Buffalo Sabres: Jack Eichel and Rasmus Dahlin lead new beginning

The Buffalo Sabres were the worst team in the NHL this season, finishing with only 62 points. How likely are they to improve next season?

It’s always hard to know with the Buffalo Sabres. Every season, their fans seem to generate two ideologies, regarding them. You have the insane optimists and everyone else.

As crazy as it seems now, there were a lot of optimists before the 2017-18 season started. Some people were legitimately convinced that Jack Eichel would lead the dark horse Sabres into the Stanley Cup playoffs, where they would stun everybody. Or at least that Buffalo was on the right track to success.

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This optimism went beyond the fringe overly-confident Sabres fans, this season. Two experts from NHL.com predicted a playoff qualification before the season commenced.

Well, things went wrong. The Sabres’ lack of depth offensively and defensively was exposed. Robin Lehner didn’t turn out to be a starting-caliber goalie and Chad Johnson didn’t even turn out to be an NHL-caliber goalie.

This is not to say that there were no brighter spots on the roster. Eichel, for example, was phenomenal, scoring 25 goals and 39 assists for 64 points, in only 67 games. This points him on pace for a 78 point season.

Ryan O’Reilly didn’t disappoint, scoring 61 points. Sam Reinhart scored 50 points and looks to have a very promising career ahead of him. Rasmus Ristolainen could be an important part of a rapidly improving Sabres’ defense.

Additionally, advanced stats-wise, Jason Pominville and Evan Rodrigues had really good seasons. Buffalo may have finished with the least amount of points in 2017-18, but there certainly is room for hope.

Along with the core they already have, other factors are popping up which encourages an optimistic outlook regarding the future of the Sabres. Let’s take a look at how they have changed since the end of the season.

The new Sabres era

The last two seasons have been good ones for teams who finished at the bottom of the league. The 2016-17 Toronto Maple Leafs made the playoffs after a 2015-16 season where they finished with only 69 points.

And, of course, the Colorado Avalanche qualified for the playoffs during the 2017-18 season, after finishing with an abysmal 48 points in 2016-17. They were in a significantly worse situation than the Sabres, coming into this season.

Well, a group of new faces in Buffalo suggests something similar is going to happen. Eichel has been developing very nicely and looks to be the offensive face of the Sabres for quite a while.

Rasmus Dahlin was selected 1st overall by the Sabres at the Draft. He has the potential to be one of the best defensemen of the decade. Buffalo could have two players who can be considered superstars. This won’t fix your team by itself but it’s certainly a good starting point to build your team around.

Despite all of the times the Sabres were snubbed of the first pick in the NHL draft, they’ve still ended up with Eichel and Dahlin. For a team that has missed the playoffs for the past seven seasons, they really aren’t in that bad of a situation.

Eichel and Dahlin are the beginnings of a good team but the Sabres have a bit of depth to boast about, too. Even with Evander Kane and O’Reilly gone, they still have some talent on their roster.

Reinhart, Ristolainen and even Rodrigues are young, skilled players and the faces of Buffalo’s future. Additionally, with the acquisition of Jeff Skinner, the Sabres have the makings of a good team.

Conclusion

So, this definitely isn’t that hard to understand, and you don’t need to be an extreme optimist to see it. The Sabres have the building blocks of a great team in the future. They can build their offensive core around Jack Eichel, and their defensive core around Rasmus Dahlin.

This is obviously easier said than done, but there are reasons to have faith in the Sabres. With the pieces they already have in pace, my advice to Sabres fans, is to just be patient. Expect this season to be significantly more watchable than the last.

If the Sabres simply wait for the right pieces to fall into place, they should be set for the future soon enough.