Wow, the Buffalo Sabres just can’t seem to make up their minds. They start 0-3, win 11 games between October 12th and November 23rd, where they looked red-hot in the process, before dropping their next four.
Yeah, so it’s safe to say that some fans will grade the Sabres based on their own expectations, whatever 11-12-2 means to them. But, looking at it from an objective view, average as average could get is a smart way to sum the Blue and Gold up. This team has looked like a playoff contender at times, but they’ve better resembled a group that belongs near the league’s basement multiple times in their first 25 games.
They’re a solid 15th in the league in goal-scoring prior to Wednesday night, having found twine 76 times. And they’re a solid 17th in the league with 78 goals allowed, so a team with these numbers is one that should be good enough to find themselves at least near the top eight in the East. But that hasn’t been the case.
Instead, this group has looked dysfunctional in enough games to earn the paltry 11-12-2 record they ended up with following that meltdown vs. the Colorado Avalanche. But the Sabres, under Lindy Ruff, haven't been completely irrelevant, and they’ve shown enough flashes to where they could contend for a playoff spot if they just learn how to attain about 65 percent of their remaining points. Yeah, that’s asking for a lot at this point.
Buffalo Sabres receive an ‘A’ in frustrating their fanbase so far in 2024-25
I often say average teams deserve a solid ‘C,’ and it’s the grade I’m giving the Sabres through 25 games. But, they get an ‘A’ in fan frustration, because they have so much talent on both sides of the puck and in the net to at least look like a surefire wild card contender.
You see it with guys like Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch, who are both on a point-per-game and near-point-per-game trajectory. Rasmus Dahlin and JJ Peterka have been playmakers, and the same goes for Jason Zucker, Bowen Byram, and Owen Power.
They actually have guys willing to hit and strike some fear into opponents, something Connor Clifton, Peyton Krebs, Jordan Greenway, Beck Malenstyn, and Dylan Cozens have done a good job in. Then, there’s goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, another solid talent who once again looks like he’s having a good season, with a 0.906 save percentage, a 2.69 GAA, a shutout, and a 0.588 quality starts percentage.
While their letter grade is a ‘C,’ I’ll say that the Sabres are a bunch of talented underachievers right now. So, maybe they deserve a ‘D’ for their rather unsatisfactory play, yet as I said at the beginning of this piece, the team is just average. But they’re better than that.