This team finishes about the same spot as this season. Kapanen isn't good and the team still has Ristolainen on it

On paper yes, but like every other year they will probably start off hot then go on a long losing streak and miss the playoffs

Well to start, Leafs decline.

But no, this team is not a playoff contender.

Who are they beating out in the East?

Tampa, Boston, Toronto, and probably Florida and Montreal are all better in the Atlantic, and in the Metro, Caps, Pens, Isles, Canes, Columbus, Rangers, and Flyers are all better. They aren't getting a wildcard spot even if Cozens has like a 50 point rookie season and is an elite defensive forward too. The team has a bright future if they play their cards right, but that future is not now, and especially not with that team

Wings in no position to trade picks in a deep draft for marginal players.

Kapenan would be better than the majority of the wings on buffalo lul. Only Rhienhart, Olofsson would be better better. In general leafs reject the trade as Montour is not a good defenseman.

I dont even think buffalo is going to qualify this kid and hes gone.

I dont disagree on montour being bad, but that doesn't make Kapanen good, and he's not better right now* (could be in the future) than players like Johansson or Larsson soon to be called up Cozens

If Cozens is a 50 point center and elite defensively, then there’s no reason they wouldn’t at least challenge for a playoff spot. But I don’t think he will be both of those right away

Kapenan would be the buffalos 3rd best wing behind only Olfsson and Rhiendhart but u can keep telling urself hes bad but honestly he would be an upgrade to this team who lets face it according to O'Rielly should be done with being Okay

Adams already said that they won’t let him walk.

I could see Buffalo being a contender due to the expanded format but thats about it. The good news for them is florida should go through a regression leaving them with the opportunity to take that new extra spot

I think you guys forget that Buffalo was 3 points back of the leafs with a game in hand about 2 weeks before the break. The wheels fell off, and they fell hard. If they have a competent 50 point defensively elite center Instead of the garbage they were throwing out there it would go a long ways.

hmm it's sad to read this
who are they beating out in the East? my guess for the next season are Bruins, Caps, Habs and Florida to name just a few from your list ... the first two are going to fall in the standings imo

you're high if you think Buffalo with minimal adjustments is doing better than the Bruins and the Caps. They're still playoff teams, even if they regress a bit. Habs are very deep, have 4 very good centers in Suzuki, KK, Danault, and Domi, and are probably better on the wings, better in net, and better on D, as opposed to one and a rookie who would probably be better off playing wing in his first season, and a disappointing Mitts at C, one offence only defensemen, Joki who's actually pretty good, and some useless lads. Then in net Ullmark vs. Price... come on now. With FLA, they are equal at C, better on the wings, and better on D. Also I know he had a bad year, but I'm still taking Bob over Ullmark.

The other two are clearly better, like I don't even feel that I need to justify choosing them over the Sabres

I dont know who this Rhiendhart fellow is but if you look up kapanen using the same stats you used for Montour you'll find that he's not very good.

I am not sure I would classify Dahlin as a useless lad

Well. IMO any team with okposo in the lineup isn’t a contender.

well, I generally understand your reasoning but you never know in what form players appear throughout the season

@ bruins: just feel they're having very little point producers, basically the 2nd forward line is 'malfunctioning'; also they're likely to loose Krug
@ caps: their productive forwards are aging - Ovechkin, Backstrom, Oshie is injury prone - and have no money left to keep their defense as solid as it used to be before because of stupid contracts like Panik's;
also you don't know how good their goaltenders be after end of Holtby era
@cats+ habs: buffalo has generally better defense than both teams and bobrovsky plays better than ullmark every 2nd season only; to price - he's better only when healthy which is not very often the case

@sabres: yes, it is absolutely crucial cozens have a good rookie season and mittelstadt plays a 2-way responsible game for bruins to achieve the play-offs next year...

even if re-united with tavares, heh?

I think he’s a more than serviceable 4rw. But having him in the third line is a bit iffy.

1 center away from being contenders. I don't mind mitts at 3c with mojo and kahun for support.
I would run cozens on the top line with eichel and have skinner reinhart run on the 2nd.
We would have a good top 9 and if mitts struggles mojo would be an OK 3c. Buf was right in the mix when healthy.
My biggest concern is that they have so much time not playing compared to everyone else

Skinner, Reinhart**, Olofsson would all be far better than Kapanen if you really wanna rank our wings against him. No way we don't qualify Montour, you don't trade a 1st and a prospect for a player and then let him go for 0.

Skinner if paired with Eichel yes, the current skinner, no. But that said overall yes skinners career has been much better till now.

Good post.
Montour was totally misused by Krueger (along with Skinner, Hutton, Vesey, Sheary and Rodrigues)
Keep Johansson as he is worth more as depth forward than a 3rd round pick.
Lazar over Malgin.
Okposo with Kahun and Mittelstadt will come a lot closer to earning his salary.
While it may not be a playoff team it is close
So was last year.
The year before when they only got 10 pts in their last 21 games and four of those came in the last 2 games.

Thats just a bad take. The Canucks have been rolling with Loui Erikkson all year and they have seemed to find a way to make it work. Okposo is still a better player than him at this point.