The Buffalo Sabres are going to have a tough time contending for a Stanley Cup wild card position this year. But when this writer submitted his pre-season predictions for the Atlantic Division, he had the Sabres in…sixth place in the Atlantic, ahead of only the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings. And while it pains us to predict more misery ahead for long-suffering Sabres fans, we wouldn’t be telling it like it is if we told you Buffalo wasn’t going to be picked as a playoff team by most pundits. They won’t be.
In many ways, this is only fair. When you as an organization that’s enduring a 14-year drought without playoff hockey, you’re not going to get the benefit of the doubt in predictions. You’re going to have to prove you’re worthy of the expectations of you. You’re going to have to earn praise, not expect it.
While there is the possibility that Sabres GM Kevyn Adams’ blueprint for success is going to pan out in Buffalo’s favor, you have to ask yourself – which team in the Atlantic will the Sabres unseat as a playoff team?
Will it be the Toronto Maple Leafs? Highly unlikely. Same goes for the defending Cup-champion Florida Panthers, or the Tampa Bay Lightning? Can’t see it happening. The upstart Montreal Canadiens or Ottawa Senators? More likely than the other three teams we’ve talked about in this paragraph, but still, the odds are in those teams’ favor.
So it will not only take the Sabres making a dramatic improvement, but an unexpected step back from a team more proven than Buffalo is, for the Sabres to make the playoffs this season. That’s not an anti-Sabres message. That’s a realistic approximation of the situation. The odds will be against Buffalo, and that’s just something the Sabres will have to deal with all season long.
Sabres Set To Play One Of Most Pressure-Packed Seasons In Team History — Can They Finally End Playoff Drought?
The NHL’s 2025-26 season is nearly here, and the Buffalo Sabres are being cautiously optimistic about their chances of ending a 14-year Stanley Cup playoff drought. You don’t see Sabres GM Kevyn Adams, coach Lindy Ruff or Buffalo’s players making grand pronouncements guaranteeing the Sabres will make the playoffs. Nobody under the Sabres’ umbrella will be handing out dressing room white-board material to their opponents in the highly-competitive Atlantic Division.
In fact, good teams that have changed their narrative have used their status as an underdog as motivation. And if that’s what it takes to stimulate the Sabres into making it into the playoffs this year, then, you’re welcome for the motivation.
The Sabres are under no illusions about the high degree of difficulty of the task ahead of them this year. They know most people aren’t picking them to end their playoff drought. But optimists will say Buffalo has a clean slate with a new experiment in dressing room chemistry, and stranger things have happened than the Sabres being a playoff team this season.
Sabres 2025-26 Player Expectations: Will We See A Major Improvement In Play From New First-Line Winger Benson?
We’ve nearly made it to the start of the NHL’s 2025-26 regular season, and here on THN.com’s Buffalo Sabres site, we’ve worked our way through our player-by-player series in which we analyze expectations for each Buffalo player this coming year.
You never know for sure until you play the games, right? That has to be a key message for this Buffalo team. They can play free and loose knowing people are expecting very little of them. They can be a little indignant about it, as a matter of fact. Whatever attitude gets them into the playoffs will be fine by Sabres fans, and low external expectations could turn into a positive.
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