They finished 5th last season and had a winning record the last 41 games of the season. They aren’t a playoff team yet, but they aren’t going to be as bad as people are projecting it shouldn’t shock anyone if they are better than both Ottawa or Detroit again this year.

They aren’t better than Detroit and Ottawa. I expect them to be Farley close to Detroit in the Standings. I think the Sabres will have 85 PTS and the Red Wings will have 87 PTS. I don’t expect them to be bad but with how tough that division is they’re finishing 7th. They are still missing goaltending. If they had goaltending I could see them better than Detroit but they don’t have that. Ottawa is really improved. And with the Chychrun rumours continue if to rumble they’re going to be better than Buffalo.

The Sabres are significantly better than Detroit. Detroit is one of the most overrated teams this offseason. Detroits goalies are more unproven than Buffalo, Detroits Defense is terrible, and their biggest add on offense was an analytical darling. Ottawa will be last years Chicago, tons of high-profile trades and signings to get everyone excited only to fall flat.

You also predict 0 growth for Cozens and Krebs, despite both of them showing the opposite in their NHL careers? And if those are the numbers Mittlestadt is putting up, hes not making it to 70 games, the Sabres have plenty of options other than him.

I’ll remember this.

I may be blind but where's John-Jason-James-Joshua Peterka ?

My bad I new I was forgetting someone

Skinner doesn't usually have more assists than goals. Thompson (still not a favorite) doubled his career shooting percentage last year, I expect him to get a boat load of prime opportunities, but if his shooting percentage drops, he's probably around 30 goals. Mittelstadt is probably a 40 point guy, I'm not setting the bar particularly high here, if he can set up olofsson, he's gonna get some helpers. Krebs should have more assists, I'm afraid his goal total is probably close to the 11 here unfortunately. Our division is a buzz saw, but to think that Ottawa and Detroit are no Brainers to be ahead of us, I can't get there.

Excellent work, especially from a non Sabre fan.

The Senators surely are making a big push adding Tkachuk, Giroux, and DeBrincat.
It is hard for me to imagine them getting less than 95 pts.
Detroit is loaded with young top end talent and probably solved the GK problem with Husso.

On the other hand the Sabres were 16-9-3 over the last 28 games (when the team was completely healthy) 35pts/28 games would be 103 over 82.
The Sabres were predicted to finish dead last but finished with 75 pts about 20 pts more than expected.
It is not only having talent but getting the most out of the talent, Granato brings out the best in the players

Samuelsson, Tuch, Krebs, Mittelstadt, and Power were not Sabres at the beginning of the 2021-'22 season.
Quinn. Lyubushkin, Comrie and maybe Peterka will fill the RW, RHD and GK holes from the start of the season.
It is hard to say how many pts the Sabres will have with nine different players compare to the start of the 2021-'22 season.
I feel very confident saying Granato will most likely get more out his players than either Lalonde or Smith will get out their players.
Because the Atlantic is loaded with strong teams, the Sabres could have 90 pts and still finish 7th.

EDIT
I just noticed you have the Sabres scoring 279 goals while Anderson and Comrie have 3.03, 2.97 GAA respectively.
279/82 is 3.4 goals a game.
3.0*82 = 246 GA
TBH simple logic should tell you when a team scores 33 more goals than it gives up it is close to the play offs not with only 85 pts.

You know, all of this is true. I think if I had to place a bet in Vegas I would guess 7th in the division, but it's pretty far from a sure thing. It's not reasonable to put Ottawa and Detroit above them, in ink, in August.