The Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings had one big thing in common entering this season as both teams were looking to end a lengthy playoff drought. For the Sabres, it had been 14 seasons since their last playoff appearance, and the Red Wings were at nine.
Both teams have put themselves in a great position to end those droughts this season as the Sabres have gone 13-2 over their past 15 games, while the Red Wings have 60 points and are only one point back of the Tampa Bay Lightning. For both teams, the focus should be on doing everything they can to put their franchise in the best possible position to make the playoffs.
The Sabres certainly recognized that and decided to make a general manager change by replacing Kevyn Adams with Jarmo Kekalainen. Steve Yzerman had the chance to make a similar move by trading for Quinn Hughes, but he made unrealistic demands as a condition for the trade.
Buffalo Sabres are lucky that Yzerman wanted a commitment from Quinn Hughes on an extension
Recently on 32 Thoughts, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman had this to say about the Quinn Hughes situation. "Hughes wanted to go to the Red Wings. They were one of the teams he was very interested in, but Steve Yzerman wasn't doing that without an extension," Friedman said.
It is a little ridiculous of a demand from the Red Wings' general manager because Quinn Hughes is still under contract through the 2026-27 season. Even if he wanted to sign an extension, he wouldn't have been able to until next summer.
The best he could have done would be to make a verbal commitment, but that wouldn't make sense from Hughes' perspective, even if at this point he wanted to remain in Detroit.
Right now, the Red Wings are about eight points ahead of the Buffalo Sabres but have four games in hand. They aren't that much farther ahead than the Sabres at this point, but adding Quinn Hughes probably would have made them the favorite to win the Atlantic Division.
It wouldn't be surprising over the final weeks of the season if the Red Wings and Sabres don't find themselves competing for one of the Wild Card spots. This season, the Sabres have already played the Red Wings twice and won both, but the final meeting won't be until March 27th.
It could be a pivotal game for playoff seeding and one the Red Wings will probably wish they had Quinn Hughes, and the Sabres will be thankful they don't.