from Adam Proteau of The Hockey News,

They say the term “empathy” is the feeling that describes putting yourself in the shoes of another and trying to see things their way.

But when it comes to fans of the Buffalo Sabres, how can you truly have empathy when they’re experiencing one of the worst win-droughts in modern professional sports history? How do you explain away year after year of letdowns, underwhelm and flat-out heartbreak?

As if the past decade weren’t abysmal enough – and lo, it certainly has been abysmal, with the Sabres failing to make the playoffs in any of the past 10 years; and with the team finishing either sixth, seventh or eighth in the Atlantic or East Division in each of the past eight straight seasons – imagine how it must feel knowing the upcoming, 2021-22 campaign is going to be sheer awfulness, from Game 1 likely through Game 82. Sabres GM Kevyn Adams already has dealt away one of his team’s better defenseman (Rasmus Ristolainen, traded to Philadelphia), lost his starting goaltender (Linus Ullmark, who signed with Bruins Atlantic rivals in Boston), and shipped out his top goal-scorer and point-getter (Sam Reinhart, again, to an Atlantic rival in the Florida Panthers) last season.

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