Sabres Have A Tough Road In The Atlantic

Heading into the 2025-26 season, the focus of the Buffalo Sabres organization will be to end the team’s 14-year playoff drought. 

Buffalo will be in tough to reach their goal in the hotly contested Atlantic Division again this season. For the Sabres, the route to a playoff berth will be in the Eastern Conference wildcard race, as the strength of the Atlantic will make a top-three finish very difficult to obtain. 

Here is my outlook on the Atlantic Division for the 2025-26 season.

1. Florida Panthers: in spite of the key injury to team captain Aleksander Barkov, the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Panthers still have enough talent to secure the top spot 

2 . Tampa Bay Lightning: The core of this Tampa team that won the Cup in 2020 and 2021 will take another run at a championship this season. 

3. Ottawa Senators: Ottawa is poised to build on reaching the postseason last spring. With a talented young group backstopped by top goaltender Linus Ullmark, this is the year the Senators win a first-round playoff series. 

4. Toronto Maple Leafs: The Leafs will see some regression in the regular season standings with the departure of scoring winger Mitch Marner, but for the Leafs, the team will once again be judged on postseason performance. 

5. Montreal Canadiens: Expectations have risen for Montreal after the Habs reached the postseason in 2025.  The organization is on the rise, the acquisition of veteran defenseman Noah Dobson should help the blueline, but the competition in the division will make a playoff return a challenge. 

6. Buffalo: An upgraded blueline will bring some improvement, but question marks remain in goal and goal scoring with the departure of scoring winger JJ Peterka. 

7. Detroit Red Wings: The addition of goaltender John Gibson is an upgrade in net, but the defense and penalty kill shortcomings will be too much to overcome. 

8. Boston Bruins: The Bruins will be counting on bounce-back seasons from goalie Jeremy Swayman and top blueliner Charlie McAvoy to allow the team to stay in the hunt.  In the end, the Bruins will be at the bottom of the division standings once again.