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Buffalo Sabres About To Enter The School Of Hard Knocks

By Richard Spalding

Dec 17, 2015; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres center Sam Reinhart (23) tries to block a pass by Anaheim Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm (47) during the third period at First Niagara Center. Buffalo beats Anaheim 3 to 0. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2015; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres center Sam Reinhart (23) tries to block a pass by Anaheim Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm (47) during the third period at First Niagara Center. Buffalo beats Anaheim 3 to 0. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Sabres will face two potential Stanley Cup Finals teams and another playoff team on its West Coast road trip.

There’s an old saying: “If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”

If the Buffalo Sabres are truly building a team that will contend for Lord Stanley’s Cup in a few years, the team’s young core better be ready to take some notes.

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Starting Wednesday, the Sabres will play a trio of road games out West that will test the resolve of players such as Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Evander Kane and more.  First, the Sabres will head to the Honda Center to face the red-hot Anaheim Ducks, who are 19-4-2 since Christmas and are playing like a team that was projected by many to represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Final.

After that, Buffalo will take a swim in the Shark Tank as they take on the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Centre.  The Sharks are currently in third place in the cutthroat Pacific Division, only one point behind the Ducks and just three behind the Los Angeles Kings . . . the same Kings who the Sabres will face just one night later in the Staples Center.

All told, the Buffalo Sabres are about to play three games in four nights against three Western Conference playoff teams with a combined record of 97-60-17.  If this isn’t the hockey equivalent of The School of Hard Knocks, I don’t know what is!

Of course, making matters worse is that the Sabres will be without leading scorer, and all-around leader Ryan O’Reilly, who is projected to be out of the Sabres’ lineup for 3-4 weeks due to a lower body injury.

Even with O’Reilly, the Sabres would have been lucky to win more than one of the three West Coast games – my money would have been on the Sabres’ beating San Jose – so it won’t be surprising if the team finishes the trip with no points to show for it.  And what fan in his or her right mind is going to complain if the Sabres lose all three games – after two straight seasons of picking second, behind the Edmonton Oilers, I would love to see Buffalo finally land the top pick in the NHL Draft!

Despite the fact that Buffalo could go winless on this trip, the importance of seeing Anaheim, San Jose and Los Angeles in a four-day window cannot be understated.   The future of the Sabres lie in the hands of Eichel and Reinhart, and these two young studs are going to face four of the best centers playing in the NHL today in Ryan Getzlaf, Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, and Anze Kopitar.   You can find all four of those players listed among the top 15 centers, scoring-wise, in the league today, with Pavelski, Thornton and Kopitar ranked numbers 4, 5 and 7.  Classes begin Wednesday night, fellas!

And the lessons won’t just be learned by watching the opposition’s best offensive players, as the Sabres will be going up against two top-ten defenses.  The Kings allow only 2.33 goals per contest, which is 4th-best in the NHL.  Meanwhile Anaheim is right behind them in 6th place with only 2.38 goals allowed.

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Overall, this is exactly the kind of challenge a group of young players need to face in order to learn what it takes to win in the NHL.  Don’t count on it being pretty to watch – you’ve been warned! – but this West Coast trip will be instrumental in building up the character of these young Buffalo Sabres.

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