Pool Outlook for Buffalo

It was quite the season for the Buffalo Sabres, as the team really turned some heads and made a good run into the playoffs, finishing 7th in the Eastern Conference and taking the Philadelphia Flyers to the limit in the first round of the playoffs. The Sabres were a good scoring team, finishing 4th in the Conference in goals for, but some defensive struggles were likely to blame for the 7th place finish.  Nevertheless, the Sabres showed some good fight and they have lots to build from going forward into the 2012 season.

It was a bit of an up-and-down year for Ryan Miller and his Sabres, but the world class keeper did get his game together and the Sabres did a great job of stringing some wins together and made a good season out of it.  In the end, Miller finished with 34 wins, 5 shutouts and 2 assists for 80 points in the pools, finishing 20th overall in scoring, 11th among goaltenders, just slightly down from his 2010 numbers.  The Sabres go as far as Miller goes, with a little bit of help, of course.

It was a great return to form for Thomas Vanek in 2011, as he finally jumped back into the ranks of the top scoring elite, finishing the season with 73 points in 80 games, ranking 32nd in pool scoring, 17th among forwards, up drastically from 2010, where he finished 103rd overall.  The Sabres went out and acquired some talent at the deadline, snapping up Brad Boyes from St. Louis, he finished the season with 55 points in 83 games between the two teams.  Drew Stafford (52 points in 62 games), Jason Pominville (52 points in 73 games) and rookie Tyler Ennis (49 points in 82 games) rounded out the scoring for the Sabres, who desperately missed Derek Roy (35 points in 35 games) all year as well.

There was a definite slump to Tyler Myers' game at the beginning of the season, as he had a hard time adjusting to the big game again in his sophomore season, but did eventually come back around to lead the team in blueline scoring with 37 points in 80 games.  Myers ranked 32nd among defense in pool scoring in 2011.  Jordan Leopold had a good year with the Sabres in 2011, picking up 35 points in 71 games for Buffalo in the season, as did Andrej Sekera (29 points in 76 games) and Steve Montador (26 points in 73 games).  The Sabres defense proved to be a quiet gold mine for blueline points.

A new back-up emerged for the Sabres in 2011, as Jhonas Enroth was the back-up of choice down the stretch, coming up from the minors on a regular basis to give Miller a night off, likely with a lack of trust in Patrick Lalime, who played as Enroth's back-up when he was up.  Enroth finished with 9 wins and 1 shutout in 2011, giving him 20 points in 769 minutes worth of action.

2012 Pool Outlook
The Sabres back end, which arguably gave them a lot of trouble in 2011, may see quite a makeover, in terms of its depth for 2012.  There are plenty of free agent questions that the team can ask of itself and now that the team has an owner that wants to invest money in the team to make it better, there won't be any settling on players for cost efficiency reasons.  The Sabres have some real promise in the coming year and a good core to build from.

Forwards	Defense	Goalies
Thomas Vanek	Tyler Myers	Ryan Miller
Brad Boyes	Jordan Leopold
Jason Pominville	Shaone Morrisonn
Tyler Ennis
Derek Roy
Paul Gaustad
Jochen Hecht
Patrick Kaleta

Going into the Summer, the annual projected cap hit for the eight forwards, three defensemen and goalie, plus a buyout still on the books, is at $40.8 million, just a few million shy of the 2011 cap floor.  If there is an increase, the Sabres may have around $22 million in cap space to work on moving in 11 players onto their roster for the 2012 season.

It's an interesting group of restricted free agents for the Sabres this Summer, led by Drew Stafford and Nathan Gerbe, Buffalo will have some interesting decisions to make, especially now that they have some more money to play with.  Also in the RFA group, Andrej Sekera, Jhonas Enroth, Mike Weber, Chris Butler and Marc-Andre Gragnani.

The unrestricted free agents may have a little bit more to worry about, again since the team isn't likely going to settle on players until the market is all dried up.  Tim Connolly, Steve Montador, Cody McCormick, Rob Niedermayer and Mike Grier are all potentially heading to market and I could potentially see a few of them leave for greener pastures.

It doesn't sound like the Buffalo Sabres will be a smaller team for very much longer, as they are on the verge of adding three new prospects to their everyday line-up, each having some real size.  Zack Kassian, Luke Adam and Marcus Foligno are all signed and ready to go for next Fall, when training camp opens, and I think there is some belief that all three have a very good chance of graduating into the system.  All three rank very well with the Hockey News' Future Watch and all have made an impact with their junior teams or in Adam's case, with the minor league affiliate.  All three may be decent picks for the pool as well, if you need youngsters.

The Sabres carry the 16th overall pick into the entry draft this year and since they have some youth in their system that is just about ready to go, I think the Sabres will be looking for a little bit more size, either up front or on the blueline, and doesn't need to be rushed into the line-up.  Now that the team is midway through the round, I think they can find a kid that can spend another year in junior, a year in the minors and then be ready to go.  Develop at the team's pace... that's the key.

What I said last year at this time... "For 2011, I think a lot of the same principles apply that I had going on last year. You have a look at your definites, like Miller, Roy, Pominville and Vanek, you can add Myers to the list if you like, but I will still remain hesitant on recommending Connolly for any sort of hockey pool, because he is still such an injury risk. If Ennis can pay off in the coming year, the Sabres should have enough scoring to improve their point total from 2010, likely capturing another division title."

The favourites were pretty good picks, barring injury, but injuries did catch up to Roy and Pominville, which no one can truly foresee.  Connolly only missed 14 games, but had some pretty poor-ish numbers, compared to the pace he's used to score at.  Ennis did play the entire 2011 season, put up some okay numbers, but it was the defense that let down the Sabres or else they may have had a better run at the Northeast Division.

I think there will be some serious improvements in the 2012 season for the Sabres, from top to bottom.  Miller, Vanek and Myers should be locks for good seasons, I would expect a better season from Stafford, Pomiville, Roy and Gerbe, but possibly a down year for Ennis.  Throw in some new faces, a bit more confidence with Boyes in the line-up and you have a pretty good Sabres team that should look to surprise a number of unsuspecting teams in the East.  The Sabres will make the playoffs, even contend for home-ice advantage, in some capacity.