The Buffalo Sabres remain on the outside and looking in, sitting just six points back in the wild card race for the Stanley Cup Playoff.
The Buffalo Sabres are enjoying their best season in a long time, sitting at 19-15-2 (40 points). They are also coming off of two thrilling wins over their past three games, with an instant classic on New Year’s Eve and an emotional win last night.
But the Blue and Gold have also caught ESPN analyst Greg Wyshnynski’s eye in his latest playoff tier rankings. Overall, Wyshnynski broke all 32 NHL teams into seven tiers, which I will outline below, plus Atlantic Division teams in parentheses.
- True Stanley Cup Contenders (Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs)
- Playoff Locks (Tampa Bay Lightning)
- Playoffs Likely
- On the Bubble
- A New Hope (Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators)
- In Trouble (Florida Panthers)
- Trying to Maximize Their Connor Bedard Chances (Montreal Canadiens)
Buffalo Sabres are officially in A New Hope mode
Sure, the Sabres are still in the bottom half of these rankings. But this time last season, they were a tier seven team with no hope. Their chances for the playoffs at this time remain meek, however, as their projected points total sits at 89, their playoff probability, 24%, and their Stanley Cup probability, 0.5%.
BUT, as the NHL’s highest scoring team, there isn’t a team they can’t score four or more goals on. They currently have five players on pace for 80 or more points, with Tage Thompson pacing the team with 55.
One big problem for the Sabres is their goaltending. And while it has been better recently, the jury remains out of whether it will remain consistent. They also need to stay healthy, something the Blue and Gold have struggled with in recent years, with the trend continuing into this season.
Overall, expect the Sabres to make a push for the wild card, and if I had to guess, the numbers listed above will only increase, given the team’s dramatic improvement from their infamous eight-game losing streak in early-to-mid November.
(Statistics provided by ESPN.com and Hockey-Reference)
Article Source: NHL playoff hope tiers: Projections for all 32 teams by Greg Wyshnynski
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