The Woes of the Past: The Sabres Make the Playoffs for the First Time in 14 Years

Certain fanbases really do have it rough – or at least, it certainly feels like that. Maybe your team has an amazing regular season and then breaks your heart in the playoffs. Maybe the year is messy from the jump. Maybe the vibes are just ... off compared to last season. Either way, some years as an NHL fan are basically an exercise in optimism, group chats, and learning to laugh through the pain.

If you’re a Buffalo Sabres fan, though, you’re used to that disappointment. 

Even with strong recent draft picks and a talent-filled roster, they've been unable to make the playoffs in the past 14 years. Their last appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs was during the 2010-2011 season, where they lost in the first round to the Philadelphia Flyers. Their appearance in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs feels long overdue, and thus, Buffalo has a bit more motivation than the rest of us to go all the way. 

Sabres players celebrating their Overtime win in Game 1 of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. Courtesy of tsn.ca

The Woes of the Past 

Many teams make the playoffs one year and then fail to do it the next few seasons in a row. Take the Detroit Red Wings, for example: despite stars like Alex Debrincat or Dylan Larkin, they haven’t made the playoffs since the 2015-2016 season, after the franchise spent a record 25 years reaching the playoffs (from 1991 to 2016). 

So why did it feel like the Sabres had it worse?

Well, that’s difficult to answer. They had many exciting draft picks to try to lead the rebuild, but often it felt like it just never worked out. Jack Eichel in 2015 was one such example: he went 2nd overall (behind another guy you may know called Connor McDavid), but left the Sabres after 6 seasons due to a highly objective surgery the team didn’t want him to receive. He was also joined by talent such as Rasmus Dhalin or Tage Thompson, but despite all these gifted athletes, the team could never achieve its main goal: reach the playoffs. 

It does feel necessary to mention that despite the failed rebuilds throughout the 2010s, Buffalo was close. 2018 was starting to feel like the year they may end the drought: they had a ten-game win streak that season, and were in a playoff spot by Christmas before collapsing in the latter half of the season. They never had a season where they went into it expecting not to make the playoffs – there was always that hope that this would be the year.

And by the 2024-2025 season, something had shifted. They missed the playoffs by one point that season, and being so close but ultimately coming up short must have shifted something inside them, because this season, they broke the drought and finally reminded us why the Sabres are not a team we should be writing off. 

Sabres fans expressing their disappointment with the team after their playoff drought hit 14 seasons. Courtesy of nytimes.com

The 2025-2026 Season 

So how did the Sabres break the drought? What changed?

We wish we could answer that directly, but the answer is: we’re not really sure. They started this season on par with their expectations: early on, they were hovering around .500, and early on it appeared that they would be extending the drought, not breaking it. 

But then, something changed. We’re not sure if it was the realization that they truly do have a good team, the fuel of missing the playoffs by one point the year before, or just the motivation that we have to do this, but something shifted, and by January, they were back in a playoff spot and had gone on multiple winning streaks. 

They started the season 11-14-4, but in their last 40 games, the latter half of the season, they went an incredible 30-6-4, and led the NHL in points percentage during that span. They were top 5 in the league in goals scored, and players like Rasmus Dahlin had fantastic years, scoring a career high 74 points. 

And the Sabres didn’t just make the playoffs – they staked their claim. Even making a wildcard spot would have been monumental for the team, but they went beyond that. Instead, thanks to their near flawless run in the second half of the season, they won the Atlantic division, were one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, and finished the season 50-23-9, accumulating 109 points. 

They made their fans wait 14 years for it, but we think this season’s magic makes up for it. 

Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin celebrating after clinching a spot in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. Courtesy of theglobeandmail.com

This Year’s Run

Because they won the Atlantic Division, the Sabres clinched one of the top seeds. This means that they played the wildcard team in the first round of the playoffs, which meant their opponent wasn’t solidified until nearly the last day of the season. 

This season, they played the Bruins in the first round. Though Boston is a wildcard team, they’re still not an easy team to beat, with players like David Pastarnak and a Vezina-nominated goalie like Jeremy Swayman. The Sabres got right to work, however, and bested the Bruins in 6 games to advance to the second round for the first time since 2007. They're not only giving their fans playoff hockey, but what appears to be a deep run, too!

We can’t linger too much in the past, and the 2025-2026 Buffalo Sabres proved it this year. Despite a 14-year drought behind them, they put up one of the most dominant second-half performances we’ve seen in a while, and for the first time in years, reminded the league who they were. It’s one thing to just barely miss the playoffs, yet it’s another to dominantly assert their place in postseason hockey. 

And hey – we can’t attribute their success this season all to the joke made in Heated Rivalry about Buffalo’s hockey team, but, you know. We think it definitely played a role. 

Edited by Olivia Feldgus