NHL commissioner Gary Bettman stood firmly behind Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula as frustration grew among Western New York hockey fans amid a wretched 14-year playoff drought, the longest such streak in league history.
Now, after the Sabres punched their postseason ticket and clinched the Atlantic Division title, Bettman is celebrating the return of high-profile games to the KeyBank Center.
"I don't know if anybody could have predicted the turnaround from last year to this year as quickly," Bettman told Stephen Whyno and John Wawrow of the Associated Press. "It's incredible."
The longtime commissioner is also pleased Buffalo sports fans have returned in droves with 17 straight arena sellouts and an 18th likely to occur for Wednesday night's regular-season finale against the Dallas Stars.
"I always knew that Buffalo was a great market, a great hockey market, and what demonstrates that is while there was frustration that built over time, it has turned around on a dime, which means the fans are back," Bettman told the AP. "Their enthusiasm is back. It's like what's happened has turned the page."
A regulation win over the Stars would allow the Sabres to finish with the NHL's third-best record, which is remarkable when you consider they sat in the Eastern Conference basement in early December before winning 39 of their next 52 games to fly up the standings.
Building a sustained winner is the next major challenge for the Buffalo Sabres organization
The Sabres are locked in on trying to make a deep postseason run with the ultimate goal of bringing a long-awaited major championship to Buffalo. They won't enter the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the favorite, but they're among the group of legitimate secondary contenders.
In the big picture, however, the goal must be making sure this isn't a one-off playoff appearance.
The Sabres, who joined the NHL in 1970, and never endured anything close to the past 14 years of absolute misery. Their previous longest postseason absence was just three seasons. They never captured a Cup title, but they were typically in the mix when spring arrived.
Getting back to a point where Buffalo is constantly making the playoffs and at least occasionally making a serious bid for a championship is a necessary now that the drought is finally over.
The Sabres are in a promising position to make that happen.
They have a strong roster core led by Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson. Alex Tuch along belongs in that group, but he's an impending unrestricted free agent, so we'll find out in the coming months whether he'll remain a Blue and Gold cornerstone.
Buffalo also has a strong group of emerging players like Zach Benson, Josh Doan and Noah Ostlund who provided valuable depth throughout the campaign. Konsta Helenius, who's been on fire in the AHL this season, and Jiri Kulich, who missed most of the year with a blood clot, should join the squad in 2026-27.
The Sabres don't have a bona fide top-tier offensive superstar like Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers), Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning) or Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), but every other aspect of the roster is in a strong position. That's especially true if Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is settling in as a true No. 1 goalie for the long haul.
Buffalo general manager Jarmo Kekalainen will have to continue to pursuit of an elite forward, but that's always easier said than done. He did make a push for St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas ahead of the trade deadline, though Thomas isn't quite on the same level as those aforementioned studs.
Nevertheless, those trade talks illustrated Kekalainen's understanding that, while things are finally moving in a positive direction, there's still work to do before the Sabres enter the conversation as a perennial playoff team and Cup hopeful.
That should be the sole focus once this magical season for the franchise comes to an end.
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