The Buffalo Sabres are a team worth following if they improve on their best finish in a decade.
The Sabres had 16 wins in their first 54 games in 2021-22 before doubling the win count in their final 28 games. Tage Thompson emerged with a team-leading 38 goals while Rasmus Dahlin and Dylan Cozens set career highs with 53 and 38 points, respectively.
Last year may have been an 11th-straight non-playoff year for Buffalo, but the team trends upwards again in the Eastern Conference with a 3-1 record to start this season. Sabres fans know all too well that hot starts don’t always translate to a playoff spot, but this team looks different than the 2019-20 club that started the season in the top three before dropping in November.
Four players finished with 20 goals or more for the fourth time in 12 years, while Thompson and Jeff Skinner cracked the 30-goal mark. In April 2022, the Sabres had a strong offensive surge averaging 3.45 goals per game, which would’ve been good for ninth in the league had it lasted all season.
The young core of Dahlin, Thompson and Cozens, youngsters Owen Power and JJ Peterka and veterans Alex Tuch, Skinner and Kyle Okposo give people reason again to believe in this club long-term.
Skinner enjoys what breakout players like Cozens and Thompson bring to the roster right now, but he also looks forward to where they could be.
“They’re two young guys – to have them down the middle is a nice thing to have in today’s game,” Skinner said. “They’re young and they’re going to keep improving, so I think they still haven’t reached their potential, and it’s going to be fun to watch them continue to rise because they’re obviously big parts of the team.”
Skinner said he values being part of a leadership group that can mentor the future players of the franchise.
“It’s important to have older guys and leaders around that young guys want to emulate and look up to,” he said. “It’s something I take pride in just being myself and trying to be a good example every day.”
Just ask coach Don Granato about how Dahlin and other players helped 2021 first overall pick Power and his peers get used to the NHL.
“He (Dahlin) gets really excited to help Owen and anyone else,” Granato said. “We’ve had several guys last year when Owen was coming in who were in my office constantly and saying, ‘I want to play with Owen.’ ”
Speaking of Granato, you can’t talk about the team that appears to be turning a corner without what he’s been able to do behind the bench.
Under Granato, the Sabres ended on a high note last season, going 16-9-3 over the season’s final two months.
Granato’s charisma and ability to see the game differently have endeared him to the team and set him apart from other coaches, something captain Okposo genuinely appreciated.
“He thinks about things in a very unique way,” Okposo said. “It’s very refreshing from a player’s standpoint to not hear the same thing over and over from different coaches. He really cares and wants you to get better in a way you probably wouldn’t think about getting better on your own. That’s something that endears us to Donny.”
A unified front and improving play means it may not be much longer before Buffalo’s season extends into the spring.
