The Sabres will make the playoffs this season if ___________

[#freejame]

There’s been a bunch of posts lately with some really high player predictions. Every time I see one, my first thought is “if that happens, we will probably make the playoffs.” 

So here’s a thread to give your what if. I’ll start:

The Sabres will make the playoffs if we win at least 6 of our first 10 games, with one of those wins being our home opener.

[Ctaeth]

If Tage returns to form

[mjd1001]

19 minutes ago, Ctaeth said:

If Tage returns to form

Biggest thing, yes 

-Tage gets back close to 45-50 goals.....likely imo.

-UPL plays like he did at the end of last season...IMO likely.

-Defense takes another slight step up ..imo likely.

-besides Tage, the get 3-4 other 20-25 goal scorers ...imo iffy.

-they have some luck with several other Eastern Conference teams having injury issues or starting to show age...imo Iffy.

[Carmel Corn]

Matt Ellis is not coaching the powerplay  😁

Edited July 14 by Carmel Corn

[Wyldnwoody44]

Hell freezes over 

[inkman]

They get enough points to qualify 

[Huckleberry]

we trade UPL and rosen for askarov.

[SABRES 0311]

We all think happy thoughts and never complain about a player’s performance.

[PerreaultForever]

If everything goes right for them and everything goes wrong for four of Florida, Toronto, Boston, Tampa. Detroit, Ottawa, New Jersey, Carolina, New York, Washington and the Islanders. 

We should be fine with everybody else.

Detroit, Washington and Ottawa could obviously all fall behind us if things go well but we need one more of them to have a really bad year.

Possible, not probable. 

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

If everything goes right for them and everything goes wrong for four of Florida, Toronto, Boston, Tampa. Detroit, Ottawa, New Jersey, Carolina, New York, Washington and the Islanders. 

We should be fine with everybody else.

Detroit, Washington and Ottawa could obviously all fall behind us if things go well but we need one more of them to have a really bad year.

Possible, not probable. 

The Aisles & the Pens (whom you already seem to have discounted) would be the seemingly obvious teams to also take a step back.

It's in reach.  They need to be more driven though than they were last year.  Doubt Ruff would sit idly by as the PP goes to heck in a handbasket for roughly 95% of the season, so they will be more driven to win.  Hopefully those that are here when they leave for the trip to Europe are seriously serious about it this year.

[OverPowerYou]

They will make the playoffs because Lindy will put someone in front of the net when we shoot. 

[WhenWillItEnd66]

Armageddon happens and there are only 16 teams left....

[Crusader1969]

Cozens and Tage being in good form for the entire season, UPL not regressing and the PP becoming average 

[JoeSchmoe]

1. No major injuries.

2. Thompson, Cozens, and Tuch play in 22-23 form.

3. Nobody else regresses, especially UPL.

4. MacLeod and Zucker come close to replacing Mitts and Skinner.

5. Ruff improves the power play.

Most likely not all that happens and they're a mid to high 80 pt team.

[thewookie1]

Injuries are limited

Thompson and Cozens return to form

Tuch keeps doing his thing but has more goals again

Quinn and Peterka continue their steady improvements and Quinn stays healthy

The new bottom 6 brings a more balanced and nuanced attack

The PP is average

UPL continues to play like a solid to good starter and Levi/Reimer are solid backups

 

We don't need a miracle, but we do need some luck

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

The Aisles & the Pens (whom you already seem to have discounted) would be the seemingly obvious teams to also take a step back.

It's in reach.  They need to be more driven though than they were last year.  Doubt Ruff would sit idly by as the PP goes to heck in a handbasket for roughly 95% of the season, so they will be more driven to win.  Hopefully those that are here when they leave for the trip to Europe are seriously serious about it this year.

