deep now it's going to be difficult to dig out so the sooner they can make a move the better hope for their long shot to try and get into the playoffs."
The Sabres next play Tuesday night in New Jersey, the team will then have a week off for the NHL All-Star break.
WGRZ