IT’S AN UGLY DAY IN THE SABREHOOD

TORONTO, ON — Plain and simply, the Buffalo Sabres are a mess. After losing their eleventh straight game – technically, they are winless in their last 11, going 0-8-3 – this time to the Montreal Canadiens, who have now jumped one point ahead of them in the standings, the Sabres find themselves in last place in the Eastern Conference.

Clearly, having owner Terry Pegula fly from Detroit, where he watched his Bills defeat the Lions on Sunday, to meet with the team Monday morning did zip. Sure, it’s one game. But the then-last placed Habs beat the crap out of you as the roster sat around dumbfounded.

“They came out with a lot more energy than we did. You know, (we were) flat-footed. For some reason, no spark in our game. It showed. They came out with a purpose and took it to us,” Alex Tuch said after Tuesday’s 6-1 loss in Montreal.

“The season’s not over. You have to look at yourself in the mirror and realize you haven’t been good enough and that your team needs you more than ever.”

Earlier in the day, before the game, the Sabres seemed much more positive. They were ready to prove they can climb out of this funk and steer the ship back in the right direction.

But 19 seconds into the game, they were down 1-0 and got back in their heads.

“It can be deflating,” Tuch said. “We didn’t have enough battle back.”

Evidently.

“That first goal just bothered us too much,” Head Coach Lindy Ruff admitted last night. “Then it was race here, race there. I think we settled down at about the 10-minute mark, finally.”

It was too little, too late... with 50 minutes to go in regulation.

As I tweeted last night (do we still call it “tweeted?”), you can’t overreact and make a knee-jerk reactionary trade just because you lost, again. Fan reaction to my post was, as you can imagine, not overly complimentary of General Manager Kevyn Adams’s ability to make the right move to spark this club.

And when you’re in a big slide, the vultures start circling. Teams have called about several Sabres players, including Tuch, Dylan Cozens, Bowen Byram, Owen Power, Jack Quinn, J.J. Peterka, Henri Jokiharju and I’m sure others. Is Adams listening? Of course. But he’s in a vulnerable position and must now more than ever be careful how he proceeds.

The Sabres can pursue a Byram deal, something the Vancouver Canucks would encourage. They can explore a Cozens move, too; I’m sure teams like the Calgary Flames, Nashville Predators or Philadelphia Flyers wouldn’t be against it. A few contenders might not shy away from a Jokiharju swap, either.

The options are there. But will they be impactful enough to ultimately strengthen Buffalo’s overall roster and put them in a position to succeed moving forward?

The post-Pegula-meeting message, at least dished out publicly, was “don’t expect any major trades” to jolt this club. I think the actual message to the guys in the room was, ‘don’t wait for help to come, figure this shit out yourselves.’

“The change has to come in this room. No matter what happens, it still has to come from this room,” Tuch said.

Players aren’t blind to what’s going on. They know something’s going to give, at some point. Change is indeed coming. Those four words – “no matter what happens” – are a tell. To what extent is up to Adams, right now.

We reported at the start of the season whispers suggesting the Sabres were considering a change in upper management, where Adams would stay with the club in an elevated role and a new GM would take the reins. That, too, remains a possibility if Pegula feels now is the time.

Until then, or until a big roster move is made, we wait. The Sabres have two days off until Friday’s home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They played a strong 10 minutes, followed by a respectable 20 minutes, against the Leafs on Sunday before the tires fell off. With the holiday roster freeze officially kicking in at 12:01am ET Friday, it may be the same group of guys going to battle, seeking internal answers.

We’ve got 35 hours to see if that remains the case.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

The Ottawa Senators have now won four straight and sit in the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference, two points back of the Tampa Bay Lightning. They are three points back of the Boston Bruins, with two games in hand, for third in the Atlantic.

This is where they expected to be when the puck dropped at the start of the season – in playoff contention.

Since Larry Brooks reported the New York Rangers were targeting Sens captain Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa’s won five of their last six, and they are playing with a different kind of confidence we didn’t see in the early part of the campaign.

As I mentioned in Tuesday’s edition of “The Latest” with Kate Petterson, it took some time for the Sens to acclimate themselves to Head Coach Travis Green’s system. That, coupled with the outstanding play of goaltender Linus Ullmark, of late, has pushed this team in the right direction.

Now, GM Steve Staios is looking for ways to further strengthen his roster and not necessarily looking to swap out someone like Josh Norris in a talent-for-talent swap to shake things up.

Without question, improving the blueline is a priority for the Senators. It’s unlikely they make a move for a top-four defenceman, presumably one to play on the right side, by the start of the holiday freeze, but that’s a position they want to upgrade by the trade deadline.

Staios wouldn’t mind adding a little extra fire power to his team, either, but any additions up front may come closer to deadline day.

HERE AND THERE

• On Monday, I guest co-hosted Leafs Morning Day with Nick Alberga and mentioned what a John Tavares contract extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs may look like. I’ve asked for a few additional opinions from various managers and agents and the consensus seems to be something in the three-year, $21 million range, give or take a few mill. I think both parties can live with that, but neither side seems to be in a rush.

• Does $14 million x 8 years get things done between the Colorado Avalanche and Mikko Rantanen? It sure sounds like that’s the starting point on an AAV he’d command as a free agent, if he gets to July 1.

• Another player teams have been asking the New York Rangers about is defenceman K’Andre Miller, who is currently on the IR with an upper-body injury. He’s set to become an RFA, with arbitration rights, in the summer.

• This may be something to keep tabs on in the off-season, as I’d be fairly surprised if a move occurred mid-season, but word around the league suggests the Minnesota Wild are still willing to listen on centre Marco Rossi. Again, nothing is imminent, but as we reported last season, Wild GM Bill Guerin didn’t hang up when teams asked about Rossi, and that still seems to be the case. But given how well the club’s performing, there’s no need to screw around with a good thing. Rossi is eligible to become a restricted free agent next summer.

• The Pittsburgh Penguins are still willing to listen on just about anyone on their roster, including Bryan Rust, who has a full no-movement clause – and I don’t expect the team to approach him about waiving it unless they feel they have a deal they’d act on.

• Calgary’s Rasmus Andersson and Montreal’s Mike Matheson each have one more year remaining on their respective contracts after this season. Teams will poke on their availability a little more aggressively soon after the calendar flips to 2025.