‘So, what has changed? A lot, when you consider all of the off-ice changes to the coaching staff and the personnel changes throughout the lineup. I have been most curious about the state of the blue line though, especially because of how big of a detriment the defensive units had been to Buffalo’s success – or lack thereof – in years past. The organization knew it had a budding superstar in Rasmus Dahlin, but also knew that there was only marginal competency behind him – a roster historically littered with players too one-dimensional in talent, incapable of generating transitional play and unable to show the type of poise and creativity with the puck that is a minimum expectation for modern-era defenders.’