When we looked at the Atlantic Division in March, the Buffalo Sabres sat atop the division and it looked like it would take a monumental collapse for them to miss the postseason. That collapse did not materialize and the Sabres returned to playoff action this spring after a 14 year absence.
It wasn’t just a single season climb back to relevance, however. The Sabres have been trending up over the past five years and it’s the core group leading the way that brings even more optimism for the long term. The Sabres returned to the playoff picture with a young roster. The main drivers on the roster are in their prime or younger and they have only a small handful of veterans rounding out the group.
Not only are the young guns leading the charge for the Sabres, many are also signed to long term deals. Alex Tuch is a pending UFA and could be the only notable roster player from this season that the Sabres decide to move on from. If he does, there’s reason to believe the younger contributors like Zach Benson, Josh Doan, and others can take a step forward to fill in the gap. And that leaves the Sabres with Tuch’s cap space to allocate, either to a Tuch extension, another extension like Jack Quinn, or to bring in help from the outside.
While the Sabres young NHL roster players help drive the team’s success, there could be more help on the way. Buffalo has a prospect pipeline of roughly baseline quality, with most individual draft years also near baseline. It would be an expected outcome to see a continuing influx of young players finding their way from the pipeline to the Sabres NHL roster. Landing the 8th overall pick last year gives a nice little boost to the middle of the pipeline as well.
Not only did the Sabres return to the postseason this year, they won their first round series to be one of the last 8 teams standing. They’ve done it the right way (finally) and it looks like the Sabres fortunes are due for a change for the better. And with some of the Atlantic’s recent top teams having difficult seasons, the door is open.
