Sabres make NHL history with 11th consecutive season missing the playoffs

With the Buffalo Sabres being mathematically eliminated from qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs yesterday evening, the franchise set an NHL record for the longest playoff drought at 11 seasons.

The Sabres had been tied with the Florida Panthers (2001-11) and the Edmonton Oilers (2007-16) for the most consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance. They surpassed the Panthers on a technicality: Both teams didn't appear in the playoffs for 11 straight years, but Florida's streak was only 10 consecutive seasons due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout, which cancelled that season.

The Sabres were tied with the Edmonton Oilers (2007-2017) and the Florida Panthers (2001-2011) at 10 seasons heading into this season but it's worth noting that in the case of the Panthers their run of failure included the 2004-05 season that was not played due to the NHL lockout. For the Sabres though... it's 11 straight seasons of failure. And that includes the expanded post-season that the NHL implemented last season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sabres last played a playoff game in 2011, just two months before Terry Pegula took ownership of the team. Coincidence? I think not.

That 2011 Sabres team bowed out to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round and featured the likes of Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek, Drew Stafford, Jason Pominville and Jochen Hecht. By my count there is only one player from that squad remaining in the NHL and it's Tyler Myers who was playing in just his sophomore season.

Since then it's been nothing but misery for Sabres fans. Sure, there was some optimism when the team drafted both Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart with the 2nd overall picks in 2015 and 2016 respectively, but the team never really gained traction and they're now over a decade into a failed rebuild. There's reason to believe that they're on the upswing now but... haven't we seen this movie before?

"Our guys are showing progress, and that's what we wanted from Day 1," coach Don Granato said earlier this week. "We need to get better. I'm not going to worry about winning. As some point, we're going to win more consistently because we got better."

You'd think so Don... but... here we are...