I'm trying to find the right words to communicate this after Habs forward Alex Newhook sent the Montreal Canadiens to their second Eastern Conference Finals in six years, thus eliminating the Buffalo Sabres from the 2026 NHL Playoffs.
But am I sad? Heartbroken? Any of the above emotions plus some others?
Actually, not really.
I mean there were multiple moments in Game 7 that reminded me of multiple Buffalo Bills failures past. The 13 seconds against the Kansas City Chiefs, the snow game against Joe (Cool) Burrow, wide right again, whatever that Denver Broncos game was, dare I continue? All replicated in the form of a relatively-questionable save by Habs netminder Jakub Dobes and a botched two-on-one in overtime.
The luck might not have been on the Sabres' side Monday night, but the team fought extremely hard this series. Even after three multi-goal losses, issues winning face-offs, and goaltending struggles, the Sabres still found a way to push this series the distance while coming oh so close to winning on several occasions.
Any Stanley Cup contender would view a Game 7 overtime loss in the second round as heartbreaking or short of expectations.
This Sabres organization and its fans wouldn't be wrong to view the series outcome as such, but viewing it as a success wouldn't be an unreasonable conclusion.
For a team that spent so long on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, sometimes as few as a handful of points and sometimes as large as 20 points, this should be seen as a strong foundation for a contention window thrust right open.
But viewing this run as such needs future reinforcement by the Sabres
Of the last seven teams to end major postseason droughts of at least seven seasons (not including this years Sabres and Anaheim Ducks), only two made it into the playoffs the following year. Those two teams were the Carolina Hurricanes, who made the playoffs in 2020 after ending a nine-season playoff drought the following year, and the Ottawa Senators, who just recorded two consecutive playoff berths after a seven-season drought.
The last team to end a multi-year postseason drought while winning the division was the 2023-24 Vancouver Canucks, who previously made the playoffs during the 2019-20 season. They also added a series win against the Nashville Predators before losing to the Stanley Cup Final-bound Edmonton Oilers in seven games.
The next season, that same Canucks team would miss the playoffs despite ending the season with a winning record. And they're headed right for a rebuild.
If one were to look at the Sabres roster, they would see a lot of work to be done. Alex Tuch and Beck Malenstyn are both heading for the market after strong regular seasons, while Peyton Krebs and Zach Benson are both restricted free agents in just under two months time.
It's also worth noting that well shy of half the current roster is locked up to a contract following the 2026-27 season, with almost 10 players eligible for extensions this offseason.
All of that together adds to a projected cap space of almost $13 million for the upcoming offseason and around $55 million for the summer of 2027. The latter number will come down as the front office inevitably offers extensions, but the team has sizeable cap space to work with in order to capitalize on their renewed contention window.
Is it all bad news for Buffalo?
Even if the Sabres lose a few big names this offseason, their performance all but put Buffalo back on the NHL's map of playoff contenders. Players looking to leave their current teams or who are heading for free agency might start looking at Buffalo a lot more seriously rather than just another option on the table.
And this iteration of the franchise is clearly one that not only wants to win, but one that now knows how to win. Now it's on general manager Jarmo Kekalainen to find the missing pieces.
Yet, they ended the NHL's longest postseason drought and, by extension, one of the longest-standing playoff absences in North American sports. They ended the longest active postseason series win drought and the fifth-longest in history. And they gave two experienced playoff rosters a run for their money.
All of that in one campaign. It took the Toronto Maple Leafs nine seasons and Mitch Marner's sanity to do all of that.
If that's what happens in one season, then stay tuned for season two of this contention window, coming soon to a KeyBank Center near you.
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