Nice job.
That Mittelstadt line played well in the last preseason game, and Mittelstadt was one of the best forwards the last 22 games of last season.
I think Hinostroza will do well in Buffalo, IMO that shows how weak our RW will be if he is on the first line.
The fourth line will keep most teams in their defensive zone as all of them are really strong along the boards.
Bryson can skate really well I would have him in the line up over Hagg as you do, but I think we will see more of Butcher than Hagg..
I have this dream that Butcher, Hagg, Pysyk Miller and Hinostroza are doing really well at the TDL and Karmanos is able to flip each of them for second round picks.
No matter how well the defense or forwards play, the GK are all ordinary and will not win many games on their own.

I saw that these were yesterdays practice lines. The only thing that jumps out to me- ruotsalainen needs a good long look with actual nhl players, fortunately thompson will likely hand this gift of a spot back before long. Cant teach tall i guess.

thompson looked good at centre

I think this team will do better than last year. You can call me crazy but I actually believe it. Granato is the obvious reason. But with Eichel, Reinhart, McCabe, Risto, and Ullmark, this team finished last in the league twice. Maybe now that the team is completely changed, and that the culture is changed, maybe this team is better

I think Granato could be a difference maker, I agree, it was time to make a change.
The Sabres finished the season 9-11-2 45% v 6-23-5 25% through the first 34 games.
I like the UFA's we signed.
I wanted Pysyk last year, getting Hinostroza was huge and Keeping Caggiula was a smart move.
I also like that there are not any first year players on the opening night roster, they were all sent to Rochester to grow and start in a winning atmosphere.
I am hoping butcher can produce in Buffalo as he did in NJ, Skinner will get 30 goals, Mittelstadt will reach 70 pts, Thompson will get 20 goals, and Cozens will look like a #1 center.

On the other hand.
I thought the 2017-'18 Sabres were going to be much better.
The 2016-'17 Sabres defense was terrible, Franson, Gorges, Bogosian, Falk, and Kulikov all played 45 games or more.
Two years later all but Bogosian and Kulikov are out of the NHL.
The following year we add Scandella, Beaulieu, to the defense while Pominville, Scandella, Wilson and Nolan all had Stanley Cup experience were also added.
The '16-'17 team did not have any secondary scoring Pominville and Pouliot added 16 and 13 goals respectively, not great but better than the previous year.
Let me add, the Hockey Writers predicted the Sabres would end their playoff drought, so I was not the only one excited about the changes.
So what happens the team goes from 78 pts to 62 and last place overall, 16 pts worse instead of 16 pts better.


I know I am getting long winded, I am excited about the future.
Power, Samuelsson, Bryson, Johnson, Laaksonen on defense, Quinn, Peterka, Rosen, Pekar, Murray, Weissbach up front and UPL, Levi and Portillo net minders.
But 7 years ago ESPN had 8 Sabre prospects ranked among the top 100 NHL prospects.
Reinhart was the highest rated at # 7 and McCabe was the last at 72nd.
I was super excited about the future, it looked really bright.
The other five were Possler (69th), Armia (60th), Compher (51st), Fasching (44th) Zadorov (21st), Grigorenko (17th)
NONE of them are on the team but all but Grigorenko, Possler and Fasching are in the NHL now.
Here is the complete list: https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/2dd2uj/espns_top_100_prospects_insider_only_list_in/
BTW Gaudreau was ranked 42nd.

Well, I just finished watching the Sabres score 5 goals.
They certainly played well.
I know MTL played last night, but they were far and away better.
As you said Thompson and Okposo played well in the preseason.