Welcome to the NHL Daily Picks, where CBSSports.com hockey writers Chris Peters and Adam Gretz share their predictions for select games every day.
A new era begins for the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night when they host the Ottawa Senators to open the 2015-16 season. And after watching some of the worst hockey imaginable at the NHL level over the past two seasons this one should prove to be a heck of a lot more enjoyable for their fans that have been patiently waiting for for decent hockey to return to their city.
It all starts with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft, Jack Eichel, as he makes his much-anticipated debut. Everything the Sabres did last season was geared toward landing one of the two prized prospects at the top of the draft -- Eichel, or Connor McDavid, who will also be making his debut for the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night in St. Louis against the Blues. But even if Eichel turns out to be everything that he has been advertised to be -- or more -- that alone wasn't going to be enough to turn around a team that had become the worst in the NHL.
That's why the Sabres didn't just stop with a top draft pick.
They also spent the past few months acquiring top-line players Ryan O'Reilly and Evander Kane, as well as starting goaltender Robin Lehner, to go with their collection of young phenoms that includes Eichel and 2014 No. 2 overall pick Sam Reinhart. All of those guys are making their Buffalo debuts on Thursday. And even t hough it's probably not going to be enough to take the Sabres from the NHL's basement to a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference in one year, it's at least enough to give their fans hope that brighter days are on the horizon.
And it all starts on Thursday against an Ottawa team that is coming off of an incredible 2014-15 campaign that saw them complete one of the great second-half comebacks in NHL history. The Senators didn't really do much to change their roster over the summer -- other than send Lehner and David Legwand to Buffalo and lose Erik Condra in free agency -- and are relying on continued improvement from their young core led by Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman and Mika Zibabejad, as well as two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson on defense. It's not a bad core of players, and Karlsson should continue to be one of the NHL's must-see players, but there's also not a ton of potential impact players around them, either. So expectations should probably be kept in check for what the Senators are capable of this season. Pick: Sabres 4, Senators 2
Picks for the rest of Thursday night's games
Winnipeg Jets 4, Boston Bruins 2
Tampa Bay Lightning 5, Philadelphia Flyers 2
St. Louis Blues 4, Edmonton Oilers 3
Nashville Predators 3, Carolina Hurricanes 1
Pittsburgh Penguins 5, Dallas Stars 4
Colorado Avalanche 2, Minnesota Wild 1