2023-24 season: 39-37-6, 6th in the Atlantic Division, 12th in the Eastern Conference, 22nd in the league.
The Buffalo Sabres failed, once again, to build off a strong season that began with a promise to restore the long held faith in the organization from the fanbase. There were many career years in 2022-23, and it led many to believe that a young core was developing in the right direction, but their top 5 scorers from 2022-23 took big steps back last season. Alex Tuch dropped from 79 to 59 points, Tage Thompson from 94 to 56, Jeff Skinner from 82 to 46, Rasmus Dahlin from 73 to 59, and Dylan Cozens from 68 to 47. As a result, it was no coincidence that their goal-scoring dropped from 293 to 246, and their power play finished 29th with 16.6 %.
There's no use in dancing around the issue. The Buffalo Sabres have the longest active playoff drought in all the major professional sports in North America. 13 years have gone by fast, and in no time as a hockey fan have I ever seen the Buffalo Sabres make the playoffs. With them being so close to the Leafs, it almost seems like they are in a race to the bottom, with the Leafs trying not to win a series, and Buffalo trying not to make the playoffs. After Toronto won a series in 2023, the Sabres were next in line for not having won a series since 2007. By trading Matthew Savoie to the Edmonton Oilers for Ryan MacLeod, they announced that they are looking to make the next step, but it still was a mistake to give up a future core piece that they drafted 9th overall for a 2nd line forward. It seems obvious that Kevyn Adams believes that Tage Thompson can still be a top line center, but if last season showed anything, it showed that Adams just put together a great 2nd line that got 1st line ice time. The Sabres are really just counting on guys that had one good season that may not be replicated.
I don't know what Adams needs to do to get that team going, because even with their top 5 scorers failing the way they did last season, they have a lot of great talent coming up. They only have 2 players above the age of 30, and as shown by how many of their players won the Stanley Cup elsewhere, they are doing something right with their development, but somewhere along the line, they couldn't figure out how to keep it at home. Their last few drafts have been pretty good, and if this was almost any other team, I would say that they would have a shot at playoff hockey, but this is still the Buffalo Sabres.
I don't think they will get much worse, but I can't see them finishing with a winning record yet, so I'm predicting a 31-39-12 record, 7th in the Atlantic Division, 13th in the Eastern Conference, and 26th in the league.
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