The Will Butcher watch begins at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow.

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-15-2017


We interupt this series on the past season to make a note on the present. Denver Pioneers defenseman Will Butcher, who was drafted by the Coloroado Avalanche in 2013 (123rd-overall,) is set to become a free agent at 12:01 a.m. if the Avalanche can't sign him, which has about a 99.9% chance of happening right now.

The 5'10 190 lb. right-handed shot from Sun Prarie, WI just finished his senior season on the NCAA National Men's Champion Denver Pioneers, and according to his Denver bio finished his senior season second in the nation in scoring by a defenseman (43 games-7g, 30a) and tied for third in plus/minus (+27.) In four seasons at Denver Butcher played 158 games had 103 points (28+75) and finished +49.

Butcher is set to hit free agency and the Buffalo Sabres are amongst many teams interested in signing him.

 

Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News, wrote today that the Detroit Red Wings are interested in the 2017 Hobey Baker winner as are "two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh, Chicago and Minnesota (both close to home for the Wisconsin native) [while] Buffalo, Toronto and New Jersey have been linked to Butcher, and in most cases, can offer immediate playing time."

 

That's a pretty tough list of teams for the Sabres to go up against for Butcher's services, and as for the "immediate playing time" portion of that quote, unless Buffalo moves a d-man like Zach Bogosian or Josh Gorges, Butcher will be in Rochester getting acclimated to the pro game. At least to start the season. In addition to those two d-men, as of now the Sabres have d-anchor Rasmus Ristolainen, two acquisitions in Nathan Beaulieu and Marco Scandella as well as free agent Russian signee Victor Antipin plus Jake McCabe. Justin Falk was a Grade-A call-up from Rochester last season and Taylor Fedun, who recently signed a two-year extension with the club, did yeoman's work in his 27 games as a call-up last season.

 

New Sabres GM Jason Botterill and new head coach Phil Housley have their work cut out for recruiting Butcher. They're up against two powerhouses in Pittsburgh and Chicago, a steady Minnesota Wild club and a fast-riser in the Toronto Maple Leafs coached by one of the best in the business. New Jersey shouldn't be dismissed either as they're being built by Penguins' Stanley Cup architect, Ray Shero, and just drafted a No. 1 center in Nico Hishier.

 

The Sabres shouldn't be taken lightly either. They have a core group that includes a franchise center in Jack Eichel, a top two-way center in Ryan O'Reilly and they just hired a coach in Housley that coached the most feared defense in last year's Stanley Cup playoffs. Botterill himself is no slouch as he was a part of helping to build Pittsburgh's  2009, 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup champion teams.

 

Butcher was a fifth round pick in 2013 due to his smaller size for a defenseman, although he proved throughout his college career that he can handle bigger bodies in the defensive zone. He's never been afraid to lay the body on anyone and because of his strength, balance and the way he leverages his body, Butcher is extremely effective.

 

In addition to his strong two-way game he also has those intangibles like leadership which aren't so much a primary selling point as they are an augment to his hockey abilities.

 

Word is that he and his agent have said that they're looking for "the best organizational fit," according to Ryan Lambert of The Hockey News, which would include seasoning in the AHL, if necessary. Lambert calls Butcher "an NHL'er" and "the only reason teams shouldn’t be interested in a 22-year-old with a great pedigree is if they’re pushing up against the 50-contract limit."

 

The Sabres are presently at 43 contracts according to CapFriendly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A look back at the 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres season--February

Published by hockeybuzz.com 8-14-2017


Former Sabres GM Tim Murray was a great listen during interviews because he was colorful, yet clean, and was pretty much a straight-shooter. His attitude basically said, "here you go, this is how I see it." He also guided the Sabres through two tank seasons in a scorched-earth rebuild with the 2015 Arizona/Buffalo race to the bottom in the "McEichel Sweepstakes" reaching embarrassing lows for both the organization and the NHL.

It's something that the league probably didn't look too kindly upon as their image was taking a hit, but it was his job and he was going to do it. After all, who said it was going to be all "rainbows, unicorns and jujus."

Was there retribution for the Murray and the Sabres because of all that transpired in 2015? Maybe, but if there was, it wasn't anything that could be traceable. Buffalo did miss out on the first-overall pick two years running after finishing in last place in the league but that was more than likely a severe case of Buffaluck as opposed to rigged Ping-Pong balls.

