Since the departure of former coach Ralph Krueger and the finalizing of the divorce from Jack Eichel, Buffalo has been trending in the right direction with a huge culture change that has been spearheaded by head coach Don Granato. Under Granato players look like they are playing up to and even above their potential and an influx of players who look actually happy to be apart of the Sabres has the team trending in the right direction.

After watching Ryan O’Reilly win the Stanley Cup immediately after being traded away, there has been a fear that every trade the Sabres makes will look lopsided in the other team’s favor. I was dreading an Eichel-trade where Buffalo would not get adequate value or he would repeat the success of O’Reilly, but GM Kevyn Adams has knocked it out of the park.

Going forward it does not matter how many points Eichel gets for the Vegas Golden Knights, what Adams did was change the Sabres culture for the better. Like so many, I always had my blinders up for Eichel, I always made excuses for him because of his talent and the fact we tanked a whole season to get Connor McDavid and were stuck with him that I so badly wanted him to work out. After his postgame interview where he ripped into the Buffalo fans, many things about his personality was confirmed.

Not only did Adams get rid of Eichel, but he managed to bring in a culture corrector in Baldwinsville native Alex Tuch — a future captain — who so clearly wants to be here, a bright young prospect in Peyton Krebs, a 2022 first rounder and a 2023 conditional second rounder.

Buffalo’s Owen Power (25) lines on the wall before Dylan Cozens (24) takes the faceoff in the third period of Saturday’s game against the Flyers. Saturday’s victory was Power’s third NHL game and he was paired up defensively with Henri Jokiharju (10). OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms

With the Sabres selecting first overall again last year, the mood at the end of the season and all offseason was all negative. But since firing Krueger, it seems Adams has done everything right and Buffalo has gotten lucky Granato was an assistant ready to be promoted.

Leading up to the draft, I was still in the mindset that Buffalo needed to ignore Eichel’s complaints and continue to build around him and Reinhart. I was hoping Buffalo might add another forward that could step in immediately on the wing like William Eklund, despite it being such a deep draft defensively and I also thought just having Dahlin on defense was enough even with many fans soured by his performance under Krueger.

However, Adams was dead set on getting rid of the old guard, trading Reinhart — which still stings — and getting rid of Eichel in the future. So Adams went with the “best” available and took Michigan’s Owen Power first overall.

While the jury will be out on who is the most talented and successful player from the 2021 NHL draft for a long time, my personal belief is it will be the Devils’ selection Luke Hughes, I definitely think the Sabres took the right player.

After watching Power all last year and then this year, I had to see him in person when he finally made his debut and he is everything as advertised. He’s a big 6-foot-5 that skates and moves so gracefully like he’s 5-foot-10 and his puck skills are superb. However, what’s most important is that he’s got a good brain inside his helmet and will be a pillar on the defense for many years to come.

I do not think his ceiling is that of Dahlin’s, but it will be a 1A and 1B sort of thing. Both defensemen will be able to munch minutes and put up big numbers, propelling a bright group from the back end. According to Chad DeDominicis, the founder of ExpectedBuffalo, in Power’s third game against the Flyers on Saturday night he led the team with a 77% expected goals for while being the leader in 5-on-5 time on the ice.

What we saw in years past was that you can’t win with just a few players on the team, but lucky for Dahlin and Power they are not alone as Buffalo builds to better things.

Granato has the duo of Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson powering along with 31 and 36 goals, respectively. When healthy, Victor Olofsson shows the Sabres could have three 30 goalscorers. Dylan Cozens and Peyton Krebs both have shown flashes of what their offensive capabilities are with plenty of room to grow.

Not focusing on scoring, Mattias Samuelsson has silenced many doubters of his worth in the 2018 draft, he should be a permanent partner to allow Dahlin to cut loose. The underlying numbers for Rasmus Asplund show exactly what he is, which is one of the best defensive forwards in the league which will be a key for the future.

Power is just the first of the future full time prospects, the two key player to join next year will be Jack Quinn who could be the replacement of the truly elite scorer the Sabres lost when ditching Eichel and JJ Peterka who will be a workhorse every night which will be crucial to the overall energy of the team.