I Cannot See Buffalo Missing the Playoffs Next Year

[tenken00]

They might finally get in if the playoffs are expanded again.

I think Bettman and Co. said a hard no to expanded playoffs again this year. They could always change their mind, but they've said it a few times now so probably just expect the top 4 teams in each division.

 

[Sky04]

Edmonton East

 

[nbwingsfan]

Yep for sure losing half of a top 4 will not have any effect

Welcome to unicorn and rainbow world

Have an effect sure.

Drop them from by far best team in the league to last in the division when one of those players are 42 and the other is a liability defensively? Get a grip kid.

Boston have a bunch of young guys who can replace the bottom pairing, hopefully have a healthy Miller who when healthy is just as good defensively as an aging Chara, have the best pair of goalies in the league and added to their top 9 forwards.

It'll be hilarious to see what you say when they're near the top of the league once again.

 

[thusk]

Have an effect sure.

Drop them from by far best team in the league to last in the division when one of those players are 42 and the other is a liability defensively? Get a grip kid.

Boston have a bunch of young guys who can replace the bottom pairing, hopefully have a healthy Miller who when healthy is just as good defensively as an aging Chara, have the best pair of goalies in the league and added to their top 9 forwards.

It'll be hilarious to see what you say when they're near the top of the league once again.

In the best division of the league who didn't have any weak team, yes !!

I can't see boston without chara/krug finishing in front of washington, philadelphia, NYI, NYR

NJ last season without horrible back up was on playoff or very close.

Buffalo with add of staal, hall will be a better team

Pittsburgh can finish last foo.

At the end, i dont how

 

[Satanphonehome]

It seems to be the consensus that the Rangers are ahead of the Sabres. I’m curious as to why.

Does everyone think the Rangers 12/3 run in February should be regarded as representative of the real team? That is basically the difference between their records last year.

Does everyone think Panarin and Zibanejad will repeat their career years? DeAngelo? That Hall and Skinner will repeat career worsts? Montour?

Is everyone sure the Rangers have better goaltending? More depth? That their kids will grow and shine and the Sabres kids won’t?

Will what seems to be net roster losses by the Rangers and roster gains by the Sabres not matter?

I think there are some things being accepted as givens by the wise folk of HFBoards might not be as etched in stone as people think.

 

[nbwingsfan]

It seems to be the consensus that the Rangers are ahead of the Sabres. I’m curious as to why.

Does everyone think the Rangers 12/3 run in February should be regarded as representative of the real team? That is basically the difference between their records last year.

Does everyone think Panarin and Zibanejad will repeat their career years? DeAngelo? That Hall and Skinner will repeat career worsts? Montour?

Is everyone sure the Rangers have better goaltending? More depth? That their kids will grow and shine and the Sabres kids won’t?

Will what seems to be net roster losses by the Rangers and roster gains by the Sabres not matter?

I think there are some things being accepted as givens by the wise folk of HFBoards might not be as etched in stone as people think.

You point out the Rangers 12-3 February but ignore the Sabres 9-3 October? Why?

Panarin has always been an elite player and while Zibanejad may not have as great of a season, he likely wont miss as much time as well.

They will also have a full season of who could potentially be a top 5 goalie as well as adding the leading Calder candidate.

I cant really see a way to justify Buffalo being rated above unless you expect another Hart season from Hall

 

[Gravity]

For OP...

 

[Sky04]

It seems to be the consensus that the Rangers are ahead of the Sabres. I’m curious as to why.

Does everyone think the Rangers 12/3 run in February should be regarded as representative of the real team? That is basically the difference between their records last year.

Does everyone think Panarin and Zibanejad will repeat their career years? DeAngelo? That Hall and Skinner will repeat career worsts? Montour?

Is everyone sure the Rangers have better goaltending? More depth? That their kids will grow and shine and the Sabres kids won’t?

Will what seems to be net roster losses by the Rangers and roster gains by the Sabres not matter?

I think there are some things being accepted as givens by the wise folk of HFBoards might not be as etched in stone as people think.

