What do the Sabres lack

In a season that will have many questions to be answered, what's one more, right

Buffalo Sabres prospects skate during the Development Camp 3-on-3 tournament (Photo: Joe Yerdon)

We’ve made it to September and it’s only a matter of days before Buffalo Sabres prospects hit the ice against other young players around the NHL at HarborCenter in what’s become the annual rite of passage from hockey offseason to the regular season.

It’s been an offseason for Buffalo that’s been complete for months now but has felt somewhat incomplete still as training camp approaches in two weeks’ time. That’s not the most comfortable feeling headed into what’s a must-win season for this team. It’s downright worrisome, to be frank. Last season, a lot of us thought the big step that was coming for this group was going to happen and the growth that happened two seasons ago was, indeed, very real and would imminently be built upon.

Ah, naivety.

Getting as close to the playoffs as they did two years ago didn’t spur them on and the weight of expectations hung around their necks while they tried to swim to safety all season long. A deeply unfortunate turn of events that saw them trade the team captain at the deadline and fire the coach after the season.

But we’ve talked about that stuff already. We’ve talked about the moves made and the moves that were not and it got me thinking of a line out of Rush’s final album “Clockwork Angels.” I’ll spare you the nuts and bolts of the story, but the main character of the concept album is posed a question that sticks in my own head moving through life as time trudges onward and aging continues unabated:

"What do you lack?”

Seems a bit much to pose such a massive question meant to spring about thoughts pertaining to life and its collective experiences to something as mundane as hockey, but let’s swim around in this one, because it is that big of a season for the Sabres.

What do the Sabres lack?