Heres’s what the Buffalo Sabres need to do to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Fixing the defense

Blame it on the players, blame it on the system, either way, the defense of the Buffalo Sabres has not been good enough. Individually the Sabres have players that have performed well this season but as a unit, it is not pretty. The bright spots have been Rasmus Dahlin, who as previously mentioned has lived up to the hype, Zach Bogosian who has finally put together a healthy stretch of hockey and Jake McCabe who has been quietly one of the Sabres more effective defensemen. There are plenty of low lights as well. Marco Scandella and Nathan Beaulieu have been dreadful. The inconsistency of Rasmus Ristolainen has been painful as well.

Fixing the defense is not as easy as it seems mid-season. There are currently nine defensemen on the Sabres roster, all are capable of playing at an NHL level, few of them have shown they can do it on a night in, night out basis. Bogosian, Dahlin, Ristolainen and McCabe should all be considered regulars for head coach Phil Housley at this point. The play of Lawerence Pilut is making it harder to keep him out of the lineup but for whatever reason, he hasn’t earned Housley’s trust yet. The remaining four defensemen are essentially performing at the same level. Certain nights anyone one of the four can give you a great game where they look to lock themselves into the lineup. But it is followed up by a terrible showing that leaves fans cringing everytime they touch the puck.

What the Sabres truly need is Rasmus Ristolainen to iron out his inconsistencies and make another step in his career development. If he can elevate his game another level it will give the Sabres two defensemen that can make their partners better stabilizing two pairings. Leaving Housley with the choice of who to put on the third pair to minimize the self-inflicted damage.

Marco Scandella as really struggled this year and that has crushed the Sabres. When they acquired him in a trade with Minnesota he was penciled in to be a fringe first pair, solid second pair defenseman. This year he has not come close to that evaluation at all. He has times where he looks like he is lost in his own zone and makes poor decisions with the puck.

Sheltering his ice time and giving him third pair minutes at this point might be the best thing for him. It takes the pressure off of him by giving him better matchups against the other team. Pairing him with a security blanket type defenseman Jake McCabe who is reliable in his own zone gives Scandella a little more room to roam as well. The two have worked together recently and have played better.

The Sabres are close to having an effective defensive core. The top group is solid but the bottom performers are absolute anchors. Clearing out some of the weight at the bottom will make everyone’s playing situations clearer and give some players some more regular ice time. Nathan Beaulieu has recently requested a trade and general manager Jason Botterill should honor that and begin the process of freeing up ice time.