Ron Guillet's Forecaster Special : The Buffalo Sabres

Posted 6:54 PM ET | Comments 1

Alright, folks. I've predicted players stats for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. Now I'm going to the Buffalo Sabres, a team I have lots of respect for and holds a distant #2 to my Leafs. The following is a prediction blog of the players on the Buffalo Sabres and how much goals and points I think they will accumulate.

*NOTE*: I'm just assuming everyone plays 82 games to make it much, much easier. It obviously won't happen.. It's like a PPG system.

In no particular order.

Forwards:
Tim Connolly: 33 G 86 PTS

Maxim Afinogenov: 31 G 81 PTS

Thomas Vanek: 43 G 91 PTS

Derek Roy: 22 G 71 PTS

Jochen Hecht: 20 G 53 PTS

Jason Pominville: 34 G 74 PTS

Drew Stafford: 23 G 46 PTS

Paul Gaustad: 8 G 23 PTS

Ales Kotalik: 24 G 55 PTS

Danielle Paille: 13 G 39 PTS

Adam Mair: 3 G 10 PTS

Micheal Ryan: 11 G 31 PTS

Defense:
Henrik Tallinder: 7 G 28 PTS

Toni Lydman: 4 G 23 PTS

Brian Campbell: 10 G 53 PTS

Jaroslav Spacek: 7 G 29 PTS

Teppo Numminen: 2 G 22 PTS

Dmitri Kalinin: 5 G 24 PTS

Goaltenders:
Starter: Ryan Miller: 2.55 GAA .915 SV%

Back-up: Jocelyn Thibault: 2.95 GAA .900 SV%

There you have it, Buffalonians. Enjoy!

Just for fun, I'm going to give my breakdown on the Sabres and where I think they'll land:

With the losses of Drury and Briere the Sabres lose some offense and leadership abilities. But don't fret young grasshopers, there is plenty of talent amongst this Sabres line-up and with the departures of #23 and #48 comes more responsibility for the young guns. Vanek is one in particular who I think will explode next season and lead this team all the way. Let's no forget Jason Pominville either, who has been critized for being ''made'' by Danny Briere.... a false accusation IMO. Sure he benefited from Briere's nice passes and plays but is it really as bad as people seem to suggest? And if so, is there not plenty of talent to play with Pommer if that was the case (Afino, Connolly,Vanek,etc.)? Let's no forget either that Pommer was dominant in the minors and he didn't have no Briere there... he posses raw and natural skill and I expect him to silence his critics this upcoming season.

Connolly is an intresting one in his own... he deserves his own paragraph. He has been riddled with unfortuate injuries over the past couple of seasons and he even missed the last but let's no forget he posseses incredible skills and he has the work ethic to unleash it. He was placed in the line-up basically right at the playoffs and struggled a bit, which was to be expected after such a long time not lacing up the skates. With him there to start the season, and hopefully end it, he adds a player the Sabres did not have last season and he can potentially, lead them offensivly. He is one to watch out for IMO.

All in all, I once again see the Sabres winning the division. I do not, however, see them winning the conference. But rest assured, they will install fear in all eastern conference teams.

Filed Under: Buffalo Sabres Forecaster NHL