BUFFALO Womens Kyle Palmieri Jersey , N.Y. (AP) Former defenseman Mike Weber is all too familiar with the Sabres‘ lean years while spending a majority of his eight NHL seasons in Buffalo.There were high-priced free agents who failed to pan out and one draft-pick bust after another. Weber made the playoffs just twice, with Buffalo eliminated in the first round both times.And then there was the so-called ”tank season” in 2014-15, when Sabres fans openly rooted for the team to finish last for the right to draft either now-Oilers captain, Connor McDavid, or Buffalo’s eventual pick, Jack Eichel.As it happens, Weber also enjoyed a glimpse into what could well be the Sabres’ more promising future following an eight-week stint with Frolunda, Sweden, last fall. Weber had an opportunity to play alongside defenseman Rasmus Dahlin , the highly touted 18-year-old projected to be selected by Buffalo with the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft on Friday night.Perhaps, Weber said, things might finally be looking up in Buffalo.”I really, truly believe you guys are going to be getting a once-in-a-lifetime kind of talent,” said Weber, now an assistant coach with Windsor of the Ontario Hockey League.”This first overall pick puts a stamp on it, put whatever happened in the past in the past,” he added. ”Hopefully, it’s something you guys can look back on at the suffering and rebuilding and tanking and all of this stuff where you can sit there and kind of laugh about it.”Though ”suffering” might be overly dramatic, it resonates in Buffalo because that’s the word former general manager Darcy Regier repeated numerous times during an end-of-season news conference in April 2013 where he braced fans for a top-to-bottom roster overhaul.Five years, two GMs, four coaches and three last-place finishes later, the Sabres remain stagnant while in the midst of a franchise-worst seven-year playoff drought.The team has not topped 35 wins in each of the past five years. And forward Ryan O’Reilly closed last season by suggesting a losing culture has crept into the locker room.Dahlin has the potential of injecting hope in Buffalo with his exceptional skating and play-making abilities. Weber compares Dahlin’s speed to that of Senators captain Erik Karlsson, and shiftiness to former Red Wings star forward Pavel Datsyuk.”I still bleed blue and gold,” Weber said, referring to Sabres colors. ”And the possibility of him being a cornerstone going forward and helping the organization and the city win a championship is pretty special.”Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman, who maintains a home in suburban Buffalo Authentic Marcus Johansson Jersey , can sense the buzz Dahlin has generated.”Buffalo needs a boost, and the fans have been waiting a long time for it,” Bowman said. ”People I know that have had tickets for a long time are excited.”The Sabres have been in freefall since losing Game 7 of the 2007 Eastern Conference finals to eventual champion Carolina. Some of Buffalo’s bleakest moments:BLACK SUNDAYThat’s what Sabres fans refer to July 1, 2007, when Buffalo lost co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere in free agency. Days later, rather than losing yet another star, the Sabres matched the Oilers’ qualifying offer to Thomas Vanek by re-signing the forward to a seven-year, $50 million contract. Buffalo has not won a playoff series since.MONEY FOR NOTHINGIn 2011, the Sabres made splashes by acquiring defenseman Robyn Regehr in a trade with Calgary, and signing defenseman Christian Ehrhoff to a 10-year, $40 million contract and forward Ville Leino to a six-year, $27 million deal. Regehr played just 105 games in Buffalo before being traded to Los Angeles. Leino and Ehrhoff played three seasons before the Sabres bought out their contacts.TRADE WINDSFormer GM Tim Murray’s most significant trade in his rebuilding plan came on Feb. 11, 2015. He dealt defenseman Tyler Myers, forwards Drew Stafford, Joel Armia and Brendan Lemieux and a first-round pick to Winnipeg to acquire forward Evander Kane, defenseman Zach Bogosian and prospect goalie Jason Kasdorf. Kane is now in San Jose. Kasdorf played just one game in Buffalo. Bogosian has combined to miss 108 games due to an assortment of injuries over the past three seasons.POOR DRAFTSOf the 15 players selected by Buffalo in the 2010 and `11 drafts, only four made the NHL and combined to play 144 career games for Buffalo. Of the 23 players Buffalo drafted from 2005-’07, only nine played in the NHL and none topped 400 games.BAD BREAKSAside from losing the NHL draft lottery after finishing last in both 2014 and `15, the Sabres lost out to Toronto in the Mike Babcock coaching sweepstakes in May 2015. The Sabres thought they were closing in on a deal before Babcock announced he was going to take an extra day to reconsider. Babcock signed with Toronto and the Sabres hired Dan Bylsma, who was fired after two seasons.FRANCHISE LOWSIn finishing last in 2013-14, Buffalo scored 150 goals, the fewest in the NHL’s post-expansion era. The following season, the Sabres scored 153 goals and were shut out a franchise-worst 14 times. This past year, the Sabres won 11 home games, matching their fewest in any season.