The Buffalo Sabres were already facing an uphill battle to defend their Atlantic Division title, and then the Toronto Maple Leafs won the lottery for the right to select prized prospect Gavin McKenna with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
If that wasn't enough good news for the Leafs, who missed the playoffs last season to end a streak of nine straight postseason appearances, superstar forward Auston Matthews believes some nagging ailments he's dealt with in recent years are now a thing of the past.
"I'm feeling really good. I think it's obviously a tough way to end the season last year, but I think there's always positives that you can take out of adversity (and) negative moments," Matthews told the Leafs' Ryan Leslie on Tuesday. "I feel like coming back here now, probably the best I've felt in a long time."
Matthews didn't look like himself for most of last season. He finished with 53 points (27 goals and 26 assists) across 60 appearances, marking the first time since his rookie campaign (2016-17) that he scored at less than a point-per-game pace.
If the 28-year-old Olympic gold medalist is truly back to full strength, Toronto's chances of making immediate push back toward the Eastern Conference playoff field will receive a significant boost.
The Sabres and Leafs are facing no shortage of competition in the Atlantic, though.
It's a division that sent five teams to the Stanley Cup Playoffs earlier this year — Buffalo was joined by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators — and the Florida Panthers should be right back in the mix with their injury woes in the rearview mirror.
Even the Detroit Red Wings, who are projected to finish last in the East by HockeyStats.com, won't be a pushover since their summer fire sale (expected in a wake of a Dylan Larkin trade request) never came to fruition because of ongoing front-office changes.
As a result, all eight Atlantic clubs are going to face a microscopic margin for error. Any team that deals with an unfortunate run of injuries or an extended cold spell will find it difficult to make up ground given the top-to-bottom divisional strength.
It's also going to bring a little more passion back to the QEW rivalry with Buffalo and Toronto both entering the year with high expectations for the first time in ages.
Leafs' Auston Matthews has a history of success against the Sabres
Matthews arrived to the NHL as the first overall choice in the 2016 draft, right as the Sabres were struggling to turn a corner in an endless rebuilding process that led to a 14-year playoff drought.
So, perhaps it's not a surprise one of the league's most lethal scorers often had his way with a listless Buffalo organization. He's recorded 38 points (23 goals and 15 assists) in 32 career games against the Blue and Gold. Eighteen of those goals came at even strength.
It's also worth noting his 20 penalty minutes against the Sabres are his highest total against any opponent, highlighting a little of the bad blood between the franchises.
Buffalo should be better prepared to handle Matthews moving forward, though.
The Sabres have one of the league's deepest groups of defensemen. Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Mattias Samuelsson, Olen Zellweger, Louis Crevier and Conor Timmins are the projected top six for 2026-27, and they have a pair of elite prospects, Daxon Rudolph and Radim Mrtka, at the position.
Strong play on the blue line is one of the main reasons Buffalo was finally able to produce a turnaround season in 2025-26, and it'll look to build on that foundation when the new campaign gets underway.
Keeping opponents' offensive cornerstones in check is crucial, especially as the calendar hits spring, and a full-strength Matthews belongs in the upper echelon of that elite group. The Sabres finally have the defenders necessary to handle that objective.
Buffalo and Toronto will face off four times during the regular season: Oct. 15, Feb. 27, March 25 and April 3. Those two late-season meetings could end up playing a key role in the playoff race.
And maybe, just maybe, there could be a Sabres vs. Maple Leafs postseason series, too.
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