The Buffalo Sabres have made history.
With a win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, the Washington Capitals moved 23 points clear of Buffalo in the standings, ultimately eliminating them from playoff contention. The Sabres have now missed the playoffs in 11 consecutive seasons, which is a new NHL record.
Coming into the season, the Sabres were tied for the longest-ever NHL playoff drought at 10 years with the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers.
Setting this record comes as no surprise for the Sabres, as the team finished dead last in the NHL standings last season and traded away Sam Reinhart, Rasmus Ristolianen and Jack Eichel to signal the beginning of yet another rebuild. That said, the Sabres have been better this year than they were last year, as their points percentage has jumped from .330 to .444.
The last time the Sabres made the playoffs was the 2010-11 season and they lost in Game 7 of the first round to the Philadelphia Flyers. Their head coach was Lindy Ruff, their captain was Craig Rivet, Thomas Vanek led the team in scoring with 73 points and they went 3-0-1 against the Atlanta Thrashers.
While this is the record for futility in the NHL, the Sabres are nowhere near setting a postseason drought record in all of North American major sports. MLB’s Seattle Mariners haven’t reached the playoffs since 2001 and the Washington Commanders and Arizona Cardinals of the NFL had matching 25-year playoff droughts between the 1940s and 1970s.
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