The 2022-23 NHL season has concluded for the Buffalo Sabres, and once again, they will find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the postseason. The longest active playoff drought in the NHL has now become the longest playoff drought in NHL history, as the Sabres have now missed for 12 consecutive seasons. They join the New York Jets for the longest active playoff drought in North American Major Sports.
Another lost season, right? Another season of stunted development, horrid mismanagement, and fan dissatisfaction?
No, no it was not.
The 2022-23 season will forever be known to the Buffalo Sabres as the year bridging the youngest roster in the league from rebuild to contention; where they were in the midst of a playoff race until April 11th and Game #80, where they hit 90 points for the first time since 2010-11, and where they were the 3rd highest goalscoring team in hockey. The Buffalo Sabres were undeniably one of the most fun teams in hockey this season.
It's funny to look back on the expectations from around the NHL coming into this season, not just related to the Sabres. Many were still defending the Calgary Flames' side of the Matt Tkachuk/Jonathan Huberdeau trade, the Seattle Kraken's emergence was totally unexpected, and just about no one from any outlet was declaring that the Boston Bruins were going to take some sort of step back, which is hilariously the opposite of what happened.
However, what I remember the most, and what I'm sure many others do as well, was the expectations set on the Sabres by other outlets, and how they saw the team doing this season. Despite their strong conclusion at the end of last season, I can't seriously recall a single outlet or figure that predicted the Sabres making the postseason.
Now you may ask, "Wouldn't that be completely normal for a team that was 11 years into a playoff drought?" And to that, I would say "yes it would," but those weren't the frustrating parts of the projections. I think it's perfectly rational that most didn't put much stock into the youngest team in the league and a franchise that holds the longest drought in league history. However, that's not where the irritation lies.
Over and over again the Sabres would be put behind the likes of the Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings, otherwise proclaimed as the "Off-season Champions" of the 2022 Summer due to the resources spent on new acquisitions. Every now and then you would even see the Montreal Canadiens slotted above Buffalo. It was insanely frustrating to see these teams that had been in a tailspin the past few seasons be more highly regarded coming in.
Sure, the Sabres had rather large list of unknowns heading into the year. Was Tage Thompson a 1C? Was Rasmus Dahlin a #1 defenseman? How were Owen Power, Jack Quinn, and JJ Peterka going to transition into the NHL? What was the goaltending situation going to be like?
Still, to see the Sabres be completely overshadowed by teams they had placed above the previous season (a season in which they were AGAIN supposed to be worse than those 2-3 teams) was aggravating. And yet, here we are 82 games later, and the Sabres were the last team standing of the three in the wild card race.
Should a victory lap be taken from this? Should this season be seen as a smashing success because the Sabres outlasted some other non-playoff teams? Is that where the moral victory should lie with a team that's missed the playoffs for 12 years straight? No, it shouldn't, but it's important to recognize when discussing their place in the league moving forward. You don't have to be happy that the Sabres came up short again, especially with the positioning they had going into March, but it's still important to recognize where they stand compared to other teams that were involved in the race.
Just look at the teams that beat them out in the wild-card race. Florida saw massive regression in the standings compared to their Presidents Trophy win last season, and that's WITH guys like Matt Tkachuk and Brandon Montour having career seasons. The Islanders are the living reincarnation of the late 90s Sabres, they live and die by Ilya Sorokin and remain one of the oldest teams in the league. The Pittsburgh Penguins were the oldest team in the entire NHL, and slipped out of the playoffs in humiliating fashion by losing to two tanking teams in the Blackhawks and Blue Jackets, causing them to clean house with management and be forced to rebuild their entire roster in the next six months.
The Sabres were not supposed to be here, these teams were, and yet they still were so close. 1 win is what separated the Sabres from ending the drought.
I'm aware we're going to spend all offseason thinking about that one win and how it could've so easily been earned. The team's eight-game losing streak, all in regulation, back in November, the horrid stretch in March, dropping games to basement-dwelling teams (MTL 2x, PHI 2x, ARI, CBJ), the Hudson Fasching kick against the Islanders, or Tuch's disallowed goal against Florida.
However, I don't think I'm going to lose any sleep this summer. The up-and-down nature is what you give and get with a young team. They're going to be streaky like that. The same goes for losing to lesser teams. The Sabres are going to have a tendency to play down to competition. As for those individual moments in the big games? It just wasn't meant to be this year.
I understand that those won't be so easy for others to overlook over the next six months, but guess what? It's a good feeling to feel! Heartbreak is back, in a good way! This team is making us feel things that we haven't felt in over a decade, it's refreshing to feel a different type of pain other than suffering.
And think of all the awesome moments from this season:
Tage Thompson's five-goal game vs Columbus, the OT comeback win vs Boston on New Year's Eve, Tage Thompson's hat trick vs WSH after the Damar Hamlin incident, the thrilling OT win vs MIN, the OT win on Ryan Miller Night vs NYI, Ilya Lyubushkin's shorthanded OT winner vs TBL, Devon Levi's debut vs NYR, the shootout win vs NYR to keep the season alive, and Craig Anderson's final win vs OTT.
So many season-defining moments that should show one thing: the Buffalo Sabres are back. The drought isn't over, but the constant cycle of losing, misery, and lacking faith in their direction is.
Just look at what has become of this roster. Tage Thompson has transformed into a unicorn of a superstar, Rasmus Dahlin has developed into the Norris caliber defenseman he was billed to be, Dylan Cozens took the massive step we all wanted him to, Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch both had the best seasons of their entire career, Owen Power is going to be a deserving Calder finalist, Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka transitioned into the NHL near seamlessly, Casey Mittelstadt has blossomed into one of the best playmakers in the entire NHL, and Devon Levi showed the flashes that everyone wanted to see in his short stint.
I said this when last season ended and I'll say it again: the landscape of the NHL is changing, and the Buffalo Sabres are going to be at the forefront of that change. We saw one team on the rise take that step this year in the New Jersey Devils, going from a 63 point campaign last season that was plagued with horrid goaltending and injuries, to a 113 point season this year where it all came together.
Are the Sabres going to be that next team to take the jump? I believe so, but even if they are not, it is no longer a question on if it will happen, only when.
Craig Anderson said it best when he was asked about what the biggest difference is between when he first signed with the team back in the summer of 2021, and as he is leaving now in the spring of 2023.
"Belief."
The Buffalo Sabres believe that they're going to be a playoff team next season, and probably believed that they should've been one this season. Just think of what stood in their way: Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin, Mattias Samuelsson, and Alex Tuch were sidelined or hindered by injuries at the worst time, their goaltending was massively inconsistent until Devon Levi arrived in April, and their teams defensive structure was riddled with youth still trying to find their place in the league. Amongst all of that, they were a 91 point team.
Kevyn Adams knows what the bar is now, he is going to make this a playoff ready roster by next fall. So until that time, we're just going to have to wait.
One. More. Wait.
Go Sabres.
Comments