If history repeats itself, a shorter season is good for the Sabres

Over the last two seasons, the Sabres have gotten off to a hot start each year. If Buffalo can continue their fast starts at the beginning of the season, they could put themselves in a good spot early on with the shortened schedule.

The Buffalo Sabres have been one of the hottest teams in the league over the last two seasons. Well, at the beginning of the season at least. In each of the last two NHL seasons, Buffalo has come out of the gates hot for the first month or two of the season.

But as soon as the Sabres faithful start to believe that the team is for real, they start to cool off and fall out of the playoff hunt. Then by the end of the season, the Sabres have fallen towards the bottom of the league and are nowhere near the playoffs.

But this season is much different than anything we have seen before. The league just announced that this NHL season will officially be 56 games instead of the usual 82. If the Sabres can start hot like they have the last couple of years, they could find themselves playing some very meaningful games down the stretch.

If we go back to the 2018-2019 season, the Sabres were 17-6-2 through the first 25 games of the season. But then they started to fall apart. Buffalo was 28-21-7 through 56 games that year.

Who knows if this will be good enough to make the playoffs this year, especially with the new, tougher division that the Sabres look like they will be a part of this season. But a record like this would definitely have Buffalo in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Last year the Sabres started the season as one of the better teams in the league again. After the first 12 games, Buffalo was 9-2-1. But much like the year before, the Sabres started to collapse. They lost nine of their next 10 games after they started so well.

Through 56 games last season, Buffalo was 24-24-8. Is this good enough to make the playoffs this year? Probably not, but it is so hard to tell right now. But even this record would put them closer than they normally are after a normal 82-game schedule.

It is even more important to get off to a good start this season than it is normally due to the shortened schedule length. If the Sabres can come out and be one of the hottest teams in the league at the beginning of the season like they have done the last two years, they can put themselves in a fantastic spot to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The NHL and NHLPA agreed to start the 56-game season on January 13th. We are less than a month away from seeing Buffalo Sabres hockey again. Let’s hope they can come out strong to start the season and set themselves up for success.