Buffalo right now is really screwing themselves sitting outside of at least a wildcard spot with Carolina in front. Lets start at the beginning of the season where they were sitting at the top of not only the division but the top of the league and something happened during the beginning of December when Cater Hutton who was on my fantasy team decided to lose 3 games in a row and that when I decided to drop him because I knew something like this was going to happen. After that I payed little to no attention to Buffalo and around All-Star Weekend when I saw how thy got slapped and woke up to the reality of last year. Buffalo still hasn't woken up and if it keeps going this way Buffalo should start to tank for another raft pick so Lolcow/Dumster Fire Buffalo better wake up. What do you think about about Buffalo's down ward spiral.

They were never that good. They didn't start the season hot. They went on a 10-game winning streak which wasn't all that impressive if you looked at anything but the win column (they won over and over by one goal and a lot in OT). Then they fell back to Earth.

I think their success had a lot to do with the really good goalie play which has now gone of the rails, and they had depth scoring throughout the lineup which is now virtually nonexistent and I guess you could say that Hutton has a ton to do with that due to his horrendous goaltending

Sabres were 31st last year. Too much to expect from this personnel to be playoff good after 82 games. This year was a developmental year despite their fine start.

You're right about Hutton's play was a big factor in their brief hot streak, but they never really got much secondary scoring. During that 10 game stretch the starting 5 (Eichel, Skinner, Reinhart, Ristolainen, Dahlin) had 16 goals while the rest of the team had 17 goals combined.

1. Defensive holes
2. Poor Goalie Play
3. No secondary scoring

BUF's season has really mirrored that of COL. They have a lot in common. They're both too dependent on their top line and lack secondary scoring. Both teams team defense has been deplorable. And finally, Hutton has never really been a full time #1 for an entire season. Clearly, the grind of the season has caught up w/ him. Varlamov in COL has been pretty terrible lately, too.