The Hockey News’s Adam Proteau weighs in as to whether any of the three Atlantic Division upstarts–the Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators and of course the Detroit Red Wings–might be able to sneak into an Eastern Conference playoff spot this upcoming season, and he’s not giving the Wings much of a chance:
The Ottawa Senators made a big splash on the free agent market on Thursday, signing star winger Vladimir Tarasenko to a one-year, $5-million contract. Adding the six-time 30-goal scorer gives the Sens one of the best top six forwards in the NHL, but does it make Ottawa the Atlantic Division’s best up-and-coming team? We don’t think so.
From this writer’s perspective, of the three Atlantic teams battling to make the playoffs this coming season – the Senators, Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings – the Sabers have the best shot at qualifying for the post-season. The Sens would be second on that list, followed by the Red Wings. Why? Well, because Buffalo’s top six forwards had four players who scored at least 31 goals last season (Ottawa had three), and because Buffalo has two of the best three defensemen (Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin) among the Sens, Wings and Sabres (Detroit’s Moritz Seider being the other).
The deciding factor in the race to win a playoff spot could be goaltending. In that regard, the Sabres could struggle if rookie Devon Levi doesn’t take the No. 1 job and make it his own. The Sens added veteran Joonas Korpisalo, and Detroit is depending on veteran Ville Husso, but all-in-all, Buffalo’s abundance of talent beyond goaltending is the deepest group of the three playoff-hungry teams.
Tarasenko’s arrival in Ottawa makes the Senators a frightening opponent for any other franchise, but the Sabres were frightening enough in 2022-23, and their top players are just coming into their own. If we were betting on it today, we’d bet Buffalo slides into one of the two wild-card berths this year, but it’s shaping up to be an extremely tight race.
Continued; I have all the respect in the world for Mr. Proteau, and I know that the odds are stacked against the Wings surpassing the Sabres or Senators this upcoming season, but we can always hope, folks.