Well, when the Sabers stop finishing in the basement of the conference maybe they'll instill some more confidence. Until then my vote of confidence goes to teams that actually show improvement. New York was a playoff team 3 years ago, they took 2 years to re-tool and then trended upwards fast. The Rangers, in 12 less games already finished higher than they did last season, Buffalo on the other hand was pacing to finishing even worse than last season.

Buffalo has been a bottom-3 team in the East for 7 consecutive seasons, the last time they were out of the bottom 3 was 8 years ago when they were a bottom 4 team, they have a losing culture at this point.

 

[Satanphonehome]

You point out the Rangers 12-3 February but ignore the Sabres 9-3 October? Why?

Brevity.

But I was hoping someone would bring this up. The Sabres start is a great example of how misleading a sample size can be.

Shesterkin can be a top-five goalie because he looked good for 12 games. The Sabres will be bad because they were bad not only last year, but the six preceding years with completely different rosters and management teams.

 

[nickdawg95]

Last season rosters

Oloffson-Eichel-Reinhart
Skinner-Johansson-Sobotka
Vesey-Rodrigues-Frolik
Girgenson-Larson-Okposo

Montour-Risto
Dahlin-miller/Bogosian
Mccabe-Jokiharju

Ullmark
Hutton

This seasons Projected roster

Hall-Eichel-Oloffson
Skinner-Staal-Reinhart
Girgenson-Cozens-Ruotsalainen/Thompson/Mittlestadt
Ruotsalainen/Rieder/Lazar-Eakins-Okposo

Dahlin-Risto
Montour-Jokiharu
Mccabe-miller
Borgen/irwin

Ullmark
Hutton

 

[Fatass]

Last season rosters

Oloffson-Eichel-Reinhart
Skinner-Johansson-Sobotka
Vesey-Rodrigues-Frolik
Girgenson-Larson-Okposo

Montour-Risto
Dahlin-miller/Bogosian
Mccabe-Jokiharju

Ullmark
Hutton

This seasons Projected roster

Hall-Eichel-Oloffson
Skinner-Staal-Reinhart
Girgenson-Cozens-Ruotsalainen/Thompson/Mittlestadt
Ruotsalainen/Rieder/Lazar-Eakins-Okposo

Dahlin-Risto
Montour-Jokiharu
Mccabe-miller
Borgen/irwin

Ullmark
Hutton

Wow! The Sabres have greatly improved their forward group. I’m still not too sure about their D and goaltending though?

 

[nickdawg95]

Wow! The Sabres have greatly improved their forward group. I’m still not too sure about their D and goaltending though?

I think dahlin well take a massive step and shore up the defence on the top pair. wouldn't mind moving a rhd for lhd to bring some balance to the lineup, but montour recently said in an article that he's been training hard this offseason to be ready to play on his offside so let's hope for the best

Goaltending 100%
need to improve on hutton he had eye surgery in the offseason so if we can't upgrade on him lets hope he can stop a puck or 2

 

[bl02]

It seems to be the consensus that the Rangers are ahead of the Sabres. I’m curious as to why.

Does everyone think the Rangers 12/3 run in February should be regarded as representative of the real team? That is basically the difference between their records last year.

Does everyone think Panarin and Zibanejad will repeat their career years? DeAngelo? That Hall and Skinner will repeat career worsts? Montour?

Is everyone sure the Rangers have better goaltending? More depth? That their kids will grow and shine and the Sabres kids won’t?

Will what seems to be net roster losses by the Rangers and roster gains by the Sabres not matter?

I think there are some things being accepted as givens by the wise folk of HFBoards might not be as etched in stone as people think.

Absolutely. No doubt in my mind Shesterkin is the real deal and a dramatic upgrade over Hank.

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

Here’s a list of some realistic expectations in improvement for the Sabres that could lead to playoff contention.
-Hall scores at 30g/82gp (Replacing Vesey’s 12g pace)
-Skinner scores at 30g/82gp (replacing his own 19.45 pace)
-Staal Scores at 20g/82gp (replacing Johansson’s 12 goal pace)
-Eakin scores at 12g pace replacing Larson’s 8g pace
-Get the PK to at least average
-replace Hutton or hope his eye surgery makes him perform like he did in 18-19 .908

I'm curious how the top three happen. Surely 1-2 of the 3 will fail. Mainly because if Hall and Eichel are together, Hall will succeed, and Skinner will likely fall short and potentially Staal. If Hall is with Staal, then he will likely fall short while Skinner and Staal succeed.

