Buffalo Sabres – Another Round of Choose Your Preference

The Buffalo Sabres will be icing a roster filled with more talent than we have seen on the team in quite some time. Some of us have personal attachments to players currently wearing the Sabres jersey. How will you handle choosing between the Sabres players I list and the alternatives I provide?

I have done this type of post once already, and received a bunch of positive feedback. Thanks! For this corresponding post I will keep the list of the Buffalo Sabres players the same, and offer up a different list of alternative players. Just to recap I want to reiterate that this post is NOT intended to be viewed as a one to one trade for the players I will be listing below.

Please remember, when making your decisions, I suggest taking into account things like cap hit, age, injury history, etc. I will be providing my own list of choices I would make based on the players listed. It will be interesting to see how our selections compare. There are NO wrong answers here, feel free to add some reasoning to your comments as well!

I want this selection process to be as simple as possible. The choices that are listed will be based on playing a similar positions. To break that down further, you will be choosing between forwards, defense, and goalies.

Let’s see our choices below!

1 – Jack Eichel or Auston Matthews or Tyler Seguin  (Our first choice has three potentially elite centers to choose from)

2 – Ryan O’ Reilly or Anze Kopitar  (All-star caliber centers that are defensively responsible)

3 – Rasmus Ristolainen or Seth Jones  (Cornerstone defensemen of similar age and size)

4 – Robin Lehner or Roberto Luongo  (Young with potential and injury concerns or experienced with solid stats, however age concerns & lengthy contract)

5 – Sam Reinhart or Sam Bennett or Leon Draisaitl  (Another three choice option… who would you have chosen in Tim Murray’s place during the 2014 draft?)

6 – Alex Nylander or Nikolaj Ehlers  (High potential wingers, one has already shown success at the NHL level)

7 – Kyle Okposo or Jordan Eberle  (Both can put up points and play with talent)

8 – Jake McCabe or Cam Fowler  (Different style defensemen, both with potential to improve)

9 – Tyler Ennis or Andrew Shaw  (Completely different style forwards)

10 – Zach Bogosian or Anton Stralman  (Physical with size, or stable and reliable on a stanley cup contending team)

Bonus Choice – Evander Kane or Alex Radulov  (Enigmatic wingers, both with high upside)

Fun choices right? Here are my selections…

Eichel – Desire to play in Buffalo remains a determining factor. Also, I believe he has the highest ceiling of the three.

Kopitar – Not a huge fan of the contract, but he is one of the best two-way centers in the league.

Ristolainen – Similar projected potential to Jones, however I love his off-season work ethic and dedicated to get better.

Lehner – Had to go with youth and potential on this one. I would not want to be stuck with a lengthy contract for Luongo.

Reinhart – Hard to not choose Reinhart on this one. All three players have shown potential to be successful in this league, I prefer Reinhart’s style of game the most.

Ehlers – Has as much if not more potential than Nylander. Has already shown the ability to score in the NHL, hard to chose otherwise.

Okposo – I believe his character and style of play will be a perfect fit for the Buffalo Sabres.

McCabe – Of the two, I believe McCabe has further left to go in his progression.

Ennis – This was a tough choice for me as Shaw has been healthier and is on a better contract. I had to go with the offensive potential Ennis may still have.

Bogosian – I prefer his physicality, and believe he may still take another step in his offensive development.

Radulov – Ability to score in the KHL, on a 1 year prove it contract.

Next: Sabres Jack Eichel - Will World Cup Hurt, or Help?

Wow, I really enjoy doing these. I hope you enjoy these types of posts just as much. I can’t wait to read what your selections are in the comments section. If you have any suggestions on future choices to propose, please let me know! Thank you as always for reading, I look forward to your comments and feedback!