NHL: 2021-22 Preview – 31. Buffalo Sabres

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The NHL 2021-22 season is upon us in just over 5 weeks. I am going to preview the season from the basement of the league to the top, ranking each position group as I go along. The Sabres are rebuilding once more going into this season. They have some nice pieces but still can improve through a Jack Eichel trade. At the moment, I am factoring in Jack as a Sabre for this year and a trade deadline deal is entirely reasonable at this point. I use the stats from the last three years to determine a players value and will reference them below in the depth chart. The stats were found utilizing https://www.capfriendly.com/signings/ and https://www.hockey-reference.com/ .

Team Rank: 31^st

Off-season signings- Most efficient

• One-Way
  • Vinnie Hinostroza/Blackhawks (R/C) – 1 year x 1.05 million
  • Craig Anderson/Capitals (G) – 1 year x .75 million
  • Mark Pysyk/Stars (R/D) – 1 year x .90 million
• Twoy-Way
  • Sean Malone/Predators (C) – 1 year x .75 million
  • Jimmy Schuldt/Golden Knights (D) – 1 year x .75 million
  • Aaron Dell/Devils (G) – 1 year x .75 million
  • John Hayden/Coyotes (C/R) – 1 year x .75 million
  • Ethan Prow/Germany (D) – 1 year x .75 million
  • Ryan MacInnis/Blue Jackets (C) – 1 year x .75 million

Forwards Rank: 30^th

Top Six Rank: 31st

Line One

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Victor Olofsson	L/R	116	35	43	78	34	277	29	31
Jack Eichel	C	166	66	112	178	63	591	130	108
Jeff Skinner	R/L	194	61	39	100	20	562	80	47

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Line Two

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Zemgus Girgensons	C/L	141	17	20	37	1	163	254	49
Cody Eakin	C	173	30	33	63	8	220	170	71
Vinnie Hinostroza	R/C	166	25	48	73	7	317	157	70

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Line Three

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Drake Caggiula	L/R	133	24	24	48	3	198	280	51
Casey Mittelstadt	C	149	26	30	56	20	213	50	36
Kyle Okposo	R	165	25	36	61	14	274	171	56

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Line Four

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Rasmus Asplund	L/C	57	8	6	14	1	70	35	10
Dylan Cozens	C/L	41	4	9	13	1	62	30	11
Anders Bjork	R/L	123	15	18	33	2	125	100	46

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Extras

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Tage Thompson	R	104	15	11	26	4	204	93	17
John Hayden	C/R	126	8	6	14	0	102	268	66

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Defense Rank: 29^th

Top Four Rank: 31st

Pair One

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Rasmus Dahlin	L	197	18	89	107	50	382	249	162
Mark Pysyk	R/RD	164	13	20	33	1	179	216	143

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Pair Two

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Will Butcher	L	157	9	53	62	17	207	76	177
Henri Jokiharju	R	153	7	28	35	3	190	169	153

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Pair Three

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Jacob Bryson	L	38	1	8	9	3	24	32	43
Colin Miller	RD	164	8	44	52	20	274	300	155

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Extras

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Robert Hagg	L	165	10	28	38	1	153	494	268

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Goalies Rank: 30^th

Name	GP	W	L	SO	SV%	GAA	QS%	RB%
Craig Anderson	88	30	45	2	.903	3.36	43%	19%
Aaron Dell	65	23	28	2	.895	3.17	38%	15%

GP – Games Played, W- Wins, L- Losses, SO – Shutouts, SV% – Save Percentage, GAA – Goals Against Average, QS% – Quality Start Percentage, RB- Really Bad Start Percentage