Edited Jun. 21, 2020 at 4:53 p.m.
Quoting: WellIDK
You'd think a team that's rebuilding for so long would at least have plenty of solid depth players coming from their system. But the Sabres lack a lot of depth. Most of their early draft picks are playing somewhere else and that O'Reilly trade was extremely bad for the Sabres. They lack depth offensively, Dahlin and Jokiharju are fine pieces defensively but they need at least another good defenseman. Risto and Montour both had a negative impact offensively and defensively. And Buffalo is also still without a true #1 goalie. What are they going to do? Overpay like 4 to 5 players on the UFA market? Their division is pretty good and Ottawa has already done a better job at rebuilding than Buffalo. Hate to say it, but it doesn't look good for them
Yes, we lack depth, but not so terrible as it seems. It is unfortunate that our two former grandmasters were idiots, I hope this time more luck.
We have an elite franchise center and a defender franchise, this is a great basis to build team, and they are both young enough. Jokiharju is a very promising RD, we have a lot of defense prospects, I do not think that defense is now the main problem. We have quite solid wingers for top 6: Reinhart, Olofsson and Skinner. This season did not work for Skinner, but I think that he will return to his production figures in Carolina. There are good players for the top 9: Kahun and Johansson, Mittelstad and Thompson, if they progress, can also contribute. There is a good prospect Cozens, who will probably play Buffalo next season. Ullmark spent a pretty solid season, but Hutton, on the contrary, played terribly and we lost a lot of points because of him.
We need at least an average 2C for 1-2 years, while Cozens may not be ready yet and Mittelstadt will not find his game, LD #3 - #5, just a more reliable goalie than Hutton, who will play for us about 30 games and can be reliable behind Ullmark and possibly the top 9 RW.