It’s the earliest stages of the season for the Buffalo Sabres, but it’s clear that this organization has not taken a single step forward. After the team dropped an afternoon contest against the Colorado Avalanche, the Sabres limped out to an 0-3 record to begin the 2025-2026 campaign. It’s the second consecutive year that Buffalo is winless in their first three games.
The Sabres are already done this season. Yes, I understand that is extremely reactionary and way too early to make that statement.
But does anyone really disagree?
The Sabres are still the Sabres. Their playoff drought will continue in 2026, extending their absence from the postseason to 15 consecutive seasons.
You know what is so wild about the Sabres floundering for nearly two decades? They have one of the strongest ownership groups in sports. Terry Pegula purchased the franchise in 2011, coincidentally the last time the Sabres participated in the playoffs.
By all accounts, the Pegula’s are an excellent operating group. They have overseen the rise of the Buffalo Bills in the NFL and their $100+ million donation to Terry’s alma mater Penn State University is directly responsible for their hockey program becoming a top one in the NCAA.
The Sabres however have yet to receive the magic touch from Terry Pegula. The effort has certainly been there, but the failure of the organization begins at the top and continues all the way down.
The Sabres have won 40 or more games in a season just once since their last playoff appearance, highlighting not only their postseason struggle but also just how miserable it has been. They’ve won between 30 and 39 games nine times since 2011, keeping them firmly entrenched in the bad, but not awful category.
As a result, they’ve been a team drafting at the end of the lottery for the most part. Since 2011, they’ve picked in the top two four times, landing Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power with those picks. Dahlin and Power remain in Buffalo, but Eichel and Reinhart have both lifted the Stanley Cup with different organizations.
The rest of their first-round draft picks over the last 15 years have come between picks seven and 23, and they’ve frequently swung and missed on their first selections. Look at players like Jack Quinn, Rasmus Ristolainen, Matthew Savoie or Dylan Cozens. None of them became the top of the lineup player Buffalo envisioned, and all of those players aside from Quinn are with different teams currently.
Their inability to land impact players with frequency and their even worse ability to retain key talent has left them stuck in NHL purgatory. The organization can’t pick themselves up out of mediocrity, and as the 2025-2026 season is in its infancy, the Sabres are already eliminated from contention.