Ya I already have us ahead of the Pens but the Isles are tricky. Every year they just plug along and win more games than they should and somehow stay in it. Could happen again. They are logically one of the ones more likely to drop off or even fall apart. The point is only that there are a lot of teams ahead of us and most of them got better this off season. Even Ottawa, if Ullmark plays Vezina hockey they could be the surprise team not us. Now he could just as easily look like Korpisalo (and Korpisalo will play good in Boston) and then everybody will say it's the Boston D not the goalies but that's hard to say. Ullmark will be in a contract year so he should be motivated. It will not be easy. 

[Stads]

They accumulate enough points to be in 8th place or better

[OrangeSeatVertigo]

...the goaltending is top 5 in the league.   this team won't score many goals now that the offense has been reigned in , so get ready for boring 3-2 hockey games.  would rather go back to playing wide open now that the goaltending is better, but I am doubtful that a Lindy team will be allowed to do that

[RochesterExpat]

9 hours ago, WhenWillItEnd66 said:

Armageddon happens

The most Buffalo thing would be to finally make the playoffs, Armageddon happens before the first game is played, and the playoffs are cancelled.

[DarthEbriate]

11 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

Cozens and Tage being in good form for the entire season, UPL not regressing and the PP becoming average 

This was my thought as well.

I'll go extra specific:

1. Dahlin and Quinn both play 70+ games

2. The Sabres PP% is 21.5 or better  (NSH was 16th with 21.66% last year; BUF was 16.59!)

3. Cozens and TNT combine for 65+ goals (they had 57 last season; 78 two years ago)

4. Luukkonen has a save% of .912+ (better team defense and UPL becoming more consistent with experience; .910 last season)

Edited July 14 by DarthEbriate

[GoPuckYourself]

In no particular order:

* Tage returns to form

* UPL stays the same as he was at mid/late season last year or better

* Coaching is as good as advertised

* Powerplay improves (Can it get much worse?)

I think the roster is improved in the bottom 6, pretty similar in the top 6 as I'm adding Zucker in the top 6 to replace Skinners points which is probably a bit of a downgrade to Skinner but the hope is Ruff can get the best out of the rest of the guys. I'm not sure why when the powerplay was non existent Don Granato didn't fire Ellis and bring in a better coach. It's scary to me that we have the same assistant coaches as last year, did we bring in anyone new?

[DarthEbriate]

2 hours ago, OrangeSeatVertigo said:

...the goaltending is top 5 in the league.   this team won't score many goals now that the offense has been reigned in , so get ready for boring 3-2 hockey games.  would rather go back to playing wide open now that the goaltending is better, but I am doubtful that a Lindy team will be allowed to do that

Yes. Give me the top goaltending and dangerously solid team defense. A 3-2 win is an exciting hockey game.

The most exciting hockey I've seen was the dead-puck era Hasek Sabres. Chaos in their own end, Hasek makes one amazing save and it's a rush goal going the other way. Plus the hits, dust-ups, and speed that makes hockey fun. The constant tension was the race to 2 goals.

In 98-99, the Sabres would have gotten the win or gone to OT by scoring just two goals in 57 of 82 games.

To compare, the Bruins would have gotten the win or OT with two goals in 52 of 82 games in 2022-23 (65 wins). I'll bet that regular season was pretty exciting for Bruins fans.

[French Collection]

Many reasons that others have pointed out already.

Also, grind out loser points. They matter. Islanders had 16, Boston 15 and Washington 11 last year. Buffalo 6.

[triumph_communes]

If we rehire Ruff and break the curse

[Pimlach]

Make the playoffs?

 

First ingredient is goaltending.  They need UPL to be real and they need reliable play from the backup (Levi/Reimer). 

Next, the Core has to be the Core.  Tage, Tuch, Dahlin and Cozens must perform and lead. 

Next, they need continued growth from Quinn, JJP, Benson and especially Power and Byram 

Next, they need the upgraded bottom 6 to actually do what Lindy envisions (shut down line, better at faceoffs, tougher to play against).  
 

I think they will challenge for a wild card once again. I sure hope they get a good start and are in position by Thanksgiving.