Just how much difference does a year make? For the Buffalo Sabres, 365 calendar days was all it took to transform their top-six. Let’s talk about them.
The Buffalo Sabres were facing a crisis this time last year at forward. Jack Eichel wanted out. Sam Reinhart was already out, traded for a first round pick and “some kid” named Devon Levi. Jeff Skinner’s career was in a downturn. Ditto for Kyle Okposo’s. And Tage Thompson was some fringe center that no one in the media had a high opinion of.
You can argue that Casey Mittelstadt was their best forward heading into training camp last season, especially after the Taylor Hall fiasco. Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs were also in Vegas, and they remained there until the Sabres got rid of Eichel.
Now, read that first line in the pevious paragraph again, and it is no typo: You can argue that Casey Mittelstadt was their best forward heading into training camp. We had little sample size on Dylan Cozens. We knew Vinnie Hinostroza wasn’t going to perform miracles, and Zemgus Girgensons was returning from a near-two-year layover.
It is easy to understand why everyone in NHL spheres, including many in the Buffalo Sabres faithful, said that this was nothing more than a terrible hockey team. Not to mention they’d just signed the NHL’s oldest goaltender and were seeing yet another head coach enter their first full season.
The transformed top-six should leave Buffalo Sabres fans feeling a lot of optimism heading into 2022-23.
Then, the impossible happened. And while the Sabres missed the playoffs yet again, they found a few puzzle pieces along the way. Even if the improbable, such as COVID-19 sweeping through the locker room juxtaposed by an injury bug, initially made a bad situation worse.
But Skinner and Okposo experienced career renaissances, Thompson evolved into one of the better centers in the game, and the Sabres struck gold on the Jack Eichel trade. Cozens turned the corner in some categories, while Rasmus Asplund saw himself in the top 20 for the Selke Trophy.
Peyton Krebs and Victor Olofsson became productive puzzle pieces. Especially Olofsson, who went on a scoring frenzy to close out the year.