About a month away from the beginning of the 2024-25 season, the Buffalo Sabres are facing more pressure than they have in years. While the world won’t end if the Sabres miss the playoffs again, things will get very murky in Buffalo.
Going into the 2024-25 campaign, the team will look different than they did a year ago. None of the vaunted prospects are expected to make the lineup, the fourth line has been completely reconstructed, and the team seems to have found its present and future between the pipes.
Related: Buffalo Sabres’ Best-Case Scenarios for 2024-25
While the best-case scenario is for the Sabres to end the drought and finally reach the playoffs, a lot could happen that leads to the worst-case scenario. Going into the season, the Sabres have three weak points that need to be addressed.
Sabres Power Play
There may have been no more noticeable decline than the Sabres’ power-play unit. In 2022-23, the team was successful on 23.4% of their power play attempts, good for ninth in the NHL. Just a year later, almost the same group finished an abysmal 29th.
Part of it is coaching, with assistant coach Matt Ellis taking on a lesser role. Injuries were also a factor- Tage Thompson couldn’t shake his hand injury until the end of the season – but it was apparent that just getting into the offensive zone was troublesome.
Thompson looked more like himself as the season ended. Jack Quinn is healthy and should provide a boost. Rasmus Dahlin, Alex Tuch, and Dylan Cozens all have the talent to get the Sabres’ power play back on track. If the power play doesn’t rank in the better half of the league, the Sabres will struggle to improve their record from a season ago.
Sabres’ Bottom Defensive Pair
The Sabres’ top four blueliners, on paper, should be among the best in the league. Owen Power and Bowen Byram will look to improve on generally disappointing seasons, but both are immensely talented and can slot in on the top pairing with Dahlin. Mattias Samuelsson is a bit of a wild card. The team is better defensively when he’s in the lineup, but he hasn’t been able to play more than half of a season so far. Losing him again would be a huge loss to the blue line.
The bottom pair is the biggest question mark, however. Henri Jokiharju looked very good alongside Dahlin but spotty elsewhere (and outright bad when paired with Byram). Clifton is a borderline sixth/seventh defenseman. Prospect Ryan Johnson remains intriguing but not fully developed.
Dahlin and Power will eat up minutes again, but the Sabres need more. Finding the ideal partner for Dahlin is part of that. Getting a full season of play from Samuelsson will also help. But someone from the Clifton/Johnson/Jacob Bryson group needs to become more reliable if the Sabres have any hope of reaching the playoffs.
Buffalo History
The final obstacle facing the Sabres isn’t in the dressing room but tends to hang over certain franchises. They need only look locally to see the impact that history has on a team; the Buffalo Bills have been snake-bitten in the biggest moments. This season is different because of the pressure it brings. Not making the playoffs would be devastating, and we could see a knee-jerk reaction from owner Terry Pegula. The prospects and core of the Sabres are solid, but another down season could bring on major changes.
The Sabres can’t afford to think about the past or expectations. Playing their game night in and night out will be tough, but letting history get into their heads will make it impossible. The only way to shake baggage like the Sabres carry is to get over the hump. It’s a lot easier said than done.
Make or Break 2024-25 Season
The time for talk is nearly over. The Sabres can do more than take the ice and hope they’ve built the team that will finally get them back into the playoffs. If the drought were five years or less, the Sabres would be considered one of the better young franchises in the league. Miss the playoffs for 13 seasons (and counting), and the narrative changes.
On paper, the Sabres are better than they were a year ago. They should be tougher to play against, and team defense should be improved. The effort in practice and on game days will certainly be there under head coach Lindy Ruff. Hopefully, that will be enough.
