Fixing the Sabres: The search for explosiveness

Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill was far from pleased when he spoke with the media during his end-of-season press conference on April 11.

While the first-year GM, whose team was the first in NHL history to finish in 31st place, addressed several issues, he made a point of talking about players being in better condition come next season.

"That’s one of the things that we challenged our players (on) over the last couple of days," Botterill said. "One of the things that they can control is how they work out over the summer, how they train over the summer, because we can’t have the man games lost that we had this year. That’s something we can control, and we need to do that over the summer. So it is a situation where I believe we can have better results next year by changing certain things."

The man who shoulders much of the responsibility of getting the Sabres in peak performance mode is head strength and conditioning coach Edward Gannon. A structured fitness program is assigned to players during the offseason, running from April 30-Sept.10.