Buffalo Sabres: Final predictions for the 2022-23 season
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres open their 2022-23 season against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. Before the fun begins, let’s make some final predictions.
While predictions from outside outlets have not been kind to the Buffalo Sabres, there has been far more optimism in the Queen City regarding this team as of late. Perhaps it’s because the Sabres are taking on an eerily similar path to building a winner as their cousins, the Buffalo Bills, who opted to build primarily through the draft and supplement via free agency before they traded for one final puzzle piece.
Some of the final predictions you will read are bold. Other predictions are ones I may have already touched on. And yet a few more are newer, more logical in nature. So without further droning, let’s get started with three final predictions for the 2022-23 season.
1 – Dylan Cozens breaks out for the Buffalo Sabres
One adjective I’ve consistently used for Dylan Cozens is tenacity. And that’s exactly what he showed in the preseason, winning battle after battle, spreading the puck out, and creating plays to set up chances for his teammates.
Cozens wasn’t just there for his teammates; he was also there for himself, consistently giving himself chances to score. We saw this occur last season, but he hit a cold streak in the goal-scoring department. Don’t expect that to happen in 2022-23 as he foreshadowed that productivity over the past two weeks.
His consistency generated five points in four appearances, and you can expect Cozens’ line to be an excellent consolation to the Thompson line. Opponents will key on Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner, likely pitting their best checking or defensive forwards against them. Last season, the Buffalo Sabres didn’t have an answer. This year, they do.