I say not this year. But good reasons they could be a top contender in the East very soon. Good young "controllable" players and still lots of cap available in the next few years.
Wings and Sabres could be on top of the Atlantic soon.

I don’t see how Buffalo doesn’t make one of the wild card spots this year barring injuries. The east is top and bottom heavy meaning they have really good and really bad teams. Buffalo has to beat out 2 of PIT, OTT, NYI, WSH, DRW. I think that’s not gonna be that hard for them to do.

They just need Levi to be average and they will make it. Johnson will be in the lineup over Lyubushkin too.

They didnt really do anything to address their largest concerns. And theyre betting everything on a rookie with 7 games to his name. Does this have a history of working?

86 pts, 11th

yes

its a battle between Boston, Ottawa, Pitt and Buffalo for 2 spots. May the best 2 teams win

Are Sens fans all hyped up for this year?
U guys thinking you’re a playoff team?

Norris and Chychrun are here , Kubalik helps with depth and we should be stable in net so yes we are. Just need 1 more middle 6 player for depth and we are smashing it

I wasn’t saying u guys wouldn’t,
just curious where the general thought was at among the fans

Oh it’s optimistic but wanting more depth in case of injuries

@BUF10
@GMDannyB
@homiedaclown
I think you are both pessimistic. Let's consider:
First, Florida may suffer from Stanley Cup Hangover.
Tampa is definitely weaker this season after losing Killorn to free agency and trading Colton.
Boston is definitely weaker as Bergeron and Krejci will no longer be their top two centers.
The Sabres missed the playoffs by one point and were only 7 pts behind the Bolts.
Buffalo may not jump over them but since they are weaker, Buffalo should get more pts when they play against them.
Second, Johnson, Stillman and Clifton do not have to out standing just better than Bryson, Clague, Fitzgerald or Pilut who played 132 games last year.
That my friends is an easy hurdle to leap.
BTW, most Boston fans lament the loss of Clifton, he will not let us down.
Third, just as Cozens and Mittelstadt had break out seasons there is sufficient evidence that Power, Peterka, Quinn and Jokiharju could do the same this up coming year.
Fourth, Levi does not need to be great, just better than any of the GK's the Sabres had last year.
Considering how he has excelled at every level of competition for the past 4 years, it is not a stretch to presume he will do the same next year.
Fifth, The Sabres will not go through two seperate stretches equalling 20 games in which they only collected 4 pts.
The defense is better with the Free Agents but more importantly Samuelsson, Dahlin, Jokiharju and Power are all a year older.
They have endoured near playoff atmospher over the last month of the season and performed well.
Sixth, the most important, Don Granato! Does he ever have a ill word to say about a player or get overly emotional?

Last year, I was wrong with my prediction that they would end with 90 pts.
I may be overly optimistic, but this season they will get 100, for all of the reasons above.