The Buffalo Sabres are a GREAT even strength team, but a HORRIBLE special teams team so far

It's early in the season, just seven games have been played on the Buffalo Sabres schedule thus far, but it's enough time to pickup on some trends. The Sabres so far look like a very good even strength team, but just aren't getting the goaltending. There is room to improve however, with Josh Norris and others dropping the ball so far. Getting Norris back into a top-six center position would be best for him and likely best for the whole team. Sneaky Joe would also like to see the return of the Zucker-McLeod-Quinn line when Jason Zucker returns from injury.

A look at the penalty kill shows a lot of new pieces trying to figure out how to do the job, and the likes of Zach Metsa are falling well short of last year's bar. Beck Malenstyn's role could serve to increase playing more with Ryan McLeod, and Conor Timmins eventually should help in a big way.

Meanwhile, the powerplay feels like a lost cause at this point. But Noah Östlund is helping the puck movement a lot, while Jack Quinn is sinking the top unit.

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