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The Buffalo Sabres, coming off a relatively successful season in 2009-10, are set to open the new campaign on Friday night in Ottawa. Here is a position-by-position look at the team, including the front office and coach:

Front Office

General manager Darcy Regier is often a target of disgruntled fans for his perceived habit of sitting on his hands and not making any moves to improve the team. The team’s new policy of scouting players using video rather than sending scouts to personally look at them, along with their decision not to pay Tim Kennedy’s arbitration awarded salary, add more ammunition to Regier’s reputation of running a cheap operation. Ultimately, that “cheap” title belongs hanging on owner Tom Golisano rather than Regier, but there is no doubt that it rankles some fans that the Sabres seem obsessed with selling merchandise (see the new jerseys below), while never re-investing any of that money in the product on the ice. Still, it’s great that the team has moved beyond the old “mad cow disease  goathead” and “Buffaslug” logos and returned completely to the classy crossed swords logo of the past. Back to the product on the ice – Regier deserves credit for drafting players like Tyler Myers, Tyler Ennis and Nathan Gerbe, but also gets the blame for the failed trade for Raffi Torres last year at the trading deadline. Torres always had a reputation for coming up big in the playoffs, but he was a bad fit for this team.

The Sabres’ new 40th anniversary jerseys are reminiscent of the old AHL Buffalo Bisons’ “bottlecap” jerseys from the 1960s.

Coach 

Lindy Ruff  is by far the longest tenured head coach in the NHL, and his track record under dire circumstances, coaching an overachieving group to heights they weren’t expected to reach, is impressive. Since he took over for the popular Ted Nolan, he has been stripped of important leadership, first by the trade of captain Mike Peca and then again by the allowed defection of another captain, Chris Drury, and sparkplug Daniel Briere,  and both times brought the team back to respectability. His postseason record is impressive also, which is why last year’s sudden elimination by Boston in the opening round of the playoffs was a surprise. Ruff has said when discussing the prospects for this year’s team, winning the Stanley Cup should be the topic since that is his expectation for the team. That’s one of the reasons why I like Ruff – he sets the goals high and doesn’t accept excuses. That being said, this season the expectations on Ruff should be higher than usual. He has had a long leash so far in his career here, as many other coaches around the league who have won Stanley Cups have been fired while Ruff remains. If the Sabres don’t repeat as division champs this season it won’t be considered a negative, if the team uses the season to qualify for the playoffs in any of the 8 available spots, but by season’s end has a team more ready to compete and advance deep into the always gritty Stanley Cup playoffs.

Goaltender

Ryan Miller is clearly the face of this franchise, and one of the faces being hyped most overall by the NHL in attempting to sell their product. Miller is the reason the Sabres are highly regarded as a team, since the rest of their roster lacks any real luster. My opinion on Miller is that he is a technically sound netminder who makes few mistakes.  This season, however, he needs to be more than just a sound technician. He needs to raise his game to match the hype and truly become the league’s top goalie. If you’re really the best, you can’t give up the overtime goal to Sidney Crosby in the Olympics and you can’t be outplayed by Tuukka Rask in a playoff series. Miller is a tough competitor and hopefully he will take his game to the next level this year. Patrick Lalime is a good enough backup goalie to spell Miller at times during the season.  The Sabres operate following the principle that a team can win with an average roster and outstanding goaltending, but consider this fact – Montreal made a long playoff run, and Chicago won the Cup, riding the play of hot goaltenders. The Canadiens then traded the goalie, and the Black Hawks declined to re-sign theirs, so obviously the philosophy of these teams is different, and arguably more successful.

Goaltender Ryan Miller

Forwards

There isn’t one player who carries the load offensively for this team, so once again the Sabres have to rely on balanced scoring among their 3 or 4 lines. The roster of forwards includes players who are sound defensively, play a pretty good all-around game and each chip in with a goal here and there when needed. Thomas Vanek is their biggest goal-scoring threat, and in my opinion has earned the contract he got a few years ago. Tim Connolly, on the other hand, is another story. He has offensive skills but has underachieved his entire career here, and disappeared in the playoffs last year. Derek Roy and Jason Pominville are similar type players. On most teams they would be great role players, but on this team more is expected of them than that. In last year’s playoffs, neither of them delivered either. There’s plenty of physical presence among the forwards with Pat Kaleta, Paul Gaustad, Cody McCormick and Mike Grier. The expectation is that the young players who showed promise at the end of the year and in the playoffs – Tyler Ennis and Nathan Gerbe – will become big offensive contributors this season. Free agent Rob Niedermayer is an interesting addition. He is one of those players whose team wins wherever he goes. He’s been a journeyman player, but his teams have been to the Cup finals on 3 different occasions, and he won the Cup with Anaheim when he was teamed there with brother Scott. One thing that was overlooked in last year’s disappointing loss in the playoffs was the absense of Jochen Hecht due to an injury. He’s an important player on this team and will prove that as this season unfolds. One player who needs to step it up this year to save his pro career is Drew Stafford. The bottom line is that the Sabres are counting on a lot of that – potential growing into production – among their forward lines. We’ll see how well Ruff does in bringing out that potential.

Tyler Ennis

Defense

The Sabres did a pretty big overhaul of their defensive unit in the offseason, obviously looking to add more size and toughness. Gone are veterans Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder, both of whom were steady, if not spectacular, players on a team that has always stressed protecting the defensive zone above all else. Replacing them are Shaone Morrisonn, a free agent signing from Washington, and Jordan Leopold, who moves over from Pittsburgh. Morrisonn is a physical, stay-at-home defenseman who is solid in his own end, while Leopold is more of an offensive defenseman who should help spark a power play that was non-existent in last year’s playoffs. The jewel of this unit, obviously, is 2009-10 Rookie of the Year Tyler Myers. He played almost exclusively with Tallinder last season and will have to adjust to a new partner, but it’s expected Myers’ game will continue to progress and he should grow into one of the top defensemen in the NHL. Captain Craig Rivet and Steve Montador also will play regular roles, and the team needs to sort out which players among the remaining defensemen – Chris Butler, Andrej Sekera and Mike Weber – are going to step up and earn their way into the lineup on a regular basis.

Shaone Morrisonn