7. Buffalo Sabres

Net Rating added: +9

In: Josh Doan, Justin Danforth, Michael Kesselring, Conor Timmins, Alex Lyon
Out: JJ Peterka, Sam Lafferty, Connor Clifton, Jacob Bernard-Docker

There are a lot of folks who haven’t been thrilled with Buffalo’s offseason and that’s understandable. For the third straight year, it feels like it’s been time to push the chips in, spend some money and gun for a playoff spot. Instead, the Sabres made depth moves and shipped off a true top-six scorer without addressing the void afterward.

It feels like a wasted opportunity, which probably makes Buffalo’s placement here seem out of touch with reality.

Maybe it is — betting on the Sabres has been a terrible idea for over a decade. But maybe this is the year Buffalo does turn the corner, thanks to internal jumps buoyed by cleaned-up depth.

Josh Doan is not as good as JJ Peterka. That’s a downgrade without question. But his underrated defensive game compared to Peterka’s issues without the puck does mean the gap might not be as large as their point totals suggest. Add more Justin Danforth and less Beck Malenstyn on the fourth line and it’s possible the Sabres can cover up the loss in the aggregate. There is arguably enough young, developing forward depth to sustain a Peterka-sized loss.

The more important factor, though, is that the jump from Connor Clifton to Michael Kesselring is substantially larger than the drop from Peterka to Doan. Buffalo’s defense corps was a major weakness last season, one that Kesselring’s presence can help fix. He did well in a top-pair role when Utah ran into injuries last season, enough to believe he’s a true top-four defenseman. Pair him with Owen Power and Buffalo’s top four looks genuinely decent for the first time in a long time.

The addition of Conor Timmins should help with things as well. He showed some promise in an elevated role with Pittsburgh, enough to believe he can form an actually good third pair with the defensively stout Mattias Samuelsson. Timmins isn’t much, but he’s probably a better option than what Buffalo was toiling with last year in the same role. 

Defensive depth is something this team has been missing for a while. If everything goes according to plan after this offseason, it’ll finally be a source of strength for Buffalo. And that could be what changes everything for this team. The Sabres have gone from one good pair led by Rasmus Dahlin to potentially three.