Skinner in particular was downgraded form Eichels line so ES production obviously fell and ideally is bumped up a little with Staal, but not anywhere close to Eichel. The concerning part to me is he still received big boy PP time all season long when he wasnt hurt and made nothing of it. He was essentially a cone out there to distract the other team. With Staal and Hall, Skinner has to get bumped down to PP2 right? So I'd argue him in particular, were likely to see close to 19-20 numbers and not 18-19.

Eichel - Hall - Olofsson - Reinhart - Dahlin
Staal - Skinner - Cozens/Eakin/Mittle/Thompson - Risto

An upgrade offensively either way. Still waiting on PK help and replacing Hutton. No signs of that yet.

 

[Zach716]

I'm curious how the top three happen. Surely 1-2 of the 3 will fail. Mainly because if Hall and Eichel are together, Hall will succeed, and Skinner will likely fall short and potentially Staal. If Hall is with Staal, then he will likely fall short while Skinner and Staal succeed.

Skinner in particular was downgraded form Eichels line so ES production obviously fell and ideally is bumped up a little with Staal, but not anywhere close to Eichel. The concerning part to me is he still received big boy PP time all season long when he wasnt hurt and made nothing of it. He was essentially a cone out there to distract the other team. With Staal and Hall, Skinner has to get bumped down to PP2 right? So I'd argue him in particular, were likely to see close to 19-20 numbers and not 18-19.

Eichel - Hall - Olofsson - Reinhart - Dahlin
Staal - Skinner - Cozens/Eakin/Mittle/Thompson - Risto

An upgrade offensively either way. Still waiting on PK help and replacing Hutton. No signs of that yet.

You are one of the most negative posters on this site I swear lol.

Skinner's performance last year and especially hit shooting % was a major anomaly. It isn't hard to see how this roster slots up much improved from last year.

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

You are one of the most negative posters on this site I swear lol.

Skinner's performance last year and especially hit shooting % was a major anomaly. It isn't hard to see how this roster slots up much improved from last year.

I literally said it was an upgrade offensively. I just dont see how all three can move forward. Someone is set to take a hit and I thought it was pretty logical to say its either Skinner and Staal or Hall. Whoever doesnt get Eichel primarily loses out. Am I wrong? I guess we can hope Cozens takes a huge step right out the gate but that likely means Staal gets pushed down because playing Cozens on the wing is not the best idea.

Or the Sabres are out of the playoff picture early and both Staal and Hall are trading at the deadline. What am I missing here?

 

[GOALOFSSON]

I literally said it was an upgrade offensively. I just dont see how all three can move forward. Someone is set to take a hit and I thought it was pretty logical to say its either Skinner and Staal or Hall. Whoever doesnt get Eichel primarily loses out. Am I wrong? I guess we can hope Cozens takes a huge step right out the gate but that likely means Staal gets pushed down because playing Cozens on the wing is not the best idea.

Or the Sabres are out of the playoff picture early and both Staal and Hall are trading at the deadline. What am I missing here?

You are missing the fact that we added two top 6 players. Skinner will not just go from Johanson to Staal, but from Sobotka or worse to Reinhart.

Cozens put on a lot of strength and will also be an upgrade to our bottom lines from what we had, whether he is in Calder contention or not. Same with Thompson. Still have potential options in Ruotsalainen and Mittelstadt.

You said in another post that we didn't address the pk but we literally signed guys for it, not to mention internal improvements to our players.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Brevity.

But I was hoping someone would bring this up. The Sabres start is a great example of how misleading a sample size can be.

Shesterkin can be a top-five goalie because he looked good for 12 games. The Sabres will be bad because they were bad not only last year, but the six preceding years with completely different rosters and management teams.

No, they might be bad because their goalies and defense are awful.

