Believe it or not, the 2009 NHL Season is right around the corner and the Buffalo Sabres take the ice on Saturday October 3^rd to open the season against the Montreal Canadiens. With that in mind, let's take a look at the Sabres and see what we can expect for the upcoming 2009-10 season.

Key Additions: Jeff Cowan (LW), Mike Grier (RW-San Jose), Cody McCormick (C-Colorado), Joe DiPenta (D), Steve Montador (D-Anaheim/Boston),

Key Losses: Jaroslav Spacek (D-Montreal), Maxim Afinogenov (RW-UFA), Andrew Peters (LW-NJD), Dominic Moore (C-UFA), Mikael Tellqvist (G-KHL)

The Sabres enter this season poised to either qualify for the playoffs or face some major changes next summer. Despite what upper management has said publicly, there is the growing feeling that both Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier will be feeling the heat next summer if the Sabres fail to make the playoffs for a third straight year. Luckily for those two guys, as long as the Sabres stay relatively healthy (especially Ryan Miller), the Sabres should be playing postseason hockey in the spring of 2010. How far they advance in the postseason is another story.

If you asked any Sabres fan what the team has been lacking for the past three seasons, the overwhelming majority would answer with grit and toughness. The Sabres made an attempt to address that last offseason when they acquired defenseman Craig Rivet from the San Jose Sharks and made him the captain. While he battled through injuries for a good portion of the 2008-09 season, he still provided the exact toughness that the Sabres desired. It doesn't take genius to figure out that one man can't do it all, so the Sabres again went into this offseason looking to address the overall toughness of the team.

First up was the signing of defenseman Steve Montador. While he is nowhere near an elite defenseman, he is exactly what the Sabres need. In fact, when writing my defenseman rankings, I clearly stated that I would love to have Montador on the Sabres and even had him ranked fairly high because of what he brings to a team. As you can imagine, I was a happy boy on July 1^st. If anybody wants an idea of what to expect, simply go to Youtube and take a look at the fight between Rivet and Montador that took place last season. It's nothing ground breaking, but it's nice to see that he'll be playing in Sabres blue and gold this season. I'd like to believe certain players won't be so inclined to take a run at Miller with those two on the ice.

Continuing with the toughness theme, the Sabres signed center Cody McCormick, who was an unrestricted free agent from Colorado. Again, he isn't going to bring a ton of scoring to the table but he'll bring a little bit of toughness. I had the feeling the minute he was signed that he would be filling the role previously held by Andrew Peters. The good news for Buffalo fans is that McCormick has been known to contribute offensively, something Peters had trouble doing.

In the past four seasons, Peters played in 158 games and contributed five points. Yes you read that correctly, five points. Last season alone McCormick more than doubled that total with 12 points in 55 games, a .218 point per game average. While that is nothing to get excited about, take in the fact that last season Adam Mair chipped in 19 points in 75 games, a .253 point per game average. Fans of Buffalo seem to like Mair because along with the occasional point or two, he is a main source of toughness for the team. Now it appears he'll have some help in the form of Cody McCormick. I am personally really rooting for the guy to be on the opening night roster, although it's looking right now like he provide some depth and may even start the season in Portland.

Rounding out their free agent activity, the Sabres brought back Mike Grier after a stint with the San Jose Sharks. Grier was last a member of the Sabres when they were 20 minutes away from the Stanley Cup Finals. During that offseason he was offered identical deals by both Buffalo and San Jose and he chose to head out West. Upon leaving the team, it was known that Grier didn't particularly like the direction the team was headed. He apparently likes the direction enough now to come back for a second stint. Then again, maybe he just needed a job and the Sabres were the only ones with an offer on the table. Regardless of that, he'll not only bring toughness and some scoring, but solid penalty killing ability and some more veteran leadership which the Sabres have lacked recently.

The key to this season, stay healthy! The Sabres were primed to make the playoffs last year before both Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek went down with injuries. While Vanek only missed a total of nine games, he definitely wasn't the same player. Having a broken jaw severely limited his conditioning while he was out. Even with that factored in, Vanek finished the year with 40 goals and 24 assists. Just imagine if he plays a full 82 games.

