The Buffalo Sabres have been one of the biggest surprises for NHL betting in the 2025-26 season. They are close to ending the longest playoff drought in NHL history.
RotoWire.com presents the teams – from the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA combined – that own the longest current playoff droughts. This list includes 2025-26 playoff teams in the NFL, 2025 playoff teams in MLB and 2024-25 playoff teams in the NHL and NBA. The NFL's New York Jets are in sole possession of first place.
How Teams Fare In Playoffs After Long Droughts
Since 2000, there have been 15 teams across the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB that ended playoff droughts of 14 or more years. Here is how they did in the postseason that year.
Championship
Final
Semifinals
Quarterfinals
Round of 16
Longest Current Droughts In Major Sports
Click each team to reveal the full story
The Jets don't seem to be getting any closer – their last winning season was in 2015, when they went 10-6 and missed a playoff spot by a tiebreaker.
The Sabres already have more points (96) than in any season during their drought. Their last bid was in 2011; their last series win was in 2007.
They had two generational players in their prime, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, and still failed. Ohtani is now a two-time champ for the other L.A. team while Trout fades.
Bringing back Andrew McCutchen for the past three years was a nice reminder of the semi-glory days in the mid 2010s. But he was past his peak and the team isn't any better.
Could North Carolina's pro basketball team reward its fans the way local college hoops teams often do? A play-in bid in the East is nearly certain.
The Wings have been rebuilding for years and they are teetering on the brink of finally returning Hockeytown to the postseason.
The Falcons blowing a 28-3 lead against the Patriots in Super Bowl 51 will haunt this franchise for eons. Making it worse, Atlanta reached the playoffs the next year but never since.
Miles away from ending a drought that must feel more like 70 years than seven for their fans. They bottomed out with 119 losses in 2025. That was the bottom, right?
Under first-year coach Joel Quenneville, Anaheim leads the Pacific with 84 points and they have 11 games left. The Ducks are taking advantage of a weak division.
Data compiled from Sports Reference, NHL.com, Champs or Chumps website · March 2026
This data comes from RotoWire.com, where you can find the best sports betting promo codes when you sign up with an operator.
The Sabres are one season behind the Jets on our list. But Buffalo leads the Atlantic Division as of March 26, with 10 games remaining in the regular season. The Sabres are close to clinching a spot in the 2025-26 NHL playoffs, which would be their first postseason action since 2011.
How Did The Sabres Become Contenders?
On Dec. 1, the Sabres had +20000 odds to win the Stanley Cup at BetMGM Sportsbook. On the morning of Dec. 9, the Sabres were 11-14-4, the worst mark in the Eastern Conference.
That night, Buffalo defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3 in overtime, to embark on a 10-game winning streak. The Sabres have been on a tear ever since – in their past 43 games, they're 33-6-4, bringing them to an overall mark of 44-20-8. With 96 points, they lead the Atlantic Division by three points over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Buffalo defeated Tampa Bay twice in a nine-day span in late February and early March to seize first place in the division. Now the best price you'll find for the Sabres to win the Stanley Cup is +2500 odds at Caesars Sportsbook; other major operators have them listed anywhere from +1400 to +1800.
Center Tage Thompson leads Buffalo in scoring with 74 points (36 goals, 38 assists) and Rasmus Dahlin (15 G, 50 A) has become one of the top defensemen in the league.
But the team MVPs might be goaltenders Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who is 17-8-3 with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage, and Alex Lyon (20-8-4, 2.64 GAA, .911 save %). Buffalo has allowed 211 goals this season; only six teams have given up fewer.
And behind it all is the legendary Lindy Ruff, who is in the second season of his second stint as the Sabres coach. At DraftKings Sportsbook, Ruff is the betting favorite at -300 odds to win the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year.
How Do Teams Fare After Ending Long Playoff Droughts?
Now for the big question: If the Sabres clinch a playoff spot, as they are close to doing, what does history say about their chances of making a long playoff run?
RotoWire used the following criteria to find out: How many teams in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB have ended playoff droughts of 14 years or more since 2000, and how far did they go in the postseason? Here are the answers, for any customers at sports betting apps looking for a wagering trend based on history.
Teams ending a long spell without a playoff appearance usually don't make a long run. They might advance one round, but rarely farther.
Since 2000, the only team to end a drought as long as the Sabres' 14-year wait (or longer than that) and win the championship that year was the 2002 Anaheim Angels. Fans in Orange Country had waited since 1986 to return to the postseason and those '02 Angels took out the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins in the AL playoffs, then topped the San Francisco Giants in a seven-game World Series.
The only two other teams on our list to reach the championship round were also in MLB; the 2006 Detroit Tigers and 2014 Kansas City Royals both lost the World Series.
Here is a breakdown of the 15 teams since 2000 that have ended playoff skids of 14 or more years, and how they did in the postseason that year. They are listed in order of how far they went, then chronological order. To equalize the sports, we broke down which round they reached (in parentheses):
- 2002 Anaheim Angels, 15 years, Won World Series (Champions)
- 2006 Detroit Tigers, 18 years, lost World Series (final)
- 2014 Kansas City Royals, 28 years, lost World Series (final)
- 2015 Toronto Blue Jays, 20 years, lost ALCS (semifinals)
- 2008 Milwaukee Brewers, 25 years, lost NLDS (quarterfinals)
- 2010 Cincinnati Reds, 14 years, lost NLDS (quarterfinals)
- 2012 Baltimore Orioles, 14 years, lost ALDS (quarterfinals)
- 2012 Washington Nationals, 30 years^, lost NLDS (quarterfinals)
- 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates, 20 years, lost NLDS (quarterfinals)
- 2020 Miami Marlins, 16 years, lost NLDS (quarterfinals)
- 2020 Cleveland Browns, 17 years, lost Division Round (quarterfinals)
- 2022 Seattle Mariners, 20 years, lost ALDS (quarterfinals)
- 2005 Cincinnati Bengals, 14 years lost Wild Card Round (First Round)
- 2017 Buffalo Bills, 17 years, lost Wild Card Round (First Round)
- 2023 Sacramento Kings, 16 years, lost first round (Round of 16)
- ^ Dating to their time as the Montreal Expos.
It makes sense that baseball would dominate this list because MLB had such limited playoff spots until recent years. Even now, with recent expansion to 12 teams, baseball has the smallest postseason field of the four traditional major North American sports.
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Other Playoff Trends
One other interesting aspect: Of the nine NHL/NBA/NFL/MLB franchises that have endured at least seven straight years out of the playoffs, four are serious threats to reach the postseason in the next few weeks.
Aside from the Sabres, the Anaheim Ducks (on a seven-year playoff drought) also lead their NHL division, in this case the Pacific. But with 84 points as of March 24, their position is more tenuous than Buffalo's is. The Detroit Red Wings (nine years) entered Thursday one point out of a playoff spot in the East. And in the NBA, the Charlotte Hornets (nine years) entered Thursday tied for ninth in the East. From there, they would need to advance out of the play-in stage to reach the eight-team playoff field in the conference, but at least they'd be in with a chance.
Stick with RotoWire for updated Stanley Cup odds each day as the playoffs approach.
