5 Reasons why the Sabres will be different this year

[dudacek]

Pretty straightforward concept.

We all know things won't be the same as last year. Give us 5 differences that are reasons why you think the Sabres will be good this year, and 5 that are reasons why they won't be:

I'll start.

The Sabres will be good because:

1) Casey Mittelstadt will have a career year and will cement himself as a core piece

2) A healthy Rasmus Dahlin and a more mature Owen Power will tilt the ice for 45 minutes a night in their team's favour the way no other NHL blueline duo will or can.

3) Jordan Greenway won't be a stud, but he will be exactly the reliable, 2-way middle-six big body the team was missing last year.

4) Peyton Krebs will emerge as one of the league's better 3Cs.

5) Devon Levi is the real deal and will make all this goalie angst about as moot as the backup position on Tampa.

The Sabres won't be good because:

1) There is no way the forward corps will be as healthy as it was last year and the team relies far too much on their top line to survive an extended injury to any of them.

2) Eric Johnson is not an NHL regular any more and Conor Clifton will elevate to his increased responsibilities about as well as Colin Miller did when we got him from Vegas.

3) Dylan Cozens won't take the step most expect him to.

4) Jack Quinn's absence removes the most obvious candidate for internal growth up front and no one will be acquired or step up to fill that hole.

5) The coaching staff will fail in an effort to make the team more accountable defensively

Edited August 12, 2023 by dudacek

[Zamboni]

The Sabres will be good because …

No more Eichel or selfish, self absorbed, myopic personalities on the team.

More quality depth than last year.

Goaltending overall looks slightly improved. (On paper).

The youth gained valuable experience and will grow from that. Showing improvement overall.

 

The Sabres will not be good because…

It hasn’t been announced officially yet, that Dahlin is extended. Too late in the summer now. Just wait until next Summer to say anything. They are doomed. 😎

Not enough Ryan Reeves on the team. Like, the Sabres are gonna get soooo pushed around and not respond and stuff. Oh and they aren’t a “big team”. 😉

 

 

 

[Randall Flagg]

The Sabres will be good because:

1.) There is so much room for growth in the special teams it isn't even funny.

• The power play was horrendous with the puck, but has the raw weapons to be better than any unit outside Edmonton, which led to good production. 
• The penalty kill doesn't even have to become GOOD to get significantly better. And why CAN'T it become good? 

This area alone could realistically add 5+ points to next year's finish

2.) Devon Levi gives 50 games of top 10 goaltending

• The team probably got about 20 of these last year. Even if UPL is bad, he was bad last year too. If Devon Levi is a bona fide starter, the net sum of quality starts will be much higher

3.) The previously-impenetrable wall of opponents is showing cracks. And the Sabres aren't scared of them anymore. You can empirically see the shift in this attitude toward the Lightning in particular, a team that has just tormented this franchse the last 10 years. The Sabres can beat every team any night, and they know it now too. The only teams I consider uncatchable this year in the east are not in our division (CAR, NJD)

4.) Samuelsson and Power take big steps in development, turning a shaky group with sky high potential into the force we envisioned on draft day 2021

• The concept of Samuelsson becomes a reality.
• First Overall Picks tend to have pretty damn good second years.

5.) Even if scoring regression is likely to some degree in the forward corps, the talent baseline is so high that the offense will be good anyway. And they will learn defense too - Donny has shown to be very good at doing what he tells us he's going to do. "Scoring is hard and I have to teach these guys how to do it." I expect him to talk to us in September about learning the other end too.

I'm sticking with the positives here, because I've already said what I need to about my worries

[PerreaultForever]

Okay, sure, it's summer and all. I'm changing the wording to "could" though. That makes more sense to me. 

They COULD be good because:

1. Levi will be an instant NHL capable goalie and UPL will develop just enough to be a competent back up so we will have good NHL goaltending finally

2. Power and Clifton will have instant chemistry and with 3 solidified pairing our D will actually became a strength rather than a weakness

3. Greenway will have a breakout year and become a true net front presence giving us a dominant PP.

4. Peterka will have a breakout year.

5. Several of our opposing teams will crumble while we continue to grow and gel.

Offensive potential is the greatest strength. 

 

They COULD be bad because:

1. Levi will have good nights but he will also have big weaknesses and he will tire with the load. Goaltending will kill us again.

2. A string of injuries at the same time will expose our lack of depth and we will not recover from it. 

3. Several forwards will have off years, especially Skinner who will have one of his slack dud drop offs. The top lines will scramble and fall apart as a result.

4. Granato will show himself to be incapable of teaching this team defense, and we will be a one dimensional and easy to defend against team.

5. The young leadership of this team won't be able to guide them over losing streaks and the older leadership will barely be able to crack the line up so they will fall apart under pressure.

Goaltending and lack of depth is my biggest concern. 

