Tim Murray is clasping a sizable take-out cup of coffee while speaking about the most precious jewel in the kingdom. There’s every chance the beverage came from a nearby Tim Hortons, where chair-backs feature the Buffalo Sabres logo and the team’s blue and yellow colours adorn donuts. It’s Wednesday morning and Murray is sitting in the last row of KeyBank Center’s lower bowl. On the ice in front of the Sabres GM, Jack Eichel and his teammates are skating through their last practice before hosting the Montreal Canadiens to start the regular season. Once routine sets in, training sessions may feature an element of drudgery. Right now, though, the Sabres look like kids gleefully executing their chores on Christmas Eve. Murray’s manner is more reserved, but his praise of Eichel is effusive. “He’s of the utmost importance,” Murray says in reference to Eichel’s role in Buffalo’s scorched-earth rebuild. “He’s a young, No. 1 centre. He’s a world-class talent.”

About 20 minutes later, Eichel lets out a scream that silences the rink. The high-ankle sprain he sustains—and the fluke nature in which it occurs, on an entirely standard power-play drill—make it easy to fall back on the belief that the Sabres are condemned to perpetually ride the long-ago-dubbed “train to nowhere” that creaks along an above-ground rail just outside their home rink. Murray’s travel plans for the franchise, however, are firm enough to withstand some turbulence. January will mark the third anniversary of his hiring in Buffalo and there’s an expectation within the team and around town that the club—which made a huge leap in the standings last year, but hasn’t made the playoffs since 2011—will very much be in the post-season chase at that point. Murray’s ground-up approach works in conjunction with a top-down tone set by owner, Terry Pegula, who, since purchasing the Sabres in 2011, has provided the organization with means, clout and stability they’ve never previously known. Just as the downtown trains increasingly carry people around a modestly revitalized Buffalo, the local hockey crew is pushing forward despite a distinct lack of good fortune and at least one lingering question mark. And should things ever break right in Western New York, the emotional release will match anything ever witnessed in the league.