The Buffalo Sabres have 13 games under their belts, and so far, they have a few players on-pace to score 70 points. And yes, they will keep producing.
Yes, the Buffalo Sabres are currently in a lean period. However, this doesn’t mean you will see the ‘same old Sabres‘ fall back to Earth any time soon. In fact, there are five players on the team who currently have 10 points or more, and when head coach Don Granato figures out how to maximize his talent regularly, expect strong output from the following five players:
- Tage Thompson
- Rasmus Dahlin
- Alex Tuch
- Jeff Skinner
- Victor Olofsson
Each player has their own specialties which make them a threat to score every time they get a good look. They also tend to have a knack for not just finding an open teammate to log a helper; they have also provided assists for one another numerous times throughout the young season.
5 Buffalo Sabres who will encroach 70-plus points
Tage Thompson leads the way with eight goals and eight assists, good for 16 points. He showed time and again during a 68-point outing last season that he is capable of meeting the 70-point threshold and seems to have honed his game even more following a slow start to the season. So far, Tage is on pace for 101 points.
You also don’t see many defensemen score 100 points in the NHL, but Rasmus Dahlin is also on pace to break the threshold. Like Tage, Dahlin has 16 points, and his seven goals is putting him on pace to score 47 this season and 108 points over an 81-game span.
Alex Tuch has proven to be an effective goal scorer, having also put up seven on the season. Through 13 games, Tuch has impressed with a 21.2% shooting percentage, showing that he has a far more accurate shot than he did just one season ago and that he has been more than a cog in the Sabres machine following the Jack Eichel Trade.
Like Tage, Jeff Skinner also got off to a slow start, but his 11 points in 13 games puts him on pace to score 69 this season, so of course, we’re rounding it up to 70. The 70-point outing would be a career-high for Skinner, who has tallied a career-best 63 points on four different occasions, including last season.
One player many fans will write off is Victor Olofsson, but since this is a bold prediction article, I’m going to get bold and say that Olofsson won’t just score 70 points; but he will score 45 goals. In last night’s game against the Coyotes, VO had not one but two would-be goals ding off the post. Olofsson also seems to have control of the puck any time the Sabres are facing an empty net, so those bonus points will only help.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)
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