Tim Connolly was rewarded with a new two year deal on trade deadline day that was met with very mixed reactions by Sabres fans. Since the lockout, Connolly has played in 185 games (regular season and playoffs), and has 163 points in that time span; including 47 points in 48 games last season. I don't think it's fair for any fan to judge this deal until we see just how many games Connolly plays during the contract. Connolly hasn't played in more than 63 regular season games since the lockout, so the Sabres definitely took a big risk.

But just for comparison, let's look at another injury prone player who got a huge payday this offseason and compare his stats to Connolly's since the lockout (regular season + playoffs).

Honestly, did the Sabres take that big of risk? Sure Gaborik is slightly better than a point per game player while Connolly falls just short of the mark, but Gaborik got a ton more money and three more years on the contract. If he gets hurt, which isn't that farfetched, the Rangers will be taking up more cap space for a longer period of time. If you ask me, I'll take Connolly's deal over Gaborik's any day of the week. The Sabres are basically paying one million more in cap space for Tim Connolly and Derek Roy than the Rangers are for Marian Gaborik alone. Then again, the Rangers also gave Ales Kotalik nine million for three years…so…ummm…maybe using the Rangers front office as an example of any competence isn't a good idea.

With an abundance of young players itching to play with the Sabres, some veterans on the team are really going to be pushed for their jobs. The three players most commonly mentioned in training camp were Tim Kennedy, Nathan Gerbe, and Tyler Myers. Gerbe and Kennedy both had short stints with the Sabres last season, so they should be better prepared this season to play in Buffalo. Whether or not there will be a spot for them is a different story. As of this writing, the Sabres forward picture looks something like this (in no particular order).

As you can see, there aren't many open roster spots with the Sabres. If Kennedy or Gerbe plan on playing on October 3^rd, something special would have to happen. Adam Mair is currently out with offseason surgery, but that doesn't guarantee Gerbe anything.

As for Myers, well he will really have to impress the coaching staff during camp and pre-season to find himself on the opening night roster. The Sabres current defensemen (as of this writing) are Chris Butler, Toni Lydman, Nathan Paetsch, Craig Rivet, Andrej Sekera, Henrik Tallinder, Tyler Myers, and Steve Montador. Paetsch will probably serve as the seventh defenseman again this season, but there is still not a ton of room for Myers. Then again, if Lydman or Tallinder were traded, a spot would open up. Odds of that happening? Not likely. My level of excitement from 1-10 if it did happen? 11.

Besides injuries, the one big factor that could derail the Sabres season is the goaltender situation. I lost faith in Patrick Lalime very quickly last season but I'm willing to give him one more shot. As long as he is playing spot duty for Miller on off nights, I think he will be fine. I've noticed in the past that goalies tend to struggle in Buffalo and I believe it's because of their offensive style. Ryan Miller is used to it and can carry the team, other goalies cannot. Lalime has a better idea of what to expect and should be better acclimated for the job this season. He also had offseason hip surgery which should hopefully help his play. I have no idea whether or not that injury affected him last season, but I can only assume it did since he shut it down before the season was even over.

Ryan Miller will also have to deal with the Olympics this season. I see this going one of two ways. Miller was left off the roster four years ago mostly due to a thumb injury and since that time has been talked about as the best US born goalie currently in the NHL. That is, until last season when Boston's Tim Thomas won the Vezina Trophy and now talk has shifted to Thomas being the number one goalie for Team USA. It seems, as of now, that most of the country is split 50/50 on who should be the starter. I can definitely see Miller coming out of the gates and playing lights out to prove himself to the rest of the country that he is in fact the best US born goalie right now. I can also see the Olympics tiring Miller out and affecting his play when the Sabres need him most. Really, I have no idea what to expect when it comes to the Olympics this year.

Assuming something dramatic doesn't happen to the Sabres in terms of injuries, I fully expect the Sabres to make the playoffs this season. I'd be shocked if they were a top four seed and I more see them in the 6-8 range. Miller has proven in the past that he can be the elite goalie the Sabres need, and their offense has proven numerous times that it can score plenty of goals when called upon. It's going to be a matter of putting the two pieces together and making them fit. If the fit isn't there, Ruff and Regier might not be either.