The Rangers were close to a playoff team with their winning streak, and got better this off-season. Buffalo got better this off-season but were not close to a playoff team before.

 

[Halakitlikethat]

Their division is going to be tough, and not sold on their goaltending . Maybe their new unis will put them over the top

 

[CanadianCoyote]

No, they might be bad because their goalies and defense are awful.

The Rangers were close to a playoff team with their winning streak, and got better this off-season. Buffalo got better this off-season but were not close to a playoff team before.

I hesitate to say Buffalo "got better". They lost more than they gained this offseason. Taylor Hall does not offset losing Kahun and also gaining the black hole known as Cody Eakin.

 

[nbwingsfan]

I hesitate to say Buffalo "got better". They lost more than they gained this offseason.

Im not sure about that... Who were their major loses exactly?

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

You are missing the fact that we added two top 6 players. Skinner will not just go from Johanson to Staal, but from Sobotka or worse to Reinhart.

Cozens put on a lot of strength and will also be an upgrade to our bottom lines from what we had, whether he is in Calder contention or not. Same with Thompson. Still have potential options in Ruotsalainen and Mittelstadt.

You said in another post that we didn't address the pk but we literally signed guys for it, not to mention internal improvements to our players.

So like I said, an upgrade. Im giving them props and you guys still dont like it. I still dont see how they are not contenders though in a much tougher division.

So lets assume Skinner gets Staal/Reinhart over Johansen/Sobotka. An obvious upgrade there, but he now loses his pp1 time right? He was on pace for 32 points, albeit a low shooting % to go along there, which hopefully turns around, but no guarantees there. So better ES linemates and no PP1 time and all of a sudden hes on pace for 50-60 again? I expect him to improve from 19-20, but probably to a 20-20 pace. If he gets Eichel, then maybe he can bounce back to 35+g.

I like Eakin fine, but are we pretending like he turns the 2nd worst PK into league average? Really? Losing Larsson will be more apparent here and across overall D in general. Insane to see, but Larsson, Johansen, Sobotka, Okposo, and Vesey were the only Sabres that had a positive corsi against "elite" competition. So what is the plan now to shut down opposing teams big guns? Just outscore them? Ok, well see how that goes.

PuckIQ | Woodmoney

Cozens is the wild card that could make a huge difference if he pans out. But do we even know if he's going to make the team? I would have liked to see the Sabres keep him off the WJC roster like Lafrenniere and Hughes. He isnt a lock to make the team yet and given the screwups with Nylander and Mittlestadt, it may be wise to leave him down for another year.

I like Ruotsa if he comes over and stays up with the Sabres, but why are we assuming anything out of Thompson. Sure, the signing was literally no risk, but all of a sudden were assuming hell figure it out?

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

Im not sure about that... Who were their major loses exactly?

Not "major", but I just found above Larsson, Johansen, Sobotka, Okposo, and Vesey were the only positive CF% forwards on the Sabres against elite competition.

While they definitely gained more offense and depth offense, they may have lost more than they gained in the not flashy variety. Sure they may score more goals, but also will let up more as well.

 

[CanadianCoyote]

Im not sure about that... Who were their major loses exactly?

They lost Kahun and replaced him with Hall, who looked like utter crap in Arizona (especially in the postseason). They traded Marcus Johansson for the fossilized remains of Eric Staal. They lost Larsson, who's known as a very good fourth liner, to the Coyotes for nothing, and got Toby Rieder, Matt Irwin and Brandon Davidson. Not to mention obtaining the defensive nightmare that is Cody Eakin.

Ullmark is no Freddy Andersen and Hutton is a mere shell of himself; spending their season against teams like Philly, Washington, Pittsburgh, the Islanders and Boston is gonna be hell for a team without solid blueliners and a mediocre goalie tandem.

 

[GOALOFSSON]

I hesitate to say Buffalo "got better". They lost more than they gained this offseason. Taylor Hall does not offset losing Kahun and also gaining the black hole known as Cody Eakin.

I was going to congratulate you because I couldn't tell if you were being serious or not.

[mod]

I get you are mad at Hall but he more than makes up for the loss of Larsson and Kahun. He is also far from the only thing coming in.