The Buffalo Sabres currently hold the NHL's longest active playoff drought. It's certainly not the honor they'd prefer to hold, but the team hasn't made the postseason since the 2010-2011 season. In the 13 seasons since, the Sabres have stumbled and struggled continuously.
In a recent article for The Daily Faceoff, Matt Larkin discussed some of the active playoff droughts in the NHL. Writing about the longest active streak, he gave some insight into why the Sabres currently hold the least wanted record in the league.
"The granddaddy of all hockey playoff droughts," he wrote. "The last time Buffalo made the playoffs, Macklin Celebrini was four years old. Terry Pegula had owned them for just two months. The NHL was two seasons away from a lockout. Buffalo’s last playoff series ended nine days after season 1, episode 1 of Game of Thrones premiered. They’ve since picked in the top two of the NHL Draft four times (Sam Reinhart, Jack Eichel, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power). No matter how many times this franchise rebuilds its rebuild, it falls flat."
The biggest indictment against this organization is the way they've squandered their top draft picks. As Larkin notes, Eichel and Reinhart were top picks in the draft, but were never able to have enough of a supporting cast to make a significant difference in Buffalo. In their time away from the organization, both players have captured a Stanley Cup. So maybe it wasn't the players, but the situation they were in.
The Sabres are hoping they can avoid the same fate for their most recent pair of top picks, defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power. The defenders are both signed long-term and entering their prime years with the team, giving them at least a few more years to try and return to the postseason.
There's no denying they are trying to improve. This summer alone, they bought out the contract of Jeff Skinner, replaced him with a cheaper contract by signing Jason Zucker, and acquired a solid bottom-six center in Ryan McCleod. These moves aren't enough to propel the Sabres up the Atlantic Division standings, but it must be a starting point if Buffalo wants to finally end their 13 season long playoff drought.
