This season showed that the current plan in place has plenty of promise and will have the Sabres back in the playoffs soon. Buffalo finished with 91 points, just behind the Panthers with 92 and Islanders with 93.

A big part of the Sabres’ success is the commitment to the current plan in place by General Manager Kevyn Adams that is being nurtured by Head Coach Don Granato. Buffalo is currently building around a young defensive core that features No. 1 picks Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power, then top-end centers Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens lead the way on one of the best offenses in the league.

While it appears this group now leading the Sabres will someday get them into the playoffs, it doesn’t mean all of the players in previous plans since last making the playoffs couldn’t work out somewhere else, it just wouldn’t be in Buffalo. Currently, 16 former Sabres are playing on playoff teams, one former coach and a former member in management from the drought era.

Obviously, the most notable name is Jack Eichel who Buffalo sent to Vegas in exchange for Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, Noah Ostlund (2022, pick No. 16) and a second-rounder that turned into Jordan Greenway. After being labeled the savior of the franchise when selected second overall in 2015, Eichel failed to live up to the hype he had been generating since he was just 15 years old.

Former Sabres’ defenseman Brandon Montour celebrates a goal with the Panthers in a first-round series against the Boston Bruins. AP Photo

Eichel’s first year in Vegas was a failure, with the Golden Knights missing the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. But, now in his first full season with the club, Eichel made the playoffs and the Golden Knights had the easiest time advancing to the second round of any of the playoff teams.

Eichel is not alone in the former Sabres club on the Golden Knights, being joined by defenseman Brayden McNabb and winger Will Carrier. McNabb has had plenty of success since his tenure with the Sabres from 2009-2014, primarily with the Kings, and Carrier has been part of the Golden Knights since their expansion.

Eichel and the Golden Knights are currently playing against Connor McDavid and the Oilers — the original player the tank was intended for — but while McDavid never suited up the Sabres plenty of his teammates have. At the top of the list is Evander Kane who Buffalo acquired from Winnipeg on Feb. 11, 2015, with defenseman Zach Bogosian and goaltender prospect Jason Kasdorf in exchange for Drew Stafford, Tyler Myers, Joel Armia, Brendan Lemieux and a first-rounder in 2015 that turned into current Columbus Blue Jackets center Jack Roslovic. Kane is currently in a comfortable spot on the right wing of McDavid and opposite of Leon Draisaitl, which is a fantasy of many fans before the first tank occurred in 2014.

While Eichel was the focal point of the many years of misery and will be followed by Sabres fans the rest of his career — whether they love him or they hate him — it’s his second in command in Sam Reinhart who is on the team with the most Sabres castoffs. There are currently five former Sabres players on the Florida Panthers — Reinhart, Zac Dalpe, Brandon Montour, Eric Staal and Casey Fitzgerald.

Matthew Tkachuk is headlining the Panthers, who just knocked off the Bruins, but Montour is right behind him as the most impactful defenseman in the playoffs so far. Montour scored two goals in Game 7 and leads the playoffs in points by a defenseman with nine through eight games played. Reinhart follows him in production with four goals and an assist in his second-line role on the wing of Anton Lundell and across from Eetu Luostarinen. Staal currently has two points in all of Florida’s eight games, Dalpe has a goal in five games and Fitzgerald has played in just one game so far.

Former Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff is now in charge of the New Jersey Devils. Ruff coached the Devils to their first series win since 2012 when they beat the Rangers in Game 7 on Monday. AP Photo

Florida is currently playing against the Maple Leafs in the second round. On Toronto is the player in the league who has found the most success since departing Buffalo, Ryan O’Reilly. Now on his second team since leaving the Sabres, O’Reilly has been a key veteran piece to the Maple Leafs escaping the first round of the playoffs since 2004, scoring two goals and recording six assists in seven games. Joining O’Reilly on the Leafs just ahead of the trade deadline was Jake McCabe, who was a second-round pick by Buffalo in 2012 and his impact has been purely on the defensive end as he has not registered a playoff point yet. A former Buffalo deadline acquisition joins O’Reilly and McCabe in Wayne Simmonds who played just seven games for the Sabres.

Most self-respecting Sabres fans won’t be rooting for Toronto, but the team that should garner the most support is the New Jersey Devils. Representing the team on the ice is Curtis Lazar, who played parts of two seasons in the blue and gold, but the main focus is on the bench boss, Lindy Ruff. After 10 seasons playing, three as captain, Ruff returned to Buffalo as a head coach in 1998 and in just his second season coached the club to its second Stanley Cup Final appearance.

Ruff can be credited with some of the best times in Buffalo, coming very close to Lord Stanley in 1999 against the Stars and then again in 2006 when Buffalo lost in the conference finals to eventual-champion Carolina.

The team to defeat Buffalo in the 1999 finals, Dallas, boasts two former players in defenseman Colin Miller and goaltender Scott Wedgewood. The pair both have a minimal role on a team with a loaded defense and budding star in net with Jake Oettinger.

The general manager that brought both Miller and Wedgewood to Buffalo is Jason Botterill and he is currently the assistant general manager for the Seattle Kraken. Botterill is responsible for many of the key guys currently on the Sabres, but he was unable to benefit from their success. Botterill is joined on the Kraken by John Hayden, who his successor, Kevyn Adams, signed last season and then by minute-munching defenseman Will Borgen who was drafted in 2015 by his predecessor, Tim Murray.

While it may be tough to watch your exes have success with someone else, the current plan Buffalo is hitched to should have them in the playoffs next season.