Buffalo Sabres: The best surprise, worst disappointment of 2023
With the Buffalo Sabres season nearly complete, we have seen enough to name the biggest surprise and biggest disappointment of the season.
You can argue that, even if they miss the playoffs, the Buffalo Sabres were the surprise team of 2022-23. With 81 points, they stuck around the playoff race (and continue to stick around) longer than anyone would have predicted.
And they had a few surprise players along the way who helped them at least give their fans an interesting season. But there were also a few major disappointments. So with six games left in the year, who surprised more than any other, who disappointed, and who was the most intriguing?
Buffalo Sabres best surprise: Casey Mittelstadt
With 49 points in 76 contests and six games remaining, it’s safe to assume Casey Mittelstadt will hit the 50-point mark. Not only has he enjoyed an adequate points total, Mittelstadt finally forged an identity as a scrappy player, almost a grinder, and it’s paid dividends for the Buffalo Sabres lower lines.
No, he won’t score you many goals, but he’s shown enough to warrant a serious look as he heads into the final year of his contract in 2023-24. There are no guarantees he sticks around after that, but given his performance this season, he will make a case.
Worst disappointment: Victor Olofsson
A few players would have gone here, but no one disappointed more than Victor Olofsson. While he scored a career-high 26 goals, Olofsson has done little else and has arguably been the team’s biggest liability defensively.
He showed this season that he offers little value other than to serve as a team’s goal-scoring specialist. But even then, he’s rather limited, having scored a plethora of empty-netters and meaningless goals this year.
Most intriguing: Tyson Jost
You can make the case that Tyson Jost is among the NHL’s most underrated players. His statistics will impress no one, and remember, this is a guy the Buffalo Sabres picked up earlier in 2022-23 on waivers, so he wasn’t exactly a hot commodity.
Players like Jost showed us that statistics (21 points in 55 games, -4) don’t tell the entire story. Jost has a grinder mentality, has been good at times on the forecheck, and he’s even put himself in good position near the crease more than a few times to either score or challenge an opposing goaltender.
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Overall, you can look for Mittelstadt and Jost to remain in their respective roles for 2023-24, as part of an even stronger Sabres lineup. As for Olofsson, he will be the odd man out, and you can expect either Jiri Kulich or Matt Savoie to potentially take over the spot.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)