Buffalo Sabres Keys To Success For 2015-2016 Season

If a person takes a hard look at the Stanley Cup Champions of the recent years, they all have a few things in common; top level players, young budding stars, and a strong defensive core. In the offseason and the regular season, the Buffalo Sabres have acquired players to get them closer to this formula of success.

Related – Sabres Projected Offensive Lines

Do I expect the Buffalo Sabres to make an honest run at the Stanley Cup this season? No I do not. I would love to see them push for the playoffs, and it is not that farfetched of an idea. In order for the Sabres to make strides towards a better season this year (and potentially push for the playoffs) they need to have a few key things happen.

Strong Showing From Robin Lehner

One of the key pickups for the Buffalo Sabres this offseason was getting goaltender Robin Lehner from the Ottawa Senators. This trade signals that Tim Murray has chosen his number one goaltender for the first true time at the helm.

Since Ryan Miller was shipped out of Buffalo, the Sabres have been looking for a suitable replacement. Even though there was a valiant effort shown by Jhonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth last year, it wasn’t enough forth to stick around and they too were shipped out for draft picks. Now Tim Murray has chosen his starting goaltender.

With this vote of confidence from his general manager, Lehner needs to step up to the plate and truly prove himself to the fans in Buffalo. For a crowd that will quickly jump on him for poor performances early on in the year, Lehner needs to establish himself as the undoubted starter and, not only win some early games, but steal a few as well.

There is a good amount of hype surrounding him going into October, so he needs to show everyone that he really is worth the first rounder he was traded for (a pick that was used on center Collin White).

Top Line Needs To Produce

The Buffalo Sabres first line will undoubtedly feature Ryan O’Reilly and Evander Kane. With neither of these players having played a single game in a Sabres uniform, they need to step up and prove that they are worth the price paid for them (in O’Reilly’s case, that price includes his monster of a contract).

Evander Kane was acquired for two prospects, a first round pick, and two NHL roster players (one being Tyler Myers) and that is a very hefty price for a player with great scoring upside. In order for the Buffalo Sabres to win a lot more games this year, they will need a strong showing from Evander Kane as the top scoring threat the team has.

As far as O’Reilly is concerned, he will be expected to play the top center role. That means he’ll be playing a shutdown role, a playmaking role, and a leadership role. Can he play this role? I think he has the potential to, but he will need to prove to everyone in Buffalo that he can do so. In order for The Sabres to succeed next year, these two players need to play a huge part in the offensive surge each night.

Young Talents Need To Develop And Produce

The primary hype surrounding next year will be centered around Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart. In order for the Buffalo Sabres to have success, they need to have scoring threats on every line and those threats need to be viable and consistent.

The Sabres already know that Matt Moulson, Tyler Ennis, and Zemgus Girgensons can produce without much help so that is great for the top six, but as we go down the depth chart, the Buffalo Sabres will need Jack Eichel to show some big signs of development and for Sam Reinhart to do so as well.

Both players are very promising, but they need to be able to be consistent and produce at the NHL level. Since neither of them have done so yet, they have a lot to prove, but I believe that they can do it.

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