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Around the NHL: The Sabres won’t make front office moves despite a 10-game winless streak
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Ryley Delaney
Dec 16, 2024, 19:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 16, 2024, 18:58 EST
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The Buffalo Sabres are in rough shape.
It was reported by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli on Monday afternoon that Sabres owner Terry Pegula met with general manager Kevyn Adams, letting him know that “the solution [to the Sabres’ issues] are in this room”. The Sabres are also not expected to make a big move.
Of the “Big Four” North American sports, the Buffalo Sabres’ 13-season playoff drought is tied for the longest alongside the New York Jets of the National Football League. The Sabres are winless over their last 10 games with a 0-7-3 record, giving them 26 points for second-last in the Atlantic Division.
Two seasons ago, it looked as if that drought was coming to an end, as they finished with a 42-33-7 record, fifth in the Atlantic Division. Sadly for Sabre fans though, they fell one point shy of the post-season, as the Florida Panthers had 92 points, getting in on the final day and making it to the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Vegas Golden Knights.
After 31 games into the season, the Sabres sit six points out of the final wild card spot and nine out of the third spot in the Atlantic Division. The season isn’t over by any means, but they’ll have to start winning if they even want to come close to making the post-season.

Marcus Pettersson out week-to-week

It was announced by Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan on Monday morning that defenceman Marcus Pettersson is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
This season, the left-shot defenceman has two goals and 13 points in 32 games, after scoring a career-high four goals and 30 points in 82 games with the Penguins last season. Pettersson has spent parts of seven seasons with the Penguins after starting his career with the Anaheim Ducks. With the 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup champions, Pettersson has 15 goals and 136 points in 427 games.
Pettersson is entering the final season of his contract and will be one of the best defencemen available before the trade deadline. On top of solid defence and good point production, Pettersson earns $4.025 million annually, which can be cut down to just over $2 million with 50% retention by the Penguins.

Lane Hutson scores his first career goal

On Saturday, Montréal Canadiens defenceman Lane Hutson scored his first career National Hockey League goal.
The goal came in the first period of Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets, as his shot from the face-off dot beat Connor Hellebuyck for the first of many in his career.
Hutson, a 20-year-old left-shot defenceman, was selected 62nd overall in the 2022 draft by the Canadiens. The pick the Canadiens used was originally the Edmonton Oilers’ after they traded for former Calgary Flame Brett Kulak. 
After two seasons with Boston University, Hutson made his debut late last season, picking up two assists in two games. So far this season, he’s only scored one goal but has 19 assists in 30 games.
Hutson, along with Macklin Celebrini, Matevi Michkov, and Flames’ netminder Dustin Wolf are seen as the four real candidates to win the Calder Memorial Trophy, given to the league’s best rookie each season.

Denmark earns promotion to the 2026 World Juniors

It’s nearly the winter holidays, which means it’s almost time for the World Junior Championships. This season, it will be hosted in my hometown of Ottawa, Ontario with 10 teams participating in the tournament. However, the 2026 World Juniors in Minnesota will see Denmark return to the big tournament.
The 2025 World Junior Championship Division IA was hosted in Slovenia from Dec. 9-15, featuring Slovenia, Denmark, Austria, Norway, France, and Hungary, some true superpowers in hockey.
Thanks to a 5-4 victory over Austria in the final game, their 4-0-1-0 record (one overtime loss) was good enough for 13 points compared to Austria’s 12. They’ll play in the World Juniors top division for the first time since 2019.
Next year, Hungary will drop down to Division I, Group B. This year’s group will be played in Estonia in Jan. 2025 featuring Estonia, Japan, Ukraine, Italy, Poland, and South Korea.
In total, there are seven groups featuring 44 teams. The lowest tier – Division III, Group B, features Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, South Africa, and Luxembourg was played last week, seeing Thailand move to Division III, Group A next season.
Thanks for reading! You can follow me on Bluesky @ryleydelaney.bsky.social.

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