Projecting the Buffalo Sabres' Opening Night Roster

We're now three weeks from the start of the NHL season. Teams are finalizing their rosters and signing their RFAs, and players are arriving for training camps. The Buffalo Sabres have been unable to execute a trade for their most valuable player, Jack Eichel, despite his request for one to start the offseason. Now the Sabres aren't required to trade him, he is under contract after all, but it goes deeper than that. Eichel suffered a herniated disk in his neck, for which the player would like to have surgery. The Sabres refuse to approve that surgery. Therefore, not only does Eichel not want to play in Buffalo, he may not be physically able to. The latest report suggests Eichel will report to camp, not pass his physical, and won't be cleared to play. However, the medical issue is also making it harder to trade him. It's a very complicated situation in Buffalo.

Outside of that, Buffalo seems to have committed to another rebuild and offloaded a ton of players this summer to try and recoup draft picks, and hope to place low enough in the standings to receive a lottery pick next summer. Let's see how their depleted forward group looks at the moment:

Jeff Skinner - Casey Mittelstadt - Victor Oloffson

Andres Bjork - Dylan Cozens - Vinnie Hinostroza

Arttu Ruotsalainen - Cody Eakin - Tage Thompson

Zemgus Girgensons - Rasmus Asplund - Drake Caggiula

Jack Quinn

Brett Murray

This is not a lineup that inspires much hope for a "Cinderella" season from Buffalo, but that isn't what the team is expecting. This is a team built for the lottery, and while some of these players are solid NHLers on their own, the sum of the Sabres' parts doesn't add up to a winning roster. Still, there is room enough for their young prospects to get a few games of NHL experience under their belts, and with little pressure on the team this season, that may end up hastening their development.

On defence, similar issues present themselves:

Rasmus Dahlin - Colin Miller

Robert Hagg - Henri Jokiharju

Will Butcher - Mark Pysyk

Mattias Samuelsson

Jacob Bryson

Brandon Davidson

For the most part, this defence will struggle to keep the team afloat against the league's better players. That said, Dahlin is still young and still projects to develop into a top defender in the NHL. There is no better year than this for him to take a step forward in his game. Once again, there is plenty of room for younger players to slot into this lineup, and although top prospect Owen Power has elected to return to Michigan for this season, players like Samuelsson and Bryson should get plenty of chances at the starting lineup.

Believe it or not, perhaps the most disastrous situation in Buffalo is in goal:

Craig Anderson

Aaron Dell

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Craig Anderson just turned 40-years old last spring and has not been an NHL starter for a couple years now. Aaron Dell, while playing solid hockey as a backup in San Jose, struggled last season in New Jersey, and doesn't appear to be able to significantly contribute as part of a tandem. He is also 32, so his chances of breaking out into an NHL starter are basically nil. Then there's Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who is only 22-years old but didn't have the best showing during his first stint in the NHL last season. He clearly needs more time to develop, but may not get that given the goaltending situation in Buffalo. Hopefully he can seize the opportunity because the Sabres will need him eventually.

What do you think of this lineup for Buffalo, and what would you change?

Photo credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports