Arizona Coyotes 2015 Opponents: Buffalo Sabres

In this new series, Howlin’ Hockey will be looking at all 29 opponents the Arizona Coyotes will be facing this new 2015-16 season.

We’ll see how well they did against each team, and the forecast for this season.

So, let’s get started —

Today we look at: Buffalo Sabres

2014-15 record: 23-51-8, 8th in the Atlantic, didn’t make the playoffs

How the Coyotes did: 2 games, 0-1-1

Schedule this year against the Coyotes: Fri 12/4 at Buffalo, Mon 1/18 Home

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Notable additions: G Robin Lehner, C David Legwand, C Ryan O’Reilly, LW Jamie McGinn, C Jack Eichel

Notable subtractions: D Nikita Zadorov, C Cody Hodgson, G Anders Lindback, D Andrej Meszaros

Coached by: Dan Bylsma (1st season)

Who’s in Net: Last June the Sabres traded a late first round pick in the entry draft to Ottawa for Robin Lehner and David Legwand. Lehner who is only 24, had a .934 SV% back in 2012-13, but has gone 21-27 since then. He has had a mediocre .909 save percentage, and also has concussion history. Chad Johnson (a former Arizona Coyotes) has been a solid backup for four teams in four years, but now they really need Lehner to perform.

Quick thoughts about the Sabres:

They could be the most improved team in hockey this year. It wouldn’t be that much of an effort.
While they may have added scoring punch, they don’t have much depth defensively and are very young, including in the net.
New coach Bylsma and new players will take time to adjust, but they are definitely headed in the right direction… finally.

Why the Sabres will win the Stanley Cup: After losing out to the Oilers for the first pick and McDavid in last year’s entry draft, it would certainly be fitting that they could go all the way this year. Of course there will need to be mysteriously strange events take place before that happens. Maybe the Cup is at least now in view, but it’s way down the ice yet, certainly not impossible.

Why the Sabres won’t win the Stanley Cup: To expect Jack Eichel to be a superhero is way too much to expect of the young man. To expect any team to go all the way from the league’s worst team to the league’s best — is a stretch. There are far too many other teams who will excel, and have a better chance than the Sabres. If they can make the playoffs this or next year, they will be taking the baby steps necessary to accomplish that goal.

Three Things We Like About You:

You went out and got an excellent coach in Bylsma, who will help your team’s resurgence.
You tanked enough to get at least the second best player in the draft, in Jack Eichel. This kid thinks he’s better than McDavid, so let’s watch him to see.
You will be out of the snow in January to visit warm and sunny Phoenix to play the Arizona Coyotes. That is if you can dig your way out of the snow to get here.

Three Things We Don’t Like About You:

We feel really jealous that you tanked better than us to get Jack Eichel. He would have really fit into the Arizona Coyotes lineup nicely.
Your resurgence will be much better than ours, since you did much more to proactively improve your team. We won’t even make a valiant effort to sign Cody Franson.
That we won’t be involved with you in a ‘tank war’ this season to try and get Auston Matthews as the first pick in the draft next year. It was kinda fun, actually… well, not really.

Prediction: If everything goes right for the Sabres (and that’s a long shot) they could squeeze into a playoff spot. We believe that won’t be the case, and they will probably fall just short. It will be a huge improvement over the past two years though. That should make the fans happy for now, it beats shoveling snow.

Next: McEichel Sweepstakes: Arizona Coyotes Visit Buffalo

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