After falling 3-1 to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday, the Buffalo Sabres are going to miss the playoffs for the 13th straight season. They now hold the record for the most seasons without a playoff appearance – a record no one wants to have. Despite having a young, up-and-coming team capable of scoring at will, they are still looking for that first playoff game since 2010-11 when Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville were leading the charge. To put things in perspective, Tyler Myers was 20 years old that season and he is now 34.
To make things even worse for Sabres fans, the drought also matches the longest in the four professional sports, tying the NFL’s New York Jets who also haven’t seen the postseason since 2010. Everyone had high hopes for the Sabres entering the season, but they stumbled throughout with average goaltending, defence and a sputtering offence. Tage Thompson, in particular, who had a breakout season in 2022-23 with 47 goals, only has 29 so far, which is okay, but not at the same level as last season.
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You have to think the Sabres are not far away from breaking this horrible drought. They have an enviable pool of young players from the aforementioned Thompson, surprising rookie Zach Benson, JJ Paterka, Jack Quinn, Jiri Kulich, and Matthew Savoie, just to name a few. They also have three monsters on the blue line in Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and the newly acquired Bowen Byram. Not to mention a potentially elite tandem in goal with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi. Honestly, looking at the trove of talent, I can’t imagine the drought extending to 14 seasons. But that’s what many people thought last season, too.