‘“I don’t think they’re a (ninth-place) team by any means,” Ott told the Gazette by phone from his offseason home in Ontario. “I think they’re a top contending team from the owner on turning that organization into a first-class organization. I’ve only heard phenomenal things about Buffalo and about the Sabres. That’s something I’m excited for, to have that ownership, to have that backing to just want to win every single night.”’