BUFFALO, N.Y. — After missing the playoffs for an NHL-record 13 straight seasons, nobody is truly shocked the Buffalo Sabres decided to make a change at the top and fire head coach Don Granato.

While General Manager Kevyn Adams on Tuesday both took accountability and insisted that the next bench boss will provide that as well, the players on Wednesday also acknowledged that they need to answer to themselves and each other.  

“I hope they realize that it's not just on [Granato],” said forward Alex Tuch. “They realize that a lot of it is on us in this locker room and I said before, he's a great guy. He's an unbelievable human being. I think he's a great coach. I think he's going to continue on his coaching career and have a lot of success and we're one of the reasons why he's not coaching behind our bench anymore.”

The team has a long summer to internalize the season. And even though there may be some new faces in the room come September, between the coaching vacancies and player market, the core of this roster knows that it’s only going to get harder from here.

"It shows you that you're replaceable. That's kind of the business you're in," said forward Tage Thompson. "So hopefully the response is intensity, and I think comfort can be the death of you. I think we were a little too comfortable this year."

“I think my role moving forward is to lead by example,” said defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. “We saw that at close after the deadline, the younger guys were stepping up and really pushing this team. So we need some good meetings during the summer and figure out what we have to do. And I come from, my background is that you have to earn everything, and so you have to work hard and our main core in this team have to work hard every single game, every single practice to be able to push all the other guys.”

The Sabres will continue to clean out their lockers on Thursday and then for some, like Dahlin, are preparing for the IIHF Men’s World Championships in Prague that are less than a month away.