There have been plenty of storylines to follow so far if you’re a Sabres fan, from whether they will ever trade for a top-six scorer to whether they actually did play to preseason expectations. But this is just a sliver of the act, and many would-be storylines have fallen well under the radar.
So, I wanted to clue you in on a few that you may have missed but should consider paying close attention to as we hit the back half of November. No, we’re not talking about a potential goaltending controversy or anything that you may be hearing otherwise. That said, let’s talk about a few things you may not be so aware of.
Injury bug strikes again
Wow, that escalated faster than one could say ‘hockey.’ Tage Thompson, Mattias Samuelsson, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and now Jordan Greenway are all on the injury report as of Saturday morning. Samuelsson is once again on injured reserve and it looks like the injury is a long-term one.
About 20 minutes after I wrote up a piece on Tage’s near record-breaking goal-scoring campaign, we discovered he’s on injured reserve, so we’ll see how long that lasts. Luukkonen was also added around this time, and Greenway is the new arrival. All of the above are key players, and it could warrant a lasting effect on the Blue and Gold if they miss significant time.
Blue line to the rescue
Alright, now for some good news. You can’t say enough about some of the Sabres blueliners stepping up and providing some offense. Rasmus Dahlin leads the way with 14 points and four goals in 17 contests. He looks like he’s back on 2022-23 form, even if he didn’t look half-bad last season as far as finding twine went.
Owen Power has been setting the tone for the Sabres and his draft status with 13 points and three goals in 17 games. Power has struggled doing his part in helping his team prevent goals, but he looks like a forward out there sometimes when he’s got the puck.
Finally, Bowen Byram has 11 points, three goals, and a plus-9 rating. It’s becoming clear that the Sabres are at least somewhat winners in the Casey Mittelstadt trade, and if he can finally stay healthy for a while, we might be looking at a 50-point season.
Mysterious case of Peyton Krebs
Few forwards have impressed me more than Peyton Krebs, who has six points and two goals in 16 games, complete with an 18.2 shooting percentage. But Krebs is also pulling off his best impression of Cody Eakin in the faceoff circle, winning 56.1 percent of his draws so far.
He’s still every bit as physical, and while his on-ice save percentage at even strength is a bleak 88.1, Krebs’ on-ice shooting percentage, meaning goals scored while he’s in the game at even strength, is a fine 13.6. His Corsi For is just 45.8, but when you count the fact that 31.6 percent of all his starts have been in the offensive zone, it’s showing off his overall impact.