Simple Projections (Pt. 3 of 5)

The Buffalo Sabres are showing some signs of revival in their last few games, picking up seven of the eight points available. The offense remains moribund and it looks like only a trade or two will resuscitate the Sabres scoring fortunes. What has been a positive is that the defense has been playing better, and Ryan Miller has played much better too in the lead up to taking the mantle as Buffalo's winning-est goalie with 235, passing six-time Vezina winner and legendary Sabre Dominik Hasek.

With 52 games gone (just past the 3/5th mark), here's how the projections stand for the end of the season. For reference, here are how the projections looked after the 1/5th and 2/5th points.

This last segment had been quite horrible for the Sabres, especially since it encompassed the 12-game road losing streak.

Of course, the poor run has been manifested pretty much across the board, and where once we were wondering if Vanek and Pominville would break the 100-pt mark, we now wonder if they'll even get to 80 points apiece. The depression continues when you look at where the Sabres stand statistically as a team, with the two seasons they missed out on the playoffs ('07-'08 & '08-'09) also included for perspective.

Only a quite miraculous streak from now on will even get us withing sniffing distance of the playoffs - 45 points roughly in 30 games, which would equate to a 20-5-5 record. Stranger things have happened in sports, but the overwhelming feeling is that they'll come heartbreakingly close but yet not make it.