However, one thing the league could do is make the Sabres' lives a little more difficult by placing them last on the list when it came to scheduling priorities. In 2015-16 amongst the things they piled on Buffalo was the new Sabres with a new coach having to play the defending Eastern Conference Champion Tampa Bay Lightning four times in a 30-day span at the beginning of the season. Last year the Sabres had a league leading 19 sets of back-to-back games (tied with Columbus) but they included three in January (all within a 10-day span,) four in the short month of February and five in March.

An overall condensed NHL schedule in 2016-17 was a necessary evil for all teams because the regular season started a week late due to the inaugural World Cup of Hockey. If that wasn't enough, the league's schedule maker really laid the hammer down on the Sabres as they also put Buffalo's mandated five-day bye week in February meaning that an already condensed schedule would be compacted even further for them.

Prior to Buffalo's mandated five-day break (February 20-24) the Sabres packed in 11 games in 19 days including two back-to-back sets as part of five games in seven nights stint. Their final game before the break was at home against the Chicago Blackhawks which, of course, was the second game of a back-to-back. They had just finished playing 10 games in 18 days including three of their back-to-back sets and looked every bit the part of a team playing a ton of hockey in a short amount of time. They got steamrolled 5-1 by Chicago. Despite those scheduling difficulties, the Sabres got themselves on a little roll by going 6-3-1 before their bye week and it looked as if the playoffs were still a possibility.

Coming out of their bye week the Sabres were looking at a golden opportunity to grab four important points as they would play two bottom-dwelling teams--the Colorado Avalanche and the Arizona Coyotes--albeit with both games on the road.

Any thoughts of a possible playoff push vanished when the Sabres dropped both games. In Colorado, a defense slowly returning to health ultimately showed glaring weaknesses as Buffalo lost 5-3. Even with the loss the Sabers headed to Arizona still within seven points of the third place Toronto Maple Leafs in the division and five points behind the Boston Bruins who were in the second wild card spot.

In Arizona (to no Sabres' fan's surprise) Buffalo had a 2-0 lead in the third period before allowing three unanswered goals  and ended up on the wrong side of a 3-2 score. With back-to-back losses to the two worst teams in the league, the season was done for all intents and purposes and with the trade deadline but a few days away the "For Sale" sign went up .

The trend for head coach Dan Bylsma and his Sabres team was folding when it mattered most. It became predominant in December and really came to light as they dropped both games of a home-and-home with the Boston Bruins when they could've really closed the gap against the Atlantic Division's third place team. But even before that they lost ground to Carolina, Tampa Bay, Florida and Toronto either in the division or conference as they went a combined 1-4-2 versus those teams from mid-December through February and their record against those four teams plus Boston in that span was 2-8-2.

The Sabres finished a very busy month of February with an overtime loss at home against the Nashville Predators. They compiled a 6-6-2 record for the month which wasn't close to what they needed to be in the playoff chase. They were 0-3-1 headed into the NHL's Trade Deadline and the playoffs were a miracle away with the only question now being, "Who's on their way out?"


For their January team stats, click here, individual stats click here.

A look back at the 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres season--January

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-13-2017


Despite a dismal end to a once promising month of December for the Buffalo Sabres, there was still half a season of hockey to be played and although they were far behind a playoff spot in the division, the fat lady wouldn't be singing for quite some time. Especially in a division with as much parity as the Atlantic.

The Sabres began January, 2017 against the NY Rangers and once again came out on top which was the beginning of a four-game point streak (3-0-1.) They proceeded to drop three of the next four before going on three-game winning streak in dramatic fashion. In three consecutive games they came from behind to beat Detroit, Montreal and Nashville in overtime which included a heavyweight goaltending duel between Buffalo's Robin Lehner and Montreal's Carey Price with Lehner making a phenomenal save in OT and much maligned defenseman Zach Bogosian clanking in a blistering slapshot off the post past Price on the next sequence.



(thx, Sportsnet)

The Sabres seemed to be on a serious role and it looked as if they were on their way to a fourth consecutive overtime game in Dallas until some weird things began to happen.

