Here’s the one positive that the Buffalo Sabres can take from the 2020-21 season

Casey Mittelstadt’s performance in the late goings of the 2020-2021 season is the one positive the Buffalo Sabres can take going into the offseason.

Casey Mittelstadt’s performance in the late goings of the 2020-21 season is the one positive the Buffalo Sabres can take going into the offseason — and in a year where Western New York’s team has hit rock bottom, that’s saying a lot.

When the Sabres selected Mittelstadt eighth overall in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft, it was seen as a building-block pick by pundits, observers and fans alike as one that will make the apparent bright future in Buffalo only brighter.

But adding core pieces through the draft isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Mittelstadt’s role on the rebuilding Sabres has been in question since the 2018-19 campaign, as evident with his ice time and linemates — playing for three different head coaches since then doesn’t help either. Prolonged stints in the American Hockey League and a lack of a defined role on the NHL team has delayed the emergence of the 22-year-old in Western New York.

Newfound consistency

All of that has been forgotten for the time being in Sabres land, because over the last 16 games, the native of Eden Prairie, Minnesota has eight goals and 13 points — by far the best offensive stretch he’s put together at the NHL level. The days of going in and out of the lineup for Mittelstadt appear to be on hiatus, and that alone should be music to the ears for any Sabres fan.

The forward has been awarded a spot in the top-six, and he’s thrived in that role for the first time in his career. The 22-year-old’s performance as of late should be the main point of interest for observers of Sabres hockey as the condensed season winds down. Mittelstadt is a player who was an offensive standout wherever he played, prior to being a full-time NHLer.

Buffalo selected Mittelstadt out of the University of Minnesota with the hopes that his offensive numbers while playing in the Big Ten would one day translate to the NHL. The forward collected 30 points in 34 games played at the NCAA level after he was picked by the Sabres in the draft.

‘Mr. Hockey’

It’s no secret that Minnesota is the state of hockey, so whoever receives the Mr. Hockey award in the area should definitely be proud of the achievement — that’s exactly what Mittelstadt received for being named the most outstanding senior high school player in the state.

Most notably however, Mittelstadt was one the great stories to come out of the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship, which was coincidentally hosted by the city of Buffalo. He was named the most outstanding forward at the tournament for his offensive production, and it only added to the belief that the Sabres were one day going to have a star forward in their lineup to play with Jack Eichel.

But it hasn’t been until now, in a season played under the oddest of circumstances, that the Sabres can finally envision Mittelstadt being a core piece to a group that’s in dire need of a spark.

Point-streak on the line

Small sample size? Perhaps, but for a young player desperate to find sustained success at the NHL level to look productive for an entire month on a last-place team, the positives are there — especially when considering how difficult it’s been for many of the top-end pieces on the Sabres to look good at all this year. Just ask current Boston Bruins forward Taylor Hall.

Mittelstadt is currently riding a four-game point streak, which he will put on the line on May 1 against Hall’s Bruins at the TD Garden in Boston.