Hey, I don't mean to kick anybody while they're down, but it's hard to ignore that of all the relatively hopeless teams in the Eastern Conference that vowed to be at least playoff-competitive — saying they wanted to be playing “meaningful games” after the trade deadline — the majority are in the ditch.

Leaving the Devils aside (a team I think a lot of people would have backed if they could be promised the goaltending the Devils haven't had the past few years), it's a kind of grim spectacle.

The Buffalo Sabres, losers of six straight, made the classic mistake of thinking their solid if unspectacular late-season results would carry over into this season and be a sneak preview of things to come. Instead, they're right back where they've always been: chugging along near the bottom of the East.

Co