Buffalo Sabres 2019-2020 Season Preview:

There was one trade this off-season, the Sabres moved out forward Nick Bjugstad to the Calgary Flames for prospect Nicolas Roy and CGY 6^th round pick in 2020. There isn’t much pro talent left on the team to move out for future assets. There has been some interest in defender Nikita Zadorov and forward Ryan Strome, but the GM believes they might be better served to wait on them and not sell at a low price. “Strome right now looks penciled into the Rangers #2 center spot, so he might be a good asset to hold onto at the moment.” Said GM Mitchell. “Zadorov had a down year but might re-rate better with an improved Avs team this year. So we’ll wait for these assets to grow in value.” The other notable players on the team are young still and fit in well with the direction the team is headed.

What will this Buffalo Sabres team look like opening night on day 2 of the season when they face the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road you ask? We have the current line-up listed below:

Dominik Kahun – Ryan Strome – Riley Barber

Ivan Barbashev – Barclay Goodrow – Jack Roslovic

Sam Lafferty – Justin Kloos – Erik Condra

Chris Kunitz – Daniel O’Regan – Charles Hudon

Chris Conner

Thomas Chabot – Rasmus Ristolainen

Nikita Zadorov – Jaycob Megna

Ben Harpur – Ian McCoshen

Jordan Schmaltz

Corey Crawford

Anders Nilsson

This is one of the worst rosters in the league, but if pre-season is any indication, which it probably isn’t, this team should be competitive enough to not finish dead last. The big factor here will be goaltending, the team went out and signed cup champ and veteran presence Corey Crawford to platoon with Anders Nilsson.

On a more positive note, the Rochester Americans will be competitive this year with a decent roster:

Joel Eriksson Ek – Filip Chlapik – Sheldon Rempal

Jonathan Dahlen – Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson – Matthew Phillips

Ryan Gropp – Michael McLeod – Lukas Vejdemo

Kevin Roy – Nicolas Roy – Tyler Steenbergen

Dennis Cholowski – Matt Bartkowski

Sebastian Aho – Ryan Murphy

Kale Clague – Nicolas Meloche

Michal Neuvrith

Spencer Martin

The Americans open their season on the road in Grand Rapids.