Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill gave his inconsistent, middling team a shot in the arm when he traded for a skill-forward in Dominik Kahun. The 24 yr. old Kahun is on his third team after being signed by the Chicago Blackhawks, who then traded him to the Pittsburgh Penguins last June. Kahun was then traded tot he Sabres at the 2020 trade deadline this past Monday.
Although Kahun played center in Germany he has been on the wing in the NHL and it raises the question of can he play center in the best hockey league in the world? Sabres bench boss Ralph Krueger hasn't ruled it out, but for now Kahun will be riding shotgun somewhere in the middle-six of the lineup.
For now, Botterill didn't land the No. 2 center he's been looking for since trading away Ryan O'Reilly in 2018 and the parade of players churning through a second line pivot role continues. From Patrik Berglund to Casey Mittelstadt to Marcus Johansson, to names like Johan Larsson and Curtis Lazar getting cracks in that spot, the Sabres have tried many different things in that spot, but there's still a hole. Sam Reinhart, the second-overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, was drafted as a center and was tried at center on numerous occasions and the conclusion is that he's a much better winger than center even though he'd probably be a better choice there than anyone the Sabres have tried.
Such is the conundrum for the Buffalo Sabres when it comes to that No. 2 center spot in particular which affects the middle-six in general and is the main reason why that group of forwards has underachieved in a detrimental way.
For the last two seasons, the Sabres have had a productive top line, centered by Eichel, and a stalwart fourth line that has played so well this year, their ice-time falls in middle-six category. The bottom-six trio of Johan Larsson centering Zemgus Girgensons and Kyle Okposo has been Buffalo's most consistent line under two coaches and one that's invariably counted on to do their job. Last year under Phil Housley, that trio was placed in more of a defensive role mainly to flip the ice, which they did extremely well. Under Ralph Krueger this season they still have that role, however he's put them out there in more offensive and neutral zone situations and they've responded with offensive production.
For example, last season Girgensons led the team with 83.68% d-zone starts and Larsson was second at 83.38%. This year there's a huge difference as Larsson is at 59.45% while Girgensons is at 56.71%. It's good player management on the part of Krueger as he's given them opportunities to produce offensively, which is something every hockey player wants to do. With 12 goals in 63 games on the season, Girgensons is on pace to match or exceed his career-high of 15 goals during the 2014-15 tank season (of note, he scored those 15 goals in 61 games that year.) With 17 points in 56 games, Larsson has already tied his career high.
Buffalo's top line is always producing, in large part because of Jack Eichel, who already shattered his previous high with 35 goals this year and is on pace for 100 points which would best his prefious high by 18 points. On his right is Reinhart, who looks like he'll set a career high in points for the fourth consecutive season. On the left is rookie Victor Olofsson who may have been in the Calder Trophy conversation had he not missed 15 games this year due to injury. Olofsson and his 19 goals/40 points replaced Jeff Skinner and the 40 goals he produced on Eichel's line last year.
Skinner's production has plummeted this year to 12 goals, the same number as Girgensons, and he also suffered through a 22-game goal-drought. Those struggles have hampered the middle six featuring Johansson and Jimmy Vesey, who were brought in this season to help with secondary scoring. They have seven and nine goals, respectively. Conor Sheary was brought in two years ago for secondary scoring and he was traded at the deadline after scoring nine goals for Buffalo this season.
Secondary scoring hasn't materialized much this season and a big part of the problem is due to the void down the middle where no one has been able to fill that No. 2 center role.
Having said that, Botterill did add talent to the team in terms of Kahun, and to an extent Wayne Simmonds (or at least veteran leadership in his case,) and it means an inefficient Michael Frolik will probably head to the press box for tonight's game against the Golden Knights in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Yesterday's practice had the Eichel and Larsson lines intact, as they should be, with Krueger moving some players around in the middle-six. Here's how it looked:
Skinner - Curtis Lazar - Simmonds
Kahun - Johansson - Vesey
Since Krueger doesn't label lines (although the Eichel line no-doubt is Buffalo's top line,) we're not sure how ice-time will unfold. Krueger usually starts either the Eichel or Larsson line, followed by the other with the rest getting their ice-time based upon how they're playing. That said, it's hockey and the differences between systems isn't all that great. Chemistry is the really the determining factor and will dictate what happens tonight and moving forward.
The structure of the Johansson line is intriguing as Krueger put together a trio of familiar styles. Earlier in the season Buffalo's second most successful one had Johansson centering a skilled Skinner on left wing and a hard-skating plugger in Vladimir Sobotka on the right side. It worked for a while as Johansson and Skinner weaved their way to a combined 11 goals and 19 points through October while Sobotka shouldered much of the defensive responsibilities. Although Vesey isn't in that league defensively, he can work the boards and create open ice in the o-zone while also having enough speed to get back defensively.
In Kahun you have someone who's more of a playmaker but can still pot goals, albeit not with the sniping ability of Skinner.
For Skinner, he has yet another center to play along side. Lazar is a former first-round pick (17th-overall) who scored 169 points in 199 WHL game. Unfortunately for him, that skill-level hasn't transferred to the NHL. Lazar was a reclamation project for Buffalo after scoring only 15 goals and 51 points in 246 NHL games prior to joining the Sabres. He's been having a pretty good year for a reserve forward with 10 points (5+5) in 32 games for Buffalo so this is a prime opportunity for him.
Then again, it's all about chemistry and production for these middle-six players and it's a part of the lineup the Sabres haven't gotten a lot of production from over the past two seasons.
Buffalo is playing better team hockey and looked like a high-quality team in their loss a Colorado Avalanche team that looks primed to make a deep playoff run. Looking the part is one thing, finishing opportunities and taking the next step is an entirely different ball game. But that's what these final games are all about and it's why Botterill went out and got Kahun and Simmonds. If things work out, they could really help out the forward group in desperate need of help.
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