Dobber’s offseason fantasy hockey grades – Buffalo Sabres

For the last 17 years (12 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 18th annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer…er, winter. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

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Gone – Michael Frolik, Andrew Hammond, Dominik Kahun, Jimmy Vesey, Johan Larsson, Vladimir Sobotka, Wayne Simmonds, Marcus Johansson, Matt Hunwick

Incoming – Taylor Hall, Cody Eakin, Tobias Rieder, Matt Irwin, Eric Staal

Impact of changes – Last year many of us (myself included) had expected new coach Ralph Krueger to come in and take this team to the promised land (playoffs) thanks to the moves the Sabres made combined with their talented youth getting better. That obviously didn't happen. Will it happen this year? It's been my experience, over my many years of doing this, that the rebuild bearing fruit almost always takes a couple of years longer than you'd expect, and a good year longer than when you were 100% certain it would happen. Toronto and (probably this year) the Rangers are exceptions, but by and large that's what we see. I vividly remember both Chicago and Pittsburgh taking that extra year when everyone expected it the year prior. And fans came down hard on those teams, criticizing the hell out of management and being very negative in general the following offseason. All they had to do was hang in there for one more year.

Is the wait finally over for Buffalo? There are several reasons why the answer is yes – and it starts with Taylor Hall. Giving Jack Eichel such a highly-talented winger will no doubt inject even more goals into their season – and that means more wins. And adding Staal to the second line gives the Sabres a secondary scoring threat, further opening things up for Eichel. Add in defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, who is coming off a season in which his 82-game scoring pace was 56 points (bet you didn't know that) – and the offense is now Top 12 in the league.

But how is the defense? The goaltending is weak, with Carter Hutton being the obvious bust we figured he'd be when they first signed him after a (shocker!) big contract year. Linus Ullmark has been solid in taking over that starting job – as long as they admit that he actually took it instead of continuing to throw Hutton out there. But Ullmark is built to be a backup or a split starter, not a No.1. I don't know if he can be a Top 15 starting goalie in this league and Buffalo needs one. Defensively, Jake McCabe has been awesome, and so has Henrik Jokiharju. But Rasmus Ristolainen has been exposed and needs more protected minutes. Ditto for Brandon Montour. We'll see if this all-offense team can make it work. At least fantasy owners will be happy with the high-scoring Buffalo games.

Ready for full-time – Casey Mittelstadt got off to a hot start last season but cooled off quickly and was eventually sent down to the minors. He still needs to figure out the defensive aspect to the pro game. He had 25 points in 36 games with Rochester, so he's getting a handle on the offense at the AHL level. But the 22-year-old could still use another half-season there. In the NHL he will likely be converted to the wing.

Tage Thompson is a power forward who has already played in the NHL for a season. But as a 6-5 player he will need extra time to develop. So don't expect his production this season or next. Or the year after. In fact, pencil him in for four years from now. That's right – when he's 27. That's when big power guys make it happen in their numbers. But he should make the team this season because he has to clear waivers in order to be sent down and that will never happen.

I had Dylan Cozens on the team as their third-line center before his WJC performance. So naturally, I'm even more certain of it now. Very high upside in the long term, in the short term he is still a likely Calder candidate. I have him penciled in for 29 points in 53 games in the Fantasy Guide, and I also rank him eighth on my Calder in that same Guide.

Winger Rasmus Asplund can still be sent down without having to clear waivers, so he should start in the AHL. But he'll be the first player called up. He is a future third-line checker who can put up modest points in that role.

Buffalo Sabres prospect depth chart and fantasy upsides can be found here

Fantasy Outlook – The Sabres finished 21^st in league scoring last season which was a bit of an underachievement. Toss in the fact that the goals against was terrible, and you have yourself a disappointing season. Well, the team addressed the offense and then some this offseason and not only should they improve on last year's numbers organically (with Sam Reinhart and Victor Olofsson), but adding Hall and Staal should ramp that up further. Their defense is another story, but we fantasy owners mostly care about the offense – and this team will be much better.

On defense, the Sabres have lots of puck-moving skill from Dahlin to Montour to Ristolainen to Jokiharju. But Colin Miller and Jake McCabe can also move pucks so there will be no shortage of options from their blueliners. In fact, because they have so many, McCabe and Jokiharju are used in defensive roles, keeping their production down. The farm system is average, with Cozens on the way and Jack Quinn and John-Jason Peterka further down the road. Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is still a couple of years away, but he should turn into a pretty good one, and I like prospect Jonas Johansson because he's close to NHL-ready and the two guys in front of him – Hutton and Ullmark – are among the weaker duos in the league. But overall, I like this team for fantasy purposes because they have two game breakers in Eichel and Dahlin. That means at any given time, if you own a skilled Buffalo player, he has a shot at playing with either of them.

Fantasy Grade: B+ (last year was B+)

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