The Buffalo Sabres will play their first regular season game in just over two months, entering the season with their highest expectations in a decade.
This time last year, no one thought much of the Buffalo Sabres, and many had them ranked in the Bottom 10. The Blue and Gold were coming off of a 75-point season, and they looked at least a year away from contending.
That changed following a 7-11-0 start, when the Sabres went 35-22-7 (77 points) the rest of the way. Sure, Buffalo had its lean moments in early January and through most of March. But overall, they became one of the league’s most exciting NHL teams, and now, they must handle higher expectations going into 2023-24. And spoiler alert, they shouldn’t have much trouble doing so.
Why the 2023-24 Buffalo Sabres will handle higher expectations
1 – More veteran leadership
Bringing back Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons may not have been popular among some fans, but you can’t deny their incredible leadership qualities. The same goes for Erik Johnson, who knows a thing or two about winning a Stanley Cup.
Alex Tuch, Dylan Cozens, and Rasmus Dahlin are the Blue and Gold’s leaders of tomorrow, and even today to an extent. But for a team looking to break its way back into the playoffs, there is nothing wrong with keeping the vets around for another season, or in Johnson’s case, bringing another one in for a year.
2 – Experience
The Buffalo Sabres are still one of the league’s youngest teams, and depending on how the final 23-man rosters end up across the NHL, there is a slight chance they will once again end up as the youngest. But this group has experience playing alongside one another, they know each other’s tendencies, and they built sensational chemistry on the ice.
That experience will take them a long way in 2023-24, and it will only trend north barring a rash of injuries. And best yet, their experience will also get them through tough situations that may have plagued them last season.
3 – Sabres proved they played well under pressure
You may argue that the Buffalo Sabres cracked under pressure last season as opposed to playing well under it, and you are right. They were so adamant about playing well in front of their hometown fans that they ended up with a losing record at KeyBank Center, and they struggled through their first batch of meaningful games once March rolled around.
But when things looked nearly hopeless, the Blue and Gold turned things around and finished the year 9-2-1 and just one point out of the playoffs. Teams that completely crack under pressure aren’t doing that, and to make things more interesting, they also finished 4-0-1 at home in that stretch.
Source: 3 questions facing Buffalo Sabres by Heather Engel, NHL