[The Athletic] Prédictions audacieuses des Sabres de Buffalo et questions persistantes avant l’ouverture de la saison à Prague

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1. seeldoger47 7 heures ago

   >Lingering questions

   >1. Will there be a big in-season trade?
   The Sabres have $7 million in cap space and plenty of prospects, but will Kevyn Adams find a trade partner at some point? We know the Sabres were poking around the trade market for a top-six forward throughout the summer and that need is one that went unaddressed. How strong the rental market will be depends on what happens early in the season, but Adams has the assets to make a move if Buffalo is in contention. He also has roster players who are in the final seasons of their deals, notably Jordan Greenway, who could be attractive trade chips if Adams wants to shake the roster up at any point. I think we’ll see a significant Sabres trade at some point, but there are a lot of variables at this point.

   >3. How much will the offense bounce back?
   Which season was the outlier? Was it 2022-23 when Thompson, Tuch, Dylan Cozens and Dahlin all had career-high point totals? Or was it 2023-24 when Buffalo’s power play went cold, injuries hampered Thompson and Tuch and the Sabres became an average offensive team? Maybe it’s somewhere in the middle. I’ve liked the Sabres’ mentality on the power play much better during the preseason and training camp. There’s more movement and traffic in front. Ruff wants work ethic to come before skill on the man advantage. That should create some positive regression for the scoring. But I don’t have any ironclad predictions about the Sabres’ top scorers, because I need to see them in action against NHL competition in Ruff’s system. I believe they’ll be better, though.

   >4. What about the playoffs?
   After 13 years without the playoffs, this is the only question Sabres fans really care about. Buffalo’s front office can’t sell development any longer. That’s what hiring Ruff was all about. It’s also why the Sabres brought in five new players for the bottom six. This team isn’t in a position to hand ice time to young players. There are still young players on this roster who are in need of development, but that needs to happen while the team wins. I predicted this team would get into the playoffs last season and felt foolish after watching them for a few weeks. I think they can make it this season, but a lot depends on how the rest of the conference looks. The division is still arguably the toughest in the NHL. Will a team like Boston or Tampa Bay drop off? What about the Islanders or Capitals? Are the Sabres ahead of other playoff hopefuls like Detroit and Ottawa? If the Devils take one of those spots, how much do the Sabres need to improve to knock off one of the other teams?
   >The reason I think the Sabres can make it is because of Ruff. I think coaching can make a difference in how consistently a team plays and how much a team is able to grind out ugly wins. Just look at the Flyers last season. They didn’t make the playoffs but they were a lot closer than many expected because they were often the hardest-working team when they played. The Sabres have more talent than the Flyers do. If Ruff can make them a team that works harder more consistently and is tougher to play against on a consistent basis, the playoffs are a reasonable expectation.