Bowen Byram — (Rick Osentoski, USA TODAY Images)
The Buffalo Sabres are moving rapidly toward the quarter mark of the 2025-26 regular season, and it all couldn’t have gone worse for Buffalo, as the Sabres are the worst team in the Eastern Conference with a 6-8-4 record. And while it may hurt Buffalo fans to hear it, the reality is the Sabres are who we thought they were before the season began – a sub-par squad that doesn’t have the horses to compete with the legitimate Stanley Cup playoff contenders.
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After 18 games, the Sabres have the NHL’s eighth-worst offense, averaging just 2.78 goals-for per game. Meanwhile, Buffalo also has the league’s third-worst defense at an average of 3.56 goals-against per game. And the Sabres have the eighth-worst power play at 16.1 percent, and they allow a whopping average of 31.7 shots on net per game; only the Chicago Blackhawks are worse at 31.9 shots allowed per game.
Other than that, everything is fine in Western New York.
Of course, we’re kidding about that last part. But we’re not kidding when we tell you that the Sabres’ struggles are indefensible. Only the most hardcore Buffalo optimists believed this team was going to be a playoff team, and all the Sabres skeptics have seen their expectations lived up to. Or down to, depending on your perspective.
It’s all adding up to a bleak situation in the remaining 75 percent of the season. It’s not completely out of the question for Buffalo to have a dramatic reversal of fortune, it’s far more likely that the Sabres are going to be playing meaningless hockey from the turn of the calendar year. And imagine the sheer rage Buffalo fans will have surging out of them.
Sabres’ Win Ends Long Losing Streak, But Bigger Picture Is Still Gnarly For Buffalo
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Or even worse – imagine the apathy Sabres fans will have for this organization. That would be an even bigger blow for this organization. And missing the playoffs this year will make it 15 years without playoff hockey in Buffalo. That’s inexcusable, but that’s the reality of the Sabres’ competitive trajectory.
Sometimes in the future, the Sabres’ futility will be studied by scientists and hockey fans alike. Future generations will wonder how a professional sports team could consistently let down their supporters the way Buffalo has done to Sabres.
The pain in Sabres-Ville has already bubbled over. But absent a miraculous turnaround, Buffalo is stuck with this group.
And that should result in a massive overhaul of the entire Sabres. This is what rock bottom looks like, and only a strong improvement will keep the wolves at bay.
