Buffalo Sabres: Navigating Changes and Challenges for a Promising Season
After underachieving last season, the Buffalo Sabres are preparing for a pivotal year. New faces are coming in and important problems are being targeted which makes the team hopeful to fix their offensive decline and end their 13-year Stanley Cup Playoff drought. As one of the best live betting sites readies for NHL action, let’s look at three big questions surrounding the Sabres.
Are the Changes Enough?
After a disappointing season, the Sabres have overhauled their roster in an attempt to create accountability and structure. Lindy Ruff, the team’s new head coach and known for his discipline, is expected to provide much-needed stability to the team. General manager Kevyn Adams acted decisively by changing the bottom six in order to add depth and speed
Acquired center Ryan McLeod from the Edmonton Oilers is anticipated as being slotted into third line center position. His lightning quickness combined with ability of stabilizing depth throughout middle positions give him great value as well as on penalty kill units. Beck Malenstyn who came over from Washington Capitals along with free agents Sam Lafferty, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Jason Zucker bring much needed pace but more importantly physicality while forechecking hard which was missing last year.
Now that these moves have been made strategic throughout Buffalo’s lineup it may now be harder for other teams when playing against them; however whether or not this will actually make any difference enough to put them back into playoffs remains yet to be seen.
Can the Offense Bounce Back?
The Buffalo Sabres dipped from a third-place finish the season before, which saw them score 293 goals (3.57 per game) to 23rd in the NHL last season with just 244 goals scored (2.98 per game). Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch and Dylan Cozens all had lower point totals than they did during their respective breakout years while Jeff Skinner’s buyout left a hole for 24 goals.
Another area of concern was their power play, ranked 29th in efficiency at 16.6 percent and dead last in power-play goals scored with only 37 tallies. With that in mind, Seth Appert has been promoted to assistant coach for the purpose of fixing it after leading some of the most efficient units during his time as head coach of Rochester.
General manager Adams is banking on a rebound season from Thompson, Tuch and Cozens along with continued development from young forwards JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn who each flashed upside last year — Peterka netting 28 goals during his first full campaign while Quinn showed promise despite an injury-shortened sophomore effort.
Can Mattias Samuelsson and Jack Quinn Stay Healthy?
Last season, Sabres were affected by injuries, especially defenseman Mattias Samuelsson and forward Jack Quinn. However, Samuelsson’s absence due to upper-body injury was a big hit since it left Rasmus Dahlin with no partner in the top pairing on defense. This made things difficult for the team because Dahlin and Owen Power had to shoulder more responsibility than they should have.
Similarly, there have been issues with Quinn’s health as well. After having a great rookie year, Achilles tendonitis sustained while training during the offseason kept him out for the first 32 games of this past season. When he came back from that injury, lower body surgery was needed after sustaining another month long injury which made him miss two months again . Yet despite these setbacks , Quins managed to get 19 points (9 goals , 10 assists) in just 27 appearances which is impressive
It is important that both players stay fit if Buffalo are going to be successful this year . They not only help stabilize defensively but also offensively among other things including taking further steps towards becoming an elite player himself like they did last year when we saw them play together regularly without any interruptions whatsoever between games played by each individual member involved within our organization itself!
Final Thoughts
The changes to the Buffalo Sabres lineup and coaching staff ahead of this season are a response to past failures. But are they enough? Will the offense be able to recover? And can players like Mattias Samuelsson and Jack Quinn stay healthy? These will all be determining factors in whether or not the Buffalo Sabres end their long playoff drought. For those who use sports free prediction, keep your eye on them as they try to have a successful season.
