Granato Lands in Columbus, and Buffalo Moves On Without Looking Back

Don Granato joining Rick Bowness's staff in Columbus as an assistant is a tidy footnote to a chapter Buffalo closed two years ago. He gets another shot in the league; the Sabres get confirmation that the coaching decision they made is settled.

That matters more than it sounds. Lindy Ruff came back with his job secure and a clear mandate, and the organization has spent the summer building around that stability — the Benson extension, the Krebs deal, the Zellweger acquisition, the draft-night bet on Daxon Rudolph. Those moves require a coaching staff that knows the plan and has runway to execute it. A front office second-guessing its bench boss in the middle of a youth rebuild is a different, messier story.

Granato landing somewhere is also just a clean resolution. There was no lingering drama here, no sense that his departure left the organization fractured. He's in Columbus now, working for Bowness. The Sabres are in Buffalo, working through a prospect injury cluster and a real hole at right wing. Both sides have moved on.

The Granato era ended without a playoff appearance. The Ruff era is being asked to deliver one. That's the only storyline that matters in Buffalo right now.