Questions for the comming season

The Sabres play their first pre-season game of the year tonight, but still face alot of questions coming into this season. The answers to these questions will determine if Buffalo can win this year or not.

Can Vanek play defense? - two years ago Vanek lead the league with a plus 47 rating. Last year, despite only a slight drop in goal scoring he was minus five. He needs to go back to playing two ways if the Sabres are going to have a chance this year.

Can Connolly stay healthy? - Tim Connolly has only played in 50 games the past two seasons combined. He is a good player, but is off the ice far too often to be considered the cornerstone of this team.

Will Peters use up a roster spot? - Even when he is on the roster Peters only rarely gets more than five minutes of playing time a game. Given Buffalo's depth on offense that is a spot that would be better filled by Kaleta or Gerbe.

Is Sekera for real? - Andrej Sekera has been penciled in as a top six defenseman this season off of only 37 games played last season. In a similar position Paetsch disappointed last year. Granted Mike Weber may be capable of taking this spot as well.

Will Max show up big in his contract year? - there has been some talk about trading Afinogenov this off season, but just three seasons ago he lead the team in points. Last year was a disappointment for him, but does the possibility of him turning his game around still exist?

Can Lalime get enough starts to give Miller some rest? - It was clear that the team did not trust their backup goalie last season, forcing them to play Miller every game. Given how he did last year in Chicago Lalime should be trusted to take a few games.