Will any Sabres take a huge step forward?

[Hoss]

Looking around the league at this most recent season so many guys made huge leaps forward.

So the question is simple: do you think anybody does it for Buffalo? It could be Eichel or it could be someone like Rodrigues, but it has to be a BIG leap.

Some examples from last season:

Taylor Hall from 20-33-53 to 39-54-93 and a Hart trophy

Nathan MacKinnon from 16-37-53 to 39-58-97

Mikko Rantanen from a 38-point rookie year to an 84-point season

Claude Giroux from 14-44-58 to 34-68-102

Blake Wheeler from 78-point career high to 91 points

Mat Barzal comes from out of nowhere for 22-63-85 (for the record I raved about him in his draft year - should've been third overall)

Wild Bill William Karlsson blew up for 43-35-78 and some NHL awards in Vegas

[Derrico]

Casey Mittelstadt from 1-4-5 to 26-30-56

[LGR4GM]

I think Reinhart gets 35g and 45a. That's right, he goes up 30pts.

[dudacek]

Eichel could have a McKinnon-sized jump. The parallels are uncanny.

[SwampD]

Jack Eichel.

[North Buffalo]

And Im hoping one of the young guys designated as AHL take a big step.  If I had guess Ghule... 

[Ottosmagic13]

A Rasmus 

or Hutton takes the #1 role and runs with it. 

 

[darksabre]

Guhle 

[Taro T]

Eichel, Reinhart, & Rodrigues will each have 15 points more than last season.

[dudacek]

The Sabres are going to get close to 20 goals this year from an unexpected source.

There is a wide-open spot just waiting to be claimed alongside Jack. One of Thompson, Nylander, Olofsson, Bailey, Baptiste or Rodrigues will take advantage.

[GASabresIUFAN]

We have a ton of candidates. Erod, Thompson, Sheary, Reinhart, and Eichel top my list.  However my favorites are Erod and Reinhart.

Erod went 4g & 2a in 30 games in 2016/17 to 7g, 18a in 48 games in 2017/18.  In other terms he went from .2 pts/gp to .52 pts/pg.  Now if he gets a permanent assignment with either Jack or Casey, I think he could jump to .75.  This would mesn he’d go from 6 pts to 25 to 60 over 3 seasons.

Reinhart’s second half was a Jack like nearly a pt per game.  He continues that he’ll score 75+ next season.  

One other note.  What out for Sheary.  He had 53 pts playing with Sid, he could match that with Jack.

[Andrew Amerk]

Sheary for 65 points. Book it. 

[DarthEbriate]

Now that Eichel is a 9 he gets a nice jump in points, but the huge step forward is Ristolainen who finishes with a positive +/- (and also breaks 10G/40A) because he no longer has to do everything on defense.

[ubkev]

11 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Sheary for 65 points. Book it. 

Bet. 

$1 Mortimer?

[Randall Flagg]

I think it could be Mittelstadt, he looks a lot thicker than he was last year, when it appeared to me that his speed and thought process was NHL ready but his body wasn't quite there yet. 

I could also see Rodrigues putting up 50 points. 

 

[Huckleberry]

15 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I think Reinhart gets 35g and 45a. That's right, he goes up 30pts.

As a center ?

[Tondas]

I'm going with Casey Nelson.  He went from a throw in to a regular in one season.  If he keeps a similar trajectory, I see him being on the second pair RD by seasons end.

[IKnowPhysics]

It's conceivable that McCabe is paired with Dahlin (especially if Bogosian isn't healthy and they keep Dahlin on the right side, despite his left shot).

If that's the case, I could see McCabe's physical closer-to-home style meshing extremely well with the offensive-oriented game that we expect from Dahlin.  I don't know if McCabe would blow up the points stats, but he wouldn't need to; he'd just have to provide excellent support to his partner.

[Thorner]

2 hours ago, Tondas said:

I'm going with Casey Nelson.  He went from a throw in to a regular in one season.  If he keeps a similar trajectory, I see him being on the second pair RD by seasons end.

If Dahlin plays on the left, Nelson likely starts the regular season as our #2 RHD on the depth chart, with Bogo's inevitable injury. 

I still think Botterill needs to make a move for another RHD. 

[nfreeman]

McCabe on D. 

ERod or Thompson at F.  

And please please Ullmark and Hutton!

[TrueBlueGED]

5 hours ago, IKnowPhysics said:

It's conceivable that McCabe is paired with Dahlin (especially if Bogosian isn't healthy and they keep Dahlin on the right side, despite his left shot).

If that's the case, I could see McCabe's physical closer-to-home style meshing extremely well with the offensive-oriented game that we expect from Dahlin.  I don't know if McCabe would blow up the points stats, but he wouldn't need to; he'd just have to provide excellent support to his partner.

Poor Rasmus.

4 hours ago, Thorny said:

If Dahlin plays on the left, Nelson likely starts the regular season as our #2 RHD on the depth chart, with Bogo's inevitable injury. 

I still think Botterill needs to make a move for another RHD. 

He should, but I don't think he will. For better or worse (see: it'll be worse), I think the team believes in Bogo.

Edit: On topic, I think the answer is Mittelstadt. It's weird to say seeing as he doesn't really have anywhere to jump from, but I think he has a Keller-like rookie season.

Edited July 8, 2018 by TrueBlueGED

[Randall Flagg]

I wouldn't even think Bogosian has done serious work on the ice since we last saw him in January. Wasn't the recovery time on his surgery (which happened "next week" according to TBN January 26th, so in February basically) 4-6 months?

[Andrew Amerk]

13 hours ago, ubkev said:

Bet. 

$1 Mortimer?

I’ll take the $1 bet. 

[Thorner]

9 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

I wouldn't even think Bogosian has done serious work on the ice since we last saw him in January. Wasn't the recovery time on his surgery (which happened "next week" according to TBN January 26th, so in February basically) 4-6 months?

#2 RHD on the depth chart. 

Drink it in. 

[R_Dudley]

Well I know this question was intended for the younger guys but I'll start with looking for a bounce back year from Okposo and for a surprise I am going with the new kid Tage Thompson as someone getting bigger minutes and being good for 40-50 points (15-22 goals, 20-28 assists)