Stop blaming Seth Appert for Buffalo’s power play mess.
That was the blunt takeaway from Paul Hamilton on Friday, when the Sabres insider used an appearance on WGR 550 Radio to push back hard against the criticism aimed at Buffalo’s assistant coach. Hamilton said the structure starts with Lindy Ruff, not Appert, and that the head coach is the one setting the direction for the special teams.
"This isn't Seth Appert, people. I have just been trying to make people understand in the NHL - Yes, Lindy Ruff takes input from Seth Appert and every assistant coach.
They sit down in the summertime and decide how they're going to do their special teams. Then Lindy Ruff tells Seth Appert what to coach.
And then he tells Marty [Wilford] on the penalty kill what to coach. It is Lindy Ruff's power play.
It is Lindy Ruff's penalty kill. It is not - they're screaming in there fire Seth Appert - it is not his power play."
WGR's Paul Hamilton
The timing of Hamilton’s defense is no accident. Buffalo’s power play is off to a brutal start in 2026-27, going 0 for 13 through four games. No team in the league has scored fewer man-advantage goals, because no team has scored one at all.
Appert has become the face of the problem, but the failure clearly runs deeper than one assistant. Ruff deserves heat, too, and the players on the ice haven’t delivered either. Right now, it looks like a group issue more than a single-person problem.
What’s most jarring is how familiar all of this feels. The offseason brought talk of a full reset on the 5-on-4 unit, especially after Appert referenced a 50-page report from the analytics department on how to fix it. But four games in, Buffalo still looks stuck in the same rut.
The neutral-zone drop pass is still part of the entry plan, even though it hasn’t worked well. Once the Sabres do get set up, the puck movement often stalls and the attack loses any real edge.
A typical sequence still looks like this: lots of passes around the outside, not much traffic in front, and then a shot from Tage Thompson or a Rasmus Dahlin wrist shot through bodies. It’s predictable, and opponents know it.
That’s why the frustration keeps building. At some point, somebody has to own the lack of production and decide the approach needs more than a tweak.
The concern goes beyond just one unit, too. In the Eastern Conference, the race for playoff spots figures to be tight, and Buffalo can’t afford to bleed points if its special teams stay this shaky over the next 80 games.
The penalty kill, which helped drive the Sabres out of a 14-year playoff drought last season, is also wobbling early. Buffalo finished fourth in the NHL on the PK last season at 81.9 percent and tied for second in the league with 11 shorthanded goals. That edge hasn’t shown up yet in the new year.
Through four games, the Sabres are 28th on the penalty kill at 63.6 percent. They’ve allowed at least one power-play goal in three of their four contests.
Some of that slowdown was expected. Buffalo lost four important pieces from last year’s penalty-killing group in the offseason: Alex Tuch, Jordan Greenway, Bowen Byram and Logan Stanley. Conor Timmins has also been out with an injury.
That has forced Ruff and Marty Wilford to keep experimenting with new combinations. At one point, Josh Norris and Jack Quinn were paired together on the PK, a clear sign the coaching staff is still searching for answers.
One player who hasn’t been used there, though, is Peyton Krebs. The 25-year-old Canadian has built a reputation as a hardworking forward who can play center or wing, and his defensive numbers in Western New York have been strong. Buffalo also gave him a four-year, $18 million extension over the summer, a move that suggested the team saw him taking on a larger role in important situations.
He doesn’t have a long PK track record, but there’s a case for giving him a shot early and seeing what he can handle. It feels like an area where he could help.
None of this means the sky is falling after four games. There’s still a small sample here, and the Sabres have shown strong underlying 5-on-5 numbers despite the special teams issues.
Even so, the biggest early problems are the ones fans already expected to worry about before the season: goaltending and special teams, especially the power play. That’s a rough combination, and it’s why the irritation around Buffalo has already turned up so fast.
In Other News...
Sabres Goalie Situation Could Force A Bigger Roster Move
The Sabres goaltending picture already looks crowded, and it could get even busier if Buffalo follows through on its reported interest in Connor Hellebuyck. With three goalies currently on the roster, adding a player of that caliber would not just raise the ceiling in net, it would force the front office to make some uncomfortable decisions about how to clear room.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon would be the names to watch if Buffalo has to turn over the depth chart, and there should be no shortage of possible landing spots around the league. Teams such as the Rangers, Devils and Kings all have their own goalie questions, which gives the Sabres some potential trade flexibility if they decide to keep pushing on the bigger move. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Need These 3 To Respond After Their Worst Performance Yet
After getting blanked 4-0 by Dallas, Buffalo heads into its meeting with Utah looking for a cleaner response and a little more push from the players who can set the tone quickly. Colten Ellis, Josh Doan and Konsta Helenius all sit in the spotlight for different reasons, and the Sabres could use something steadier in goal, a sharper edge at forward and more from a rookie trying to carve out a larger role.
Ellis is in line for the start as the team waits on Alex Lyons shoulder injury to heal, which only adds to the pressure on Buffalos goaltending picture. Doans night has an extra layer too, since he is facing the club that brought him in during the 2025 offseason, while Helenius is trying to turn promise into more consistent impact as the Sabres look to shake off one of their roughest outings of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Lindy Ruff Sends A Clear Message With Sabres Lineup Shakeup
The Sabres are making a noticeable change in net for their upcoming matchup with the Utah Mammoth, turning to Colten Ellis instead of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Ellis earned the look after helping Buffalo to a recent victory, while Luukkonen has been in a rough stretch in his starts, giving Lindy Ruff a reason to try a different voice and a different feel at the position.
Ruff is not stopping there. Buffalo also plans to add Tyson Kozak and Sam Carrick into the lineup in an effort to inject some energy and tighten the group ahead of another important game. It reads like a clear message from the coach: the Sabres want more pace, more push and a sharper edge from the players stepping in. [Read more 🡒]