The Sabres were officially knocked out of playoff contention again this week, as this is now their 14th straight season without making the playoffs. Although the Sabres won’t be playing postseason hockey, there are some exciting takeaways from this season leading into next season.
Superstars are performing at a high rate
Seeing Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin perform to their true potential once again was brilliant. Thompson has 44 goals, three away from tying his career high of 47, and Dahlin is close to another 70-point season like he had in the 22-23 season.
Most importantly though, these guys took control as leaders in the locker room. Thompson has stayed positive and supported this team throughout the year, even after no one retaliated on his hit against the Devils earlier this year. Thompson talked about it being a learning curve but he said it would never happen again to anyone on the team.
When things looked rough towards the end of the year, Dahlin called on a team meeting with GM Kevyn Adams about the direction of the team going forward. The meeting went as well as you could expect, and the Sabres went on a five-game win streak shortly after.
If there are going to be any individuals who help this team reach its true potential in the future, Dahlin and Thompson are certainly going to be at the forefront of it.
Their top 10 offense will make them a contender next year
The Sabres may have had a rough season defensively and with their goaltending, but their offense has been the star of the season. Coming in at 7th in goals per game with 3.25, the Sabres have made themselves one of the best offensive teams in hockey.
The Sabres have a flurry of players coming back next season who make the offense shine. Thompson and Alex Tuch will lead the way in scoring, but this also includes the likes of JJ Peterka, Ryan McLeod, Jason Zucker, and a young Jiri Kulich.
The top item on Adams's free agency list should be re-signing both Peterka and McLeod to multi-year deals in hopes of keeping this offense together. If the Sabres can also pick up a couple of vets on minimum contracts, or develop more young talent Kulich, this team can be top five offensively if not higher next year.
The Sabres put themselves in a position to win many games
This is one that I think many people can agree on is that the Sabres experience will benefit them in close games next year. The Sabres are likely to finish the year with 22 blown leads, nine of those in the third period. For a team that won 35 games this year, if they had won just eight of those games with a blown lead, they would be in real contention for the last wild card spot.
The Sabres' lack of experience hurt them in games where they led by two or more goals as they sat back and took their foot off the gas. Allowing their opponents back into the game, such as in both games against the Avalanche this year where they blew four-goal leads in each game.
In reality, I think the Sabres are in a good position to compete for a playoff spot next year, if they re-sign some of their key pieces and work on holding leads, this team can turn some heads and break their streak of not making the playoffs.