Sabres players back Granato after fans chant to fire coach

Don Granato's seat may be heating up.

Buffalo Sabres fans were chanting to fire the head coach and booing the squad throughout Tuesday's 9-4 drubbing at the hands of the Eastern Conference's last-place Columbus Blue Jackets.

As a young team that missed the 2023 playoffs by a point, expectations were high for the Sabres entering the current season. But amid a 13-17-3 start, the postseason appears to be a long shot.

However, captain Kyle Okposo wouldn't stand for any slander toward his bench boss.

"I'm not gonna sit here and bash the coaches," Okposo said, according to the Buffalo News' Lance Lysowski. "I'm not gonna talk about us quitting. I'm not gonna talk about Donnie and us not listening. That's not right. Donnie has our full support. We are gonna play hard for Donnie and that's it."

Forward Tage Thompson echoed his captain's sentiments, stating it's on the players to right the ship.

"He can only do so much," Thompson said. "He can draw the system on the boards, and if he sends guys over the boards and they don't do their jobs, then it's not on him. It's on us. Everyone in this room knows that and we have to take accountability for that."

Granato is in his fourth season as Sabres coach after taking over for Ralph Krueger midway through the 2020-21 campaign. While he's overseen the growth of several core young players, such as Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin, he also owns a poor 96-105-24 record.