AustonsNostrils
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- Apr 5, 2016
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BUFFALO SABRES
Few teams have done as much off-season tinkering as the Sabres. In the space of one summer, Buffalo GM Jason Botterill has essentially turned over one-third of his offense, one-third of his defense and put a new starting netminder in place.
In Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka and Tage Thompson, all acquired as part of the Ryan O’Reilly deal with the St. Louis Blues, the Sabres improved the depth of their offense overnight. Better yet, Buffalo also went out and added Conor Sheary to give an added bit of punch to the middle-six of the lineup, and then made a major acquisition in the form of three-time 30-goal scorer Jeff Skinner, who could be in line for a career year playing alongside Sabres star center Jack Eichel. Add in the offensive acumen of existing pieces such as Sam Reinhart, Casey Mittelstadt and Kyle Okposo and Buffalo’s offense promises to be far more lethal this season.
The Sabres’ defense also stands to be much improved, too, beginning with the addition of No. 1 draft pick Rasmus Dahlin, who some consider the pre-season frontrunner for the Calder Trophy. His addition helps round out the defense, to be sure, but the addition of Matt Hunwick and development of Brendan Guhle certainly doesn’t hurt a blueline in need.
The one concern might be the readiness of Carter Hutton, a career backup who is set to take on starting duty for the Sabres. He led the league in save percentage and goals-against average last season among netminders with 30 games played, but being a No. 1 is a different story altogether. The good news is there’s a reasonable amount of confidence in Linus Ullmark as a second-stringer and Scott Wedgewood offers some additional depth support in the crease.
Which three teams could be this season’s Devils or Avalanche?
Few teams have done as much off-season tinkering as the Sabres. In the space of one summer, Buffalo GM Jason Botterill has essentially turned over one-third of his offense, one-third of his defense and put a new starting netminder in place.
In Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka and Tage Thompson, all acquired as part of the Ryan O’Reilly deal with the St. Louis Blues, the Sabres improved the depth of their offense overnight. Better yet, Buffalo also went out and added Conor Sheary to give an added bit of punch to the middle-six of the lineup, and then made a major acquisition in the form of three-time 30-goal scorer Jeff Skinner, who could be in line for a career year playing alongside Sabres star center Jack Eichel. Add in the offensive acumen of existing pieces such as Sam Reinhart, Casey Mittelstadt and Kyle Okposo and Buffalo’s offense promises to be far more lethal this season.
The Sabres’ defense also stands to be much improved, too, beginning with the addition of No. 1 draft pick Rasmus Dahlin, who some consider the pre-season frontrunner for the Calder Trophy. His addition helps round out the defense, to be sure, but the addition of Matt Hunwick and development of Brendan Guhle certainly doesn’t hurt a blueline in need.
The one concern might be the readiness of Carter Hutton, a career backup who is set to take on starting duty for the Sabres. He led the league in save percentage and goals-against average last season among netminders with 30 games played, but being a No. 1 is a different story altogether. The good news is there’s a reasonable amount of confidence in Linus Ullmark as a second-stringer and Scott Wedgewood offers some additional depth support in the crease.
Which three teams could be this season’s Devils or Avalanche?