Team: 2021-22 Buffalo Sabres

Initial Creation Date: Aug. 2, 2021

Published: Aug. 2, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Things are looking pretty grim to be honest. I'm happy for the youth movement, and giving the young guys a bunch of minutes, though. Gotta find the right balance throughout the lineup to make sure the guys are insulated with defensive players so they don't get lit up all night every night.

This lineup is without an Eichel trade so it could obviously change but I'm not going to speculate that return as of now.

IMO Hayden, Okposo(if he even plays?) and Eakin(barf) get rotated in with injuries. However, I would like to see guys like Peterka, Quinn, or even Pekar getting tossed in there for 10-15 games to see what they do. Depending on where the recent draftees play, maybe even a couple of them come up as well. Rosen, Kisakov, and Polpatov come to mind here.

Defensively I'm pretty optimistic about the coming year. I expect a large improvement from last season, and that should open up some chances to get guys like Samuelsson, Power, Johnson, and Bryson some games. I would like to see Bryson get top 4 minutes in the AHL for a season though to be honest. Still not really sold on him as a complete player.

NHL Goaltending is NOT good. The better looking D should help a touch but not much. That said, I think Anderson and Dell take the NHL spots and give UPL, Portillo, and Levi a chance to grow in the AHL.

All in all, I expect to see a ton of growth from the rookies under Granato for the next two years or so