Buffalo Sabres & Toronto Maple Leafs: Building A Top-Ten Rivalry?
Two teams, separated by 99 miles and less than two hours of drive time. Two teams separated by only 8 points at the bottom of the NHL standings. Two teams desperately trying to build a roster that can bring some relief to their long-suffering fans.
The Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs are currently two of the worst teams in the NHL, but as I was watching the two clubs play a few days ago, I found myself looking forward to the future of these two franchises.
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Don’t get me wrong – I don’t want to see the Toronto Maple Leafs get better any time soon, and I sincerely hope that Buffalo’s latest victory over the Leafs is a sign of many, many, many victories for Buffalo over their neighbors to the north. Still, reality is kind of hard to ignore: the Leafs have managed to shed an impressive amount of toxic players and salaries, paving the way for their young talent to move up the ranks and putting GM Lou Lamoriello in position to add some significant pieces to his roster via free agency this summer.
While watching Toronto take the fast-forward approach to rebuilding, compared to the “Let’s make sure this rebuild is as slow and painful as possible” approach of the Buffalo Sabres, must irk a lot of fans in the 716, I appreciate the timing that these two teams have displayed.
Allow me to explain.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will square off against the Detroit Red Wings at BMO field on January 1, 2017 in what is being dubbed the Centennial Classic, in honor of the NHL’s and Toronto’s 100th year. If you do a search for “greatest rivalries in the NHL,’ you will find many major sports websites, including Bleacher Report and Grantland, that consider the rivalry between the Maple Leafs and Red Wings to be among hockey’s all-time and current best.
Of course, Sabres fans like to think that Toronto and Buffalo have a little rivalry of their own, and they do have exactly that – a little rivalry. Sure, there have been some memorable battles and genuinely nasty moments between these two franchises, but nothing that can match the weight of some of the NHL’s true rivalries.
That could all be set to change, however, if both the Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs begin to climb up the Eastern Conference standings at roughly the same pace. With players such as Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and Rasmus Ristolainen squaring off against William Nylander, Nikita Soshnikov and Connor Carrick, the Sabres and Maple Leafs could really build the sort of rivalry that produces some fierce playoff battles if and when the two teams meet.
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It’s going to take more than some regular season bouts and occasional playoff encounters to help the Buffalo Sabres build its rivalry with the Leafs into the sort of thing that warrants an outdoor showdown, but you cannot deny that the opportunity is there thanks to the recent struggles of the two teams. In a sense, then, I am hoping that both the Sabres and the Maple Leafs enjoy a similar degree of success during the upcoming offseason, as it would be great to see these two clubs take whatever rivalry they have to a whole new, elite level.