Sabres aim to develop, win as young core takes center stage in 2021-22

“How difficult will it be to start the season without Jack Eichel?”

It’s a storyline that will follow the Buffalo Sabres until there’s a resolution to the stalemate between the club and its frustrated, injured former captain. No matter what Dahlin and the rest of the young core accomplished under Don Granato late last season, Eichel’s absence, and the lack of a trade return, led many to predict that this franchise will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a record-setting 11th season in 2021-22.

Whenever the offense flatlined during Eichel’s six seasons in Buffalo, everyone looked to him to solve the problem. Number 9 won’t be on the ice to help the Sabres when they open the season Thursday night against the Montreal Canadiens at KeyBank Center. Nor is Eichel expected to play another game for the organization.

“Everyone has to show up,” said Dahlin, a 21-year-old defenseman entering his fourth NHL season. “It’s not just – you were talking about Eichel and those guys – but now it’s everyone. We’ve got to really work to score, and we’ve got to do it together.”

The goals must come from Dahlin, Casey Mittelstadt, Dylan Cozens, Rasmus Asplund, Tage Thompson, Anders Bjork, Henri Jokiharju and Victor Olofsson, among others. Even Jeff Skinner isn’t viewed as the automatic solution after the $9-million-per-year winger totaled 21 goals across the past two seasons.

Granato’s success in Year One will be evaluated based on the Sabres’ improvement as a team, but the development of individual players is paramount. For this organization to contend sooner than outsiders expect, Dahlin, Mittelstadt and others must be consistent impact players by the time Owen Power and other top prospects arrive in the NHL. While the roster lacks the star power and proven scorers of the past, the Sabres insist that this is far from a tank season.

“You want to be winning hockey games, so how your team is playing in the process is really important,” Adams said. “You can’t lose sight of that. … We need to start building a culture of accountability in this organization and wins and losses are a part of that, but you have to dig deeper than that and have those conversations with players to help them understand where they need to improve. You’re not going to accept anything other than being our absolute best.”

The return of a normal schedule will benefit the Sabres. They aren’t restricted to intradivisional play against playoff-hardened opponents. Five of their first six games this season are at home, including a matinee Saturday against the draft-lottery-favorite Arizona Coyotes. For all of Buffalo’s struggles in recent years, the club won 45 home games from 2018-20.

Continuity behind the bench also helps. The Sabres already understand and embrace Granato’s preferred style of play at 5-on-5. Some of the newcomers also have a history playing for Granato, including Vinnie Hinostroza, John Hayden and Will Butcher.

The 17 on-ice workouts during training camp weren’t enough for any NHL coach to implement all his desired changes, but this season will provide more practice time. Granato had only 12 practices, none of which occurred after a day off, after becoming interim coach last March. The power play and penalty kill are the most notable areas that can improve through extra work between games.

The lineup is also in flux, partly because this organization is lacking depth at center with Eichel gone. Thompson, 23, shifted to the position late in training camp after playing only on the wing for his 145 NHL and 72 AHL games. It’s unclear how long he will remain there, but Granato is intrigued by the potential of a 6-foot-7 player with Thompson’s skill set down the middle.

Zemgus Girgensons and Arttu Ruotsalainen also saw time there during the preseason. If the lines at the final pre-regular season practice Wednesday were any indication, the Sabres will deploy the following forward lines against the Canadiens:

Skinner-Mittelstadt-Hinostroza

Asplund-Thompson-Olofsson

Bjork-Cozens-Drake Caggiula

Girgensons-Cody Eakin-Kyle Okposo

The seven defensemen on this roster must ignite the offense with crisp breakout passes and make life easier on the two goalies: Craig Anderson and Dustin Tokarski.

The veterans are role players, not stars, although Hinostroza, Girgensons, Caggiula and Okposo were standouts during camp. A slow start to the season by anyone could lead to a promotion from the AHL for prospect JJ Peterka. Hayden and Ruotsalainen are on the active roster but expected to not dress Thursday.

It’s unclear how patient Granato and Adams are willing to be if a player has a slow start to the season, especially with the organization prioritizing internal competition.

“I don't know what our end result is gonna look like, but it should be some combination of the personalities in that locker room,” said Granato. “Competitive people, when they hit a down, they get (angry). And when you have non-competitive people, they hit a down, they stay there. They're in a rut. They look for outside help. They don't look within. I think the biggest part of this culture is getting competitive people with the characteristic of being accountable. ... We want guys we can push, and we're definitely going in that direction."

During training camp, the young core’s responses to the media were impressive. Mittelstadt was visibly irritated when asked about outsiders predicting the Sabres to fail. Dahlin expressed excitement for the present and future. Cozens wants to be an immediate difference-maker. But the road to contention will include difficult moments.

Even the Sabres’ brightest young players will commit mistakes that lead to losses. How each respond will influence the on- and off-ice results during Granato’s first full season as coach. 

The stakes are still high. Too much losing can have negative consequences on development. Growth can occur by handling failure the right way.

“The group is learning, they are learning on the go,” said Anderson, 40. “A very simple message that I can kind of pass on is don’t compound mistakes. It’s OK to make a mistake. Make it with aggression. At the end of the day, your teammates are there to kind of back you up. If we can play free – not carefree but play with a little bit less attention, I think you’ll see better results with the guys growing as individuals and as a group.”

Notes: Caggiula is expected to be in the opening-night lineup after skating with the team Wednesday, less than 24 hours after a collision with Skinner during practice. … Granato wasn’t ready to name a starting goalie, but it’s likely that Anderson will get the nod. … The Rochester Americans named forward Michael Mersch their team captain for the 2021-22 season. West Seneca native Sean Malone, and defensemen Brandon Davidson, Ethan Prow and Jimmy Schuldt will be alternate captains.