For nearly all of March, the Buffalo Sabres were the punchline of the NHL. They slogged through an 18-game winless streak, the longest in the salary cap era. They fired yet another coach, Ralph Krueger, as captain Jack Eichel remained sidelined with an injury. In its weekly power rankings, the Buffalo News even ranked the expansion Seattle Kraken (a team without players or a coach) ahead of the Sabres.
When Krueger was dismissed on March 17, assistant Don Granato was appointed interim coach. Granato, 53, is a member of one of America's most prominent hockey families.