What wasn't weird at the time for the Sabres was going into prevent defense with at two-goal lead even if it was early as the first period like in Dallas against the Stars. Or maybe for those of us in Sabreland it was a strange way of approaching the game while being two goals up, especially knowing the firepower Buffalo had when healthy. But for coach Dan Bylsma locking it down seemed to be his preferred method of coaching in those situations. It's what the Sabres did at home against Boston at the end of December and against Toronto earlier in the month of January.

They did the same thing against the Stars as well and just like the other two games, they proceeded to allow four unanswered goals. The Sabres ended up losing to the Bruins and Leafs and eventually lost to the Stars 4-3, but not before controversy kept them from tying the score. With the Stars up 4-3 Buffalo amped things up in the third period eventually outshooting Dallas by a 16-2 margin. Unfortunately they were unable to get the game-tying goal. Or did they?

Twice in the third period the Sabres thought they tied the game. On this one, with 8:53 left in the third period, Sam Reinhart wheeled in the slot and sent a backhand to the net that Kari Lehtonen stopped, although it looked as if he did so from behind the goal line. Jack Eichel was behind the net pointing to the puck over the goal line but an out of position, and slow to the scene, referee in Justin St. Pierre did not see it, and it was called a no-goal.

Here's the video thanks to Sportsnet:

“The puck was in the net,” Eichel said to the gathered media post game. “I mean, usually the puck goes in the net it’s a goal. It’s kind of weird how that didn’t happen.

“The ref sees it in the net. I saw it go in the net as well. Then on the last one, that one might even be more conclusive. The puck clearly crosses the red. That’s two goals along with a lot of other things that happened during the game. It’s tough to put the outcome of something into the referees’ hands, but once again I think we get the short end of the stick there."

When all was said and done, despite Lehtonen kicking a puck that was six inches over the goal line from out of the net, the evidence was inconclusive and the score remained 4-3 which is how the game ended and how they went into the All-Star break.

After a four day All-Star hiatus, where Kyle Okposo skated in the All-Star Game, the Sabres got back on the ice presumably refreshed and on a high from the four games prior to the break, despite the no-goal calls in Dallas. They proceeded to get mauled by the Montreal Canadiens 5-2.

It was an ugly finish to the month for Buffalo as the Canadiens made them look silly, yet the team still managed to finish with it's best month of the season as they went 7-5-1. Evander Kane was the star of the month as he lead the team with six goals and 11 points while upping is even-strength goal total to 13 on the year. Kane played on a line with center Zemgus Girgensons and right wing Brian Gionta and the trio contributed 14 goals and 13 assists with a cumulative plus-9 rating.

At the end of January the Sabres were nine points out of third place in the division and seven points out of the second wild card spot in the east.


For their January team stats, click here, and for individual stats click here.

A look back at the 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres season--December

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-12-2017


December was a tale of two halves although one thing continued to dog the Sabres--injuries. Unlike the prior two months where injuries were taking a toll on the forwards, they were dropping like flies on defense. Josh Gorges took a shot that broke his foot and kept him out weeks while Taylor Fedun, who joined Justin Falk as call-ups to replace the injured Dmitry Kulikov and Zach Bogosian, went down with a shoulder injury.

Buffalo tapped junior defenseman Brendan Guhle, playing in his first NHL game, to replace Gorges while Fedun was replaced by another Rochester call-up in Eric Burgdoerfer, who also played in his first ever NHL game. It was strangely reminiscent of the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals where a rash of injuries devastated the defense corps. Burgdoerfer's first game was against the Washington Capitals and this was the defense:

Rasmus Ristolainen-Jake McCabe
Cody Franson-Brendan Guhle
Justin Falk-Eric Burgdoerfer

They lost 3-2 in overtime at Washington.

That same group would be together again as the Sabres hosted Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. Buffalo would defeat the Oilers for the second time with Evander Kane's two goals powering the Sabres and Ristolainen scoring "the loudest goal in Buffalo this year," according to legendary announcer Rick Jeanneret, in overtime.

Despite the injury problems to start the month, the Sabres still got off to a good start as they played six of seven inside the friendly confines of the KeyBank Center and went 4-2-1 during that stretch. They started out December by beating a high-powered NY Rangers team (with their league-leading 3.67 g/gm.) by a score of 4-3. Despite a loss in the next game against Boston for the second time this season, the Sabres would get points in seven of the first nine games of December (4-2-3.) It was a stretch that pulled them to within five points of the third place in the division.