—AP Hockey Writer Larry Lage contributed to this report.— ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) Barry Trotz started dancing as soon as he walked into the locker room mid-celebration.Within seconds Michael Grabner Jersey , players doused him with beer and champagne, jumped around him and hugged their beloved coach. Trotz couldn’t see but still had plenty of clarity in that moment.”I could feel the love,” he said.Veteran Brooks Orpik believes that moment showed the admiration and respect Washington Capitals players have for Trotz, a pending free agent at the peak of his career after winning the Stanley Cup. Trotz’s contract status is the biggest question facing Washington as the offseason begins.Trotz wants to be back, and general manager Brian MacLellan wants to sign the 55-year-old to an extension. Now it’s a matter of them getting a deal done.Trotz and MacLellan met Wednesday to begin discussing a new contract. It’s uncommon for an established coach of a contending team to go through a lame-duck season and even rarer for a Cup-winner to not be back the next season.”We’ve got lots of good things going,” Trotz said. ”We’ll work through what we need to do. If that’s what they want, then something will get done. If not, we’ll deal with that.”MacLellan and the Capitals opted not to extend Trotz last summer following a second consecutive Presidents’ Trophy-winning season that ended with a second-round exit at the hands of the eventual champion Pittsburgh Penguins. After winning the Cup at Vegas, MacLellan said Trotz would be back if he wants to be.At the championship rally Tuesday, Trotz dropped hints of wanting to return by saying, ”We’ll do it again” and noting afterward, ”We’ll get something done.” He reiterated Wednesday he likes the area for his family and enjoys coaching this team.MacLellan said he’ll meet with ownership over the next week and that he doesn’t believe either side feels pressure to get a deal done given Trotz’s contract expires June 30. Asked how confident he feels about being able to re-sign Trotz, MacLellan said: ”I don’t know. We’ll find out.”It’s up to owner Ted Leonsis, team President Dick Patrick and MacLellan to come to Trotz with an offer that makes sense for him to return. The New York Islanders currently have an opening, and other teams around the NHL might even fire their coaches to hire Trotz, whose relaxed attitude during the playoffs contributed to the Capitals’ run.”Barry was the right coach for this group,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said. ”The things that he preaches turns out to be really important. It works for our group.”Based on the salaries of other Cup-winning coaches like Toronto’s Mike Babcock, Chicago’s Joel Quenneville and Montreal’s Claude Julien, it’s reasonable to think Trotz could make $4 million-plus annually with the Capitals or another team.Over the past 40 years, only four Stanley Cup-winning coaches didn’t return to that team the next season. Scotty Bowman left Montreal to become Buffalo’s GM in 1979, retired after winning with Detroit in 2002 and replaced Bob Johnson in Pittsburgh in 1991 when Johnson became ill. The other instance was when Mike Keenan left the Rangers after winning in 1994 because of a disagreement with GM Neil Smith and New York’s management.That’s the most similar situation to Trotz, a proud veteran of 19 NHL seasons who went through a lame-duck season with prospective coach-in-waiting Todd Reirden on his staff. If Trotz returns, Reirden would likely be given the chance to catch on elsewhere.Players widely want to see Trotz back in charge next season, in part because he pushed the right buttons on the way to the franchise’s first title and lived the pain and success with them on the way to the Cup.”He’s been through adversity like the rest of us,” goaltender Braden Holtby said. ”He’s a huge part -him and the rest of the coaching staff. They gave us a good game plan and we executed it. I think his best quality this year probably was letting us kind of take care of ourselves. Showing us that if we’re going to have success we need to find it in our locker room ourselves and he did that.”NOTES: Orpik had to have the tip of his left pinkie finger stitched back on after a slash from Vegas’ Erik Haula late in Game 2 of the final. The 37-year-old defenseman also expects to have a hand injury from the first round checked out Friday. … Center Nicklas Backstrom revealed he had two fractures in his right index finger from a Justin Schultz slap shot in Game 5 of the second round that caused him to miss four games. … Center Evgeny Kuznetsov injured his left shoulder in Game 2 of the final on a hit from Brayden McNabb. … Winger Andre Burakovsky broke his right thumb in the first round and returned during the conference final.—