Camp Preview | 3 storylines to follow at forward

2. Career-year candidates

The Sabres had six forwards (Thompson, Tuch, Skinner, Cozens, Mittelstadt, and Krebs) establish new career highs in points last season, excluding rookies Quinn and Peterka.

All six are candidates to once again surpass their previous benchmarks – Thompson and Cozens have already spoken about their hunger to hit the 50- and 40-goal benchmarks, respectively – but the list for potential breakouts extends beyond that group.

Peterka is an obvious candidate, with one year in the NHL already under his belt as he enters his 21-year-old season. Another is Jordan Greenway, entering his first full season with the Sabres after being acquired from the Wild at last year’s deadline.

Buffalo acquired Greenway, a 6-foot-6 power forward, in part because of a vote of confidence from Granato, his coach with the U.S. National Team Development Program. Granato had watched film of Greenway in Minnesota and believed he had untapped potential in the NHL, which Greenway offered a glimpse of late. He scored four goals in 17 games with the Sabres, doubling his 47-game total with the Wild.

“Any time you can find a way to produce and get those kinds of rewards, it’s great,” he said after the season. “I definitely think that for me there’s still a lot more for me to do. Right now, that’s really my only focus going into the summer.”