I was thinking about this during last nights game. There's a few players that I thought had a really nice game. Jack, Frolic and Vesey. I was thinking, why do we have so many players that I kind of like, they have really nice games, which is normal for middle tier players - yet we still stink?
I believe the reason isn't that we're completely void of good players, it's my opinion that we're missing an entire 2nd line. I think the above graph illustrates that.
We need Jack, Skinner and Sam on the top line, a real second line of non current Sabres and the rest of the players moved down a line and the bottom moved out.
Since we may not be able to attract top free agents or have enough ammo to trade for these players - I think some have to come from FA and we must have the farm system fill these voids. Finding and building a 2nd line should be something we can do and I'd spend any resources available to get a goalie too.