NHL: Buffalo Sabres – 2025/2026 Review
Buffalo finally snapped a 15-year playoff drought, the longest in NHL history, by putting together a 109-point season and finishing top of the Atlantic. They then beat Boston in six games in round one before heartbreak struck against Montreal, who edged them in seven after overtime settled the final game. It was a historic year, even if it ended one win short of the conference final.
Key data
2025-2026 record: 50-23-9 (288 goals for, 241 against)
2025-2026 NHL standing: 1st in the Atlantic Division
Top scorer 2025-2026: Tage Thompson (40)
Top assister 2025-2026: Rasmus Dahlin (55)
Top point scorer 2025-2026: Tage Thompson (81)
Average age of roster (2026-2027): 27 years
Available cap space (2026-2027): 5.12 M$
Recent moves (off-season)
Arrivals:
- Louis Crevier (D)
- Olen Zellweger (D)
Departures:
- Michael Kesselring (D)
- Bowen Byram (D)
- Jordan Greenway (F)
- Alex Tuch (F)
- Luke Schenn (D)
Franchise outlook
Buffalo Sabres – Future contracts and draft picks
Buffalo’s summer story is really one of earned continuity. Instead of tearing up a lineup that just delivered its best season in 15 years, the club has locked in its core: Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Zach Benson are all signed through 2031-32 or beyond, while Josh Doan, brought in last year in the controversial JJ Peterka deal, has now landed a seven-year extension after a breakout season that shut down plenty of the noise around that move.
That surprise success says plenty about the change in mood around the organisation. For years, Buffalo watched its young talent walk out the door, with Eichel, Reinhart, Cozens and Peterka all finding their best form elsewhere. Now, at last, the Sabres are starting to get something back for their decisions instead of watching their best pieces blossom somewhere else.
The draft stock is still in good shape too, with a first-round pick in every year through 2029. That’s a useful safety net for a team that is now trying to prove it belongs, not rebuild. The message from Kekalainen is clear: this core is still young enough to deserve a real shot at building on what it has started, not getting pulled apart after one good season.
The end of the curse
Some seasons change how a franchise is seen forever, and Buffalo’s was one of them. For 15 years the Sabres were the definition of NHL frustration, a team that kept producing talent only to watch it flourish somewhere else. This group flipped that script.
Tage Thompson kept doing what he does best as an offensive threat, but it was Rasmus Dahlin who had the season of his life, earning his first Norris Trophy nomination despite a personal tragedy at the very start of the campaign. On defence, Owen Power underlined his status as a long-term pillar, while Josh Doan, arrived in the shadow of the Peterka trade, emerged as one of the league’s better surprises.
The real test came in the playoffs. After getting past Boston in the first round, Buffalo pushed Montreal all the way to a seventh game and lost by the smallest of margins in overtime. That exit did nothing to damage the season; if anything, it proved this group can hang with the East’s best. The question now is whether Buffalo can turn one outstanding year into a habit instead of sliding back to old habits.
Player to watch: Josh Norris (F)
Acquired from Ottawa in March 2025 for Dylan Cozens, Norris carries a reputation as a fragile player, and it has followed him from the Senators to the Sabres. His first full season in Buffalo ended early once again, limited to 44 games, although the production was there when he played, with 34 points.
The contract does not care about missed games: eight years at $7.95 million a season, a hefty price for a player who has barely managed a full campaign since breaking into the league.
The real issue for 2026-27 is not so much whether he can score – he has shown he can do that – but whether he can stay healthy for 82 games. If he does, Buffalo finally gets the reliable second-line centre it has lacked behind Thompson. If he doesn’t, the club will keep paying top dollar for a part-time player.
2026-2027 target
Projected Buffalo Sabres lines 2026-2027
Jarmo Kekalainen did not hide his stance after last season’s exit: the club’s goal is no longer just to make the playoffs, but to win the Stanley Cup. The problem is that Buffalo has lost two major pieces from last year, Alex Tuch to Washington and Bowen Byram to Chicago, without bringing in any headline additions.
Instead, management is banking on younger players such as Noah Ostlund, Jiri Kulich and Konsta Helenius to make up the lost production, while keeping financial flexibility for next summer. Some observers, including ESPN, already have Buffalo fifth in their preseason projections and still trust the core to repeat last year’s run.
Others are less convinced, pointing to the lack of major additions in a brutally strong Atlantic. Making the playoffs again, and then pushing beyond the second round, would confirm the window is open. A sharp drop-off would raise the awkward question of whether last season was an exception rather than the start of something real.
My prediction
5th in the Atlantic and probably a wild card spot. Like last year, the Atlantic is still the toughest division in hockey and the standings are likely to be tight, with Buffalo the one that pays the price. The team is still solid, but after such a blistering season last time out, I think this year will be a touch quieter.
Photo credit: wallpapersafari.com | markr40
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