What to know about each of the Buffalo Sabres rivals: Part I
The Buffalo Sabres could be more competitive in the Atlantic Division in 2023-24, but every one of their rivals will make the division tougher.
The Buffalo Sabres look like a better hockey team on paper heading into the 2023-24 season, but so do several of their division rivals. So today, we’re taking a quick snapshot at three of the teams in the Atlantic Division, going over what you need to watch for regarding each, and whether they too are or should be a legitimate threat to make the playoffs this year.
I’ll be previewing each team regarding when they play the Sabres in the regular season, with the Tampa Bay Lightning on board first. Then, we’ll cover the Montreal Canadiens, before we finally talk about the Ottawa Senators. Tomorrow, it will be onto the other four – Toronto, Boston, Detroit, and Florida.
So, what do the Sabres first three opponents from the Atlantic Division bring to the table this season? Keep reading for a rundown.
What to know about the Buffalo Sabres rivals: Part I
Tampa Bay Lightning
The biggest question involving the Tampa Bay Lightning is how the loss of Andrei Vasilevskiy will affect this team in the early going. Luckily for the Lightning, they are still a talent-laden group led by Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov. However, Hedman’s also no youngster these days, so the blueliner must find a way to preserve his body throughout the season.
Kucherov, however, should continue to play a sound game, and he will once again force opponents to key on him. They can also ride Tanner Jeannot and Brandon Hagel, but the duo would need to overachieve to further compensate for the team to look their best early.
Overall, the Lightning could make another run to the playoffs, but they must figure out a way to keep the team afloat until Andrei Vasilevskiy returns along with the age creeping up on their star players. At this point, I’m still saying Tampa makes one more solid run at the playoffs, but we’ll see how they fare soon enough.
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are the one team on this list that won’t see the postseason unless some miracle occurs. However, just as the Buffalo Sabres were not too long ago, the Canadiens have a brewing core of young talent, including Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. They are also counting on 2022 first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky to come more into his own following an uninspiring first season.
However, not only does Slafkovsky need to step it up, but Caufield has struggled with injuries. If the Canadiens see a repeat of last season, then they’re likely one year away from even remotely improving. But if we see a better Slafkovsky, a healthy Caufield, and Suzuki taking the next step, then Montreal should at least fare better than they did last season.
Defense, however, is still an issue, and it almost has nowhere to go but up when you look at the fact the Habs had 307 goals allowed, or 3.74 per game. Neither Samuel Montembeault nor Jake Allen looked great in the net, though the former has potential following a season when he logged a 0.538 quality start percentage. But the Canadiens must show up defensively to get the best out of its goaltenders.
Ottawa Senators
Following an offseason that saw the Ottawa Senators ship off Alex DeBrincat and bring in the likes of Vladimir Tarasenko and Joonas Korpisalo, they could be the Buffalo Sabres biggest challengers for a wild card in the Atlantic. Korpisalo is coming off of a season that saw him land a 0.649 quality starts percentage, a 0.914 save percentage, and a 2.87 GAA in the regular season, so he could be the answer in the net.
We also know the Senators have plenty of playmakers like Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Claude Giroux, plus serviceable players like Drake Batherson and Thomas Chabot, and we can’t forget about Jakob Chychrun. On paper, Ottawa looks like a tough team and they will give the Sabres trouble like they did for each contest sans the first game of the season last year.
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However, if the Blue and Gold show that they’ve grown from their solid 2022-23 campaign, then we will see some memorable outings between these two hockey teams. And while I think the Lightning will have another good season (as I noted two slides ago), I’m leery of the Senators.
Source: NHL season preview: Power Rankings, predictions, X factors by Ryan S. Clark
and Kristen Shilton, ESPN.com
(Data and additional statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)