Amongst the wins for the Sabres was a high-flying game at home against the Los Angeles Kings. Buffalo was looking to get back into the win column after another loss vs. Washington and they found themselves down 2-0 at the 7:34 mark of the second period. However, the Sabres would find their legs in a big way as they rocked the Kings for four unanswered goals in 6:15 span of the second period and finished with a 6-3 win. It was another exciting game for the fans to watch and yet another game where Eichel (2g, 1a) and O'Reilly (1g) ignited the team.

Yet, despite the success vs. Ottawa the previous month and vs. LA, the team couldn't find it's soul and the bottom began to fall out. After the Kings game they dropped two in the shootout, two in regulation then beat Detroit to stop the bleeding. Yet however dismal this last stretch was, redemption was there as they'd be playing the Bruins in a home-and-home to finish out the 2016 portion of the schedule and were still only six points behind them of the third spot in the division. “They’re within earshot,” Bylsma said at the time. “You have a chance of sweeping these two games and gaining four points on them, putting yourself right near them.”

But, it was the Bruins that did all the sweeping.

The Sabres tried to sit on an early 2-0 lead in the first game and got beat 4-2 at home then didn't show up in Boston as the Bruins beat them 3-1. From a possible two points behind Boston to 10 points back. Eichel had his disgust on display after the second game. "After a 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins in TD Garden that wasn't nearly as close as the score might say, a red-faced Eichel went berserk," wrote Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News from Boston. "He fired some pieces of equipment into his duffel bag, pounded others on his locker seat and drove the bag hard into the rubberized floor at one point.

"There were also some choice four-letter words spliced into the outburst of Eichel, who stormed out of the room without speaking to reporters."

Perhaps subconsciously he knew the inevitable, that after blowing this golden opportunity they'd probably miss the playoffs again.

To keep with the injury theme that haunted the Sabres for the first three months of the season, O'Reilly underwent an emergency appendectomy on Christmas Eve and was out until January and third-line center Johan Larsson was lost for the year after crashing into the boards in Boston.

In all the Sabres finished the month with the same 5-6-3 record they had in November.


For their December team stats, click here, individual stats click here.

A look back at the 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres season--November

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-11-2017


Buffalo started November well enough with a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild for their third win in a row but the injuries continued to mount as Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian went down with a knee injury in a 2-1 home loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. A 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators would give the Sabres wins in four of their last five games  pushing their overall record to 5-4-2 and into a spot just two points out of third place in the division.

Then it hit.

The Sabres would go on to lose to the Boston Bruins which began a six-game winless streak (0-4-2.) By mid-November they dropped to the bottom of the conference and had an injured list that now included Dmitry Kulikov, who was placed on IR to help his back heal, and Ryan O'Reilly. Entering a November 19 game against Pittsburgh the Sabres were without their top two centers in Jack Eichel and O'Reilly, two of their top four defensemen (Bogosian and Kulikov) and were also missing top-nine forward Tyler Ennis.

The lineup for that game looked like this:

Evander Kane-Johan Larsson-Kyle Okposo
Marcus Foligno-Sam Reinhart-Brian Gionta
Zemgus Girgensons-Cal O'Reilly-Matt Moulson
William Carrier-Derek Grant-Cole Schneider

Josh Gorges-Rasmus Ristolainen
Jake McCabe-Cody Franson
Justin Falk-Taylor Fedun

Anders Nilsson got the start against the Pens and backstopped the Sabres, who were featuring five AHL recalls, to an odds-defying 2-1 shootout victory that included 46 saves in regulation/overtime while stopping Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang in the shootout. They went on to go 1-1-1 in their next three games and had a 4-6-3 record before the return of Eichel on November 29.

The Sabres won with defense as it was a brutal month for the Sabres in the goal-scoring department. Prior to Eichel's return they scored two or less goals in 13 of the 14 games played while averaging 1.63 goals/game. It was dismal hockey to watch and how they managed to win five games during that stretch was a minor miracle.

