Two more days, and three more bold predictions are remaining in the 2023-24 Edition of the Buffalo Sabres 75 In 75 Series, so what’s in store today?
If you saw the recent news, you’ll have found out that the Buffalo Sabres are once again factoring in as the league’s youngest team. And that’s rather ironic, because if you spent the last few seasons following the Blue and Gold, you’d think they’re much older these days thanks to the core they spent the last few years building.
Updated average ages of projected season opening lineups:
— CapFriendly Depth Charts (@CF_DepthCharts) October 10, 2023
BUF - 25.5
MTL - 25.7
CBJ - 25.8
ARZ - 26.2
ANA - 26.3
NJD - 26.4
OTT - 26.5
PHI - 26.8
SJS - 27.0
CHI - 27.1
VAN - 27.5
VGK - 27.6
DET - 27.7
FLA - 27.7
BOS - 27.8
WPG - 27.8
LAK - 28.0
STL - 28.0
CGY - 28.1
EDM - 28.1…
In the above post from Twitter/X, there is visual proof that the Blue and Gold are, once more, the youngest team in hockey. However, given the experience they have in this young group, expect them to once again outperform their listed age, and that serves as the basis for today’s bold prediction.
Buffalo Sabres will be the best young hockey team in the past decade
And yes, this means I’m saying, as I have quite a few times throughout these bold predictions, that the Blue and Gold will be in the playoffs. But how do we get a solid metric for measuring this when we look at and evaluate these bold predictions come April 2024?
Elite Prospects has the fortunate answer, as we can go all the way back to the 2010-11 season for this one, which is the last time the Sabres made the playoffs. Of course, the site will only measure who the youngest team was at the end of each previous season, so there will be some deviation here.
For example, the Buffalo Sabres were the youngest throughout a good portion of 2022-23, but the Columbus Blue Jackets ultimately took the title. Go back to 2021-22, and it was the New Jersey Devils, and the year before that, we had the New York Rangers, and so on.
But you can see where I’m going with this, and this is one bold prediction I have a lot of faith in. While you will see some good young teams if you log onto Elite Prospects you make your way down the list, none have the potential-laden group that the Blue and Gold possess. And that will take them over the top this season.