The Buffalo Sabers took a step back after narrowly missing the playoffs in 2023, finishing seven points out of the final Eastern Conference wildcard spot with a 39-37-6 record (84 points). The regression cost coach Don Granato his job and put more pressure on GM Kevyn Adams to end the league’s longest playoff drought at 13 seasons.
Adams brought back veteran coach Lindy Ruff to emphasize responsibility and made trades and free agent signings to remedy the Sabers’ depth and defensive issues, but the question now is whether they are as good or better than their Conference competitors. East.
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The Tampa Bay Lightning weathered the early-season absence of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to reach the playoffs for the seventh straight season, but after reaching the Stanley Cup Final three times in a row (and winning twice), John Cooper’s team was eliminated in the first round for the second year in a row. GM Julien Brisebois faced his annual crisis in the summer, and after reacquiring veteran blueliner Ryan McDonagh from Nashville and signing free agent Jake Guentzel, he sent Mikhail Sergachev to Utah for JJ Moser and prospect Conor Geekie, traded winger Tanner Jeannot to Los Angeles and, most importantly, lost team captain Steven Stamkos in free agency.
Forwards
The Lightning finished fifth in the NHL in scoring with 291 goals (45 more than Buffalo) last season, with All-Stars Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point scoring more than 40 goals. The hope is that former Penguin Guentzel can replace Stamkos’ production. Tampa Bay is essentially a two-line team, with Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul in the top six. The bottom six are a mix of cheap veterans like former Flyer Cam Atkinson and former Sabers Conor Sheary and Zemgus Girgensons.
The additions of Ryan McLeod, Jason Zucker, Beck Malenstyn, Sam Lafferty and Nicolas Aube-Kubel give Buffalo a better third and fourth line, but Tampa Bay has fewer question marks in the top six, giving them a slight edge over the Sabres.
Defense
Victor Hedman is still one of the best defensemen in the NHL at age 33 after scoring 76 points last season. McDonagh, 35, is an excellent defender, with Erik Cernak providing size and physicality, but the depth of the defense has diminished with the departure of Sergachev, who has been injured for more than half the season. Moser averaged 28 points over the last two seasons with Arizona, while Nick Perbix and Darren Raddysh form the latter duo.
Hedman is a more mature and better two-way version of Rasmus Dahlin, but the Sabers have better depth and a slight edge with Owen Power, Bowen Byram, Henri Jokiharju and Mattias Samuelsson.
Goalkeeper
Vasilevskiy had an uncharacteristically average season (30-20-2, 2.90 GAA, .900 SV%), which was in part due to his mid-season return from back surgery and also due to the club’s defensive struggles. Backup Jonas Johansson played 26 games and kept the Lightning from falling too far behind in October and November, posting a 12-7-5 record. If Vasilevskiy returns to No. 1 Vasilevskiy then he will be one of the top three goaltenders in the NHL, but doubts that he is capable of returning to that level of performance limit the advantage Tampa Bay has over Buffalo with Ukko’s tandem -Pekka Luukkonen coming off his first excellent campaign, and Devon Levi.
Panorama
Tampa Bay’s fate depends on Guentzel being able to score 35 to 40 goals, with Vasilevskiy returning to his best form, but most importantly proving he can be good or great without Stamkos, who has been their leader since being drafted by the first time overall in 2008. If they do this, they will battle Boston, Florida and Toronto for a top three spot in the Atlantic, but they will more than likely be at the top of the bubble group of five or six teams along with the Sabers fighting for the Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
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