Despite all that transpired in November, Buffalo would finish the month on a strong note as Eichel returned and helped lead the team to an exciting, fun-filled 5-4 win at Ottawa. He had a goal and added an assist in his first game of the season and O'Reilly contributed two goals and an assist in his third game back from a stint on IR. Yet, however fun this was for the players and fans, it was a game that might represent the basis for a disconnect between coach and players, one that seemed to plague them for the rest of the season.

Sabres coach Dan Bylsma acknowledged the obvious saying that the return of Eichel brought "a different level of execution" and "a different level of speed" to his team. Bylsma watched as they flew up and down the ice drawing five minor penalties and scoring three powerplay goals on the night. Yet, despite the positives which included abundant fan excitement and his team scoring five goals (while admittedly giving up four,) Bylsma wasn't really thrilled with the overall play of his team. "It was a little bit of a haphazard game and those aren't easy on the heart," he said postgame. "It's not the way we want to play the game."

Buffalo finished 5-6-3 in the month of November with their scoring for the season at a paltry 1.95 g/gm, which was just barely above their 1.87 g/gm during the 2015-16 tank season.  Yet, as they looked ahead towards December with Eichel back in the lineup and the team seemingly on the mend, at least up front, Sabres fans had a lot to look forward to

For their November team stats, click here, and for individual stats click here.

A look back at the 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres season--October

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-10-2017


The Sabres had a very difficult 2016-17 season which ultimately lead to the firing of their general manager and head coach. The reasons for Buffalo's difficulties last season are multiple with various factions staking their claim as to why the Sabres finished with less points than the prior season. Was it the personnel? Injuries? Defense?

Here's a look back at the season that was 2016-17 for the Buffalo Sabres.


October

The Sabres had some injury problems heading into the 2016-17 season. It began with lesser known one as forward Ryan O'Reilly developed back spasms. O'Reilly played for gold medal winning Team Canada in the tournament and during his first preseason game for Buffalo was pulled for "precautionary reasons." Then defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who was acquired earlier in the summer, was checked into an open bench door and smashed his tailbone. It was an injury that would bother him throughout the season.

The injuries continued with big one hitting Jack Eichel on the eve of Buffalo's season opener. On the final day of practice before the Sabres were to face Montreal, Eichel got tangled up with Zemgus Girgensons at practice and suffered a high ankle sprain. Eichel's agony reverberated throughout Sabreland as he would be lost for the first 21 games of the season and any hopes of jumping out of the gate quickly towards possible playoff contention vanished in the screaming echoes of KeyBank Center.

If that wasn't enough, the hits just kept coming on the injury parade as winger Evander Kane went down in the opener vs. the Canadiens. Kane was charging hard into the Montreal zone with only 13 seconds left in the second period when he was checked and lost his balance before crashing hard into the boards and cracking four ribs in the process.





(Thx, All Things Buffalo Sabres)

And for good measure, starting goalie Robin Lehner was sidelined because of an illness. The Sabres had just completed their Western Canada swing and Lehner would miss the next three games.

All-in-all Buffalo didn't fare too badly as they went 3-3-2 for the month and had they not blown a three-goal third period lead at Philadelphia it would have been a notch better. They lost the opener to Montreal and started out by going 1-3-2 through the first six games. However they would turn it around with two very convincing wins at home vs. Florida and at Winnipeg by a combined 6-1 score.

Kyle Okposo and Matt Moulson lead the team with four goals apiece with Moulson's all coming on the powerplay and despite the injuries the team got off to a better start then they did the previous season when Buffalo was 2-6 in their first eight games.

For their October team stats, click here and for individual stats click here.

If Reinhart was moved to center--a look at the potential top-nine for Buffalo

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-6-2017


The idea has been bantered about here for a little while--moving Sam Reinhart back to his natural center position. That move would inevitably have the former second-overall pick using his hockey IQ and set-up skills in a third line role. Although Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com and Sabres.com thinks it's a better idea not to label lines anymore. In a tweet touting the Reinhart move to center, Baker hearkens back to the 2005-07 Buffalo Sabres when he mentions the line of Daniel Briere centering Jochen Hecht and Ales Kotalik.

 

"Aiming for balance," wrote Baker in his tweet. "Matchups. Opponent picks their poison. I look at HBK as a "third" unit. No more #ing lines. Top line is who's going best."

