Now that the playoffs are out of the picture, the Buffalo Sabres must once again decide which approach will best prepare for the team for next season.
The Buffalo Sabres host the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight in the KeyBank Center, and those who attend or tune in on the boob tube will finally have a chance to watch a (probable) playoff-bound team take the ice.
Of course, that team will be the Leafs, who currently hold the third spot in the Atlantic Division with 82 points – but hey! Leafs fans will probably outnumber Sabres fans tonight anyway.
Regardless, the Sabres don’t have anything to play for over the course of their remaining eight games – except for pride, that is. Which brings us to the age-old question: To tank, or not to tank?
The Buffalo Sabres currently hold the 8th spot in the NHL draft lottery rankings, just 1 point behind Dallas for 7th but also just 1 point ahead of Winnipeg for 9th. With Detroit owning 70 points, it is conceivable that the Sabres could move up as far as the 6th spot in the draft lottery rankings, provided of course that Dallas and Detroit win a few more games before the regular season ends. Being able to claim the 6th spot might not sound like much, but it does improve Buffalo’s odds of landing a top-3 pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft from 18.3% to 23.5%, and with a draft pool that is supposedly as weak as this year’s is, cracking the top-3 is practically a necessity.
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Of course, moving up in the draft lottery doesn’t just require that a few other teams win; it also requires that the Sabres lose, and it certainly does not appear as if that is the Sabres’ intent. Rather than shutting down Kyle Okposo, Dmitry Kulikov and William Carrier for the rest of the season, it appears as if all three of those players will return from injury tonight against the Leafs. Rather than recall goaltender Linus Ullmark to see what he can do over a few games in the NHL, the Sabres will continue to roll with Robin Lehner. And to top it all off, coach Dan Bylsma rolled out a power-lay unit that consisted of five forwards – Jack Eichel, Ryan O’Reilly, Evander Kane, Sam Reinhart, and Okposo – during the team’s workout Friday.
Bylsma said this new power play unit, “should be dynamic.” (Courtesy of The Buffalo News) Given how successful the Sabres’ power play has already been this season, loading it up with that sort of firepower tonight against a Leafs team that averages 9:48 penalty minutes per game (10th most in the NHL) could conceivably result in a goal or two for the Sabres.
And scoring goals isn’t a recipe for LOSING games, now is it?
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There are arguments for tanking – for example, even though it is a weak prospect pool, a top-3 pick will still net either a solid pick or a juicy piece to use in a trade for a legit top-4 defenseman – but with this team, it is best for the Buffalo Sabres to try and win as many as games as possible before the regular season comes to an end. After all, this squad has shown great potential at times this year, but has also proven that it doesn’t know how to play a full game, or close the door on opponents when the Sabres enjoy a lead. Knowing that things might have been different this season had injuries not struck hard, the Sabres need to finish the season feeling good about something other than their place in the NHL draft lottery.