Buffalo Sabres: Here's the Herd 2.0

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Last year my first article with Sabres Noise was a dive into the Sabres heavyweights. I wrote about how scary it must be to play against a team with multiple forwards and defensemen that are 6'2+ and typically weighting around 200+ pounds. In my head at the time I felt we may have been scary to play against. At times we were! But that was a rare occasion.

If you're like me, you were probably yelling at the TV when the opposing team would poke UPL or Levi after the whistle and no one on the team would do anything about it. Ranting to friends and family saying "Why won't they use their size! Just hit him!!!" It was frustrating to watch, on top of many other things with the team.

Thankfully, Kevyn Adams heard some of our prayers, and brought us players who can really pack a punch. Not only players, he also brought us a coach who likes to make his players pack a punch too. This season we will see many punches being packed by more players than just Dahlin, Cozens, Greenway and... and... and a couple of the other guys!

This is going to help the Sabres be fun to watch again

It will be the speed and skill of modern hockey combined with the physicality and brute force of old time hockey. Can't the season start already? In the 2023-24 NHL season, the Sabres ranked 23rd out of 32 teams in hits total by team.

We had a total of 1,606 hits. Meanwhile, the Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers, led the league with a combined 2,120 hits. Buffalo was also seventh in the league in Hits Taken with a whopping 1,951. Ouch.

Lastly with Shots Blocked, the Sabres were 26th in the league with a combined total of 1,059. We weren't the worst in the league when it comes to total hits and blocks, but we certainly were far from being among the best. Let's take a look at the Recap, onto the next page

(Statistics pulled from moneypuck.com)

Here's the Herd 1.0 Recap

Last year, March 28th, 2023 is when the article was published. There were nine Forwards/Defensemen mentioned in the article. Of those nine players, only two of them are no longer with the team; Ilya Lyubushkin and Zemgus Girgensons, both of which were the smallest on the list. Four new additions were made that will be included in the new list. Here's a quick refresher on last year's titans, this time with the latest season's height, weight, hits, and blocks:

Apparently some of the guys lost weight or somehow shrunk a little in size. Some hit and block counts were impressive, while others were a little... disappointing (I'm looking at you Power, get those hits up!) Overall, we still have a big team.

Now that we've recapped, let's take a dive into the new additions being added to the Herd of titans that have graced us with their presence!

Beck Malenstyn: 6'2 - 194 lbs.

Beck Malenstyn, the guy we traded a second round pick for in the 2024 NHL draft. Supposedly the Capitals did not have any intention on trading him, but Kevyn Adams came in with an offer too sweet to pass up on.

Was it a bit of an overpay? Yes. Did we really need the second round pick? Absolutely not. We have such an elite pipeline of depth and top notch prospects that justifies moves like this. Same can be said about the Savoie trade.

I'm projecting Malenstyn to play on the bottom six, more specifically on the fourth line. However, the move made the Sabres better overall. Malenstyn was 12th in the league last season in hits, with a total of 241. He also had 93 blocked shots. The Sabres and him agreed to a two-year, $1,350,000 AAV contract and he's only 26 years old. In 81 games he had 6 goals, 15 assists, and 21 points.

Sam Lafferty: 6'2 - 205 lbs.

Coming in as a Free Agent, Sam Lafferty signed a 2 year deal with a $2,000,000 AAV. Another very team friendly deal for a bottom six player. Lafferty plays center, and I believe he will be our 4C guy. However, I could also see him playing as the 3C, moving McLeod to the wing if necessary.

Either way, this gives us some great stability down the middle. Lafferty's Faceoff percentage from this past season isn't the greatest, standing at 42.1%. However, back in the 2022-23 season with Blackhawks he had an impressive 52.4 faceoff %.

In 79 games, he had 13 goals, 11 assists, and 24 points. This is followed by 191 hits and 31 blocks. It seems the Sabres will have big bodies rolling down the middle this upcoming season. Who doesn't love a big physical center that can hit? I think Lafferty will be fun to watch along with many others.

Ryan McLeod: 6'2 - 207 lbs.

Many people seem to think that Edmonton robbed Buffalo in the trade of Savoie for McLeod. While it does seem like a bit of an overpay, I think I would rather have seen Savoie traded away opposed to someone like Kulich, Ostlund, or Rosen. Don't get me wrong, Savoie is an extremely talented player, but his size and play style don't seem to match what Ruff is going for in the team.

McLeod is only 24 years old, and has one year left on a deal that gives him $2,100,000. After this season he becomes a Restricted Free Agent. He is the type of player that will be dynamite on the third line, but I can even see him get some time on the second line as a Left Wing.

Through 81 games, McLeod had 12 goals, 18 assists, 30 points, with 65 hits, and 34 blocks. For a bottom six player I'd say that's really good. He still has the potential to grow and reach the next level.

What stands out to me, is that in the regular season, he had a faceoff percentage of 50.8%. While in Playoffs, he had a 52 faceoff %. This is the type of player we want and need this season in the bottom six, especially when the Sabres make the playoffs this season.

Dennis Gilbert: 6'2 - 216 lbs.

Welcome home, Gilbert! To conclude this list I've added a Buffalo native. While he will likely play with Rochester this season, we all know anything can happen at training camp. Signed as a depth defenseman for one season at an AAV of $825,000 Gilbert brings physicality and size to the blue line. In 34 games this past season he had one goal, six assists, seven points, 59 hits, and 49 blocks. Not too shabby for a depth defenseman.

I'm hoping he beats Jacob Bryson for that seventh defensive spot. What I like that Adams has done, he's created more competition through the lineups for every position. In this example we already know our defensemen will be Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson, Byram, Jokiharju, and Clifton.

That leaves one depth spot open on the NHL roster at defense. Competing for that spot will be Gilbert, Bryson, Johnson, and Clague. One in the NHL, three in the AHL.

Honorable mentions

To top things off I wanted to finish with some Honorable Mentions, guys in the AHL that are 6'3+ that might some day make the NHL roster, hopefully with the Sabres!

Vsevolod Komarov: 6'3 | 181 lbs. | D; Ty Cheveldayoff: 6'3 | 225 lbs. | LW; Nikita Novikov: 6'4 | 198 lbs. | D; Josh Dunne: 6'4 | 209 lbs. | C; Brett Murray: 6'5 | 227 lbs. | LW

The Rochester Americans will be packing some size, too! Hopefully we see some of these guys make the lineup some day, even if it is as a depth player.

Closing Remarks

Let's all hope the intimidation factor takes play after this season starts up. I have a feeling with Ruff leading this group of big bodies, fast skaters, and hitters this group is going to be scary to play against but super fun to watch. Which player listed are you most excited to see this season? How do you feel about the hypothetical 'Intimidation Factor'? Thanks for reading!

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