The Buffalo Sabres finished ahead of three division rivals in 2021-22. Can they repeat it after busy offseasons from Ottawa and Detroit?
The Buffalo Sabres are building things the slow way, and slow and steady has been proven to win races. But try saying that to the Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings, two teams who used trades and big-time acquisitions to solidify their 2022-23 rosters.
Many claim the two teams already passed up the Sabres and could even compete for playoff spots. And while Ottawa and Detroit can surge through the NHL hierarchy, building predominantly through free agency and trades has always been risky business. Sometimes it works, other times, it does not.
If the Sabres have one huge advantage here, it is their younger squad has more experience playing together as a team. And that could go a long way in 2022-23.
Will the Buffalo Sabres hold off two surging division rivals?
1 – Ottawa Senators
What do you make of the Tim Stutzle deal? It’s now common knowledge the Senators signed him to a lengthy contract worth $8.35 million/year. Stutzle will either shine or become the Senators version of Jack Eichel. But given the overall environment in Ottawa, I’m going with the former, but Stutzle has yet to exactly shine, so this deal carries a lot of risk.
Stutzle isn’t the only player in the lineup locked up for at least five season. The Senators also have Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot, John Norris, and Drake Batherson signed on. With an average age of 24 among this group, the Senators have their core players set for the present and future and this would give them an incredible outlook. Especially if Stutzle excels under his new deal.
My concern, however, lies with the additions of Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat. While they could serve as the Senators missing puzzle pieces, they could also be a hindrance to the core group mentioned above. It’s hard to argue that adding talent to your team is great, but doing so before they start winning regularly is where that high risk factor comes in.
DeBrincat and Giroux could push this team over the top. Or they could take time to build chemistry with a core group that accumulated just 73 points last season. A lot of hype surrounds the Senators and they look great on paper, but that doesn’t always mean it will translate.
Verdict: Sabres may hold off the Senators, but this one can go either way.
2 – Detroit Red Wings
The Buffalo Sabres and Red Wings have taken polar opposite approaches to team building in 2022-23, with the Sabres looking to add their pieces from their prospect pool to the main roster while the Red Wings made acquisition after acquisition.
Like the Senators, the Red Wings did have a few pieces already on the roster, like Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Dylan Larkin. So it’s not like the Red Wings tore everything down and made a bunch of high-profile signings and trades.
Still though, you’d like to see a decent season or two before taking this approach, and the Red Wings ended up finishing one point behind the Sabres in 2021-22.
They traded for two goaltenders in Ville Husso and Alex Nedeljikovic. They have a new coach in Derek Lalonde and they added a laundry list of free agents like Andrew Copp, David Perron, and Ben Chiarot. With all the new acquisitions via free agency and trade, coupled with the fact this team had a great prospect pool and all but decided to ignore it, it’s going to take time for this team to mesh, if they mesh at all.
Will they be better than their 74-point outing last season? I would say so. But the clash of youngsters who have been in the system for at least a year versus veteran newcomers tells me this could wind up working or it could set the franchise back.
Verdict: Sabres have more than a good chance of holding off the Red Wings, at least early.
Summary
The Senators and Red Wings both took time to put a few talented core pieces into place. However, they finished 2021-22 with 73 and 74 points, respectively, so it remains to be seen of whether their gambles in the free agent and trade markets pay off.
Meanwhile, the Buffalo Sabres just keep adding to their team from what they had in the prospect pool, minus the Jack Eichel Trade, of course, which brought in Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch. They made just two notable moves via free agency with Ilya Lyubushkin and Eric Comrie, two free agents who are filling positions they needed to address.
For 2022-23, the Sabres will enter with an edge in the team chemistry department. And it gives them a sound advantage over their rivals early in the season. Ottawa and Detroit can definitely make respective playoff pushes and upend the Sabres, but the new faces will need to build chemistry with the current. And with two teams that haven’t won much, it could take time.
Article Source: 2022-23 NHL preview: Detroit Red Wings by Zach Laing
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