[JohnC]

A couple of reasons why the Sabres should be better next season. The Sabres home record last year was17-20-4. It's not unreasonable to believe that they can be 22-15-4 or better next year. The Sabres road record last year was 25-13-5. I don't expect it to be as good next year. When the Sabres had 15,000 fans or more their record was 13-9-3. I expect the attendance to be better next season with higher fan expectations. 

As it has already been mentioned, our PK should be much better with the additions of Johnson and Clifton. And I expect better structure on the PK unit because more emphasis will be placed on it by the coaches. 

https://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/why-did-the-sabres-have-such-a-poor-home-record-in-buffalo/

 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

Okay, sure, it's summer and all. I'm changing the wording to "could" though. That makes more sense to me. 

They COULD be good because:

1. Levi will be an instant NHL capable goalie and UPL will develop just enough to be a competent back up so we will have good NHL goaltending finally

2. Power and Clifton will have instant chemistry and with 3 solidified pairing our D will actually became a strength rather than a weakness

3. Greenway will have a breakout year and become a true net front presence giving us a dominant PP.

4. Peterka will have a breakout year.

5. Several of our opposing teams will crumble while we continue to grow and gel.

Offensive potential is the greatest strength. 

 

They COULD be bad because:

1. Levi will have good nights but he will also have big weaknesses and he will tire with the load. Goaltending will kill us again.

2. A string of injuries at the same time will expose our lack of depth and we will not recover from it. 

3. Several forwards will have off years, especially Skinner who will have one of his slack dud drop offs. The top lines will scramble and fall apart as a result.

4. Granato will show himself to be incapable of teaching this team defense, and we will be a one dimensional and easy to defend against team.

5. The young leadership of this team won't be able to guide them over losing streaks and the older leadership will barely be able to crack the line up so they will fall apart under pressure.

Goaltending and lack of depth is my biggest concern. 

I'm just focusing on the depth issue that you brought up. I see it differently. There is no question that the Sabres were fortunate on the injury front compared to most teams. Odds are that our good fortune will not continue at that level. (I'm hoping that the Quinn injury isn't a bad omen.) However, as our talent base has increased, the roster has accumulated more talented players who are capable of moving up the lines and defensive pairings without much diminishment in effectiveness. Mitts, a third line player, was bumped up to the first line when Tage was hurt. The line continued to play at a high level. If Joki gets bumped down to the third pairing and then is moved up to the second pairing due to an injury, he has already demonstrated that he could play as a second pairing player. The same versatility applies to Samuelsson, Clifton and Johnson. In general, this roster will be much more versatile than it has been in a long time. 

Edited August 12, 2023 by JohnC

[Getpucksdeep]

3 hours ago, dudacek said:

Pretty straightforward concept.

We all know things won't be the same as last year. Give us 5 differences that are reasons why you think the Sabres will be good this year, and 5 that are reasons why they won't be:

I'll start.

The Sabres will be good because:

1) Casey Mittelstadt will have a career year and will cement himself as a core piece

2) A healthy Rasmus Dahlin and a more mature Owen Power will tilt the ice for 45 minutes a night in their team's favour the way no other NHL blueline duo will or can.

3) Jordan Greenway won't be a stud, but he will be exactly the reliable, 2-way middle-six big body the team was missing last year.

4) Peyton Krebs will emerge as one of the league's better 3Cs.

5) Devon Levi is the real deal and will make all this goalie angst about as moot as the backup position on Tampa.

The Sabres won't be good because:

1) There is no way the forward corps will be as healthy as it was last year and the team relies far too much on their top line to survive an extended injury to any of them.

2) Eric Johnson is not an NHL regular any more and Conor Clifton will elevate to his increased responsibilities about as well as Colin Miller did when we got him from Vegas.

3) Dylan Cozens won't take the step most expect him to.

4) Jack Quinn's absence removes the most obvious candidate for internal growth up front and no one will be acquired or step up to fill that hole.

5) The coaching staff will fail in an effort to make the team more accountable defensively

Good #3 feels like the longest shot in the list. Did we get any signs of this last year? I feel like no we did not.  Hopefully Granato can do his thing.

Bad #2 re: Clifton is 100% what I am nervous about.
Bad #4 is another. There's talent available to fill in, but experience is missing and Quinn was looking so ripe.

[bob_sauve28]

2 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

 

4. Peterka will have a breakout year.

 

Yes! I think he is ready to be a force of nature at on the ice. 

 

[PerreaultForever]

43 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Yes! I think he is ready to be a force of nature at on the ice. 

 

I'd like him to turn into Brad Marchand. He won't.

If he turns into a consistent 20 goal scorer who also irritates opponents a little I will be pretty happy. 

My feeling is this year he will feel more confident and comfortable and will assert his will in situations and not just be reacting to them as he tended to do last year.