At least the Bills are good. Get a good management group in here and things will change.
The two sports are so dissimilar though. The NFL payroll is set and the league is profitable based on their television and advertising deals. They have a massive feeder system of ready-to-play prospects every year coming out of the collegiate ranks that can provide starter, even all star caliber, players 4-5-6 rounds deep in the draft.
The NHL? Gambles on kids who may or may not be ready in a year or two. They haven't shown the ability to set trends on the cutting edge of competitive advancement - in fact they seem rather set in older ways that they themselves haven't had any success with. They don't have strong relationships (seemingly) with the inner cabal of so called "hockey minds" that seem most capable of building the on-ice product and selling it to a once-rabid and now disinterested fanbase.
And while the cap is a nice gesture, along with the inner workings of revenue sharing, the hurdles to be cleared by small market teams involve gate revenue and local broadcast rights (and playoff gate). From a purely business standpoint, the NHL (specifically the Sabres) is a large money pit that will drain even an ardent supporters will to follow.