Buffalo Sabres must prioritize special teams to make 2024 playoffs

The Buffalo Sabres had a weak set of special teams in 2022-23, and if they plan on snapping their playoff drought, they MUST prioritize improving them.

The Buffalo Sabres power play showed more than a few flashes over the 2022-23 season, but it tailed off during the latter stages. In this case, it’s likely the Blue and Gold already have the right personnel on the man advantage; but they were one-trick ponies most of the time, often looking for the likes of Victor Olofsson or Tage Thompson hanging around at the circle to drill one home.

Opponents caught onto this strategy, and during the latter portion of the season, the power play unit had no answer. For 2023-24, Buffalo must deploy multiple strategies to keep the unit consistent in the goal-scoring realm; perhaps taking more “ugly” shots to create disarray in front of the net and score some “dirty” goals.

But the power play wasn’t the only special teams unit that must improve. If the Blue and Gold want to make a playoff appearance next season, they must look long and hard at their penalty kill.

Buffalo Sabres special teams must become more effective in 2023-24

The penalty kill was abysmal last season, and though they came together ironically during the same time that their power play became ineffective, the Buffalo Sabres need to find a way to keep it strong all year. One way is to play fearless hockey, something head coach Don Granato pointed out:

"“And when you fear getting scored on, the hesitation is just advantage power play and we saw a lot of that in progression.” – Don Granato, via Buffalo News"

So how do the Sabres fix this? For one, they must start winning more faceoffs, and it’s something the Blue and Gold struggled with all season. Of each forward who took at least 100 faceoffs, Dylan Cozens had the best winning percentage, but it sat at a meager 48.3%. The more faceoffs Buffalo wins, the easier it is to get the puck out of the defensive zone.

They also need physicality among their forwards on the units. Hard hitters like Cozens and Alex Tuch are good examples of this, but they must also employ speed to put more pressure on opposing forwards.

It would also be wise to employ physical defensemen who aren’t afraid to block shots. Mattias Samuelsson, Ilya Lyubushkin, and Rasmus Dahlin are the three who come to mind, and they would also be responsible in preventing opposing forwards from crowding the net and scoring off of a rebound, something we saw happen far too often last year.

And most importantly, prominent players on the PK unit just need to stay healthy. It was something Samuelsson, Dahlin, and Lyubushkin struggled with last season.

Adding a physical, top four defenseman will help. But the Buffalo Sabres also need to realize that they DO have the right players for the penalty kill, sans someone who can consistently win faceoffs. They just need to employ the right blend of speed, physicality, and pressure to prevent opponents from scoring so easily on the man advantage next season.

Source: Will the Sabres find the right approach, personnel for their penalty kill? by Lance Lysowski, BuffaloNews.com

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)