Where do the Sabres rank in the division?

[dudacek]

I've heard a fair amount of Lose for Hughes talk, but the Atlantic is shaping up to be a division of extremes.

How do you see things shaping up in the division next year and where do the Sabres fit in?

[Randall Flagg]

Shea Weber is out months, Price hasn't been elite for over a year, so Montreal continues the slide and passes us. Ottawa's roster looks like the 14-15 Sabres assuming Karlsson gets traded. They're behind us. 

Who knows about Detroit, but we can't touch anyone else right now. We have a move or two to make just to convince me that our forwards are as good as last year. But we hopefully upgraded in goal, added a solid top 4 D in Dahlin right away, and can get a bump in Mittelstadt and Jack and Sam raising their games. 

That's my best guess. 

[SwampD]

Not a SC favorite, but solidly in a playoff position the entire year.

[Doohickie]

The thought that they are a playoff team, or even a bubble team, is wildly optimistic.  But if I can't be optimistic this time of year, something is wrong.  I picked bubble team.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Lets see.....

Bos, Tor and TB are playoffs teams

NJ, Philly, Pit and Wash are playoff teams from the other division.

Cbs, Fla, and Car fighting for a WC.  

Next us. 

Then NYR, Det, Ott, Mon and NYI in some order.

So, 5th in the Atl, 11th in the East w 84 pts.

[TrueBlueGED]

Theyr'e definitely better than Ottawa and Montreal, but I can't say much more with any confidence. I think they're probably around Detroit, and I expect a mid-80 point season.

[Taro T]

Expectation is ~84 points, battling w/ Detroit.

Hope is that they're a smidge better than FLA & that the Bruins fall off the face of the Earth & they sneak into the 2nd Wild Card.

[LGR4GM]

84 points seems reasonable. Healthy Okposo, Eichel, McCabe will help. Toss in a healthier locker room without Lehner and ROR, but with Ullmark and Hutton.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Top 3.

Without hope all is lost.

[Randall Flagg]

Okposo was a 4th line or worse level drag on his teammates, either he's the first slow winger with a huge free agent contract to get his legs back basically ever or he ain't helping nobody 

[Swedesessed]

It might seem crazy to think that the Sabres can make a massive leap forward and even get into the playoffs.

Ask New Jersey fans this time last summer if making the playoffs seemed crazy, and consider Cory Schneider wasn't good at all: I would say the answer would have been yes.

 

Colorado made that massive leap out of nowhere years ago, ask them that summer before the season 'can you make the playoffs' they would have said 'Are you nuts'

We all know about Vegas...

 

Toronto was on a good path, but they elevated to the playoffs a lot faster then most thought.

 

Those teams have Hall, Matthews, and MacKinnon. We have Eichel. None of those teams had elite goaltending, with the exception of Vegas, but Vegas is probably the weakest of these examples.  Defense? Toronto has an average D at best, NJ is average too and Colorado did not have anything special to note. 

I see NO reason why Buffalo can't surprise and do the same. The odds are low, but it really can happen.

The salary cap era has created these opportunities to make leaps much faster then anyone could have hoped for.

 

Edited July 7, 2018 by Swedesessed

[Scottysabres]

So much youth, so much unknowns with the new players coming in chemistry wise, still having slower players on the roster, the defense is a larger unknown and the netminding has question marks.

Just to much right now for me to pull them out of the basement yet. I voted dead last.

[Iron Crotch]

4 hours ago, Swedesessed said:

It might seem crazy to think that the Sabres can make a massive leap forward and even get into the playoffs.

Ask New Jersey fans this time last summer if making the playoffs seemed crazy, and consider Cory Schneider wasn't good at all: I would say the answer would have been yes.

 

Colorado made that massive leap out of nowhere years ago, ask them that summer before the season 'can you make the playoffs' they would have said 'Are you nuts'

We all know about Vegas...

 

Toronto was on a good path, but they elevated to the playoffs a lot faster then most thought.

 

Those teams have Hall, Matthews, and MacKinnon. We have Eichel. None of those teams had elite goaltending, with the exception of Vegas, but Vegas is probably the weakest of these examples.  Defense? Toronto has an average D at best, NJ is average too and Colorado did not have anything special to note. 

I see NO reason why Buffalo can't surprise and do the same. The odds are low, but it really can happen.

The salary cap era has created these opportunities to make leaps much faster then anyone could have hoped for.

 

Absolutely right. We've seen massive turnarounds from one season to the next. This is why it is frustrating to me, given our woeful history the past several seasons, that we have a GM who is selling us on yet another long, slow, methodical building process, which IMHO is outdated. We already have a bunch of young top-10 picks on the roster (Eichel, Reinhardt, Risto, Mittelstadt, Dahlin, maybe Nylander), yet we're still trading assets for more picks and prospects. I don't like that one bit. As such, I think we'll again be terrible this season. Hopefully Mittelstadt and Dahlin develop - and ideally show flashes of brilliance - during their rookie seasons. Tage is another guy who really needs to show something. If he produces, the ROR trade will look a whole lot better. It'd also really be nice if Ullmark shows he is a legit NHL #1 this season. To me those are the things to look forward to this season. I don't think this team is anywhere close to a playoff run... yet...

Edited July 7, 2018 by Iron Crotch

[nfreeman]

14 hours ago, SwampD said:

Not a SC favorite, but solidly in a playoff position the entire year.

 

I can’t tell whether you’re joking, but this made me happy.  

 

8 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Lets see.....

Bos, Tor and TB are playoffs teams

NJ, Philly, Pit and Wash are playoff teams from the other division.

Cbs, Fla, and Car fighting for a WC.  

