The Buffalo Sabres will be playing meaningful hockey this season.
I won’t go so far as to predict the Sabres will make the postseason for the first time since 2011, but at the very least this team will be competitive deep into the winter months.
With so many changes made on both sides of the puck this offseason, there’s a fresh sense of optimism swirling around this franchise for one of the few times in the Jack Eichel era.
Here are some of the main reasons the Sabres will be much-improved in 2018:
Eichel has some help
It didn’t take a hockey expert to realize that the players lining up next to superstar Jack Eichel over the last few seasons weren’t exactly lighting up the league. Heck, several of Eichel’s linemates from his rookie and sophomore seasons are no longer in the NHL. But general manager Jason Botterill set out to change that this offseason.
The first big splash was to acquire veteran winger Jeff Skinner from the Carolina Hurricanes. Skinner immediately slots in on Eichel’s wing and along with Sam Reinhart should produce Buffalo’s most talented top line since the days of Chris Drury and Danny Briere.
The 26-year-old Skinner has averaged 54 points over the last three seasons on some very poor Carolina teams. He’s a gifted passer, but can also finish at the net (37 goals in 2016) and brings a much-needed scoring threat to pair with Buffalo’s new captain.
On the other wing is Reinhart, who was rewarded with a contract extension in the offseason, and should be poised for a big year. Reinhart has seemingly been on the cusp of breaking out ever since being selected second overall by the Sabres in 2014, but all of the ingredients are in place for 2018 to finally be the year he cracks the 30-goal and 60-point marks.
The supporting cast
Gone are key cogs from the rebuilding years such as Ryan O’Reilly, Evander Kane and Matt Moulson and in are players with plenty of scoring background in Patrik Berglund, Conor Sheary and Vladimir Sobotka.
Sheary also brings a wealth of playoff experience to the fold as well as the impressive qualification of being Sidney Crosby’s linemate for the past few seasons in Pittsburgh. Buffalo’s return from the O’Reilly trade with St. Louis netted them Berglund, Sobotka and Tage Thompson, who will also feature heavily into Buffalo’s offense in 2018.
The drop from the first line to the remaining three isn’t nearly as steep as it’s been in years past. Buffalo’s projected third line features budding center Casey Mittelstadt as well as veteran scorer Kyle Okposo. The fourth line will be centered around Zemgus Girgensons, who will be given one last shot with the Sabres, as well as Jason Pominville. Last year, players like Seth Griffith and Jordan Nolan got meaningful minutes on those bottom two lines and Botterill made sure to upgrade the depth this offseason.
The Dahlin effect
Not only did the Sabres get the best player in June’s draft, but they also got a franchise-shaping defenseman that can play right away. Unlike plenty of the team’s high draft picks in recent seasons, Rasmus Dahlin won’t need to be stored away in Rochester for several seasons working on his game.
The 18-year-old Swede will play big minutes for the Sabres in 2018-19, and immediately masks some of the shortcomings of the rest of the defense. The core of that unit (Zach Bogosian, Rasmus Ristolainen, Marco Scandella) are all back this year, but if they can stay healthy and help develop the younger group of d-men, that unit has the potential to make Sabres fans quickly forget about their struggles the last few years.
If Buffalo’s prized pick lives up to even half of his pre-draft hype, the Sabres will have their best defenseman in decades. There will certainly be some struggles getting acclimated to the NHL ranks, but Dahlin’s playmaking abilities should more than make up for them as he enters the regular season as the clear favorite for the Calder Trophy.
Hutton stopping pucks
Personal troubles aside, the Sabres simply didn’t get enough from starting goaltender Robin Lehner over the past two seasons. There was too much inconsistency in net from Lehner, and Buffalo was unable to rely on Lehner in big moments due to injury and poor play.
When the Sabres didn’t offer Lehner a contract at the end of last season, the original plan in net seemed to be Linus Ullmark. However, Botterill went out and acquired veteran netminder Carter Hutton to be the team’s primary goalie at the start of free agency.
Hutton, a career backup, won’t be the Sabres goalie of the future, but the 32-year-old is a solid option for a team looking to make that leap from the cellar of the Eastern Conference. His career-high for starts in a season was 40 in 2013-14, but he had his best year statistically with the St. Louis Blues last year.
Hutton appeared in 32 games with a 2.09 goals against average and a .931 save percentage. For comparison, Lehner had a 3.01 GAA and a .931 save percentage.
Of course, Hutton is going to need to get plenty of help in front of him if he wants to succeed in Buffalo, but is a sound upgrade at a position the Sabres have been desperate to get more from. Ullmark, who has been in the Sabres’ system since 2012, should prove to be a viable backup option and a big upgrade over Chad Johnson, who had one of the worst seasons statistically of any goalie in franchise history.
Year of experience for Housley
There are plenty of coaching moves that Phil Housley would probably like back from last season. His handling of Viktor Antipin as well as regularly burying some of his promising young prospects on the fourth line were just some of the questionable decisions the first-year head coach made last year.
But there was only so much the Hall of Fame defenseman could do with that roster and with an injection of talent, and a year of experience now under his belt, optimism is warranted that Housley is the right man to lead this team into the future.
