The Buffalo Sabres have spent years waiting for a stage like this. After winning the Atlantic Division and ending a historic playoff drought, they are suddenly being talked about as a team that could make noise in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs, and one of The Athletic’s NHL staffers even picked them to win a first-round series against the Bruins.
The staff poll, released at the start of the postseason, covered every first-round matchup, the conference winners, the Conn Smythe, the Stanley Cup, the most overrated team and a playoff dark horse. In the Sabres-Bruins debate, Shayna Goldman backed Buffalo, while Sean Gentille joked, “The survey wouldn’t let me pick ‘Sabres in three.’” That line landed because it reflected the mood around a team that has gone from long-suffering afterthought to a club being sized up for a real run.
The votes were not unanimous, and the skepticism around Buffalo was built into the discussion. Mark Lazerus noted that the Sabres have not enjoyed the same postseason success as Boston fans over the last decade-plus, while James Mirtle wrote that it was Rasmus Dahlin’s time to shine in games that matter. That is the kind of swing the Sabres now face: the promise of a breakthrough on one side, and the memory of how often they have fallen short on the other.
Elsewhere in the first round, the staff leaned toward the Dallas Stars over the Minnesota Wild, citing Dallas’ forward depth, goaltending and experience. The series was still viewed as close because Roope Hintz was injured and Miro Heiskanen’s status remained uncertain. The Wild, meanwhile, had tied the NHL record for the fewest regulation wins in a 100-point-plus season, finishing with 31 regulation wins, a stat that undercut any assumption that their point total told the full story.
The Philadelphia Penguins matchup drew a different kind of attention, with the Flyers described as having Cinderella Story written all over them and Dan Vladar emerging as their surprising No. 1 goaltender. The Bruins were treated as a wild card, the sort of team that can look dangerous on some nights and then survive on patchy defense that Jeremy Swayman covers up on others. That volatility is part of why Buffalo’s pick was not dismissed outright.
In the end, the poll did what playoff polls are supposed to do: it drew sharp lines between belief and caution. Buffalo’s support was not the consensus, but it was loud enough to matter, and for a franchise that has waited through a historic drought, being taken seriously in Round 1 is its own kind of marker.
