Give It Away Now (sabres)

What's eating the Buffalo Sabres?

Phil Houlsey's team is 0-2-1 and has looked terrible in two of its first three outings. The Sabres have managed to eek out only one point against three beatable Eastern opponents in the Montreal Canadiens, NY Islanders, and New Jersey Devils.

The 2017-18 Sabres were supposed to better than this.

There are several reasons why Housley's team has been struggling.

I blame it all on terrible puck management, poor face offs and sloppy puck protection.

Sabres centers have a combined 49.6% faceoff win rate. Ryan O'Reilly leads the Sabres with a 63.8% win rate. O'Reilly has won 37 of 57 draws that he has taken. After O'Reilly, it's a whole lotta mediocre going on regarding faceoffs. Jack Eichel and Johan Larsson sit at 42.9%. Jacob Josefson is 42.1%. Samson Reinhart is a lowly 35% win rate. Several wingers have had to take draws after centers have been kicked out of the circle. Jason Pominville (5 of 6) is 83% on draws. Evander Kane is 45%.

When you have a 50/50 faceoff team, you have to protect the puck when you get it on your stick.

Housley's players have been very reckless with the puck and have paid dearly for it.

To compound the problems, the Sabres have not been aggressively turning over pucks.

As a collective, the new look Sabres have turned over the puck an alarming twenty eight times in the first three games of the new season. They have created only twelve turnovers. Their minus sixteen turnover differential is damning.

In the first three games of the season, the Sabres have not taken care with the puck.

Is is nerves? Is it nonchalance? Is it a learning deficiency? Is Housley's newly installed, Nashville-inspired, five-man attacking system too complex for his players to execute?

I don't care if you have stars in your lineup like Jack Eichel, Ryan O'Reilly, Evander Kane, Kyle Okposo, Samson Reinhart, and Rasmus Ristolainen. If you care as careless with the puck as the Sabres have been, then the losses are well deserved.

One of the fatal flaws of the Sabres is that their normally sure-handed, most reliable players are coughing up pucks at the most inopportune times in the worst possible areas on the ice.

Rather than make the safe, smart play, the Sabres are littering their end of the rink with horrendous drop passes and lazy breakout passes.

In the defense of the Buffalo players, they are learning on the fly a new attacking, high risk/high reward system. Rome was not built in a day. There was bound to be errors while on-boarding the new five-man jam style of play that is the antithesis of Dan Bylsma's system from the past two seasons.

Another factor for the sloppiness may be the fact that there are ten new players in the Buffalo lineup. It takes time to learn how to play a new system with new linemates and D partners.

New coaches are learning their personnel. Bob Woods served as an assistant last season for the Buffalo Sabres, which had the top-ranked power play in the NHL. When Housley was named head coach, Woods left Buffalo for a job with the Minnesota Wild.

In 2016-17, the Sabres owned the number one power play units in the NHL. Last season, the Sabres PP allowed four shorthanded goals against in 82 games played.

How does Housley rationalize his team allowing four shorthanded goals in just the first three games of this season?

He can't. It's unacceptable behavior. It's poor execution. It's downright egregious.

Rasmus Ristolainen has five turnovers in his first three games. Jack Eichel has four turnovers. Jake McCabe, Nathan Beaulieu and Evander Kane each have three giveaways. Ryan O'Reilly and Matt Tennyson, an injury replacement, have two gaffes each. Viktor Antipin, Jason Pominville, Samson Reinhart, Benoit Pouliot, Johan Larsson, and Jacob Josefson all have a single turnover.

Rest assured that Housley and his 39 year old, NHL rookie D coach Chris Hajt have been analyzing the turnovers. Frame by agonizing frame. The Sabres played Monday afternoon and were given a CBA mandated day off on Tuesday. The team will hit the practice rink early on Wednesday morning. The mandatory iPad video review sessions will likely happen before the team hits the ice on Wednesday. The analysis will continue after the wheels go up on the cross country flight.

Housley, Hajt and Davis Payne will have to smooth out the rough spots and break the bad habits of their offending players before the puck drops in San Jose on Thursday night.

This road trip will take the Sabres to San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Las Vegas. Playing sloppy and careless with the puck against great offensively gifted teams like the Sharks, Ducks, Kings and Knights will exacerbate the problems for the Sabres.

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Evander Kane has been Buffalo’s best player this season. The Sabres have scored a paltry 7 goals in 4 games. Kane has scored of the seven goals.

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