The Buffalo Sabres are just a day away from kicking off the 2024-25 NHL season against the New Jersey Devils. After a long summer of speculation, there will be nothing left for the team to do but put up or shut up. The hope is that enough was done to change the team for the better and finally get back to the playoffs.
There have been a lot of bad seasons in Sabres history, but there is reason to believe that this can be a promising one. A few things will happen, some surprising, others not so much. Let’s get into the predictions that should shape the 2024-25 Sabres season.
Prediction 1: Jack Quinn Will Score 30 Goals
The sample size is relatively small but there is a lot to like about what Jack Quinn has shown on the ice to date. Limited to just 27 games as a sophomore due to injury, he posted nine goals and 19 points while clicking at an impressive shooting percentage of 16.1%.
Quinn is back and healthy now. More importantly, he is poised for a breakout season. He will be on the second line alongside Dylan Cozens and more than likely Zach Benson. That is a lot of skill and speed, not to mention the vigor that only youth can bring.
Quinn hitting 30 goals would surprise very few. He may even have the potential to crack 40 this season. Doing so would be a massive boost for an offense that slumped massively a season ago. Most importantly, it would set the team up with one of the most dynamic young offensive players in the game.
Prediction 2: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen Will Become a Bona Fide Top 10 Goalie
One of the bright spots in an otherwise disappointing 2023-24 season was the man known as UPL. After an impressive run from Jan. 1 on, his teammates already believe that he’s one of the best in the league. Most see the Sabres as finally having a positive goaltending situation, but pundits are largely conservative.
Related: Buffalo Sabres 2024-25 Player Projections: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Luukkonen was as good as could be, especially given the team around him, from Jan. 1 through the end of the season. He recorded four of his five shutouts and two or fewer goals in 21 of his 36 starts. Though he slumped a bit in March, his save percentage – .944 in January, .926 in February, .914 in April – tells the tale.
Though it is probably the right move to temper expectations a bit, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility to say that the Sabres may have a legitimate, borderline-elite goaltender on their hands. Given the state of the position since Ryan Miller was traded a decade ago, it almost feels alien to have someone so good in net.
Prediction 3: The Drought Ends
The big trade didn’t happen, but changes were made. Lindy Ruff is back and transforming the team’s culture. The revamped fourth line brings speed and physicality that did not previously exist with this team. General manager Kevyn Adams got criticism for not trading the team’s first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, but he may have had the right plan all along.
Injuries and an inconsistent coach hampered the team. Tage Thompson looked himself again to end the season after dealing with a hand injury for months. Benson was a bright spot as an 18-year-old surprise roster addition. Luukkonen showed he can be a true number-one goaltender.
More importantly, the pieces from two seasons ago are still there. The team can’t hope for another convergence of career seasons all at the same time, but a rebound would help the team exponentially. Improved effort and team defense under Ruff could unlock what has been missing.
Buffalo Sabres Final Record Prediction
The Eastern Conference is tough but perhaps not as tough as it looks on paper. The Tampa Bay Lightning lost their heart and soul when Steven Stamkos signed with the Nashville Predators. The Toronto Maple Leafs are sticking with a core that has largely gotten them nowhere. And the Boston Bruins continue to try to lock down their top goaltender without a great option behind him.
The Sabres will need some help, but it is largely on their shoulders. They can’t count on the rest of the conference to get worse; they must get better. On paper, they have done that and a year of growth from the young core should finally see results.
As bad as the team was a season ago, they were in contention for a wild card spot until the final few weeks. Look for the Sabres to improve on their 39-37-6 record and go 44-32-6 (94 points), which should be good enough to land one of the two wild card spots in the East.
A Revelatory Season
No one is expecting this team to wake up and begin contending with the New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, and Florida Panthers for the top spot in the conference. Having said that, this is a better team than the one we saw even two seasons ago.
The talent is there, and it now feels like the coaching and team defense will be there as well. The Sabres have been a victim of an incomplete game for years. The offense clicked in 2022-23, but not the goaltending or defense. The goaltending woke up last season while the offense sputtered. And so on.
This season, despite all the negativity that has surrounded the franchise, things feel like they might finally be right. Adams has built the Sabres responsibly and put his eggs in the basket of a young core. Now is the time to deliver, to get the Sabres over the hump and make playoff hockey in Buffalo a thing once again.
