In sports, there are always new streaks forming and coming to an end. For the Buffalo Sabres, there’s an active streak that they would love to put to rest as soon as possible.
The Sabres are heading into the 2023-24 season with the longest active playoff drought in the NHL, going 12 consecutive years without making a playoff appearance. They’re aiming to put an end to this streak this year, after finishing 2022-23 just one point out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
With a team full of up-and-coming talent that has loads of potential to live up to, this could be the year we see the Sabres take another leap forward. In Buffalo, there are a lot of talented young players up and down the entire lineup. This talent is headlined by some of the NHL’s top scorers up front, and an abundance of youth on the blue line and in goal. Each group has something exciting to bring to the table for this team.
Forwards
The forward group consists of four players who scored over 30 goals in 2022-23, these being Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, Jeff Skinner and Dylan Cozens. The team also received significant contributions from Victor Olofsson and Casey Middlestadt, who both had career-highs in goals.
Up front, the Sabres are loaded with talented young stars who are just getting started at the highest level of hockey. Buffalo scored a total of 293 goals last season, the third-highest team total in the NHL, largely because of the talent their forward group possesses.
Tage Thompson
Thompson built on an impressive 38-goal campaign in 2021-22, by finishing last season with 47 goals, good enough for sixth place in the NHL’s goal scoring race. The 25-year-old is poised to continue being a dominant goal scoring force for Buffalo, using his 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame to his advantage. The star forward began gaining league-wide recognition last season, as he’s potted an impressive 85 goals and 162 points over his last 156 games, and there’s no reason to expect a significant drop-off in production from No. 72 in the upcoming season.
Alex Tuch
Tuch is another Sabres forward who had a career-best year in 2022-23, posting 36 goals and finishing 30th in the league’s goal scoring race. The 27-year-old right winger averaged over a point per game for the first time in his career with 79 points in 73 games and is looking to do it again to help this team get over the playoff barrier.
Jeff Skinner
Skinner posted his fifth season with 30 or more goals in 2022-23, totalling 35. At 31 years old, the left winger is looking to remain consistent after posting back-to-back 30-goal campaigns. Sharing the ice with Thompson and Tuch is definitely beneficial, this top line is a unit that accounted for 40.27 percent of the goals scored by Buffalo last season.
Dylan Cozens
Cozens also had a breakout campaign in 2022-23, posting career bests across the board with 31 goals, 37 assists, and 68 points. At 22 years old, the 2021 seventh-overall draft selection is a cornerstone piece of the Sabres’ plans going forward and the expectation is for the young center to continue trending upwards.
Victor Olofsson
Olofsson finished last season just two markers shy of the 30-goal mark with his career-high 28 goals. He once again demonstrated his scoring ability by finishing the season with the highest shooting percentage of any Sabres player to play three or more games. As a significant contributor, the team is counting on him to put up his fourth season with at least 20 goals in the upcoming campaign.
Casey Middlestadt
Middlestadt is another former first-round pick who had a breakout year in Buffalo last season, finishing sixth on the team in points with 59. The 24-year-old had career-highs across the stat sheet, with 15 goals and 44 assists for 59 points. He is another large forward who uses his size to his advantage in order to make offensive contributions, standing in at 6-foot-1, 201 pounds. If he can replicate these numbers this season, both Middlestadt and the Sabres should reap the benefits, as he’s set to become a restricted free agent at the conclusion of 2023-24.
Defensemen
The Sabres have a young defensive core that is seeking to continue their development this upcoming season, after having a fantastic showing in terms of offensive production in 2022-23. This is a young group with lots of room for growth, but lots of talent.
This is a unit filled with speed, youth and high hockey IQ. It is one that can make significant contributions offensively but is bound to make some mistakes in its own end. This is indicative when examining the 295 goals against in 2022-23, which was the eighth most in the NHL. With improvements in the defensive zone from their young talent, this team will be a nightmare to match up against in 2023-24.
Rasmus Dahlin
On the blue line, Dahlin made massive strides in his game last season, putting up an impressive 15 goals and 73 points in 78 games, which were both career highs. The Swedish defenseman finished the season fourth in power play points from the point, with 32, he also tied for fifth in points by a defenseman. The former first-overall selection averaged a career-high 25:48 of ice time in 2022-23 and is poised to take on even more responsibility in the upcoming NHL season, which will be his sixth year in Buffalo.
Owen Power
Power is also on the rise for this defensive unit in Buffalo, after playing his first full regular season in the NHL last year. Through 87 career games, the 20-year-old has an impressive six goals and 38 points from the blue line. The first overall selection from the 2021 NHL Entry Draft appears set to take another step forward in his development after making the NHL All-Rookie Team and finishing third in the Calder Trophy race. In his first full year of NHL hockey, the young defenseman averaged an impressive 23:48 of ice time, a number you can expect to see increase this season.
