I continue my look around the division today with the team that was the laughingstock of the NHL last season, and one that suffered the unfortunate bounce of the ping-pong balls and somehow managed to avoid winning even the NHL lottery.
While Tim Murray and the Sabres missed out on Connor McDavid, they got a pretty darn good consolation prize in Jack Eichel. The Sabres roster has some bright spots, especially for the future, but how do they look heading into this season.
Here is a look at how the rosters might compare (from Dailyfaceoff.com), and although this certainly isn't set in stone, is a "best guess" look at what the teams might look like:
UP FRONT
This is certainly a different look than the Sabres club that didn't have much push back last season. I am not as sold on O'Reilly as a true #1 pivot as many others are, but the Senators are in much the same situation with Kyle Turris as their #1 pivot. Evander Kane was injured when acquired and will make his Sabres debut this season, as will Eichel and former Ottawa 67's forward Jamie McGinn.
The Sabres have a ton of potential and the trio of O'Reilly, Eichel and Reinhart will be a force to be reckoned with down the road. They are very young after current space-fillers Gionta and Legwand move on. Having McGinn and Marcus Foligno on a 4th line is a sign that there is some depth there, as both are quality players who have something to contribute.
The Senators are a little further along in their curve, with the likes of Stone, Zibanejad and Hoffman.
ON THE LINE OF BLUE
This is where the Sabres are somewhat lacking. They sort of robbed Peter to pay Paul when they dealt Tyler Myers to get Kane (while bringing back Bogosian) and promising prospect Nikita Zadorov in the O'Reilly deal. The defense was the strength of their system at this time last year, but now it looks pretty thin. Bogosian is an NHL body, but has had injury problems and much like Jared Cowen has been underwhelming, and he has parts of 7 NHL seasons under his belt. Methot might be a fringe top pairing guy, but Gorges has no business being close to a #2 at this point in his career, or ever for that matter.
The Sabres have no answer for Karlsson, and the Senators as a whole are deeper and more talented than their Buffalo counterparts. If the Sabres can win the Cody Franson sweepstakes, that would be a solid move for them to bring in quality top 4 blueliner to help their depth and close the gap a bit between themselves and most other teams.
THE MASKED MEN
Whether it was because a) the Senators grew tired of waiting; b) they felt Hammond was the real deal; or c) simply because he was going to net the biggest return (or a combination of all of the above); Robin Lehner now finds himself on the other side of this matchup. He is pretty much the Sabres #1 by default. Chad Johnson is a career backup, so the ball is Lehner's to run with. He dropped that ball over a couple of chances as a Senator, and TIM Murray is banking that a change of scenery will help Lehner fulfill his potential.
Craig Anderson has more of a track record and avoided losing the starting job to Lehner, despite his injury woes that offered the numerous opportunities to the understudy. Lehner could be the best goalie of the bunch, but he has to prove it before the Sabres will have an edge in this area.
BOTTOM LINE
The Sabres will be a very good team, in 2 or 3 years as their kids mature. Kane, O'Reilly, Eichel and Reinhart will certainly help them score more, and starting this season. They won't be the pushovers that they were last season, but the lack of talent and depth on the blue line needs to be addressed and questions in goal will need to be answered by Lehner before the Sabres will contend for anything.
The Sabres will become a team the Senators will have to worry about in a playoff race, but it shouldn't be this year.