The Buffalo Sabres know when and where every game they'll play in the 2025-26 season will take place. And as part of THN.com's Sabres site's "Know Your Enemy" series, we've been focusing on every one of Buffalo's 31 opponents next year.
We've made our way through the Atlantic, Metropolitan and Central division's teams, and more recently, we've been looking at the Pacific Division's teams. In this file, we're wrapping up the series with an analysis of a team many consider to be a frontrunner to win the Stanley Cup next season — the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights added the most wanted free-agent this summer with the trade for former Toronto Maple Leafs star right winger Mitch Marner, once again proving that this Vegas franchise is always intent on being a mover-and-shaker when it comes to acquiring top talent, But does that automatically mean we should expect the Sabres to fold like a tent when they go up against the Golden Knights? Read below, and you'll see our answer to that question.
BUFFALO SABRES VS. VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS
NEW GOLDEN KNIGHTS PLAYERS: Mitch Marner, RW; Colton Sissons, RW, Jeremy Lauzon, D;
2024-25 SERIES: Sabres 1-1-0, Golden Knights 1-0-1
2025-26 GAMES AGAINST EACH OTHER: March 3 at Buffalo; March 17 at Vegas
CAN THE SABRES BEAT THIS TEAM? The Sabres split their series against the Golden Knights last season, with Buffalo winning one game in the shootout, and losing the other game in regulation time to Vegas. And that was against a Golden Knights team that now has dramatically improved their offensive firepower with the addition of Marner — a star who also will help Vegas' defensive efforts as well.
So, the Sabres will clearly have their work cut out for them against the Golden Knights this season — and the truly frightening thing for Buffalo is that the NHL's schedule-maker has the Sabres playing Vegas in and around next season's trade deadline.
Indeed, with both games against the Golden Knights coming in a two-week windown beginning in early March of 2026, Buffalo could well be squaring off against an even more impressive Vegas lineup. And while some will point to the Golden Knights' current salary cap situation and argue that Vegas won't have any cap space with which to improve their roster, those people clearly haven't paid attention to Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon in recent years.
To put it mildly, McCrimmon has always found ways to acquire difference-makers just about every season he's been on the job in Vegas. Whether it's acquiring center Tomas Hertl from San Jose, picking up defenseman Noah Hanifin from Calgary, or adding star center Jack Eichel from the Sabres, McCrimmon has hit home run after home run and always gave his team more weapons with which to succeed.
Thus, no one should be shocked when — and it's really a matter of "when", not "if" — the Golden Knights figure out how to manage the salary cap to their benefit and deepen their squad. And that's why it's such a good test of Buffalo's place in the competitive pecking order to see how they fare against Vegas this season.
Really, the Golden Knights have become the gold standard for NHL organizations, and the Sabres — well, let's just say Buffalo is about as far from the gold standard as it gets these days. And while the Sabres should put up more of a fight against Vegas this season, there's absolutely a road ahead in which Buffalo gets swept by the Golden Knights — and in which the Sabres get swept in regulation time.
That would be a disastrous result for the Sabres, but Vegas has been cold-blooded in its efficiency against just about every team in the league. The Golden Knights won't be doing any favors for any opponent, and that means Buffalo has to do everything in its power to beat Vegas at least once, and get a "loser" point in the second game against the Golden Knights.
Time will tell how the Sabres ultimately play against Vegas, but the bar has been set sky-high for Buffalo against the Golden Knights, and the Sabres need to clear it by showing Vegas they can hang with any team.
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