‘Without many changes, the Buffalo defense expects to be the cornerstone of the team, led by new captain Rasmus Dahlin. If Buffalo hopes to not only be a playoff hopeful, but also a legitimate contender now and in the future, Dahlin will have to play like the Norris-caliber defenseman he has always been meant to be. Bowen Byram and Owen Power need to bring that secondary offensive punch from the back end, but their defensive game needs to be reliable, and I think Ruff can get that out of them. While Dahlin-Byram-Power do the heavy lifting on defense, Mattias Samuelsson, Connor Clifton and Henri Jokiharju need to just not mess it up, and if there are injuries throughout the year it should be interesting to see if Nikita Novikov gets a chance to show his defensive acumen and if Ryan Johnson can reclaim a spot for the future.’