Buffalo Sabres Improving, But Still At Bottom of League

The Buffalo Sabres have been playing better this year than last season.

Last year at the end of the year, the Sabres only had 23 wins. At the All-Star Break this season, the Sabres already had 21 wins and 47 points, almost as much as last year’s total of 54.

The one thing that upsets me about this season so far is that while the play has been ten times better than it was last season, the Sabres are still in the bottom three of the league.

The Sabres are still hanging out with our basement buddies in Edmonton, Columbus, and Toronto. Well — not so much buddies with Toronto.

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The part that I see that the Sabres can use to their advantage the most is their speed, and their ability to posses the puck for stretches of time. Speed is something that the Sabres have been able to use with players like Evander Kane, Jack Eichel, and Sam Reinhart.

The other part that makes this year’s team enjoyable to watch is the ability to get in to the corner and cycle the puck for a minute or more. For example during the game against the Bruins, you saw the team skate circles around Boston while possessing the puck and then to make smart passes to keep the puck.

The Buffalo Sabres were able to keep the puck in the attacking zone while still getting quality chances, much better than last year’s stats if you were to look at time with possession in the attacking zone. Last year’s team could barely connect on two passes without losing it.

I see that part of the coaching that Dan Bylsma has brought to this year’s team.

That speed ties directly into the time on attack and the ability to posses the puck. It ties in because when a player shoots it and it either deflects off the goalie or misses the net, the Buffalo Sabres have a better chance at getting it back because of the speed that they have.

A stat that I think is interesting to look at from this year’s team and last year’s team is under the category of enhanced stats. Enhanced stats are the ideas from the movie MoneyBall and converting it to hockey terms.

The enhanced stat that intrigued me is that this year the Sabres have a better shot attempts percentage when the game is close.

This means that the Sabres are getting more shots on net when the game is down or up by one or tied in the third period. This year so far the Sabres have 47.52% shot attempts in a close game and the more the team is over 50% the more likely the team is to make the playoffs. (Stats as of 2/5/2016).

Last year’s Sabres were at the bottom of the league in this category by a decent margin, with a shot percentage of 37.49. The next closest team was Colorado with a percentage of 42.99. But last season shows that the closer you are to 50%, the better chance you have of making the playoffs as only one team that below a percentage of 49.25 made the playoffs.

If the Sabres keep playing the way that they have, the team has a possibility to make things interesting for the rest of this season. I’m not saying playoffs but I am saying that they set themselves up to make it interesting.  Which hasn’t happened in a few years. I am excited to see how the Buffalo Sabres play the remaining games.

Next: Sam Reinhart as Trade Bait?

Leave a comment on how many points you think the Sabres will end up with at the end of the season.