The Buffalo Sabres have put an end to their playoff drought with a little help from the New York Rangers on Saturday. They only needed one more win or one more regulation loss by the Detroit Red Wings to clinch, and the Rangers were able to hand the Red Wings the loss before the Sabres took the ice against the Capitals.
The Sabres had the longest playoff drought in the NHL at 14 seasons, and during that time, they saw several players come and go. However, there are a number of players who have remained with the team and will now be making their playoff debut this season with Buffalo.
Rasmus Dahlin
Rasmus Dahlin was the first overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft and quickly made the jump to the NHL and the Sabres. He made his NHL debut in the first game of the 2018-19 season and has played all eight seasons of his career in Buffalo.
That career has included 581 regular season games with 100 goals and 327 assists. He was named to the first-team All-Rookie team and made the All-Star roster on three separate occasions.
Dahlin has been one of the best overall defenseman in the entire NHL for a few seasons now and will finally get his first taste of playoff hockey with the team that drafted him.
Tage Thompson
While Tage Thompson didn't play his entire career with the Buffalo Sabres, he is tied with Rasmus Dahlin for the longest tenure with the team. He is playing in his eighth season after the Sabres traded for him before the 2018-19 season as part of the Ryan O'Reilly trade.
Thompson has appeared in 483 regular season games with 211 goals and 183 assists and is on the verge of his third 40th goal season. He also is only six points away from his 400th point with the franchise.
As important as Dahlin is to the defense, Tage Thompson is equally important to the forwards and this offense. The good news for the Sabres is that while Thompson hasn't appeared in any playoff games, he is no stranger to big games, as he has won gold medals in each of the past two years in the Olympics last month and the IIHF World Championship last summer.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
While Dahlin and Thompson have been on the Sabres' roster the longest, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been within the Sabres' organization longer, after he was drafted in the second round of the 2017 NHL Draft.
Luukkonen would make his NHL debut in the 2020-21 season, appearing in four games, and then had nine starts the season after that. However, the 2022-23 season was he really became a bigger part of the Sabres with 32 starts, and for his career now has 182 starts with a career save percentage of .900 and a goals against average of 2.97.
The combination of Luukkonen and Alex Lyon is a big reason that the Sabres finally ended their playoff drought this season. It will be interesting who gets to start the first playoff game for Buffalo and right now it is looking like it is leaning towards Luukkonen.
Mattias Samuelsson
Mattias Samuelsson was also part of the draft class alongside Rasmus Dahlin, but he didn't make his NHL debut until the 2020-21 season. He has had an up-and-down career in Buffalo, with injuries being a big reason for his struggles early on.
This season has been a different story, though, as Samuelsson has not only remained relatively healthy, but he has set a career-high already in games played in a season with 73, and set career marks in goals (13) and assists (28).
Samuelsson has been great next to Dahlin on the top pair, and the Sabres are going to need more of that once the playoffs start.
Peyton Krebs
At the time of the Jack Eichel trade, Alex Tuch was an established NHL player with 66 playoff games with the Vegas Golden Knights. However, the other player in the trade, Peyton Krebs, had limited time in the NHL with only 13 regular-season games.
He has been a big part of the Sabres' roster, though, since coming over to Buffalo with 359 regular-season games. This season has been his best yet, 11 goals and 26 assists, with him recently playing on the top line next to Tage Thompson.
While he has been on the top line, the coaching staff has moved him around, and he really fits in well on any line. He should be heavily involved in the Sabres' lineup once the playoffs roll around.