Congratulations Buffalo! You just messed up one of the most important seasons for this franchise in recent memory. Former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall? Scored 2 goals for you before trading him at the deadline for an underwhelming package. Dahlin has only played worse since his rookie season, and this season was his lowest point. Jack Eichel also had an underwhelming season, as short as it was. He also only had 2 goals on the season, but that was in 21 games being injured for the rest of the year. With the future of many players on this roster being uncertain, this season left Buffalo fans with many questions of what comes next.
With what will more than likely be a guaranteed top 3 pick, the Buffalo Sabres have gone nowhere with this now 10-year rebuild. Soon enough they’ll have to make the playoffs… right? They have tied the longest playoff drought in NHL history and my money is on them breaking that record next year at 11. Another record they tied this year was the longest winless streak at 18 games. 18. I get that they’re in the most competitive division in the NHL but that’s still unreal.
There on some bright spots on this team, however, and one of them is Dylan Cozens. Most games I watched that had Cozens in it this season, I thought that he was the hardest working player in a Sabres jersey. He puts effort in on every shift, and his 13 points in 41 games aren’t too shabby either. He’s a great skater and his play driving ability is pretty impressive for a 20-year-old rookie. Here’s a quote from him at the Sabres end-of-season press conference. “I want to be here for a long time.”. That’s something you won’t hear from many other players on this team.
Jacob Bryson has been pretty solid for this team as well. Bryson is a player I had never heard much about going into the year, and he has given me a reason to pay attention to him. He has been very good offensively for Buffalo. He makes the right play in the other team's zone, but in his own end, he has been underwhelming. I think he can be a serviceable defenceman for this team, now and in the future.
Casey Mittelstadt is starting to change how most NHL fans look at him. He had such high hopes, and for the longest time, he looked like he’ll never reach them. This season, he has reignited the flame. Mittelstadt's 22 points in 41 games. Considering he only had 5 points in his first 19 games, that’s fairly impressive. Next season he’ll hopefully have a full 82 games to prove himself, on a hopefully improved team.
Linus Ullmark has been surprisingly good. Now, he was injured for the majority of the 18 game winless streak, but that doesn’t excuse his excellent numbers when you consider what team he is on. Having a 0.917% Save% and a 9–6–3 is something you would never expect from the starting netminder on the worst team in the NHL. He’s an upcoming UFA, and he’s either going to be paid an unbelievable amount of money to stay in Buffalo, or he’s going to look elsewhere. Speaking of their UFA’s…
This team doesn’t exactly have cap problems, so the RFAs won’t be a problem. How much Reinhart and Dahlin want to be paid is another story, but I’m not expecting an offer sheet. Though we’ll get to the possibility of a Reinhart trade later. Ullmark will more than likely have to be paid the sun and the moon to stay in Buffalo, but I honestly think that they’ll get it done. Hutton will more than likely not receive a contract offer as Buffalo has Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, a 22-year-old goalie prospect, that will be ready for next season. Jake McCabe is the interesting one here, as he is a very underrated defenceman that could really help Buffalo next season. If your Buffalo, you probably want to keep him. I don’t think he’ll want to stay a Sabre however, we’ll see.
After an extremely bad season, there have to be some players who don’t look very good. The main player that people look like in regards to this is Rasmus Dahlin. In his rookie season, Dahlin looked absolutely fantastic. I thought he was the real deal right out of the gate, and I thought that he would’ve been in Norris conversations around now. He would probably be driving past entire teams and making an argument to be the best Offensive D-man in the game. Instead, he has been on the opposite end of too many highlight-reel plays. He has been abysmal in his own end this year. However, Dahlin has been much better since Ralph Krueger was fired. I expect him to improve again next season, but if he doesn’t you have to start wondering how Buffalo is handling his development.
Another player that has to be mentioned is Jeff Skinner. He has to have the roughest contract in the NHL, right? 5 more years at $9,000,000 after this season. Sheesh. 14 points in 53 games? Really Jeff? I was really high on Jeff Skinner going into this season. He was my favourite player on Carolina during their massive playoff drought, and he has always been a player who has on and off-seasons. 2 Years ago he had 40 goals and Buffalo still overpaid him for that. Now he has had 2 straight terrible seasons and I’m not sure if that’s going to change anytime soon.
Victor Olofsson and Sam Reinhart have been very solid this season as well. Looking at the production this year you can just imagine what they’ll be able to do with a full season of Jack Eichel next year. Olofsson has certainly been a worse finisher this season, but I’m sure this is a sophomore slump in that regard. I believe he’s improved his overall game, and I’m excited to see what he can bring next year. This team has a good, young core set for next season. If they make the right decisions this offseason, I can see them becoming a decent team next season in the Atlantic. Not a playoff team, but a decent one.
However, even though the season is over, the Sabres are still killing their fans. I mentioned the end-of-season press conference earlier, but it was a good thing. Now, Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel had something different to say. “No one wants to go through a rebuild, especially going into next year, turning 26 at the start of it or close to the start of it,” Reinhart said. “It’s tough not being able to play meaningful games down the stretch. I don’t think anyone wants to go through that now.” Yeah, that’s a problem. You don’t want to hear that from your leading scorer who’s going to be an RFA in the offseason. I don’t see him being in a Sabres jersey next season. If you had to pick the 5 most likely teams he goes to, who will it be? I got Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Boston, and Philadelphia as possible places for him to end up. We’ll have to wait and see.
“I have a lot of thinking to do in this offseason,” Eichel said. “There’s a lot that I have to consider.” That doesn’t sound great, oh wait there’s more? “I’ve been a bit upset about the way that things have been handled since I’ve been hurt,” Eichel said. “I’d be lying to say that things have moved smoothly since my injury. So, yeah, there’s been a bit of a disconnect, I think, from the organization and myself. It’s been tough at times.” Of course, there’s still more. “Right now, for me, I think the most important thing is just trying to get healthy and figure out a way to be available to play hockey next year wherever that might be.” Wherever that may be. He’s gone. He has to be. I only have 3 teams for Eichel. Not many teams can just take on a $10,000,000 cap hit. I got the Rangers, Kings, and Seattle as the 3 favourites to get him.
Next season might be even more of a disaster, but this reminds me of something. Remember when the Ottawa Senators were successful? I do, Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris, and Craig Anderson playing out of his mind. Then Chris Kunitz scored a Game 7 OT winner and single-handedly destroyed their franchise. Why am I mentioning this? Because 2 years later all of them were off the roster. Except for Craig Anderson, but he fell back to earth. I see the Sabres blowing this all up like the Senators. It may take 5 more years to see the postseason. Maybe longer. It depends on how the Buffalo Sabres do this. They need a good haul for Eichel and Reinhart, as well as anyone else they decide to move. Please don’t just get a 2nd rounder for Reinhart. Good luck Sabres fans, this isn’t going to be pretty.