Buffalo Sabres 2016-17 Season Predictions: October

Having projected how well the individual players on the Buffalo Sabres roster will perform in 2016-17, we take a crack at predicting how the team will do month-by-month!

With World Cup of Hockey pretournament games already being played, and with the Prospects Tournament and Buffalo Sabres training camp only days away, we’re THIS close to having hockey back in our lives!

(Of course, my kid has been skating for most of the summer – but it’s just not the same, and we all know it!)

All of which means it’s time to start the futile task of predicting how well the Sabres will do over the course of the 2016-17 NHL regular season, starting with the month of October.

More from Sabre Noise

October Schedule

Thursday, October 13: Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo Sabres

Sunday, October 16: Buffalo Sabres vs. Edmonton Oilers

Tuesday, October 18: Buffalo Sabres vs. Calgary Flames

Thursday, October 20: Buffalo Sabres vs. Vancouver Canucks

Tuesday, October 25: Buffalo Sabres vs. Philadelphia Flyers

Thursday, October 27: Minnesota Wild vs. Buffalo Sabres

Saturday, October 29: Florida Panthers vs. Buffalo Sabres

Sunday, October 30: Buffalo Sabres vs. Winnipeg Jets

The Sabres are an improved team compared to the 2015-16 squad – there is no doubt about that. However, the old adage of “You can’t win the league in the first month, but you sure can lose it” might apply to the Sabres’ 2016-17 season.

For starters, everyone needs to remember that the new and improved Buffalo Sabres will need time to gel. The team is integrating two brand new players in Kyle Okposo and Dmitry Kulikov, as well as working Tyler Ennis back into the mix. Head coach Dan Bylsma, who sometimes is a little too quick to mix up his lines, has some pressing questions he might not be able to answer in the preseason, questions such as “Which line will Okposo develop the best chemistry?” and “Who will become mainstays on Jack Eichel’s line?” It’s easy to assume that Okposo will play alongside Ryan O’Reilly and Evander Kane, and that Ennis will slide onto Eichel and Sam Reinhart’s line, sure. Still, putting together successful lines is more complicated than that. And we have not even discussed the uncertainty that hovers over Buffalo’s third and fourth lines of forwards.

Making the month of October even more challenging is the fact that 4 of the Sabres’ first 5 games are away games, including a 3-game Western Canada road trip. The Oilers, Flames and Canucks may have all missed the playoffs last season, but expect the Flames and Canucks to come out with some extreme motivation in order to try and erase the bad taste in their mouths from last season. And while I don’t the Oilers are ready to make the playoffs just yet, they do have Connor McDavid, a somewhat-retooled defense, and possibly the biggest pain-in-the-ass player in the NHL now that they signed Milan Lucic. Bottom line: I don’t see any of those games in Western Canada as being “gimmes.”

All of which brings me to my prediction for the month of October:

Sabres record in October: 3-3-2

I see the Sabres earning Ws against the Canadiens, the Oilers and the Jets. After that, Buffalo could conceivably go 0-5 against the opposition, although I think the Sabres’ trend of losing one-goal games will carry over from 2015-16 and result in a few overtime losses for the Blue and Gold.

Next: How The Sabres Defense Is Trending

The Buffalo Sabres will start their 2016-17 season with a lot of fans hoping that there will be postseason hockey in the 716 come April, but the first month of the season is not a cake walk. The Sabres should be able to emerge from October with 8 points and the feeling that things are only to get better . . . but whether or not November is any easier remains to be seen.

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