- The Buffalo Sabres are off to a poor start in their quest to end a 14-season playoff drought.
- New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the 2025 No. 1 draft pick, has been impressive in his first few games.
- Veteran stars Alex Ovechkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy are off to slow starts after dealing with injuries in training camp.
The NHL season is one week old on Oct. 14, and the worst thing to do is to overreact and try to extrapolate an entire season out of a short sample size.
But it isn’t a stretch to say that the Buffalo Sabres’ 0-3 start isn’t good for a team looking to end a record 14-season playoff drought. Usually, the Sabres start well and go through a season-wrecking slump later in the season.
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams traded No. 2 scorer J.J. Peterka during the summer and the Sabres have two goals this season. Their minus-8 goal differential is worst in the league.
But the Sabres are dealing with multiple injuries. Josh Norris has been limited to four games since arriving last season at the trade deadline. He left the opener with an upper-body injury after a faceoff and could miss eight weeks, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported.
No. 1 goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is also hurt and forward Zach Benson has yet to play after being hit in the face by a puck during practice. Michael Kesselring, acquired in the Peterka trade, is week-to-week.
The Sabres probably aren’t a playoff team with those players in the lineup, but it certainly hurts their chances with them out.
Here are some overreactions from the first week of the season:
Hand Matthew Schaefer rookie of the year
The New York Islanders defenseman and No. 1 overall pick of the 2025 draft has looked impressive in the first three games of his NHL career. He has a point in each game, is a terrific skater and is putting up major minutes. He played more than 26 minutes in his second and third games. He leads all rookies with 13 shots. He’ll have plenty of competition, though, with Jimmy Snuggerud, Zeev Buium, preseason favorite Ivan Demidov and others.
Give the Florida Panthers another Stanley Cup
They came back to earth in Monday’s loss to the Philadelphia Flyers with backup Daniil Tarasov in net. But they opened 3-0 without injured captain Aleksander Barkov and winger Matthew Tkachuk. That’s not surprising, considering the team’s depth. No. 1 goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is helping with a 1.67 goals-against average and .925 save percentage. There will be more setbacks, especially with defenseman Dmitry Kulikov now out, but the Panthers are back-to-back champions for a reason.
Big paydays look like bargains
Kirill Kaprizov (eight years, record $17 million average), Jack Eichel (eight years, $13.5 million average) and Kyle Connor (eight years, $12 million average) signed lucrative extensions and are putting up big numbers early. Connor had a hat trick in the opener. Kaprizov and Eichel are tied for second in the league with seven points in three games. Kaprizov is helping the Wild’s power play click at a 47.1% rate. There will be some regression, but those players got their big contracts for a reason.
Alex Ovechkin off to slow start
The NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer entered the season needing three goals to reach 900. After one week, he still needs three goals. But the Washington Capitals star was bothered by a lower-body issue in training camp and slow starts aren’t unusual for him. In his past three seasons, he didn’t get his first goal until his fourth or fifth game. Last season, he had no goals in three games, then took off and finished with 44 (despite missing 16 games with a broken leg) to top Wayne Gretzky’s record.
Andrei Vasilevskiy starting slowly
The Tampa Bay Lightning goalie has an unwieldy 4.62 goals-against average and .855 save percentage after two games. But he, too, was dealing with an injury in training camp that limited him to one preseason game. The Lightning had him back up on Monday because the team is playing on back-to-back nights. That gave him an extra day of rest.