Five Buffalo Sabres Players Who Need To Step Up

Mar 11, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Buffalo Sabres defenseman Mike Weber (6) skates out with the puck against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs beat the Sabres 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

4. Mike Weber

Weber, who has found himself on the outside of the top six several times in his career with the Buffalo Sabres, is seemingly in danger of being right back in that spot again. In the past, it’s often been a matter of his being a younger, lesser-experienced blueliner being bumped out by guys like Henrik Tallinder and Toni Lydman, forced to fight for a spot with the likes of Chris Butler and Andrej Sekera. Now, it’s a little different situation.

He’s played most of this season so far, but was a healthy scratch for several games lately — and that’s when the Sabres are WITHOUT the services of Zach Bogosian. Once he returns to lineup, Weber really might find himself out of a spot and potentially even on waivers as the Sabres are moving towards a generally younger defensive core, with the likes of Rasmus Ristolainen and Mark Pysyk leading the charge.

So far this season, Weber has one assist – notched in Thursday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning – and is a minus-3 in  nine games. Last season, he was an overall minus-22 and a minus-29 the year prior. He’s likely never to be a real offensive defenseman – his career-high in points (17) was way back in 2010-2011, and last season he had seven points in 64 games. But he’s also struggled defensively and seems to be on the outside once again.

It seems like Bogosian will still be out for a while, but Weber looks to be dealing with a limited timeline. He’ll have to work hard – and fast – to keep his spot in the Buffalo Sabres lineup.