Finishing second last in the Eastern Conference last year and dead-last in the Atlantic Division, the Buffalo Sabres have room to grow coming into the 2017-18 NHL season. They had been hoping to be further along in their development by now but this team continues to struggle in their rebuild. There weren’t even a ton of positives to end the year. They were 26-23-10 on February 18th and then went on a 7-14-2 the rest of the way. It was really deflating for a team that had been hoping to springboard into the 2017-18 season with a little bit of momentum.
Young stars headline the Sabres roster coming into the season and one of them, in particular, should be highly touted in fantasy leagues. The question is can they score more goals and do more at the offensive end? The Sabres tallied just 201 goals last year, which was the second-fewest in the Eastern Conference and the sixth-fewest in the NHL overall. They have to do more if they’re going to offer fantasy players some assets. Here is our preview of the best Buffalo Sabres to own in fantasy this season and the biggest name to avoid.
Top Three Players To Own
1. Jack Eichel
With two years in the NHL under his belt, Jack Eichel is starting to develop into one of the game’s top young players. Eichel’s point total increased by just a single point, from 56 to 57. However, he did so while playing 20 fewer games. His 0.93 points per game ranked eighth amongst centers and 11th in the NHL overall last season. If he can play at least 75 games this season, Eichel’s ceiling in 2017-18 is a point per game player and a top-25 forward in fantasy this season.
2. Evander Kane
Ideal for picking up a wide variety of stats, Evander Kane is always an intriguing option in fantasy hockey. If you are looking for assists and +/-, he is a subpar player at best. He does make up for this for being good in many other categories. He ranked in the top-50 for hits and goals, 12th overall for shots and second in penalty minutes among all forwards in the NHL. Kane had five game winning goals last season, and if he can play more than 70 games and the team can win more than 33, he should see this number increase by 40% to 80%. Overall Kane is a good left-winger to grab in the middle rounds of your draft.
3. Sam Reinhart
Another young piece of the Buffalo Sabres core is Sam Reinhart, a high upside forward with some positional flexibility. Reinhart will be turning 22 in November and is still in the process of developing into an NHL player, but so far through his brief career he has proven to be a decent young NHL prospect. The biggest knock against Reinhart was his low shooting percentage, just 9.6% or 66th out of 88 forwards who had more than 175 shots last season. If he can balance out to a shooting percentage of 11.75%, the average of his last two seasons and increase his shot total to 200, he is a potential 25 goal-scorer.
One Fantasy Bust: Matt Moulson
Long gone are the days of Matt Moulson, the 30 goal scoring. Now Moulson is more of third/fourth line forward. Moulson does have one upside, he is still a pivotal player on the Sabres power play. Otherwise, Moulson is there for only two reason, veteran leadership and to anchor the bottom lines of the Sabres. Do not bother drafting Moulson this season and only consider picking him up if you desperately need power play points.
Goaltending Situation
The Buffalo Sabres rode their goaltender, Robin Lehner, last season. Lehner ranked third in shots against but just 14th in games played. Although he may not have won many games, finishing with just 23 wins, he had an impressive .920 save percentage and using the advanced metric “Goals Saved Above Average”, he was the eighth best goalie in the league. If the Sabres can limit the number of shots he faces every game, he should see his GAA of 2.67 decline. Either way, Lehner is a good option for your fantasy team.
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