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Departures should not sink ship in Buffalo

By Christian Storms 11 min read

There was not a lot of hope the Sabres would end their playoff drought a year ago and the beginning of the season affirmed many of those predictions.

Well, until the Sabres rattled off 10 straight wins in December and changed the fate of their season. Buffalo did not stop there and remained one of the best teams in the entire league, cruising to the postseason and winning the seventh division title in team history.

Once again, the greater majority does not believe Buffalo did enough this offseason to keep up with the most competitive division in hockey, the Atlantic. However, this group proved last year that the future is in the system and will continue to remain in the playoff picture.

WHAT'S COMING BACK

Against the behest of many Sabres fans, the team is once again relying on internal development to remain in the playoff picture. Just like losing JJ Peterka a year before -- the second highest-scoring forward -- fan-favorite Alex Tuch left as a free agent and his shoes certainly will be bigger to fill considering the two-way applications of his game.

The Peterka trade already came with an answer in Josh Doan, albeit he did not reach the offensive numbers Peterka posted in 2024-25, he instantly became a fan favorite who played a more well-rounded game that is suited for playoff hockey.

With Tuch leaving as a free agent there were hopes Buffalo would go out of its way to replace him in either a trade or a free agent signing over the summer. Instead, the Sabres will rely on some very capable players taking the next step and in the playoffs -- when Tuch was a no-show -- the league got a glimmer of the future.

Wishful thinking is that Josh Norris will be healthy for more than 70 games this season and flourish next to Tage Thompson, making a formidable top line with either Zach Benson or Doan getting a look on the other wing. The key to that top line will be the third forward in Benson or Doan, who are both capable of getting into the dirty areas often as F1 on the forecheck to retrieve pucks for the skillful Thompson and Norris.

However, being a great forechecker is just scratching the surface of what Benson and Doan can bring to the lineup. The duo have developed a nice nose for the net getting to the dirty areas when scoring, can be deceptive playmakers and bring a lot of energy into the lineup. While Benson posted a stat line of 13-30-43 in 65 games and Doan 25-27-52 in 82, they elevated their game in the postseason both finishing right behind Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin in scoring.

While those two will assuredly keep the top line rolling and boost the second line, it is No. 2 center that is pivotal for team success. There are a few options with Norris moving behind Thompson, but Noah Ostlund is expected to make the big step to establish himself in that role. The 16th pick in the 2022 draft gave a glimpse in his rookie season of his ability as an elite skater with excellent four-way mobility that allows him to carve through the neutral zone on transition and set up his teammates off the rush. Ostlund is not a physically dominant player at 5-foot-11 and 183 pounds, but his high hockey IQ extends to his capability as a two-way player without needing to be overly physical.

If neither Ostlund or Norris can work out at second-line center, Ryan McLeod has proven he is more than capable of doing the job after posting 14-40-54 in 81 games last year. His production is fine when moved up the lineup, but McLeod is at his best when utilized as the third-line center with penalty kill responsibilities added to the workload.

Rounding out the top six to start the year is probably going to be Jack Quinn, who looked to be back to his old self in the postseason and managed 20 goals for the first time in his career during the regular season. Health and consistency is going to be pivotal for him maintaining that spot and if he slips up the Sabres' top prospect Konsta Helenius will likely snatch it up.

Coming into his rookie season, Helenius will be a dark horse to win the Calder Trophy in a loaded class. The American Hockey League all-star torched the minor leagues and in all of his samples with the big club he wowed fans with some big goals.

The speed of Helenius and McLeod will make for one of the more dangerous third lines in the NHL. On the other wing, Peyton Krebs will likely begin the year and fill the same role that Benson and Doan will in the top six. Then, when Jason Zucker returns to the lineup, he will probably be slotted into the middle six to bump Krebs back to the fourth line.

Jiri Kulich will also fight for his spot back in the lineup after missing most of last season with blood clots, but if he isn't sent to Rochester he will probably begin on the fourth line with Sam Carrick and Beck Malenstyn.

Everyone questions the offense especially when a key player like Tuch is not replaced in a big move and instead is replicated internally. The real focus is actually on the defense and whether players like Mattias Samuelsson or Owen Power can build off of last year along with if the Bowen Byram replacements are capable of the job.

Dahlin is expected to stay in the Norris Trophy conversation as the best defender in the league and now at 26 begins to enter his prime athletic years. Power established himself as a great defender without laying the Chris Pronger boom, rather utilizing his brain and reach to stop opposing offenses.

Samuelsson might miss time after an injury in the preseason, but when he comes back it would be foolish to demand the offensive output from a year ago. That offensive production should fall on the shoulders of Olen Zellweger, who is coming over from Anaheim yearning for a bigger role. Zellweger is not the goal-scoring threat Byram was, but he is a fleet-of-foot 5-foot-10 left-handed defenseman who will be crucial in the transition game and has great vision to set up options in the offensive zone.

