The Buffalo Sabres missed the playoffs in 2015-2016, but it was a massively successful campaign that featured a 27-point improvement on their embarrassing 2014-2015 season.

Off-Season Game Plan looks at a Sabres squad that is putting together core pieces to be a consistent contender going forward, but isn’t quite there yet.

General manager Tim Murray was busy last summer, hiring a new coach and remodeling the roster with new centres for the top two lines, three new defencemen, a new starting goaltender and more. This year’s needs aren’t quite so vast. It’s more fine-tuning to surround the young talent with players that will allow them to grow and reach their potential.

After making a 27-point jump in the standings in one season, Buffalo now has to bridge the 12-point gap that kept them out of the playoffs in 2015-2016. "The goal is to make the playoffs," Murray said. "And next year it may actually be a realistic goal."

The Buffalo Sabres talking about the playoffs? Times are changing.

HOCKEY OPS/COACH

Tim Murray/Dan Bylsma



FREE AGENT FORWARDS NAME GP G A PTS CF% RelCF% PDO OZS% ATOI 2015-16 CAP STATUS Marcus Foligno 75 10 13 23 46.6 -2.6 100.9 40.6 13:11 $1.875M RFA Zemgus Girgensons 71 7 11 18 48.2 -1.1 100.2 48.8 15:02 $894K RFA David Legwand 79 5 9 14 45.1 -3.4 98.3 50.7 9:42 $3.0M UFA Nicolas Deslauriers 70 6 6 12 42.5 -7.9 97.7 48.7 10:20 $638K RFA

The Sabres aggressively sought out a trade for Ryan O’Reilly last summer, and signed him to a big-money long-term contract extension which kicks in next season. And they’d undoubtedly do it again (and again and again). He’s still facing a DUI charge from an incident in which he crashed into the drive-thru of a Tim Hortons last summer, but O’Reilly has every bit as good as advertised; a strong two-way player who has scored at least 55 points in four straight full seasons (excluding the 2012-2013 lockout campaign). It’s easy to believe in the idea of 25-year-old O’Reilly and Jack Eichel running one-two down the middle in Buffalo for the foreseeable future.

Evander Kane and Ryan O'Reilly were significant upgrades to Buffalo's attack.

Eichel came to Buffalo with all the hype that befits the second pick in the draft, and while comparisons to top pick Connor McDavid aren’t fair to Eichel, the 19-year-old was very impressive as a rookie. Putting together his size, speed, hands and shot gives him an opportunity to be a productive franchise centre. The next step is to find wingers that can suitably complement his high-end talent.

What a difference a year makes. In 2014-2015, Sam Reinhart had a nine-game trial with the Sabres during which he looked completely overmatched. But last season, he worked on his shot and as he got stronger, the second pick in the 2014 Draft turned quickly turned into a scoring threat. Reinhart processes the game at a high level, which makes him a good fit alongside other skilled forwards.

Evander Kane is unique, for a number of reasons, but on the ice it’s because he’s an elite-level shot generator, but finishes like a checking winger. There are only a handful of players in the league that have generated more than 500 shots over the past three seasons, while scoring on fewer than 8% of them, and none of those players are playing more than 21 minutes per game, as Kane did for the Sabres last season.

37-year-old winger Brian Gionta is the team captain and while he remains a solid enough contributor, it’s probably about time to have younger options taking some of his ice time. Gionta is heading into the final year of his contract.

It was a brutal season for 32-year-old Matt Moulson, who managed just eight goals, with career-lows in shots on goal (1.37 per game) and shooting percentage (7.2%) leading to such poor results. On the plus side, he remained a positive possession player, relative to his teammates, but he’s getting paid quite a bit to simply hang his hat on adequate possession stats. He might be considered a buyout candidate, but the Sabres have said that’s not happening. Considering the money involved, it’s not unreasonable to want to give Moulson another shot to fill a productive role next season. If he can’t, then the buyout option can be revisited.