Mattias Samuelsson
Samuelsson is another former Sabres draft selection that took a big step in his development last season, after playing in a career-high 55 games, posting two goals and ten points over that time. The 23-year-old averaged 22:11 of ice time last season, which was hard-earned as he sacrificed his body by blocking 91 shots and recording 107 hits. At 6-foot-4, 231 pounds, he possesses a large frame that he can use to separate opposing teams’ attackers from the puck, something that is crucial for a team’s success.
Goaltending
Between the pipes, the Sabres are relying on the continued development of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi. With both goaltenders under 25 years of age, they’ve already gained valuable NHL experience and are poised to take over the duties in between the pipes for Buffalo for years to come.
Ukko-Pekka Luukonen
Statistically speaking, 2022-23 wasn’t pretty for Luukkonen, who posted a 3.61 goals-against average (GAA) and a .892 save percentage (SV%), failing to record a shutout, and winning 17 games in 32 starts. The 24-year-old is heading into his fourth NHL season in 2023-24, playing in 46 games over the last three seasons with the Sabres. It’s been a shaky start to the young goaltender’s career, but he’s shown flashes of promise, despite the struggles the team has experienced during his NHL tenure thus far.
Devon Levi
Levi had an impressive start to his NHL career in the blue and gold last season, posting a 5-2-0 record with a 2.94 GAA and a .905 SV%. The 21-year-old earned a win in his first career start on March 31, in a 3-2 overtime victory over the New York Rangers. The expectations for Levi are high, as he is ranked as one of the top goaltending prospects in the NHL. Contributions from him will be a key to success for Buffalo in the 2023-24 season and beyond.
Notable Additions
Despite having what some consider to be a rather quiet offseason so far, the Sabres made sneaky pickups that flew under the radar, while retaining important assets. Most notably, they improved on the blue line by adding more physicality and experience.
Connor Clifton
The Sabres added former Boston Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton via free agency when they signed the 28-year-old to a three-year contract with an annual average value of $3.33 million. The veteran is heading into his sixth NHL season, finishing last year with a career-best five goals and 23 points in 78 games played. He averaged 17:51 of ice time per game with Boston last season, seeing his role increase due to an abundance of injuries; expect a similar role in Buffalo, with a coveted right-handed shot from the point.
Erik Johnson
The Sabres added another big-bodied veteran defenseman to their lineup in free agency by signing Erik Johnson to a one-year contract worth $3.25 million. The 35-year-old is another blueliner who possesses a right-handed shot, but he also brings valuable NHL experience. He has played in 920 regular season NHL games over 15 seasons, winning a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2021-22. That experience in a leadership role with a championship team should be beneficial for a young Sabres team trying to get over a massive hurdle.
The Impact of These Additions
It was clear what the Sabres wanted to do this offseason, they wanted to add an infusion of veteran blueliners to a solid young core of defensemen. They succeeded in doing so with the additions of Clifton and Johnson, who both bring physicality and combine for over 1,100 games of NHL experience.
In 2022-23, the Sabres’ young defense core made massive strides in their development, as Dahlin, Power, and Samuelsson all had career years. With the additions of two veteran defensemen with a stay-at-home play style, this Sabres’ defensive unit is shaping up to be much improved. The additions of Clifton and Johnson complement the play style of Buffalo’s young defensemen nicely and should allow them to be more comfortable joining the rush to make contributions offensively.
Path to the Playoffs
It won’t be easy for this young Sabres team to make the leap into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2023-24, however, it should be the expectation for this team.
The Sabres are loaded with young talent that has already showcased what they’re capable of doing at the highest level of hockey. With an abundance of youth, this team has plenty of time to develop, however, the patience of the Buffalo faithful is running thin due to the extended playoff drought.
In a highly competitive Atlantic Division, the Sabres have to deal with proven powerhouse teams, including the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, and Florida Panthers. Meanwhile, teams like the Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings, and Montreal Canadiens are in a similar spot as Buffalo, trying to break through and get into the playoffs.
The Sabres appear ready to compete with some of the top teams in the league this season, as they earned winning records head-to-head against multiple playoff teams, including the Lightning, Rangers, and Islanders in 2022-23. They also managed to split their season series against some of the best in the West, including the Avalanche, Golden Knights, Kings and Oilers.
They’ve shown what they’re capable of doing in small bursts, now it’s time for the Sabres to remain consistent throughout the entirety of a season. If this young squad can consistently play at a high level and stay relatively healthy, 2023-24 could be the season the Sabres end their playoff drought.
