Buffalo Sabres are back on track

BUFFALO – The Buffalo Sabres first round exit from the  Stanley Cup playoffs to the Philadelphia Flyers despite being up in the series was a minor setback for a team that is on the rise once again. With a new ownership group in place and a new attitude to boot, the Sabres are on the right path these days. The upcoming NHL Entry Draft will once again prove useful for a team that values building a team from within rather than through free agency and trades.
Death, taxes, and Lindy Ruff as the Sabres head coach are the only things that are certain in life these days. Ruff will begin his 14^th season with the team. He has a solid group of players to work with but the team still has a way to go before calling themselves contenders for Lord Stanley’s Cup.
The Sabres were ninth in offense and 18^th in defense, ninth on the PP and 13^th in the PK, and 27^th in face-offs. On offense the top four scorers on the team were wingers. The Sabres had balanced scoring throughout their lineup having 11 players with 10 or more goals, two players had over 20, and two had over 30.

Because the team has needs for someone to take face-offs and more scoring down the middle you can bet a center will be a position of need come the off-season either through the draft or free agency. Lucky for the Sabres this is a center driven draft so finding at least one quality centerman at the draft shouldn’t be too hard to find.
In terms of prospects, the Sabres have RW Zach Kassian waiting in the wings as well as LW Luke Adam. Both are in The Hockey News ’ top 20 prospects not playing in the NHL. LW Marcus Foligno is considered the team’s third best prospect. Needless to say buffalo will not be addressing he wing position anytime soon
That said the team was poor on defense and has more needs on the blueline. Tyler Myers is the backbone on D. Jordon Leopold helped out on offense but he was very poor on the backend. Steve Montador had a solid season leading the team in plus/minus (16) with Mike Weber coming in tied for second (13) with Drew Stafford. Montador is a UFA and might not get resigned. The Sabres only have three defenseman who are locked up for next season. Getting a quality defenseman at the draft is a must but not mandatory. The Sabres top prospects, according to The Hockey News ’, have some solid prospects ranked 4-10 with Mark Pysyk leading the charge on the blueline.
In goal, Ryan Miller has been a mainstay in net and is signed on past next season. Jhonas Enroth is “The next one” in net should the Sabres decide to trade Miller and promote Enroth. Other than Enroth, the Sabres do have Connor Knapp who had three solid seasons in college hockey playing at Miami (Ohio). Still the Sabres could go with a goalie picking 16^th overall.
If they decide to go down that goal the top goaltending prospect in the draft should still be there in Pittsburgh native John Gibson (USHL). If they decide to go for defense the Sabres should have a shot according to our mock draft at either Duncan Siemens or Joseph Morrow but Siemens would more than likely be the Sabres pick of they go for a D-man. If offense is their call than center Zack Phillips is a no-brainer.
This is a tough call for Buffalo, but will needs outweigh best player available, which in this case is probably Phillips. With so many quality d-men in their system it comes down to a center or goalie. Despite the needs for D look for the Sabres to go for O.
“With the 16^th pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, the Buffalo Sabres select, from the Memorial Cup champion Saint John Sea Dogs, center Zack Phillips.”
To learn more about Zack Phillips click here .
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com Contact the photographer at Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com