Know Your Enemy: Sorry Red Wings Should Be Easy Pickings For Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres’ 2025-26 season was largely a success, with the Sabres winning the Atlantic Division, as well as their first-round Stanley Cup playoffs series against the Boston Bruins. Buffalo fell to the Montreal Canadiens in the second round, but at long last, there was real reason for optimism in Western New York. 

This is why, for the second straight year at TheHockeyNews.com, we’re breaking down the Sabres’ Eastern Conference opponents in a series called “Know Your Enemy”. And in this particular file, we’re focused on a team that’s fallen from being the gold standard of NHL teams to the bottom of the Atlantic – the Detroit Red Wings.

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NEW RED WINGS PLAYERS: Viktor Arvidsson (RW), Keegan Kolesar (RW) Daniil Tarasov (G)

2025-26 SERIES: Sabres 2-1-0, Red Wings 1-1-1

2026-27 GAMES AGAINST EACH OTHER: December 28, at Buffalo; February 21 at Detroit; March 12 at Detroit; April 10 at Buffalo

CAN THE SABRES BEAT THIS TEAM? The Sabres handled most of their business with the Red Wings last season, but this year, Detroit will be a desperate team – and the way the schedule-maker has put together Buffalo’s 2026-27 campaign, the games against the Wings could prove to be the difference between home-ice advantage – or worse, the difference between making or missing the playoffs.

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Indeed, the Sabres play their final regular-season game against the Red Wings this coming year when they host Detroit. If pre-season projections are correct, the Wings will be well out of the playoff picture by that final game. So they could be in prime spoiler mode at that point, and Buffalo has to be ready to play high-stakes hockey from Game No. 1 through Game No. 84.

By the time the Sabres play their first game against Detroit this coming season, the Wings should have another GM in place as Steve Yzermans’ successor – or at least, you’d hope. As a matter of fact, you’d have hoped the Red Wings would’ve already had a new GM. But that speaks to the organization’s problems. 

That said, the Wings team Buffalo will see in December could be significantly different than their current roster. Certainly, Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin’s trade request will almost certainly result in him moving on. But the new Wings GM will have to start trading off more veterans as they try to chart a new course for the franchise.

The Wings used to be the measuring stick by which all teams were judged, but those days are long ago. And the Sabres have to take advantage of that.

Taking it to Detroit is an absolute must for this Buffalo team, and if they don’t do that, the Sabres are liable to regret it at season’s end.