Red Wings take over Sabres' depressing NHL playoff status

Red Wings take over Sabres' depressing NHL playoff status originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Until this year, the Buffalo Sabres held the NHL's streak of infamy. They hadn't made the playoffs in 14 consecutive seasons.

The Sabres are going dancing this year, though. Their drought is over. So enter the Detroit Red Wings.

It became official on Saturday. The Red Wings lost 5-3 to the New Jersey Devils and were eliminated from playoff contention.

It's now 10 seasons in a row that the Red Wings have missed the postseason.

It's actually shocking this year. The Red Wings were near the top of the Eastern Conference most of the year until a brutal collapse down the stretch.

Daily Faceoff shared this stat:

"On January 24, the Red Wings were first in the Atlantic with a 32-16-5 record, but an 8-13-4 stretch between then and April 9 saw them rapidly fade out of the picture."

Just as bad for the Red Wings, they don't have have their first-round pick in the draft ahead. That's because they were buyers at the trade deadline, and they sent it away to get Justin Faulk from the St. Louis Blues.

That makes the collapse even more painful. The Red Wings weren't just in position. They really went for it with their deals, and then they didn't get there.

There's a lot of work for the Red Wings to do. One of the proudest franchises from earlier in the 2000s simply hasn't been good enough lately. They've got to find a way to turn it around.

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