October 14, 2023, by Jeff Ade

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for hockey fans, as the 2023-24 NHL season kicked off on Tuesday.

After finishing the 2022-23 season with 91 points, only one point shy from the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, the young Sabres are ready to take the next step. Despite dropping their home opener to the New York Rangers 5-1, the Buffalo Sabres appear primed to end their NHL-record 13-year playoff drought this season.

General Manager Kevyn Adams is entering his fourth season in charge; I will sing his praises all day long. The trades he’s made, core players he’s signed to long-term contracts and players he’s drafted have put the Sabres on a great path. Adams deserves a lot of credit for turning the organization around, and hopefully building a future contender.

Speaking of locking down the core, the Sabres announced inked all-star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin to an eight-year deal worth $88 million on Monday. When the contract kicks in next season, Dahlin will be tied for the second highest-paid defenseman in the league with Drew Doughty. His $11M cap hit will also make Dahlin the highest paid player in franchise history, eclipsing Jack Eichel’s $10 million.

I was hoping they would keep it a little closer to $10 million, but this isn’t something to be upset or picky over. As I keep mentioning with Adams and locking down the core, both the Sabres top two centres in Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens are locked down at $7.14 million and $7.1 million, respectively. To have your top two centres at a combined cost of $14.24M, is great work by Adams and gives the Sabres some flexibility elsewhere.

If you’re going to overspend by a million or so, I’d say it’s more than okay to do so on your franchise player who’s only 23-years-old, who still has room to grow. The Dahlin contract looks a tad high today, but it doesn’t even begin until next year. He’s also been continually climbing ever since Head Coach Don Granato took over, and has already shown he’s a borderline top five defenseman in the NHL.

One of the biggest question marks coming into this season, the crease. The Sabres enter this season the same way they ended last season, rolling with three goaltenders. Rookie sensation Devon Levi (seven career NHL games) along with sophomore Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (46 career NHL games) and also 28-year-old Eric Comrie, who barely leads the way with 47 career NHL games under his belt. When your three goalies have a combined 100 games of NHL experience on their resume and the plan is to make the playoffs, you’re going to need something special to happen.

I don’t believe the three goalie system will be something they roll with long-term, but I feel Levi is the real deal. It’s been 40 years (Tom Barrasso in 1983-84 season) since the last time we saw a North American goaltender go straight from the NCAA ranks to the NHL. Barrasso still played five AHL games in his sophomore season for a brief conditioning stint, but my point is that it’s extremely rare to see a goaltender outright skip the AHL. Levi could make the jump, but he’s the only one of the three Sabres’ goaltenders who is waivers exempt. Maybe because of that reason, he sees a small stint down in the minors? Though it won’t be for long. Levi is the soon to be starting goalie the Sabres have badly been missing since the departure of Ryan Miller in 2014.

According to CapFriendly, the Sabres had the youngest opening day lineup in the NHL in 2023-24, with an average age of 25.5 years. I promise you, they aren’t like most young groups out there. A new phase begins in the 2023-24 Sabres season. The time is now for Buffalo to make the next step and become a playoff team once again.