Sabres scramble to find their 8th Head Coach after over a decade of embarrassment.

A day after ending the 2023-2024 NHL regular season by doing something they have rarely done during the NHL’s longest-ever playoff drought (win hockey games), Buffalo Sabres General Manager Kevyn Adams fired head coach Don Granato after three seasons.¹  The actual news comes as little surprise to anyone after the Sabres had a mediocre season despite high expectations coming into the year. The timing of the news was most surprising, as the two were supposed to address the media together Friday; what was most interesting was the financial details behind Granto’s firing. 

Granato was fired despite signing a two-year extension for $1.9 million before the start of the season. ² Thus, Granato achieved the rare feat of being fired before even getting to the years on a contract extension.³ From the organization’s perspective, this is a tough pill to swallow as they will pay him nearly $2 million for two years not to coach their professional hockey team. However, this is anything but rare territory for the team, as since current owner Terry Pegula took over, the Sabres have had seven different coaches behind the bench.⁴ These coaches have endured their tenure being fired, and Granato is the only one to receive an extension. ⁵

That is the economics of coaching collegiate and professional sports. Many teams, in order to improve, will fire coaches and pay them not to do their jobs. “According to ESPN, approximately $146 million has been owed to fired head football coaches at Power 5 schools since the start of the 2022 season, including both a $76 million and a $21.7 million buyout.”⁶ That number is astonishing, and the Sabres are accustomed to it during their playoff-off drought.

The good news for the Sabres is that despite having to pay Granato this much money not to do his job, it does not apply to their salary cap, as opposed to paying dead money for one of the players not to play. This is due to the NHL’s CBA.⁷ Additionally, if a team decides to hire Granato for some role during these next two years, the Sabres can ask for compensation from the hiring team.⁸ This idea is relatively new and confusing for some NHL teams, so much so that NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN “that for coaches, general managers or presidents of hockey operations who are fired but remain under contract, their teams are privy to draft pick compensation if they choose to pursue it.”⁹

Nevertheless, the Sabres need to find the right person for the job in an effort to help one of the most struggling franchises on and off the ice, at least in terms of fan morale. They will have to do so with a tough pill to swallow, as their former coach will get paid by the same general manager who hired him will find his replacement. In somewhat of a silver lining, they will at least be able to do so with around $23 million dollars in cap space.¹⁰

1. Buffalo Sabres Fire Coach Don Granato: Three Potential Replacements – The Hockey News ↩︎
2.  Buffalo Sabres Fire Coach Don Granato As Playoff Drought Hits 13 Years (forbes.com) ↩︎
3. Id. ↩︎
4. A look at Sabres’ coaching carousel during Pegula era (buffalonews.com) ↩︎
5. Id. ↩︎
6. College Coaching Contracts and the Future of “Buyouts” (brickergraydon.com) ↩︎
7. Collective Bargaining Agreement – The PA | NHLPA.com ↩︎
8. Making Sense of the NHL’s New Compensation For Fired Coaches & General Managers Rule | Insight into the Business Side of the Hockey World (wordpress.com) ↩︎
9. Teams can seek draft pick compensation for fired coaches, GMs, executives – ESPN – Cross Checks Blog- ESPN ↩︎
10. How much cap space do the Sabres have in the 2024 NHL offseason? (sabrenoise.com) ↩︎