Mike Harrington: What impact does this run of good hockey have on the Sabres next season?

The Sabres are 8-4 in their last 12 games. In the last three weeks, they’ve won on the road in both Winnipeg and Washington, the two teams fighting for the Presidents’ Trophy. They’ve beaten Edmonton and Vegas. Even took down Ottawa twice to complete a four-game sweep of the playoff-bound Senators.

It’s a shame all this fun hockey is not going to get them anywhere. They’re finally out of last place in the East for the first time since mid-December but the standings still say they can make their tee times right now for April 18, the day after the season finale against Philadelphia.

So it really begs one gnawing question: Does this late run have any bearing on next season?

History with this club shows it probably does not. I think back to multiple conversations with former captain Kyle Okposo, who often insisted that each season was separate from every other one for a variety of factors. Your roster construction and that of your opponents changes every year. There are unexpected injuries (think Jack Quinn’s torn Achilles in 2023). There are coaching moves, surprise trades.

Individuals can go into the summer feeling much better about themselves but it’s hard for a team. The Sabres’ huge mistake in October of 2023 was thinking they were just going to pick up where they left off the previous April, one point out of the playoffs. They couldn’t. They had a poor training camp and couldn’t regain momentum in time.

The fast finish after a slumping season has been a trademark of general manager Kevyn Adams’ clubs in the post-Covid era.

In 2021-22, the first full year under coach Don Granato, the Sabres were 18-32-8 before finishing the season 14-7-3. The ’22-23 team endured that ugly eight-game losing streak in November and missed out by a point after going 10-5-2 in the last 17 games.

Last year’s team was on the playoff periphery and never really got close thanks to two losses in Detroit in the late going. But they still finished 10-7-1 before moving on from Granato and hiring Lindy Ruff. And this year’s club, of course, had that 13-game winless streak in December and went on an 0-5-1 slide around the trade deadline before finally showing what everyone had hoped for over the last 12 games. Too bad it took 60-plus games for the full package to finally be on display.

The Sabres need to keep pushing with another back-to-back coming this weekend in KeyBank Center against Tampa Bay and Boston. Most opponents other than the Bruins are fighting hard for their playoff positions. Individuals on both sides are striving for key numbers. And while late-season games aren’t predictors of future success, they’re absolutely used as evaluation tools.

Tage Thompson is about to become a 40-goal man for the second time in his career. Perhaps you haven’t noticed Alex Tuch has snuck into the Top 20 in goals as well, in a six-way tie for 19th with 32. He’s going to get paid this summer. Every game of experience Owen Power can get is important. Jack Quinn is finally finding his stride. Peyton Krebs − a former first-round pick, remember − is becoming a piece Ruff can’t do without.

Ruff needs to see more of trade acquisition Jacob Bernard-Docker on defense. It would be nice to see if Josh Norris can get back on the ice, too, although that sure feels more unlikely at this point.

Then there’s the goaltending. Major props to James Reimer for doing the kinds of things he’s doing at age 37, but it sure would be nice for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to regain his edge before it’s time to go home.

Largely because Luukkonen has struggled with an .885 in his 52 games, the Sabres are 31st in the NHL in team save percentage at .878, ahead of only Philadelphia (.872). They’re 29th in goals-against average at 3.51, ahead of only three terrible teams in Pittsburgh (3.53), Chicago (3.58) and San Jose (3.70). A bad look for goalie coach Mike Bales.

When the Sabres won last week in Winnipeg, I heard all kinds of comments along the lines of “they only won because of Reimer.” It’s like people forgot what it was like to see Dominik Hasek and Ryan Miller steal a game. Goaltenders are supposed to do that from time to time.

Luukkonen has been over .900 in a game just twice in his last 12 starts. He’s combined for an .817 in his last five. You can’t win with numbers like that, nor can you survive in the playoff race when your No. 1 goalie is running up numbers like 3.80/.870 against Atlantic Division teams.

We entered Wednesday with five teams below the Sabres in the overall standings: Boston, Seattle, Nashville, Chicago and San Jose. Buffalo’s record against that group is only 6-5-0. The top five entering Wednesday were Winnipeg, Washington, Dallas, Vegas and Carolina. Buffalo’s record against them? It’s 6-4-1.

That’s a super frustrating comparison. So is the Sabres’ 8-11-2 record against the Atlantic. Montreal is 16-6-0 in the division, including a combined 8-0 against Buffalo and defending Stanley Cup champion Florida.

The Sabres need to shore up the defense and goaltending. Only eight more games for those players to make the right impressions.