Puck Prose
Fansided

Buffalo Sabres: How do they stack up in the Atlantic Division?

By Carson Trask

TORONTO, ON - APRIL 28: NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly poses with Buffalo Sabres General Manager Jason Botterill after the Buffalo Sabres won the first overall pick during the NHL Draft Lottery at the CBC Studios on April 28, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - APRIL 28: NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly poses with Buffalo Sabres General Manager Jason Botterill after the Buffalo Sabres won the first overall pick during the NHL Draft Lottery at the CBC Studios on April 28, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 6
Next
buffalo sabres
Photo by Rob Marczynski/NHLI via Getty Images /

The Buffalo Sabres have improved immensely. But is it enough to have success in the Atlantic Division?

The 2017-18 NHL season was another basement finish for the Buffalo Sabres. Since the 2013-14 season, they have finished dead last in the league three times. The Sabres haven’t made the playoffs since the 2010-11 season.

This tanking route has been a fruitless avenue for Buffalo. The ping pong balls refused to fall their way, missing out on that coveted first overall pick. Former general manager Tim Murray had dreams of Connor McDavid, only to have the Edmonton Oilers turns those dreams into a nightmare.

More from Puck Prose

Jack Eichel is as good of a consolation prize as a team is ever going to get to build around. The Sabres just haven’t been able to do it. Dysfunction throughout the organization has leaked into the dressing and polluted the on-ice product.

New general manager Jason Botterill has had enough. The time for excuses is over and the moves he has made this offseason has put them into the conversation of being a playoff team.

Let’s take a look a look at how the Sabres offseason has unfolded.

Draft Lottery

Going into the 2018 Draft Lottery with the best odds to secure the number one pick was nothing new for the Sabres. At that point, their fans must have expected a poor result. How could they not? They’ve seen that story have a bad ending on multiple occasions, so why would this be any different? The wound of losing out on McDavid still hasn’t healed, so the potential of losing out on a generational defenseman would have been devastating.

Lady Luck finally broke the Sabres way this time around. Securing the number one pick and the rights to draft Swedish phenom Rasmus Dahlin is the single greatest factor that has taken Buffalo down this offseason path. A player of Dahlin’s ability on the backend can accelerate a rebuild overnight.

Rasmus Dahlin

Everyone and their mothers knew who the Sabres were to select with the first overall pick of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. Dahlin has been a human highlight reel playing for Frolunda HC of the Swedish Elite League as a 16 and 17-year-old.

6-foot-2 defensemen that can move around the ice the way Dahlin does don’t grow on trees. The label of a true number one defenseman isn’t given out frequently because there just isn’t many of them. Teams are always looking for them and the only way to acquire them is through the draft.

The Sabres now pair a generational defenseman with an elite number one center. Now, the task for Botterill is to fill the roster out around them, complimenting his two stars.

Home/Buffalo Sabres