Sabres, Kane, Henrique, Flyers, Ruff

Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include Buffalo’s disappointing first half of the season, Patrick Kane’s future with Detroit, and more.  If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in last weekend’s column.

YzerPlan19: What happened to the Buffalo Sabres?! Did the lofty expectations for this season crush them?

I was certainly among those who had Buffalo at least being in the playoff mix this season.  I had them being in a close battle for a Wild Card spot and they currently sit 10 points out which isn’t exactly a close battle.  They’ve certainly underachieved.

I’m not sure it’s the lofty expectations (being a possible playoff team isn’t exactly a huge bar to clear) that have hurt them.  Instead, I think it’s the byproduct of an overly young roster with veterans who haven’t been able to step up to cover for the youngsters’ inconsistency.

When you look at the young talent they have, the tendency is to look at the year they just had and expect that they’ll be able to improve on it.  Thus, several core players each take a step or two forward and there are a bunch of internal gains that move them up in the standings.  It’s great in theory but in hindsight, expecting all of those players to take a leap forward was probably asking too much.

Not to single out the goaltending but hopes were quite high for Devon Levi based on how he finished last season.  But we’re talking about a stretch of barely two weeks.  Expecting him to stay at that level just might have been too much, too soon for him.  Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been inconsistent which is to be expected for a young goalie while Eric Comrie couldn’t pick up the slack which is why he cleared waivers earlier this season.  Improved goaltending was a big reason for the higher expectations but the hopes were too high, too fast.

Similar statements could be made for several forwards as well, particularly Tage Thompson, Dylan Cozens, and even Alex Tuch to a lesser extent.  The hope was they’d maintain or beat their production from last season but they’ve all taken a step back.  Kyle Okposo and Victor Olofsson aren’t picking up the slack either, unfortunately.  If a couple of the youngsters are producing like they were last year, they probably have a few more wins and are at least in a realistic battle for a Wild Card spot in the stretch run.

I still think there’s a pretty good core here for Buffalo to work with.  The goaltending should get better…