The Sabres head into the final leg of their four-game road trip with a chance to keep climbing, while two of their Atlantic Division rivals are dealing with something far messier than a bad stretch of hockey.
Buffalo sits seventh in the division at 6-4-3, just two points shy of a playoff spot, and closes the trip in Los Angeles against a Kings team that is 4-6-2 and near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. The Sabres are coming off back-to-back wins over the younger San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks, and now draw a Kings roster that has the oldest average age in the NHL.
While Buffalo has been taking care of business on the ice, the bigger noise around the division has centered on Detroit and Tampa Bay. In the wake of the Connor Hellebuyck situation, the latest league chatter has shifted to the Red Wings and Lightning, both of whom are dealing with star-player unrest.
Detroit’s issues have been building since the summer, with former captain Dylan Larkin and defenseman Simon Edvinsson at the center of it. The situation worsened after the firing of GM Steve Yzerman and the promotion of assistant GM Shawn Horcoff to interim GM.
Larkin, who unlike Hellebuyck reported to training camp and played 10 games after returning from injury, told the Red Wings earlier this week that he would not play for them anymore and would wait for a trade. Detroit responded by suspending him without pay.
According to both Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period, the Sabres have shown interest in Tage Thompson’s Team USA teammates, but Larkin is not willing to expand his trade list to include Buffalo or the Montreal Canadiens. Detroit is also staring down a deadline with Edvinsson, the RFA defenseman who must be signed by December 1 or he cannot play for the Red Wings - or any other NHL team - this season.
Then came another jolt on Friday. Reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov said he will not sign a contract extension with the Tampa Bay Lightning and has asked for a trade. Lightning GM Julien BriseBois said he does not intend to move the franchise’s leading scorer, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
Both situations could hit the Sabres’ division rivals hard. Losing core pieces like Larkin and Edvinsson would strip Detroit of major talent and could push the franchise toward a second rebuild in less than a decade, much like Buffalo went through when Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, and others asked out.
Kucherov’s demand may be a calculated move by the 33-year-old and his agent, Dan Milstein, to force his way to a new team and the contract he wants. If BriseBois holds firm and keeps him through the season as a rental, Tampa Bay’s run as a top-three Atlantic club over the last decade could be coming to an end.
In Other News...
Sabres Line Shakeup Just Unlocked Something Huge For Tage Thompson
A late lineup tweak gave Buffalo a different look against Anaheim, and it paid off in a big way. Peyton Krebs was elevated into the first line mix and immediately helped tilt the ice, piling up three assists in the Sabres 7-6 win while Tage Thompson turned the change into one of his biggest nights of the season.
Thompsons hat trick and five-point performance were the headline, but the chemistry on that top unit was the real story for Buffalo. The Sabres got a glimpse of how dangerous that group can be when it clicks, and the way Krebs fit into the role left the coaching staff with a useful problem to think about once the lineup settles back down. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Playoff Push May Hinge On One Growing Concern
Buffalos early-season position has the feel of a team still trying to sort out what it is. The Sabres have shown enough to stay in the conversation, and the underlying numbers suggest there is more there than the standings show, but the path to the postseason is already crowded. In a conference where a few points can separate a handful of teams, every uneven stretch matters, and Buffalo has not yet put together the kind of run that can create breathing room.
The bigger concern is the one that keeps showing up in the same places: in net and on special teams. The Sabres have not gotten the steady goaltending they need, and the power play and penalty kill have also left room for doubt, which can erase the value of stronger five-on-five play. There is still time for the roster to settle in and for help to arrive later, but if Buffalo is going to turn its promising start into a real playoff push, those problem areas have to move in the right direction soon. [Read more 🡒]
Zach Benson Is Forcing A Bigger Sabres Question Up Front
Zach Bensons recent stretch has given the Sabres another look at their forward mix, and it has not been a subtle one. After Lindy Ruff bumped Benson into a more prominent role, the young winger has looked increasingly comfortable alongside Tage Thompson and Peyton Krebs, bringing the kind of energy Buffalo has come to expect from him through hard forechecking, clean support work and a knack for helping teammates find space.
The numbers have backed up the eye test, too, with that group tilting play in Buffalos favor while Benson has added to his point production. What makes it more interesting for the Sabres is how much less effective the same unit has looked in limited time without him, which turns Bensons surge into more than a nice individual run and into a bigger question about how Ruff wants to build the top of the lineup going forward. [Read more 🡒]