The Buffalo Sabres return on Saturday, and it will kick off what should be an exciting final act of a season that has them in the playoff race.
It’s refreshing to sit here and say that the Buffalo Sabres are a good hockey team. Okay, they’re a much-improved hockey team on the verge of getting good.
But even up-and-coming teams need even their weakest links to pull some weight. So today, I’m outlining three players who must step up their game to help the Blue and Gold reach the 16-team playoff field.
Below, you will find one forward, one defenseman, and one goaltender who either struggled this season, or have been inconsistent at best. Let’s meet them.
1 – Casey Mittelstadt
Before I go any further, I’d like to applaud Mittelstadt, as he achieved a career-high in points after just 46 games this season. But he still has just 28 on the year, and a (-13) plus-minus. So it’s clear Mittelstadt has a lot of ground to make up.
He’s also been scoreless in his last four games, though to his credit, Mittelstadt’s been shooting the puck. He also has 12 power play points, so he’s serving the team well in at least that capacity. Overall, Mittelstadt’s game improved this season, but with crunch time approaching, he can still step it up a notch.
2 – Jacob Bryson
At this point, you can argue Kale Clague has played better than Bryson this season. The Buffalo Sabres third-pairing defenseman has an abysmal (-17) so far and contributed little this season defensively, with much of the blame for the defensive rotation’s struggles falling on him.
He does, however, have 50 blocks in just 42 games, which puts him on pace for a career-high in that category. And with just six giveaways, he takes good care of the puck. But right now, he just isn’t aggressive enough to even land a stick to disrupt a play consistently. If this keeps up, Bryson could wind up losing his job to Clague or at least entering a timeshare.
3 – Eric Comrie
With Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen emerging, Comrie has taken a backseat. But it doesn’t mean we won’t see him in action multiple times following the All-Star break. When between the pipes, no one needs to put up better performances to prove he’s better than he’s played so far this season than Comrie.
Sure, you can attribute bad defense to his subpar numbers. But Luukkonen and Craig Anderson have played far better, so you need to pin some of the blame onto Comrie. Plus, if he doesn’t improve, the Buffalo Sabres may be interested in finding a way to move him this offseason.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)
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