Next us. 

Then NYR, Det, Ott, Mon and NYI in some order.

So, 5th in the Atl, 11th in the East w 84 pts.

 

Good breakdown.  I can see NJ backsliding to the fighting-for-WC group, which would mean there are 2 spots available for that group.

 

5 hours ago, N S said:

Top 3.

Without hope all is lost.

 

Yesssss!!

 

5 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

Okposo was a 4th line or worse level drag on his teammates, either he's the first slow winger with a huge free agent contract to get his legs back basically ever or he ain't helping nobody 

 

But extenuating circumstances with that weird and dangerous injury!

 

KO is too slow, but he doesn’t strike me as a quitter.  If he’s physically able, he’ll be in good shape and reasonably productive IMHO.

 

1 hour ago, Iron Crotch said:

Absolutely right. We've seem massive turnarounds from one season to the next. This is why it is frustrating to me, given our woeful history the past several seasons, that we have a GM who is selling us on yet another long, slow, methodical building process, which IMHO is outdated. We already have a bunch of young top-10 picks on the roster (Eichel, Reinhardt, Risto, Mittelstadt, Dahlin, maybe Nylander), yet we're still trading assets for more picks and prospects. I don't like that one bit. As such, I think we'll again be terrible this season. Hopefully Mittelstadt and Dahlin develop - and ideally show flashes of brilliance - during their rookie seasons. Tage is another guy who really needs to show something. If he produces, the ROR trade will look a whole lot better. It'd also really be nice if Ullmark shows he is a legit NHL #1 this season. To me those are thing things to look forward to this season. I don't think this team is anywhere close to a playoff run... yet...

 

Unhappily, this is also quite reasonable.  

 

I voted in the WC hunt.  That would really require strong seasons from Dahlin, Risto, McCabe, Bogo or Pilut, Reino, Casey, Berglund, a couple of other forwards and most of all Hutton and Ullmark.  So it’s not super-likely but not impossible either. 

[Thorny]

3 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

 

I can’t tell whether you’re joking, but this made me happy.  

 

 

Good breakdown.  I can see NJ backsliding to the fighting-for-WC group, which would mean there are 2 spots available for that group.

 

 

Yesssss!!

 

 

But extenuating circumstances with that weird and dangerous injury!

 

KO is too slow, but he doesn’t strike me as a quitter.  If he’s physically able, he’ll be in good shape and reasonably productive IMHO.

 

 

Unhappily, this is also quite reasonable.  

 

I voted in the WC hunt.  That would really require strong seasons from Dahlin, Risto, McCabe, Bogo or Pilut, Reino, Casey, Berglund, a couple of other forwards and most of all Hutton and Ullmark.  So it’s not super-likely but not impossible either. 

If we get "strong" seasons from all those guys, we'll be solidly in a wildcard spot, if not in a top 3 spot in division. Barring something disastrous with Jack. 

Edited July 7, 2018 by Thorny

[nfreeman]

My rosy scenario of being in the WC hunt presumes without mentioning that Jackie boy has a huge season.  If he gets hurt again — yikes. 

[Gatorman0519]

14 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Lets see.....

Bos, Tor and TB are playoffs teams

NJ, Philly, Pit and Wash are playoff teams from the other division.

Cbs, Fla, and Car fighting for a WC.  

Next us. 

Then NYR, Det, Ott, Mon and NYI in some order.

So, 5th in the Atl, 11th in the East w 84 pts.

I am right there with you.

[Andrew Amerk]

Being a fan, I have to hold onto hopes that they will be battling for a playoff spot. You never know what will happen. 

[R_Dudley]

Too many unknowns with this roster and the coaching. Given the talent this team does have its PP should have been better and I hope they can figure that out. 

I voted hanging out with Detroit and hope its closer to the WC teams than fighting it out the dregs for a last place team. 

[Scottysabres]

1 hour ago, R_Dudley said:

Too many unknowns with this roster and the coaching. Given the talent this team does have its PP should have been better and I hope they can figure that out. 

I voted hanging out with Detroit and hope its closer to the WC teams than fighting it out the dregs for a last place team. 

I still am finding it difficult to believe they haven't moved at least one of Girgs, Larsson or Pominville yet. I'm hoping their plan isn't to have all 3 of these guys on the roster come October.

[Randall Flagg]

18 minutes ago, Scottysabres said:

I still am finding it difficult to believe they haven't moved at least one of Girgs, Larsson or Pominville yet. I'm hoping their plan isn't to have all 3 of these guys on the roster come October.

It's going to be irritating when, 4 seasons after the last tank, our roster is still going to have probably 6 guys on it that shouldn't be there.

[TrueBlueGED]

48 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

It's going to be irritating when, 4 seasons after the last tank, our roster is still going to have probably 6 guys on it that shouldn't be there.

It'll be even more irritating if that's due to coaching decisions where Phil prefers Pominville to a young player.

[Ho-Chi-Sock]

1 hour ago, Scottysabres said:

I still am finding it difficult to believe they haven't moved at least one of Girgs, Larsson or Pominville yet. I'm hoping their plan isn't to have all 3 of these guys on the roster come October.

Takes two to tangle. I can't imagine JBot's phone's been blowing up from other teams wanting any of these characters.

[R_Dudley]

13 minutes ago, Ho-Chi-Sock said:

Takes two to tangle. I can't imagine JBot's phone's been blowing up from other teams wanting any of these characters.

Send em to Rochester, If they don't clear waivers problem solved.

[Huckleberry]

I always was optimistic last two years during the summer, not going to get dragged into that again.

Basement of  the league is my starting point this year.