Remember year when the Buffalo Sabres finished 31st in the NHL?
Bro. Times have changed.
Seems like forever ago that the Sabres were NHL cellar dwellers.
Fortunes certainly have changed for the 2018-19 Sabres.
Last April, Sabres GM Jason Botterill promised swift, sudden and stringent changes to his roster. Botterill and Phil Housley ended their exit interviews with each and every player not named Jack Eichel with a strict ultimatum: Your spot on 2018-19 Sabres roster is not guaranteed. Prepare yourself for a fast, physical, no nonsense training camp. Earn your keep or you will be gone.
To that end, Botterill traded center Ryan O’Reilly to St. Louis in a blockbuster trade that shifted the cultural paradigm inside the Sabres organization.
Botterill didn’t have to trade O’Reilly. He would have been perfectly fine with keeping ROR in the mix in Buffalo, however, Blues GM Doug Armstrong made Botterill an offer he couldn’t refuse: FIVE premium pieces of currency. Botterill extricated the Blues’ 2019 first round pick, a 2021 second round pick, forwards Tage Thompson, Vlad Sobotka and Patrik Berglund. The deal was completed when Armstrong agreed to pay O’Reilly’s $7.5 million signing bonus, due just before midnight on July 1. The 2019 pick has top-10 protected, which means should the Blues veer to the basement of the NHL standings they can defer the pick until the 2020 NHL Draft. Today, the Blues (14-16-4 32 points) find themselves in 28th place in the NHL standings and 13th in the Western standings.
After early season struggles, Thompson has found a home in Housley’s top nine forward group and has contributed 4 goals and 3 assists in 30 games played. Sobotka has been an excellent penalty killer and has added 3G,2A in 15 minutes TOI per game.
On December 19, Botterill placed Berglund on indefinite suspension which terminated $12.5 million remaining on his contract. When no team claimed Berglund off waivers, his 23-game Sabres career officially ended.
Berglund willing to skate away from $12.5M in guaranteed wealth. Just wow! pic.twitter.com/OK4gjCHgt8
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) December 19, 2018
Jeff Skinner and other Sabres players will no doubt be benefitting from the redistribution from Berglund's wealth.
One year ago today, the Sabres were buried in 30th place in the NHL standings with a 9-20-8 record and just 26 points after 37 games. The .351 winning percentage was driven Buffalo’s abysmal goaltending, weak D corps and inconsistent goaltending. On 12/27/17 the Sabres had scored just 80 goals for while allowing 123 goals against. Their -43 goal differential was second worst in the NHL.
Fast forward to the 2018-19 NHL season. After 37 games this season, Eichel, Skinner & Associates have manufactured a super impressive 21-11-5 record and 47 points. They own the sixth best win percentage in the NHL and have 18 regulation or OT wins as compared to just 9 one year ago today. The high octane Sabres have scored 111 goals for while allowing just 105 goals against ( +6 goal differencial ).
The NHL regular season resumes this evening after the mandatory four game holiday break. The Sabres enter tonight’s tilt in St. Louis ranked third in the Eastern Conference standings as well as third in the Atlantic Division.
Wrap it up 🎠put a pretty bow on it.
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) December 24, 2018
I’ll take it #Sabres #Playoffs pic.twitter.com/75lfKdWgnH
Jack Eichel has entered the Hart Trophy discussion with his 14 goals and 34 assists in 37 games played this season.
Super Sniper Jeff Skinner, who was acquired in August in an trade with the Carolina Hurricanes, has already surpassed his 24 goal (82 games) output from 2018. Skinner has scored 26 goals and 12 assists in 37 games played. Skinner might pop for 50-60 goals this season. Skinner is the in the final season ($5.725M AAV) of his contract and will become UFA on July 1, 2019.
Playing alongside a generational center named Jack Eichel is elevating Skinner to the highest of heights. The sky is the limit right now for the Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart trio. Skinner has scored 26 of 108 Sabres goals (24.1%). That is the highest percent of team goals scored in the NHL this season.
The Toronto native has told me a few times this season that he is very contebt to be living and playing in hockey mad Buffalo, where he has become a rock star of epic proportions. Skinner loves the ease of having his family come visit him and to watch him play on a regular basis. I see the Sabres re-signining Skinner to an eight-year contract extension in February. I predict the annual average value of Skinner's new contract in the $8 million per season range.
Skinner loves his Sabres teammates and the feeling is mutual.
Samson Reinhart completes Buffalo’s top trio with 8 goals and 28 assists in 37 games played.
Since Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart trio was born on 11/13 vs. Tampa, #Sabres have gone 12-5-3.
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) December 27, 2018
At least one of 53-9-23 have scored in 18 of the 20 games.
Each of the three has played at or near a point-per-game pace in the 20 games since they began playing together as a trio:
Eichel: 10G,19A, +12
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) December 27, 2018
Reinhart: 6G,18A, +11
Skinner: 14G,5A, +10#Sabres #MassProductionLine
In the past 33 games played, Eichel has 11G,33A for 44 points. He's +15. Reinhart has 18G,25A for 43 points and is +23. Skinner has 26G,12A for 38 points and is +22.
The 53-9-23 trio is a powerful locomotive that is pulling the Buffalo Sabres along their journey to their first Stanley Cup playoff berth in the past seven years.
The Sabres are finally achieving perfect pitch with scoring from their back end. In the first 37 games of the season, Buffalo defernsemen have scored 17 goals and 63 assists. A far cry from the 19 goals and 82 assists the 2017-18 Sabres D corps scored.
Housley clone Rasmus Dahlin has already pumped in 20 points on 4G,16A from the first overall pick in the 2017 NHL draft.
Dahlin has exceeded all previous expectations with his all-world play in all three zones. Dahlin as been a godsend for the Sabres.
Only 9 D-men in NHL history have scored more points before 19th birthday than Dahlin, whose totals put him on pace for 44 points this season. It would tie as the fifth-most by a rookie defenseman since the 2005-06 season and would trail only @philhousley6 (57 points in 1982-83)
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) December 27, 2018
It was one year ago that Dahlin, then 17, was starring for Team Sweden's silver medal winning squad at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo. Now, the mature-beyond-his-years puck mover is starring for the Sabres in the NHL.
Veteran D Rasmus Ristolainen has already scored 24 points (4G,20A) in his first 37 games.
Former Blues tendy Carter Hutton signed a three-year contract with the Sabres on July 1 as an unrestricted free agent. Hutton has been brilliant for Buffalo as he has posted a 13-10-2 with a 2.58 GAA and a .917 SV% this season. Linus Ullmark has dominated opponents on nights when Hutton needs a break. Ullmark has an impressive 8-1-3 record with 2.71 GAA and .922 SV% and two shutouts.
Tonight’s game marks the first head to head battle between Eichel and O’Reilly since the July 1 trade.
Eichel & Company will have added incentive to be the Blues in their barn.
The Blues have won six straight games against the Sabres in St. Louis.
The Blues won both games against the Sabres last season. In fact, in their last 12 meetings with Buffalo, the Blues are 11-1-0.
O'Reilly spent three seasons with the Sabres. He scored 65 goals and 111 assists in 224 games.