23-year-old Johan Larsson has been developing as a shutdown-type centre, facing decent quality opposition with more defensive zone face-offs. He’s inexpensive depth with a little upside.

A concussion limited skilled, but small, winger Tyler Ennis to just 23 games last season, so his return would be a step in the right direction to upgrading Buffalo’s attack. He’s a three-time 20-goal scorer, but that’s come mostly with talent-deficient Sabres teams. An opportunity to play with O’Reilly or Eichel could result in a career year for Ennis, provided he’s healthy.

Cal O’Reilly is Ryan’s older brother and, last season, saw his first NHL action since 2011-2012. He’s a good playmaker at the AHL level, but doesn’t have a strong enough all-around game to be a consistent contributor in the NHL.

A physical winger who scored a career-high 23 points last season, Marcus Foligno fills a role as a hard-hitting checking winger. Aside from a brief flash (13 points in 14 games) when he was first called up to the league in 2011-2012, Foligno hasn’t been able to generate enough offensively to be considered for a more significant role.

Pushed down the depth chart by new Sabres acquisitions, 22-year-old Zemgus Girgensons has three years of NHL experience, but is still trying to find his niche in the lineup. Can he score enough to play in the top six? After seven goals and 18 points last season, that’s still in question.

Nicolas Deslauriers is a designated hitter on the fourth line, but he’s in his own end far too often.

While the Sabres have started to put together a nice core of forwards, they could use some immediate help if they are going to take a run at a playoff spot next season. A veteran scoring winger to complement Eichel would be great, but there are only so many available. Loui Eriksson or Kyle Okposo would be great, but Teddy Purcell, David Perron or Lee Stempniak could be decent contributors and not require quite the same premium price. Considering their forward depth, the Sabres may want to add a veteran or two near the bottom of the depth chart too.



RETURNING DEFENCEMEN NAME GP G A PTS CF% RelCF% PDO OZS% ATOI 2016-17 CAP Zach Bogosian 64 7 17 24 46.6 -2.3 99.0 50.8 22:21 $5.143M Cody Franson 59 4 13 17 49.7 2.1 98.9 50.2 16:50 $3.325M Josh Gorges 77 2 10 12 44.8 -5.6 100.0 40.8 20:28 $3.9M Mark Pysyk 55 1 10 11 51.9 4.3 99.2 55.0 15:54 $1.125M

FREE AGENT DEFENCEMEN NAME GP G A PTS CF% RelCF% PDO OZS% ATOI 2015-16 CAP STATUS Rasmus Ristolainen 82 9 32 41 45.4 -4.1 98.6 43.7 25:17 $925K RFA Jake McCabe 77 4 10 14 47.3 -0.3 100.8 48.6 19:07 $925K RFA Carlo Colaiacovo 36 1 4 5 48.5 -0.8 95.8 56.3 14:28 $900K UFA

Zach Bogosian is steady in a top-four role, but doesn’t exactly control tough match-ups either. Throughout his career, the 25-year-old has posted negative relative possession stats, and that included last season, even though he had the highest percentage of offensive zone face-offs in his career.

Signed to a reasonable cost as a free agent last summer, Cody Franson played a modest 16:50 per game for the Sabrest, his lowest average time on ice since 2011-2012. He’s a right-shot defenceman with good size and consistently favourable relative possession stats; he has one year left on his deal, so Franson could be a trade chip if it might help the Sabres in other areas.

31-year-old vet Josh Gorges has made his career the hard way, blocking shot after shot, but he gets caved-in when it comes to puck possession and still logs more than 20 minutes per game on the Buffalo blueline. For the Sabres to make appreciable defensive improvement, they need to find more capable puck-movers to move ahead of Gorges on the depth chart.

An internal candidate for more ice time could be Mark Pysyk, who doesn’t make the highlight reels, but has put up favourable possession numbers early in his career. He hasn’t played a lot, and certainly not against difficult matchups, but if young defenceman is generating those numbers against weaker competition, then it could be time to see if he’s capable of doing it against better opponents.