 

It's certainly a "modern" way to look at the four-lines concept, but back in that day the Sabres did have themselves a helluva third line in that center Derek Roy was third on the depth chart behind Briere and Chris Drury. On one wing was Thomas Vanek and on the other was Maxim Afinogenov.

 

Regardless of how you want to categorize the lineup, one thing the Sabres do have today is strength down the middle much like they did when they went to consecutive Eastern Conference Finals those two seasons. With Jack Eichel and Ryan O'Reilly occupying the top two center roles, perhaps Reinhart could be a Roy-like player to play the third center position.

 

What Phil Housley does on the wings with Reinhart moving out of the top-six is another matter.

 

Last year the duo of O'Reilly and right wing Kyle Okposo was formidable regardless of who their left-winger was and that included the likes of Matt Moulson for a good stretch early in the season. Players from William Carrier and Cole Schneider to Tyler Ennis and Marcus Foligno, as well as Evander Kane, also made appearances on that line and despite the lineup turmoil and the injuries O'Reilly finished with 55 points (20+35) in 71 games while Okposo had 45 (19+26) in 65 games.

 

When Drury and JP Dumont were kickin' it in a two-way role for Buffalo the other winger for much of the time was Mike Grier who wasn't exactly a point producer (383 points in 1060 career NHL games,) but they clicked, which was huge for the forward group. Which may lead one to believe that free agent signee Benoit Pouliot may end up on the left side of O'Reilly/Okposo. At 30 and with steadily declining numbers over the past few seasons, Pouliot isn't exactly a top-line or even a full time top-six player, but in a world of numberless lines, that trio may have an impact if the chemistry is there.

 

Former Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma was big on forward pairings which is a good concept when you're constantly juggling players and lines. It worked well with the O'Reilly/Okposo pairing and it also worked very well with Reinhart on Eichel's wing. But moving Reinhart back to center breaks up that forward pairing. In doing so a Kane/Eichel pairing would move to the fore and insomuch wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Sure both like the puck on their sticks, but Kane's play has been moving in the direction where his Alpha-male overtones have receded. Perhaps we may be jumping the gun a bit on Kane maturing that far but those two, with their speed and talent and ability to create space, are a nightmare for defenses and they've proven it most of the time when they were on the same line the past two seasons.

 

Filling the right side of the Eichel/Kane duo is somewhat problematic with Reinhart moving away from that spot. Thirty-four year old Jason Pominville was brought back but a full time top-six spot, especially on the wing with those two might make him age even faster.

 

This might be a golden opportunity for a young player like Nick Baptiste to take the reigns of his NHL career. He has speed and size the ability to hound the puck and can either snipe or set up. He played 41 games for a loaded Erie Otters team featuring Connor McDavid scoring 26 goals and adding 27 assists in 41 games. His pro career has shown steady improvement as he's gained more experience and confidence.

 

Filling that RW slot with Baptiste, or even young Justin Bailey, would allow for a very intriguing pairing as a young and developing Reinhart could have Pominville as his mentor as the two have more similarities than differences in their styles of play. Filling that left wing role on that line may be somewhat of a problem.

 

Moulson might get the first crack at a situation like this as the team could really use more output from a player making $5 million. Or Zemgus Girgensons (if/when he re-signs) may find himself a home with a well-defined position that seemed to be lacking under Bylsma. Or there might be an opportunity for a younger player to take on that role. Maybe Bailey or a player like Evan Rodrigues.

 

Rodrigues finally began to find his stride last year with the Rochester Americans and although the numbers aren't eye-popping, his progress has been steady and getting stronger. He's got a very high hockey IQ, finds open space and can score. Lest we forget, he did play on Eichel's wing in college and although his development has been somewhat elongated at the pro-level, he has all the tools to hang with quality NHL players.

 

It's early August with hockey two months away it's way to early to tell what the Sabres roster will look like. With the lineup as laid out above with two youngins on board, the final five forward spots right now would consist of Moulson, Girgensons, Johan Larsson, Jacob Josefson and Nicolas Deslauriers.

 

However, this could be the Sabres top-nine should they decide to move Reinhart to center:

 

Pouliot-O'Reilly-Okposo

Kane-Eichel-Baptiste

Rodrigues-Reinhart-Pominville

 

Is it a "pick your poison" lineup?

 

Not yet. But we've seen a helluva lot worse over the past few years or so.