line up without quinn

Team: 2023-24 Buffalo Sabres

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 16, 2023

Published: Jul. 17, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Casey played very well on the top line.
Moving Thompson to play with Cozens, gives Buffalo two solid lines, either could be called the top line.
Clifton played on the top pairing when McAvoy was out, if the team with most regular season pts, could pair him on the top, Buffalo can do the same.
Johnson will provide on ice leader ship for Power.
Pairing Samuelsson with Jokiharju gives the Sabres a defensive defensemen paired with a puck moving defenceman on all three pairing as well as LHD with RHD.

Granato will make up the line up when Quinn returns, but this is a possible set up:
53-72-89
77-24-22
37-19-12
28-17-71

Ryan Johnson could see significant ice time if there are defensemen injuries.

Buffalo now has 8 solid NHL defensemen after adding Clifton, Johnson and Stillman, replacing Fitzgerald, Pilut, Clague and Bryson who played a total of 132 games last season.
It is most likely that Power, Quinn and Peterka will have break out years just as Cozens and Mittlestadt did last year.
While Comrie and Luukkonen did not play as well as expected unless one of them is lost to waivers, Buffalo will still have three NHL GK with Levi a Calder finalist.
This team has great depth when a 3rd line LW (Casey Mittlestadt) can step into the top line center postion over the last month of the season and kick out 17 pts in 11 games.
While the NHL pundits all are predicting the Sabres to be a bubble team, my big bold prediction is they will reach 100 pts.