The Buffalo Sabres may only be seven points away from a wild card spot, but a look at the numbers shows a much bleaker reality.
If you happen to be one of those displaced Buffalo Sabres fans who rarely get a chance to watch, whether in person or on television, your team play, you might be confused.
For starters, you check out the standings over at NHL.com and notice that the Sabres are just seven points out of a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, and you say to yourself, “Okay! The Sabres are still in this thing.”
Then you come to a site like this and read a piece about why the team should consider trading Cody Franson, or should start losing more games to improve their odds in the NHL Draft Lottery, and you say to yourself, “What am I missing?”
I realize many Sabres fans already know this team is bad – just play along with me here, reader!
Well, a quick glance of some of the Buffalo Sabres’ team stats over at Sporting Charts.com will give you a pretty clear picture of why this team is unable to string together significant winning streaks or defeat cellar-dwelling teams such as the Colorado Avalanche or the Arizona Coyotes.
The good news, and the reason that the Sabres managed to pull within 4 points of a wild card spot just a week ago, is because the Sabres have gotten fairly good goaltending and own one of the league’s best power plays. The Sabres are right in the middle of the pack when it comes to goals allowed, giving up 2.76 per game, 15th in the NHL. Amazingly, this team enjoys a 22.5% success rate on the power play, which is the 3rd-best around the league.
Beyond those stats, though, the Buffalo Sabres are absolutely abysmal – bottom ten everywhere else it matters the most. Goals per game? 2.55, 24th in the NHL. Scoring on the power play is great . . . but when your team only kills 75.8% of its penalties, which is the second-to-last penalty kill in the league, you are basically nullifying your team’s greatest strength. And when it comes to finding the back of the net, the Buffalo Sabres connect on only 8.2% of its shots, which puts them 25th around the league.
Next: Sabres Player For Sale: Cody Franson
The Buffalo Sabres have gotten a lot of mileage out of their goaltenders and their power play, but there are some serious deficiencies on this team. It’s actually a wonder the Sabres managed to crawl within striking distance of a playoff spot, given just how atrocious they are in the offensive zone. We all know the team needs help at the blueline, but as these numbers suggest, there is tons of room for improvement on offense, as well.