Rasmus Ristolainen is emerging as a No. 1 defenceman for the Sabres.

A rising star on the Sabres defence, Rasmus Ristolainen can improve his defensive play, but the 21-year-old had a breakout campaign in 2015-2016, scoring 41 points and playing more than 25 minutes per game. The next step may be to secure a better partner, one capable of matching Ristolainen’s big workload.

Jake McCabe stepped into the NHL and acquitted himself well as a rookie. He’s steady, reliable, safe;; that’s not code for “off-the-glass-and-out” either. Getting that for 19 minutes a night out of a 22-year-old shouldn’t be overlooked.

The Sabres figure to be on the hunt for a significant defensive upgrade this summer. Adding a legitimate top-pair guy would be ideal. Of course, that’s a game in which demand always exceeds supply, so if Buffalo can find some help on the free agent market, they should take it. Alex Goligoski, Keith Yandle, Brian Campbell and Dan Hamhuis are top free agents, and any one of them would be an upgrade on Buffalo’s blueline.



RETURNING GOALTENDERS NAME GP W L T SV% EV SV% 2016-17 CAP Robin Lehner 21 5 9 5 .924 .925 $2.225M Linus Ullmark 20 8 10 2 .913 .922 $776K

FREE AGENT GOALTENDER NAME GP W L T SV% EV SV% 2015-16 CAP STATUS Chad Johnson 45 22 16 4 .920 .927 $1.3M UFA

The Sabres gave Robin Lehner an opportunity to be a starting goaltender last season, and he promptly got hurt in the first game, not returning until the second half of the season. He’s never played more than 36 games in an NHL season, but Lehner has flashed potential and even with some ups-and-downs to this point, should be at least an average starting goaltender.

When Lehner and Chad Johnson were hurt last season, 22-year-old Linus Ullmark stepped into the void and, while he may have been overmatched in a starting role, he played well enough to be considered for the backup job next season if Johnson leaves via free agency.

TOP PROSPECTS PLAYER POS. GP G A PTS +/- TEAM (LEAGUE) Brendan Guhle D 63 10 18 28 -5 Prince Albert (WHL) Hudson Fasching RW 37 20 18 38 +12 Minnesota (Big 10) Justin Bailey RW 70 20 25 45 -7 Rochester (AHL) Will Borgen D 37 1 13 14 +17 St. Cloud St. (NCHC) Linus Ullmark G 28 .902 Rochester (AHL) Cal Petersen G 37 .927 Notre Dame (HE) Nick Baptiste RW 62 13 15 28 -3 Rochester (AHL) Casey Nelson D 40 6 16 22 +14 Minnesota St.-Mankato (WCHA) Giorgio Estephan C 59 30 44 74 +26 Lethbridge (WHL) Eric Cornel C 68 27 56 83 +19 Peterborough (OHL) William Carrier LW 56 13 17 30 +14 Rochester (AHL) Devante Stephens D 72 2 9 11 +12 Kelowna (WHL) Jean Dupuy LW 74 8 13 21 +8 Rochester (AHL) Brady Austin D 72 2 9 11 -2 Rochester (AHL) Andrey Makarov G 22 .916 Rochester (AHL)

DRAFT

8th – Clayton Keller, Olli Juolevi, Jakob Chychrun

FREE AGENCY

The Sabres have approximately $46.6M committed to the 2016-2017 salary cap for 15 players.

NEEDS

One top-six forward, another forward, one top-pair defenceman, backup goaltender

WHAT I SAID THE SABRES NEEDED LAST YEAR

Three top-six forwards, two top-four defencemen, starting goaltender

THEY ADDED

Ryan O’Reilly, Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Jamie McGinn, Cody Franson, Jake McCabe, Mark Pysyk, Robin Lehner

TRADE MARKET

Matt Moulson, Cody Franson, draft picks

Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com , corsica.hockey , stats.hockeyanalysis.com www.hockey-reference.com, www.naturalstattrick.com , www.generalfanager.com and www.capfriendly.com .