You're not wrong, location is a curveball
But the Sabres should be better than they have been, addressing their inability to keep goals out of their net should be top priority
They're lacking offensive juice this season, missing Thompson for a while didn't help with that, but they could probably assume their offense is capable of bouncing back
Their faceoff win ratio, goals for, shooting percentage, and powerplay are all towards the bottom of the league, but they're likely also related to a degree
They do put a lot of shots on net, could require a systems or coaching tweak