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NHL.com's 30-In-30: "This current group of Sabres in uncharted territory.” |
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Every year NHL.com gives hockey fans something to digest during the precipitous lull that is the off season--30 Teams in 30 Days. Today it was Buffalo's turn as the NHL.com staff moves their way up from the bottom of the league to the top giving an overview of each team.
Simply put for Buffalo, NHL.com's Dan Rosen said the bar has already been set and expectations have risen as told to Rosen by coach Dan Bylsma through an interview back in July. The Sabres had been a doormat two years running but made great strides going from 54 points in 2014-15 to 81 points in 2015-16. In the last of his Five Questions from that interview Rosen posed this, "Nobody had any expectations for the Sabres last season, but I don't think we can say the same thing now. What can you do to manage the expectations? Or do you even want to manage them? What do you think about having expectations to potentially be a playoff team?"
"I think it's a really valid point and it's one we're going to be dealing with right from the start of training camp," began Bylsma's reply. "We're going to have that and we're going to want that expectation for our group.
"When we talked about our plan starting last year, we thought we were going to be an 80- to 85-point team last season even though we were obviously trying to make the playoffs right from the start. Prior to getting Kyle [Okposo] and the possibility of getting Jimmy Vesey, we thought we could be a 90- to 95-point team this year. Now Kyle and Dmitry Kulikov, and if we can add Jimmy Vesey into our top six, we should expect to be 95 points or higher than that. We think we're better on defense. We think we're stronger. We're deeper. If you're looking at expectations from within, we should be above 95 points at the end of the season. It took 95 points to get into the playoffs in the East last season."
The additions of Okposo and Kulikov brought plenty of optimism to Buffalo as Sabres GM Tim Murray brought in a top-six/top-line forward and a top-four/possible top-pairing defenseman into the mix. Okposo will either be skating on Ryan O'Reilly or Jack Eichel's right wing and brings an average of 22 goals and 61 points over his last three seasons with the NY Islanders. It should be worth noting that O'Reilly and Eichel were one-two in scoring for the Sabres last season scoring a combined 45 goals and 116 points for Buffalo.
According to Rosen during the video portion of the 30-in-30 piece, the addition of Kulikov adds balance to the Sabres defense corps. "With Kulikov, Josh Gorges and Jake McCabe on the left and with Rasmus Ristolainen, Zach Bogosian and Cody Franson on the right, I think that's got the makings of a very formidable defense," he said.
But Rosen, like many others will point to the big question mark hanging over the Sabres this season--goaltending.
Sabres fans know the score and have been battling each other over the worth of top goalie Robin Lehner pretty much ever since Murray traded a first rounder away for him. And adding backup Anders Nilsson, who's stat-line is barely that of an NHL'er, as a replacement for the departed Chad Johnson didn't help as it raised Chicken Little fears between the pipes for a portion of Sabreland. Rosen said he agrees with Bylsma in that this edition of the Buffalo Sabres can be a playoff team as he points to the added depth up-front and the solidification of the blueline with one qualifier--"If they get quality goaltending out of Robin Lehner."
Rosen has a pretty optimistic view for Buffalo overall saying that they could be a top-three team in the division, or at least a wild card team if they get that quality goaltending and "if Eichel has a better sophomore season than a rookie season, which I think he'll do, I do see them as a playoff team."
Finally, he concludes that it may come down to meeting expectations. As we found out through the post-2005 lockout era some players flourish when the pressure is on, others fold. How each individual player faces heightened expectations will go a long way in determining how, or even if, they fit into future plans.
The Sabres haven't made the playoffs since 2011 and it's easy to agree with host Matt Waymire when he says, "With an improved roster comes bigger expectations, but with this current group of Sabres, this is pretty much uncharted territory."
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The 30-in-30 is a very cool, in-depth snapshot of each and every team complete with an overview as well as fantasy hockey outlooks. They also add in a prospects-overview and a final segment featuring reasons for optimism and questions heading into the season.
In their fantasy outlook, nhl.com has Ristolainen as undervalued saying, "He could be poised for a leap into the realm of 50-60 points," Evander Kane as overvalued--"his health, category weaknesses and off-ice issues bring too many concerns to have him among the top 100 players as in years past" and think Sam Reinhart could be a sleeper. And they also think Tyler Ennis could have a bounce-back season--"Don't be surprised if he tops 50 points for the first time of his NHL career," they wrote.
To no one's surprise, they have Alexander Nylander and Brendan Guhle atop the list of the Sabres top-prospects. "The Buffalo Sabres have seen a number of prospects move through the organization to become full-time players in the NHL, and the next wave of talent is looking to follow in their footsteps," wrote Joe Yeardon before finishing the top-five with Justin Bailey, Will Borgen and Rasmus Asplund.
And finally, their reasons for optimism include blossoming young talent like Eichel, Reinhart, Kane and Ristolainen, the leadership of O'Reilly ("their top all-around forward") and Yeardon points to the addition of Okposo "because of his ability as a power forward. He can drive the net, score goals and, perhaps most importantly, help his teammates score; of his 369 NHL career points, 230 are assists. His linemates will benefit from his playmaking ability."
But I like Yeardon's final reason for optimism best as we hockey fans invariably get caught up in various things from who a player's roommate might be, to his off-season habits to his analytics.
"One of the main things the hiring of Bylsma did for the Sabres was establish a strong system," wrote Yeardon. "Buffalo had struggled to keep opponents from shooting and scoring in the two seasons before Bylsma was hired, but that changed last season; the Sabres scored 46 more goals than they did the previous season and allowed 54 fewer.
"No longer was Buffalo a team opponents could unload shots against for 60 minutes," continued Yeardon. "With a full season of experience in Bylsma's system, Buffalo will look to its speed and skill to take the next step."
It's a huge point and, might I add, three more keys to the Sabres moving forward in Bylsma's system this season will be how Ennis, Matt Moulson and Zemgus Girgensons fit in. All three had poor seasons last year and much of the Sabres fate outside of goaltending is how much they can contribute in secondary roles. Individual success for them will undoubtedly equal more success for the team. Definitive success for all three has the Sabres looking at three quality lines hitting the ice and making them a threat moving forward.
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