My early thoughts on the playoff race:
Buffalo's biggest issue is that the easiest path, finishing top 3 in the division, is essentially closed off. Florida, Boston, and Toronto. They all had 100+ point seasons last year. Boston has improved, Toronto is essentially the same, Florida will likely have some dropoff, but will still be an excellent team.
Tampa has the potential to crack the top 3, but they have to stay healthy and one of the top 3 teams has to drop.
For Buffalo to crack 100 pts, everything essentially has to go right. Career years all around, flawless goaltending, almost no injuries.
That puts Buffalo in a race in a race for one of the two wild card teams with Tampa, Detroit, Ottawa, likely NYI/Washington (assuming a top 3 of NYR/NJD/Carolina in the metro)
so that's 6 teams for 2 spots.
The only team I see as potentially stronger than the other 6 teams here is Tampa. As the team gets older, injuries become a bigger factor. But I'd rate them as the strongest roster of the 6 'bubble' contenders.
How PLD does with Washington probably is the biggest swing factor. Is he the PLD from LA or the PLD from WPG? Is there less or more pressure on him now? If Washington can get PLD to return to form, with their defensive overhaul, they could be the 2nd best roster of the six. Of course, if PLD bombs, then, well, they will be closer to a bottom 5 finish in the NHL than a top 16 finish.
After that, Detroit, Ottawa, Buffalo, and NYI are kind of all lumped together. NYI is probably the best equipped to just grind out enough points despite the aging roster. But, like most of the teams here, a few badly timed injuries perish them to the draft lotto. Pittsburgh could be in the same area too, but I think the issue is the players outside of their aging core just aren't good enough. Same with Philly to some extent.
I'd probably argue the Eastern Conference is:
(in any order)
Top 6:
Florida
Boston
Toronto
NYR
NJD
Carolina
Wild Card Favorites
Tampa
Washington
Wildcard Competitors (In any order)
NYI
Buffalo
Detroit
Ottawa
Wild Card longshots:
Pittsburgh
Philly
Wait for next year:
Montreal
Columbus
I'd weigh Buffalo's chances on the following:
1. One of two teams above them just having 'one of those years' where everything simply falls apart.
2. Performance of high salary players on the Sabres (Dahlin/Thompson/Cozens/Power)
3. Injuries
If I had to weigh the odds:
1. 25% playoffs (93+ pts)
2. 50% Playoff bubble (87-92 pts)
3. 25% Lots of firings happening ( 86 pts or less)