The Buffalo Sabres will have many important games to play next season, but their most important games could prove to be against their rivals in the Atlantic Division.
Thus, we've been steadily putting together a team-by-team series on each of Buffalo's seven Atlantic rivals this season. And in this file, we're wrapping up the series by focusing on the team that won the Atlantic's regular-season title — the Toronto Maple Leafs:
BUFFALO SABRES VS. TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
NEW MAPLE LEAFS PLAYERS: Matias Maccelli, LW; Dakota Joshua, LW; Nicolas Roy, C; Michael Pezzetta, LW; Henry Thrun, D
2024-25 SERIES: Sabres 0-3-0, Maple Leafs 3-0-0
2025-26 GAMES AGAINST EACH OTHER: October 24 at Buffalo; October 25 at Toronto; January 27 at Toronto; March 14 at Buffalo
CAN THE SABRES BEAT THIS TEAM? The Maple Leafs dominated the Sabres last year, winning all three games against Buffalo by a combined score of 15-6. Whether the games were played in December or in Buffalo's second-last regular-season game last year, Toronto shook the Sabres like a schoolyard bully, and even without departed superstar right winger and new Vegas Golden Knight Mitch Marner, the Leafs have a better balance of skill and determination than the still-evolving Sabres do this time around.
To be sure, adding gritty forwards in former Golden Knight Roy and former Vancouver Canuck Joshua will make Toronto's bottom-six group of forwards one of the better groups in the league. And taking a shot on former Utah Mammoth winger Maccelli could pay off in a big way, if Maccelli once again gets back to the 40-assist, 55-point range he got to in 2023-24.
Losing Marner obviously hurts the Maple Leafs' offense, but with superstars Auston Matthews and William Nylander joined by terrific financial bargain center John Tavares and up-and-coming power forward Matthew Knies, the Buds have a collection of talent many teams would kill for. They're going to be a different team without Marner — a team that produces fewer goals-for, but one that is going to make opponents pay a physical toll many of them won't want to pay.
Know Your Enemy, Sabres Edition: Can Buffalo Jump Past Tampa Bay Into Third Place In Atlantic Division?The Buffalo Sabres are facing massive pressure to at least qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 15 years. But there's intense competition for each and every standings point teams can generate, and the Sabres' don't benefit by playing in the Atlantic Division — the most competitive division, in our estimation, in the league. And Buffalo is going to have to get a leg up on more than a few Atlantic rival teams, Tampa Bay included if they really intend to claim a Cup anytime soon.
There are some intriguing elements of the schedule that will make the Buffalo/Toronto games worth circling on your calendar: firstly, the October 24-25 games are the only games the Sabres will play against the same opponent on back-to-back nights this season. Winning the first game should be a priority, as there won't be much pressure to win Game 2 (and Games 3 and 4, for that matter).
In addition, the teams' final game against each other will take place a month before the end of the regular-season, and shortly after the NHL's trade deadline. If the Maple Leafs can power through the schedule and more or less lock up a playoff spot by that March 14 game between the Sabres and Leafs, all the pressure will be on Buffalo to salvage the series as they try to secure a wild card berth.
In theory, the Sabres should be on the rise this coming year. They're going to be desperate to shake off their 14-year playoff drought, and upsetting Toronto in the four-game series will go a long way toward sending a message that this Buffalo team can run-and-gun with any opponent in the league. But the Maple Leafs aren't going to lie down and play dead against the Sabres. It will take a stellar defensive effort to shut down Toronto's high-octane offense, and stellar defensive efforts are not what this Buffalo team is known for.
Know. Your Enemy, Sabres Edition: Ottawa Senators Could Be Standing In Way Between Buffalo, PlayoffsThe Buffalo Sabres happen to play in the NHL's most competitive division, the Atlantic Division, Every one of the Atlantic's eight teams have designs on being a playoff team next season — and as part of this continuing THN.com series, we're analyzing each of the Sabres' seven divisional rivals to see what chance Buffalo has against each of them.
The Leafs fully intend on being the best regular-season team in the Atlantic for the second straight season, even without Marner. So when the Sabres go head-to-head against Toronto, there's little room for error for Buffalo.
The Sabres have got potentially eight standings points up for grabs against the Buds, and squandering opportunities like upsetting the Leafs could be stark reminders of why Buffalo has once again failed to be a post-season team. They need to take the Maple Leafs by the throat and make them understand this is a new era of Sabres hockey.
Because if they don't, the Sabres will face an uphill battle just to stay in their games against the Leafs, let alone win them. Toronto can still run up the score on opponents, which is why nothing less than a focused defensive attack will prevent Buffalo from being in the wrong part of the win/loss columns and pour more water on this disappointing-of-late rivalry.
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