public trade request<\/a> brought new life to this conversation. Over half (56 percent) of voters are in favor of acquiring Hellebuyck. And that is directly tied to the fact that almost 80 percent of voters rate their confidence in the Sabres\u2019 goalie situation as a three or lower. Wisely, a good chunk of the respondents said it depends on the cost. That\u2019s true of every trade, but it matters here because the Sabres have already subtracted two key skaters from last season\u2019s team. And acquiring Hellebuyck would also require moving out at least one of their three goalies. It\u2019s a bit of a complicated move, but I don\u2019t think there are many players available who could move the needle for this team as much as Hellebuyck. Even coming off a down year by his standards, Hellebuyck showed at the Olympics that he still can make a strong case as the best goalie in the world. The clock is ticking, though. Training camp starts soon, so we\u2019ll see if the Jets or Hellebuyck blink in the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\nHow confident are you in Lindy Ruff, Jarmo Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen and Terry Pegula?<\/p>\n
Terry Pegula\u2019s approval rating has gone up considerably since the last time we conducted this poll. Winning will do that. Fans still aren\u2019t handing out the highest of confidence ratings for the Sabres\u2019 owner, but ending the playoff drought, making some upgrades to the building and making an in-season general manager change last season all seemed to lower the temperature a bit. Meanwhile, fans are currently high on the combination of Ruff and Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen leading the Sabres\u2019 hockey department.<\/p>\n
What is a reasonable expectation for the Sabres this season?How many standings points will the Sabres have this season?<\/p>\n
I\u2019d say most fans are in the right headspace about this season. The leading answers here were between \u201c90 and 100 points\u201d and \u201cwin a round.\u201d That\u2019s about where my head is going into the season. I expect the Sabres to be a 100-point team and get to the playoffs. Missing the playoffs would be a disappointment after the way the team raised the bar last season. Beyond that, so much is dictated by matchups and the rest of the playoff field. It\u2019s fair to expect a deep run from this Sabres core at some point in the next three to five seasons, but counting on it in 2026-27 might be premature given the average age of the roster and some of the departures.<\/p>\n
How satisfied are you with the in-arena experience?How satisfied are you with the Sabres\u2019 broadcast?How satisfied are you with the Sabres switching streaming platforms to DAZN?<\/p>\n
While the approval ratings for the Sabres\u2019 broadcast were higher than those for the in-arena experience, the in-arena experience ratings have improved since our last survey. Some of that is likely due to actual upgrades the building received, but it probably has more to do with the team\u2019s performance and the resulting atmosphere. Buffalo was a scene during the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs, and now season tickets are sold out. A better atmosphere should occur more regularly next season. And more substantial upgrades are coming to the arena in the not-too-distant future, too.<\/p>\n
Buffalo fans seem happy with the broadcast, although the streaming platform remains a question mark. Given the way the Gotham app performed at times over the last few years, here\u2019s hoping there\u2019s nowhere to go but up. The Sabres have a good thing going with their broadcast, with a lot of people who care about the franchise and deeply understand its history and connection to the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last time we conducted a reader survey, the respondents weren\u2019t in the best headspace. It was late…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1809,385,99],"class_list":["post-843133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}