The Buffalo Sabres' objective is clear for this upcoming season as they will look to prove the division title and trip to the playoffs were not a fluke. For some, their chances have gone down after an offseason that saw Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram depart.
On Thursday, the full 2026-27 schedule for the Sabres and the rest of the NHL was announced, and the Sabres face a very tough start to the season. They certainly will be tested, but it also gives them a chance to put any lingering concerns to rest about whether or not they are playoff contenders.
The season begins on the road against the Columbus Blue Jackets before their season home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks and former teammate Bowen Byram. Both of those should be wins, and it leads right into a rather tough stretch through the rest of October.
The game against the Blackhawks marks the beginning of a five-game homestand. After Chicago, the Sabres are scheduled to play the Minnesota Wild, Dallas Stars, the Utah Mammoth, and the Florida Panthers. The Wild and the Stars are two of the best teams in the Western Conference and the Panthers are going to be motivated to get back on track and should be able to do so with the addition of Brady Tkachuk and the return of players like Aleksander Barkov.
Right after the Panthers' game, the Sabres are on the road for seven of their next eight games. They also play their first back-to-back with a road game against the Montreal Canadiens after the Panthers game.
This will be an important stretch because after a road game against Toronto, they head right back to Montreal four days later. It will give the Sabres to get some revenge against the team that knocked them out of the playoffs after the Canadiens won Game 7 in overtime in the second round.
They return home for a game against the Flyers and then it is right back on the road. The Sabres begin their next road trip in Washington and will get their first chance to play against their former teammate Alex Tuch. He would join the Capitals in a sign-and-trade and was one of many free agent additions, along with the return of Alex Ovechkin for at least one more season.
They end this stretch on the West Coast with three straight road games against the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, and Los Angeles Kings.
Buffalo Sabres have been a slow-starting team in recent memory
Over the past five seasons, the Buffalo Sabres have struggled to get off to a fast start and these have been their records:
- 2025-26: 5-8-4
- 2024-25: 4-7-1
- 2023-24: 7-9-1
- 2022-23: 7-11-0
- 2021-22: 7-10-2
Last season, the Sabres were able to overcome that slow start but also did so with a historic win streak. They can't expect to have another run like they did in the middle of the season and they will need to have a better record than they have historically, even with a tougher schedule.
Even without Tuch and Byram, the Sabres still have plenty of talent to be a playoff team but they will need to get on track much earlier then they have in the past if they want to win another Atlantic Division crown.
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