Buffalo added 6-foot-8, 227-pound righty Louis Crevier in the Byram trade and he will be interesting to watch in the early season, whether he joins in on the offensive fun or is a physically dominant shutdown man to pair with a puck mover. Veteran Matt Grzelcyk signed as a free agent last week to fill the space as Buffalo deals with some injuries.

Ultimately, the defense will live and die by the success of Dahlin and Power as the two take a bulk of the responsibility on the blue line. The offensive production of Byram misled many to his impact on the ice as his defensive indifference washed out a lot of that success.

Buffalo will implement the same goaltending strategy as last year with Alex Lyon, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Colten Ellis. Few teams ride one goalie for most of the season with the exception of a few that are always in the Vezina race and Buffalo showed it worked last year.

The roster is still a few years away from truly competing to win the Stanley Cup, but prospects like Benson, Doan, Ostlund and Helenius can reassure fans the Sabres will still be good this season.

STAYING THE SAME

Buffalo is not alone among the Atlantic Division teams relying on current players and prospects to take the next step with most notably Montreal doing the same thing.

The Canadiens, who went further than any of the Atlantic teams, will be rolling out the same exact defense and goaltending tandem that reached the Eastern Conference final. The only acquisition at forward was a 35-year-old Chris Kreider, who is really only a factor on the power play at this point in his career.

Tampa Bay will have some significant shoes to fill on defense as Victor Hedman winds down his career and Darren Raddysh signed with Toronto after breaking out last season. Players like Erik Cernak and JJ Moser will be asked to do more than they are capable of and Ryan McDonagh and John Carlson are in the same boat as Hedman against Father Time.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy will make up for some of the holes on the defensive end, but the most important thing to Lightning relevancy is Nikita Kucherov remaining healthy and one of the best players in the league. Kucherov, Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli will provide enough offense for Tampa Bay to stay in contention for the division title, but the years are past of the team being a true contender, especially if Kucherov misses significant time.

The Bruins are in the same boat as the Lightning with great goaltending, solid defensive corps and an elite winger in David Pastrnak. Boston's best effort in keeping up with the Atlantic was trading for Peterka, making it his third team in as many years, then the hope Fraser Minten and James Hagens will continue their development in their sophomore and rookie campaigns, respectively.

With the lack of depth at forward and missing high-end pieces on defense there is too much pressure on Jeremy Swayman in net to get back into the playoffs and the Bruins are most likely to lose their playoff position to a healthy Florida.

GETTING WORSE

Ottawa snuck into the playoffs last season and it was through a second-half push that was overlooked in comparison to Buffalo's rise to the top. Great goaltending and the third-best defensive group in the division are the cornerstone of the Senators' success, but trading former captain Brady Tkachuk leaves a big hole in the squad.

Trading for William Eklund is a laughable attempt at replacing the type of player Tkachuk is and Tim Stutzle remains an elite forward, but not on the level of Pastrnak or Kucherov. Adding Andre Burakovsky is another piece that might provide some offense, but all around will not improve the squad and solidify a return to the postseason.

If the defense and goaltending remains proficient the offense is good enough to keep Ottawa in the hunt, but they are still below the top teams in the division.

Detroit is the biggest disappointment in the division after building what looks like a good roster on paper it continues to be only dysfunctional in the Motor City. The highlight of the Detroit offseason was actually a lowlight with another year extending the playoff drought; the captain Dylan Larkin added the cherry on top when requesting a trade.

For a roster that was not good enough to make the postseason, Detroit added Viktor Arvidsson who will bolster the top six. However, with a potential trade looming with Larkin there are too many questions coming into the season for the Red Wings and it is more likely they head to another rebuild before reaching the postseason again.

ON THE RISE

Florida's season was over before it began last year when captain and the best two-way center in the game Alexander Barkov was injured for the whole year.

With the return of Barkov and trading for Brady Tkachuk, Florida should shoot back into cup contention. The main question mark is whether the goaltending tandem of Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmid is capable of getting the job done.

Toronto bottomed out for the first time in a decade and was immediately rewarded with another talent that garnered just as much hype as Auston Matthews did in Gavin McKenna. The Maple Leafs also made a big trade earlier this week essentially swapping Matthew Knies for Kirill Marchenko from the Blue Jackets. Each of those additions, along with a healthy Matthews, should keep the Maple Leafs out of the cellar, but is not going to vault them into contention for the division again.

KEY TO SUCCESS

There has been enough movement up and down in the Atlantic Division that departures of Byram and Tuch should not sink the ship in Buffalo. The second-youngest team from the playoffs a year ago is only going to get better even if it did not add a big free agent or make a blockbuster trade.

The only thing in the way of Buffalo getting back to the postseason is going to be health and its own mentality. The key players like Dahlin, Thompson, Benson, Doan and Norris need to stay healthy and as a whole the team has to remain hungry to get better.

Starting at /week.