There is no taking the sting out of missing out on the mostly highly-touted NHL head coaching candidate in years for the Buffalo Sabres.
Losing Mike Babcock to the Toronto Maple Leafs hurts. It just does.
If there's any head coach who could have taken the Sabres young, talented, up-and-coming roster and turned it into a perennial Stanley Cup contender, it was Babs.
That dream is gone though, and Sabres GM Tim Murray and team owners the Pegulas must now move onto other candidates.
Luckily for Murray and Co., according to TSN's NHL Insider Darren Dreger, the remaining pool of head coaching candidates recognize the talent in place in Buffalo and thus hold the opportunity available to coach the Sabres in fairly high regard.
"Well, I think it's highly sought-after. I don't think there's any question about that. Again, from a hockey standpoint, people look at the Buffalo Sabres and they see what's coming and what's there, and they like this team," Dreger said Wednesday while appearing on Buffalo's WGR 550, via TodaysSlapShot.com.
"Of course there are holes that need to get filled, and they will in appropriate time. But anytime you, as a coach, have an opportunity to work with a player like Jack Eichel, who could be a generational player - he's not that far behind Connor McDavid - I mean, that is going to be an intriguing opportunity."
Dreger added that the stability of ownership in Buffalo will also play a part in landing one of the top remaining contenders.
Dan Bylsma, the former Stanley Cup-winning head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, had his name come up in connection with the Sabres job shortly after Babcock chose to head to Toronto.
HNGN passed along a report earlier this week that Bylsma had set his sights firmly on the Sabres as his next head coaching gig and was doing his best to sell the Pegulas and Murray on his candidacy by playing up the fact that he coached Eichel during the IIHF World Championships in the Czech Republic earlier this month and his history getting the most out of star players like Sidney Crosby.
Of course, the Sabres seem to be in no rush to replace Ted Nolan now that Babcock is out of the picture and there's really no reason they should force a decision - the NHL Draft doesn't even kick off for another 30 days and the team's first preseason game won't come until September.
Still, Murray is facing an important, franchise-defining decision.
Picking the right man isn't just about the here and now - it's about the futures of a number of NHL talents who could come together to create something special if given the the correct direction.
