>Buffalo Sabres: Will one of the top prospects win a top-nine job because of Jack Quinn’s injury?
>Jack Quinn had a really promising rookie campaign but will miss a decent chunk of the 2023-24 first half because of an Achilles injury. That creates an open top-six opportunity and a ripple effect of questions further down the lineup.
>Buffalo’s top line with Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch should stay intact. Dylan Cozens and JJ Peterka are locked for the second line as well, which leaves one vacancy on the right wing to round out that trio. Is filling it as simple as sliding Victor Olofsson up? Olofsson is a one-dimensional goal scorer with major defensive warts and was a trade candidate before Quinn’s injury.
>Jiri Kulich and Matt Savoie are a pair of excellent blue-chip forward prospects. Kulich, 19, scored 46 points in 64 AHL games last season, while Savoie was the club’s pick at No. 9 in 2022. Could either one be ready to slot into a second-line spot, or even a third-line role, if somebody else on the roster gets promoted into the top six? Both are still exceptionally young so it would take a heck of a training camp and preseason.
>Could a center like Casey Mittelstadt or Peyton Krebs shift to the wing and into a top-six role with Cozens?
>Buffalo has a lot of different top-nine combinations it could experiment with.
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>Buffalo Sabres: Will one of the top prospects win a top-nine job because of Jack Quinn’s injury?
>Jack Quinn had a really promising rookie campaign but will miss a decent chunk of the 2023-24 first half because of an Achilles injury. That creates an open top-six opportunity and a ripple effect of questions further down the lineup.
>Buffalo’s top line with Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch should stay intact. Dylan Cozens and JJ Peterka are locked for the second line as well, which leaves one vacancy on the right wing to round out that trio. Is filling it as simple as sliding Victor Olofsson up? Olofsson is a one-dimensional goal scorer with major defensive warts and was a trade candidate before Quinn’s injury.
>Jiri Kulich and Matt Savoie are a pair of excellent blue-chip forward prospects. Kulich, 19, scored 46 points in 64 AHL games last season, while Savoie was the club’s pick at No. 9 in 2022. Could either one be ready to slot into a second-line spot, or even a third-line role, if somebody else on the roster gets promoted into the top six? Both are still exceptionally young so it would take a heck of a training camp and preseason.
>Could a center like Casey Mittelstadt or Peyton Krebs shift to the wing and into a top-six role with Cozens?
>Buffalo has a lot of different top-nine combinations it could experiment with.