Buffalo Sabres 2018 Season Preview: Draft Utopia

Buffalo Sabres 2018 Season Preview

Jack Eichel was the guy drafted after Connor McDavid in 2015. Many considered him a generational talent like McDavid. Eichel should finally see line 1 action in 2017-2018.

Chris Ransom follow @DraftUtopia Posted on 9/21/2018.

Buffalo Sabres Line 1 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Jeff Skinner	Left Wing	70	5-foot-11-inches	187-pounds	24	25	49
Jack Eichel	Center	61	6-foot-2-inches	194-pounds	25	39	64
Kyle Okposo	Right Wing	65	6-foot-0-inches	208-pounds	15	29	41

Bufalo Sabres Line 2 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Vladimir Sobotka	Left Wing	81	5-foot-11-inches	189-pounds	11	20	31
Casey Mittelstadt	Center	34	6-foot-1-inches	202-pounds	11	19	30
Sam Reinhart	Right Wing	82	6-foot-1-inches	183-pounds	25	25	50

Buffalo Sabres Line 3 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Connor Sheary	Left Wing	79	5-foot-8-inches	176-pounds	18	12	30
Patrik Berglund	Center	57	6-foot-4-inches	215-pounds	17	9	26
Jason Pominville	Right Wing	82	6-foot-0-inches	181-pounds	16	18	34

Buffalo Sabres Line 4 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Evan Rodrigues	Left Wing	48	5-foot-10-inches	176-pounds	7	18	25
Zemgus Girgensons	Center	71	6-foot-2-inches	200-pounds	7	8	15
Tage Thompson	Right Wing	41	6-foot-0-inches	190-pounds	1	9	10

Buffalo Sabres Forwards Review: Buffalo has an excellent first line with Jeff Skinner and Kyle Okposo at left wing and right wing. Those guys will do more with Jack Eichel playing on the top line next season instead of Ryan O'Reilly.

Vladimir Sobotka, Casey Mittelstadt, Buffalo's 2017 first round pick, and Sam Reinhart can anchor the second line at center and right wing with Benoit Pouliot coming from Edmonton to compliment them at left wing. Third line left winger Connor Sheary and right winger Jason Pominville are talented enough to be used on the second line. Buffalo has 12 forwards that can score 10 points or more as well as an underrated offense. Sheary will be week-to-week with his upper body injury. I expect Buffalo to click offensively once Sheary returns.

Buffalo was the only team to score under 200 goals in the NHL last season. They scored fewer goals. To be fair, the Sabres had a new GM and a new head coach. Expectations for the Sabres will be much loftier moving forward.

Buffalo Sabres Defensive Lines

Player	Line	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Rasmus Ristolainen	Line 1	73	6-foot-4-inches	215-pounds	6	35	41
Rasmus Dahlin	Line 1	41	6-foot-3-inches	198-pounds	7	13	20
Marco Scandella	Line 2	82	6-foot-3-inches	208-pounds	5	17	22
Zach Bogosian	Line 2	18	6-foot-3-inches	228-pounds	0	0	1
Jake McCabe	Line 3	53	6-foot-1-inches	209-pounds	3	9	12
Nathan Beaulieu	Line 3	59	6-foot-2-inches	205-pounds	1	8	9

Buffalo Sabres Defensemen Review: Buffalo has one good defender in Rasumus Ristolanen. Now Buffalo has Rasmus Dahlin on the top line. The second line with Marco Scandella and Zach Bogosian looks much better. The third line with Jake McCabe and Nathan Beaulieu. Buffalo's defense should make a huge leap this season as long as everyone on Buffalo's blue line stays healthy.

Last year Buffalo ranked 28th in goals allowed and 22nd in penalty killing. They improved defensively from a bottom-feeder to a team that got slightly better. I think Buffalo can be a top 20 team in both goals allowed and penalty killing.

Draft Utopia Between The Pipes Goalie Tracker

Starting Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Carter Hutton	Buffalo Sabres	32	17-7-3	3 Shutouts	.931	2.09 GAA

Backup Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Linus Ullmark	Buffalo Sabres	5	1-2-0	0 Shutouts	.935	2.00 GAA

Buffalo Sabres Goaltender Review: Buffalo finally got a reliable goalie in Carter Hutton. They also got a better backup in Linus Ullmark.

Buffalo Sabres Prospect Pool: Buffalo has winger Alex Nylander on the Providence Americans in the AHL after taking him 8th overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. Nylander is versatile enough to play either winger role. Cliff Pu could be a future call up as well. Brycen Martin could be a future callup too.

The Sabres have some guys from this 2014 draft class that are NHL ready at this point like second round pick Brendan Lemieux at left wing and third round pick Jonas Johansen as a goalie to develop for the future. These guys did so bad in the AHL that they went to the ECHL so they may not ever see NHL ice time.

Buffalo Sabres 2018-2019 Prediction

Buffalo finally has all the pieces to be a playoff team. I think they have the tools to be a top 3 team in the Atlantic Division with Boston and Tampa Bay. Even if they don't make that leap their future is only going to get better with the long-term pieces that the Sabres have. They won't win a playoff series this season, but the ability to get to the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs is there.