And the Sabres Are now out of 30th. But right, we are assured "McEichel"
****ing Oilers. They are an embarrassment to professional sports.
Dude, chill. Yes, it "sucks" that we aren't running away with last place right now, but there's plenty of season left. And, (as has been pointed out a ridiculous number of times, but seemingly needs to be brought back up over an over) the Sabres are getting well above average goaltending, Oilers not so much.
There's 4 phases to a season
Phase 1
Beginning to Thanksgiving:Identify the bottom feeders. (Roughly 25 games in)
Last season the bottom five teams were
1) Buffalo 11pts
2) Edmonton 18pts
3) Florida 19pts
4) NYI 19pts
5) Calgary 20pts
All those teams, just in a slightly different order, were the bottom 5 teams at the end of the season.
Phase 2
Thanksgiving till mid January/All-Star Break (Roughly 50 games in)
1) Buffalo 33 pts
2) Edmonton 36 pts
3) Calgary 39pts
4) Florida 47pts
5) NYI 49pts
Phase 3
After All-Star Break to Trade Deadline (Roughly 63 games in)
1) Buffalo 44pts
2) Edmonton 50pts
3) Florida 53pts
4) Calgary 53pts
5) NYI 56pts
Phase 4
Post Trade deadline till the end of the season
1) Buffalo 52pts
2) Florida 66pts
3) Edmonton 67pts
4) Calgary 77pts
5) NYI 79pts
This is where you really saw the separation. Buffalo only gained 8 points in their final 21 games. Up until the deadline, all the bottom 5 teams remained fairly close to each other all season. Buffalo had a mid season surge where they won a couple more games than they usually did, but the collapse at the end is what sealed it.