Lack of additions at the Trade Deadline: On March 3, the day of the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline, the Sabres were four points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference with four games in hand. They had a real shot at making the postseason and ending their long drought. But Buffalo only added forward Jordan Greenway, preferring not to go for rentals at the deadline and not to upset team chemistry. It was a gamble for a team contending for a spot and for which a trip to the playoffs would have meant a lot. It wasn't enough.
Losing streaks: Few teams with playoff aspirations go through the lengthy downturns the Sabres have gone through this season. There was an eight-game losing streak Nov. 4-19. There was a 1-4-1 skid Jan. 9-17. And there was a 2-8-2 stretch from Feb. 28-March 21. Buffalo's inability to turn things around when they were going south ultimately doomed them; once things started going badly for the Sabres, they tended to stay bad for too long.
The goalies: This season, Buffalo went with 41-year-old veteran Craig Anderson along with prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, 24, and Eric Comrie, 27, who had entered the season with only 28 career NHL games; it didn't work out as well as the Sabres had hoped. Comrie was injured twice and lost the starting job to Luukkonen, who is 17-11-4 with a 3.61 goals against average and .892 save percentage in 33 games, plagued by inconsistency. He was backed up by Anderson, 10-11-2 with a 3.07 GAA and .908 save percentage in 25 games. Rookie Devon Levi, 21, who made his NHL debut March 31, has gone 4-2-0 with a 3.09 GAA and .901 save percentage, is likely the goalie of the future for the Sabres, but this season they needed a goalie for now.