How Good Can The Sabres Be?

Today I got the Sports Illustrated NHL Preview Edition. The Sabres were ranked 14th out of the 16 in the east with New Jersey and Florida being the only two teams below. Considering the fact that no NHL regular season games have been played this seems like a fair assessment. The question Sabres fans are asking is where will these ranks be in the coming months. Personally I a cautiously optimistic about this up coming season. It is impossible not to be excited about the young talent such as Girgensons, Ristolainen, Grigorenko and Pysyk. The apparently newly modeled players like Ennis and a bigger stronger Foligno may give the fans even more reason to hope. Could this team compete for the Eastern Conference Championship? The answer is a resounding no, but I believe the team will finish better than fourteenth. It just seems like having so many fresh bodies as well as keeping leaders like Vanek and Miller (for now) are setting the Sabres up to at least be respectful in the Eastern Conference. If the Sabres can escape the first few weeks worth of difficult games with a near .500 record then who knows maybe the team can surprise some people. Regardless of the win loss record this season promises to be a very interesting season with all of the young talent stocked up here in Buffalo. Follow me on Twitter @HBuzzJustin3