Athletic: Sabres 1 of 6 teams likely to regress

[LGR4GM]

8 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I'd give this 10 thumbs up if I could. You want to be a consistently good team? Be in the upper right part of this chart.  Goaltending can give you a good year or two if you aren't there, but its likely not going to make you a consistent, year after year contender, unless you have the guy who is in the vezina conversation for the next 5 years.

The Sabres were good last year because of CAREER years out of their goaltending.  If that doesn't happen again (I don't think its likely), then they have to be a BETTER team at generating chances and eliminating chances against (for stat guys, Expected goals for vs expected goals against is the best way to measure that).

That is why the young guys can't just 'take the place' of Tuch and Byram, eventually the team has to be BETTER than it was, even better than last year, at generating those quality chances and eliminated the chances against. Last year, they were an average-to-slightly-above average team of skaters in front of very good goaltending. 

We need to move right or up if not both, otherwise we are a bubble team. 

[RETURNTOGLORY]

The Sabres have regressed on paper so far, especially up front. They lost 108 regular-season points between them: Tuch had 66, and Byram had 42.

The replacements help in different ways, but don’t fully replace that production. Olen Zellweger is a promising, mobile defenseman who could take on some of Byram’s puck-moving role. Louis Crevier brings size, hits and penalty-killing ability. But neither has shown Byram’s level of NHL offense yet.

The bigger hole is Tuch’s scoring. Buffalo got David Kampf’s rights in that deal, but he signed in Czechia, so he isn’t a practical replacement in the lineup. The Sabres are counting on young forwards such as Jiri Kulich, Konsta Helenius and Noah Östlund to take on more responsibility. That could work, but it’s a bet on internal growth rather than an established scorer replacing Tuch.

My verdict: the defense could remain strong, and the younger players have room to grow, but the roster looks weaker entering the season unless that growth quickly makes up for Tuch’s offense.

The Power-less Play still is a problem along with goaltending. 

We shall see. 

 

 

[dudacek]

7 hours ago, RETURNTOGLORY said:

The Sabres have regressed on paper so far, especially up front. They lost 108 regular-season points between them: Tuch had 66, and Byram had 42.

 

Last year:

Tuch 66

Norris 34

Benson 43

Greenway 6

Byram 42

Power 29

Kesselring 2

Total: 222

This year:

Helenius 15

Norris 44

Benson 53

Kulich 24

Zelweger 22

Power 40

Crevier 25

Total 222

If we’re doing straight math, looks to me like all it would take to replace those points is a bit more health from Benson and Norris.

Thats with absolutely nobody “breaking out”.

 

Edited September 30 by dudacek

[SabresFan69420]

57 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Last year:

Tuch 66

Norris 34

Benson 43

Greenway 6

Byram 42

Power 29

Kesselring 2

Total: 222

This year:

Helenius 15

Norris 43

Benson 53

Kulich 24

Zelweger 22

Power 40

Crevier 25

Total 222

If we’re doing straight math, looks to me like all it would take to replace those points is a bit more health from Benson and Norris.

Thats with absolutely nobody “breaking out”.

 

And considering Tuch has probably already hit his peak, there are even fewer points to replace in this hypothetical