Buffalo Sabres Roster: Depth At Forward No Longer An Issue

The Buffalo Sabres had a great deal of issues last season, one of which was an enormous lack of depth at the forward position. This issue was primarily a lack in scoring depth in general, but with the new additions to the team at forward, this issue is a thing of the past.

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Before the end of last season, the Buffalo Sabres were running out of NHL caliber players to ice for each game. Granted, they were having that issue from the start of the season, it was an even more evident issue towards the end of the year with many injuries in place.

With those younger players playing for a good portion of the year, they have differentiated themselves from the prospects that are not capable of playing at the NHL level. Players like Johan Larsson, Phil Varone, and even Zemgus Girgensons proved that they were all truly NHL ready forwards.

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Having those players further developed, and being in the lineup for tough parts of the year, they are all great depth players (with the exception of Girgensons who is great for a top 6 role). Having been tested into their current positions, the forward depth issue is no longer a problem.

As Tim Murray added to the offense by acquiring Evander Kane and Ryan O’Reilly, he added to the top six in a way that will ease the pressure from Matt Moulson and Tyler Ennis who had to carry the offense themselves. Moulson is not capable of sparking offense, but does have the keen ability to add to it when the ball is rolling already.

Tyler Ennis is already a proven igniter for the Buffalo Sabres offense as he led his team in goals and points last season. With the added support of Kane and O’Reilly in front of him, Tyler Ennis will be able to up the production of the depth scoring from the second line.

As far as the rest of the offense, there is still a good amount of scoring punch from the third and fourth lines. Marcus Foligno has the ability to put up points pretty well, and Brian Gionta is also more than capable of putting up a decent number of points.

With Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart being added to the mix for next season, there will be even further depth scoring down the middle and the wing. The top 9 for the Buffalo Sabres will have a very stinging scoring set of forwards and their fourth line will be the hard hitting set of grinders that helps teams succeed.

So even though the offense was poor to a point of being pathetic each night, the lack of goals being scored will not be as much of an issue in the coming season.

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