Great post and comments.
I am equally optimistic.
I definitely am enthusiastic about Thompson and anticipate the team will respond well when Mittelstadt, Olofsson, Anderson and Jokiharju return (that is a lot of talent).
Next year could be the Sabres resurgence similar to the Leaf's 2015-'17 season.
Looking at how well Peterka, Quinn, Samuelsson, Krebs and Laaksonen are playing in Rochester it may be difficult to keep them out of the line up.
While Thompson has played well at center, that may have been a desperate move, I think he will perform well at RW.
Bjork, Okposo and Caggiula are very good PK forwards so fitting everyone into the line up may be difficult.
I also agree we may all be surprised with the return the Sabres receive at the TDL for all of their UFA's.
Four years ago, I may have blamed the wrong players for the locker room problems and teams poor performance.
I know it is early and Buffalo could have easily lost to Edmonton and Pittsburgh stretching the losing streak to 8 games (on the other hand they could won the games against the Devils, Ducks and Wings), but how can a team lose Jack, Sam, Linus and Rasmus and be doing significantly better.

Feel like this team could use some Petr Mrázek!