3 glaring regrets for the Buffalo Sabres after first quarter of the season

1. Failing to add a younger defenseman

The Buffalo Sabres will be one of perhaps a few teams where defenseman Erik Johnson will spend the twilight of his career, but Johnson hasn’t fared incredibly well in the City of Good Neighbors. While the free agency class at the blue line was rather bland, there were better options out there than Johnson. 

Buffalo also signed Connor Clifton, who struggled early but in recent games it looks as though he’s figuring it out. Clifton will also stick around long enough for when the Sabres start winning and he should keep improving with time, but the 35-year-old Johnson won’t be there, especially given the way he’s played through 29 games this season. 

There were plenty of defensemen available in the 2023 free agency class roughly Clifton’s age who could have produced more and have stuck around longer, like Ryan Graves, Carson Soucy, or Niko Mikkola. Like Clifton, Buffalo could have signed them to a multi-year deal, and they would have likely produced better than what Johnson has given the team. 

Thanks to Johnson’s overall inefficacy, the Sabres have had to continually experiment with their defensive rotation. And even a quarter of the way through the season, it remains an unstable unit, especially when it comes to finding ice time for Erik Johnson, Clifton, and rookie Ryan Johnson. 

(Statistics and information provided by Hockey-Reference)