Buffalo Sabres Preseason: What Are The Sabres Current Strengths?

The Buffalo Sabres are red hot in the preseason so far. The defense and the goaltending maybe seem a little shaky, but the offense is rolling very smoothly. Led by their new coach Dan Bylsma, the Buffalo Sabres are making a real case to not be a joke team in the NHL anymore. As the preseason rolls forwards, and the regular season approaches, the Buffalo Sabres need to have some serious focus on what their strengths are, and what weaknesses they need to fix.

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Strengths

It’s a refreshing sight to see goals going in the back of the net for the Buffalo Sabres. With this many goals having gone in during the preseason, I cannot help but get very excited to see the final result on opening night. Coach Bylsma seems to have thrown the right players into the mix together, and its producing some impressive results.

In his first game, Jack Eichel was a superstar that held his own as a top six center. He has put up multiple points in every game he has played so far and he is only pressing on towards more points. Jack Eichel has been the star of the preseason so far with his scoring ability being his primary asset.

Evander Kane has been everything that he was expected to be when he became healthy. He is out on the ice scoring goals, throwing hits, and developing chemistry with the other Sabres top players (including Jack Eichel).

Besides Jack Eichel and Evander Kane lighting the lamp for Buffalo, Tyler Ennis has a newly lit fire in his soul (or at least it seems that way). While he has been on the ice so far, Ennis has been making great plays, scoring goals, and been having some serious fun playing hockey again.

There is a new aura surrounding this team, and it seems to rubbing off on the Sabres offense. With an average of 4.25 goals scored per game so far, I hope they only trend upwards from that.

Weaknesses

The most obvious weakness in the Buffalo Sabres game right now is the goaltending. The goaltenders have given up an average of 3.75 goals per game, and it is not going to help anyone in the regular season to see that continue. I have a few ideas for what I could chalk this issue up to, but I will place the primary blame on consistency. It is still the preseason, and many of these goaltenders have not seen any hockey action in a long while; especially potential starter Robin Lehner.

Lehner has seemed very shaky in his first few starts, and that is a real issue if he is to be the eventual starter for this year. Chad Johnson has shown flashes of brilliance and capability, so he may be the safer option to start out the year.

Another way to go about remedying the situation is to play the goaltenders in a tender role (similar to what the St. Louis Blues do). It is very evident as well that there is a significant drop off in NHL capability amongst the Sabres goaltenders. While Lehner and Johnson are good enough to play in the NHL, Nathan Lieuwen and Andrey Makarov are not nearly ready enough for the big time. Both are going to be solid in the AHL for now.

Next: Sabres Opponent Outlook: NJ Devils

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