Buffalo Sabres: 4 takeaways from Jason Botterill’s press conference
By Paul Taylor
We break down the end of season press conference by Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill, who was clearly frustrated.
Well, it’s not every season you get to make NHL history. Unfortunately for the Buffalo Sabres and their fans this wasn’t a positive, as they became the first ever team to finish 31st in the standings.
As such, Jason Botterill was understandably testy during his first end of season press conference as Sabres’ general manager on Wednesday. He was angry and said owner Terry Pegula felt pretty much the same.
One of the biggest concerns for Botterill is the mentality which is prevalent throughout the organization. As reported by John Vogl of The Buffalo News, he said:
"“Right now we have a losing culture. We haven’t won here, and it’s up to Phil and I to work with our players to work through that to make sure we change our culture.”"
This mentality was best exemplified by Ryan O’Reilly‘s shocking but refreshing honesty on Monday, during locker clean out day. However, like us, Botterill does not blame the 2016 All-Star for what he said.
Generally speaking, Botterill’s press conference was absorbing to watch. Let’s analyze four other aspects we took away from it.