The Buffalo Sabres and the Detroit Red Wings hold the two longest ongoing playoff droughts in the NHL.
The Sabres are on the verge of ending a fourteen-season playoff absence; another eight points could very well be enough to put them on course for such a long-awaited playoff return. For the Red Wings, ending their nine-season drought may take a little more time; if they can hold onto one of the three Atlantic Division spots that they currently possess, they would bring postseason hockey back to HockeyTown for the first time since 2016.
Could the Red Wings and Sabres actually meet in the playoffs?
Funny enough, the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs could see the Sabres and Red Wings play a bigger role than that of the "longtime afterthoughts reborn once again." Playoffstatus.com currently projects the Red Wings as the joint-favourite to be the Sabres' first playoff opponent since 2011; alongside the Wings' 26% odds of playing the Sabres, the Montreal Canadiens are also given a 26% chance of matching up with the Sabres.
There's also a 21% chance that the Sabres have home-ice advantage in any series against the Red Wings, while a five percent chance of the Wings and Sabres switching places also exists.
There are a couple of paths that see the Sabres and Red Wings matching up in the first round of the playoffs. The first would see the Sabres maintain their place as the Atlantic Division leader; the Red Wings would have to fall out of third in the Atlantic to match up with the Sabres in the first round.
If the Sabres were to slip and fall out of the top spot, then a series with the Red Wings would be all but guaranteed, regardless of the order of finish; this would require the Wings to maintain their hold of either second or third-place in the Atlantic Division.
What would a first-round matchup against the Red Wings mean for the Sabres?
It's quite easy to argue that the Sabres' fanbase is among some of the more passionate in the entire NHL.
And Sabres players have acknowledged the passion even during a record-breaking postseason drought. Just a few months removed from the Sabres falling one point short of a 2022-23 Stanley Cup Playoff berth, forward Tage Thompson commented on the hockey environment that comes with playing in Western New York while appearing on an episode of NHL @TheRink.
"You hear stories and talk to guys that have stuck around Buffalo that either played there or grew up in the time frame they were successful, you hear how amazing the city is and how passionate the fans are," Thompson said. "We want our fanbase to be excited to go to games, be excited for winning seasons. We want to witness that first hand and have that reliving of the glory days, I guess you could say."
Safe to say that Thompson and his Sabres are holding up their end of the bargain. With 84 points in 64 games and a 39-19-6 record over that timeframe, the Sabres have secured their third winning season in the last four campaigns.
Another eight points would ensure that the Sabres eclipse the 91-point mark set by the 2022-23 iteration of the team, which would guarantee the team their best regular season point finish since the 2010-11 season, the last season before the team's playoff drought.
Numbers aside, if one were to watch any Sabres home game on TV over the course of the last eighteen games, they would immediately understand how hungry this fan base is for their first taste of success since the 2010's.
Every goal sees the KeyBank Center erupt as if Mount Vesuvius decided to wake up once again and become a Sabres fan.
Every fight (and oh boy there were plenty of them against the Tampa Bay Lightning) generates a reaction akin to the one that resulted from Cody Rhodes defeating Roman Reigns in Wrestlemania XL.
In considering that the Red Wings are also backed by an incredibly-passionate fan base, a Sabres-Red Wings first round series could come with a whole range of emotions.
On one hand, we could see a climate of mutual respect and relief, especially considering that both the Sabres and Red Wings are on the cusp of ending two of the longest playoff droughts in the history of both the NHL and North American sports altogether.
On the other hand, things could also get extremely testy, though this would likely happen if the crowds are a decent split between Sabres and Red Wings fans. Though fan-on-fan violence is always an extreme improbability, road environments could get incredibly hostile for both the players and fans. If a star player is the target of one team's enforcer, it's game on.
Could the league benefit from a Sabres-Red Wings series?
Absolutely.
Though no official numbers are in for individual games like last Sunday's Sabres-Lightning game or the mid-January game that saw the Red Wings mount a comeback against the James Reimer-backstopped Ottawa Senators, social media interactions could lend a hint towards fan awareness of the runs that the Sabres and Red Wings are on.
An Instagram post showing the Sabres in first place in the Atlantic Division collected well over 31,000 likes as of Monday evening, while a post showing Dominik Shine's first NHL goal on Sunday against the Devils had over 5,000 additional likes than the post before (Miro Heiskanen's overtime winner against the Chicago Blackhawks). A post showing Justin Faulk in a Red Wings jersey gained 14,000 likes, while the previous post - featuring Josh Doan's goal against the Lightning - was just about 500 likes short of the former.
Though likes aren't necessarily an indicator of what is popular across the NHL, they can be seen to influence the kind of content someone sees on their social media feed. So if someone liked a post about a Sabres game, they'd receive more content related to the Sabres on their feed; the same idea applies to that of a Red Wings post.
In theory, that translates to more attention on the two teams and more hype surrounding them at some of the biggest moments of the year.
Outside of the social media picture, there's a very good chance a matchup as significant as Sabres-Red Wings would gain at least two primetime slots. Last year's first-round series between the Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs, also known as the Battle of Ontario, was one of the more popular first round fixes; Sports Business Journal states that Game 4 of that series was watched by almost one million people.
Though it isn't necessarily the Eastern Conference's biggest rivalry, a Sabres-Red Wings first round series/"Battle of the Comebacks" could easily draw a couple primetime slots on both sides of the border.
In short, a Sabres-Red Wings series would be a win on several fronts, both in terms of fan support and overall media attention.