It has been an up-and-down start to the season for the Buffalo Sabres, as they began by losing three of their first five games. However, they have started to stabilize and play much better hockey and have now gotten points in eight of the last nine games, including three straight wins on the road.
While there is a lot of hockey left to play, there have been some early-season trends that have emerged for the Sabres and their players. Let's take a look at some of those trends and make predictions about whether they can continue.
Tage Thompson will score 60 goals this season
Tage Thompson is off to one of the best starts to a season in his career and has 10 goals through 14 games, including five in just the past two games. Thompson has always had a great shot and has had 40 or more goals in three of the past four seasons, but has a career high of 47 goals.
Right now, Thompson is averaging about .71 goals per game, and over an 84-game season that would result in 60 goals. That means he has to score 50 goals over the remaining 70 games, and while it certainly isn't unrealistic, it is hard to imagine that he can get to that level.
For that reason, this is a sell, but he certainly has a great chance at reaching 50 goals and being the first Sabres player with 50 or more goals in a season since Pat LaFontaine, who had 53 in 1992-93.
Prediction: Sell
Jack Quinn with career-high in goals
Among the trends on this list, this was the easiest one to pick, and it is a strong buy, as Jack Quinn is having an incredible start to the season. Entering this season, Quinn's career high was 20 goals in a single season, and through 14 games, he is almost halfway there already with eight.
The start to the season isn't overly surprising given how the former first-round pick finished last season. He had eight goals in the final 22 games of the regular season, with another two in 13 playoff games.
For the Sabres, the biggest question is how long they are going to let Quinn play in the final year of his contract or agree to an extension before he becomes a restricted free agent after the season.
Prediction: Buy
Buffalo Sabres finish in bottom five of penalty kill
One area that the Buffalo Sabres have really struggled to begin the season has been on the penalty kill with a 68.6% that ranks 29th in the league. This is a drop of over 12 percentage points from last season when they ranked 4th at 81.9%.
There is no question that the Sabres were going to go through some growing pains with their penalty kill. They lost two of the Top 6 players in terms of penalty-kill minutes this offseason with the departures of Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram.
In addition to losing those two, they have also been without Conor Timmons, who was seventh on the team in penalty-kill minutes. However, it appears that Timmons might be close to returning, and that will certainly be a boost.
They also have been playing better as of late outside of a Ducks' game where they allowed three power play goals. In the last three games, outside of the one against Anahiem, the Sabres have allowed only one power play goal on 11 power-play opportunities.
This was a case that there was going to be an adjustment period for this group but it looks like they are starting to improve. That is something that should continue as the season goes along.
Prediction: Sell
Buffalo Sabres will finish with 102 points
The Buffalo Sabres are trying to achieve something they haven't since the 2006-07 season, and that is to have 100 or more points in consecutive seasons. Last season, they finished with 109 points and won the Atlantic Division, and right now they are on pace to finish with 102 points.
They have certainly improved their chances with their recent three-game win streak, but another reason is that they have done a good job of getting at least a point when they weren't playing their best hockey. There have been a few games already this season where they did not look like the best team but made enough plays to get it to overtime to get a point.
It is a long season, and the Buffalo Sabres still have 70 games left, but they have put themselves in a great position to have another season with at least 100 points.
Prediction: Buy
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