Jack Quinn gave Buffalo exactly the kind of push it needed last season, and the Sabres still have reason to want more.
After three NHL seasons spent working through the early stages of his career, the 24-year-old winger delivered his best offensive year yet in 2025-26. Quinn finished with 20 goals and 51 points in 82 games, then added five assists and seven points in 13 playoff games as the Sabres reached the postseason for the first time in 15 years, won a first-round series against the Boston Bruins, and fell to the Montreal Canadiens in the second round.
That kind of production earned Quinn an A- in TheHockeyNews.com’s Sabres grades series, and the case is easy to make. His rookie year brought 14 goals and 37 points in 75 games.
In 2023-24, injuries cut him down to 27 games, but he still managed 10 assists and 19 points. Then came 2024-25, when he posted 15 goals and 39 points in 74 games.
The arrow has kept pointing up, and last season was the clearest jump yet.
The context matters, too. Quinn is in the first year of a two-year deal worth $3.375-million per season, and Buffalo has him lined up on its second line, where the opportunities are real and the expectations are even bigger. That’s a spot that can help a player build numbers fast, but it also demands more than just flashes.
And that’s where the Sabres’ view of Quinn gets interesting. What he did last season was encouraging.
What Buffalo wants next is another step, and then another after that. He was drafted eighth overall in 2020 for a reason, and this is still the phase where the organization is waiting to see how high his game can climb.
There are still areas the Sabres would like to see sharpened. Quinn’s plus-4 last season is one of them, especially with Ryan McLeod sitting at plus-25. Buffalo doesn’t need Quinn to carry the whole team, but it does need his offense to keep moving forward and his impact to show up more consistently.
That matters even more because Quinn is heading toward restricted free agency after this coming season. If he builds on what he just did, Buffalo could soon face a decision between a long-term extension and a shorter bridge deal. For now, the takeaway is clear: Quinn took a meaningful step forward, and the Sabres are counting on him to keep climbing.
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Sabres Are Betting Big On Patience After Their Playoff Breakthrough
After their unexpected playoff appearance in 2025-26, the Sabres are resisting the temptation to treat the moment like a finish line. Instead, the front office is leaning into patience, keeping the emphasis on the development of younger players such as Zach Benson, Jack Quinn and Josh Doan while trying to build something sturdier than a one-year run. It is a quieter kind of momentum, but one that fits the way the organization now seems to be thinking about its next step.
General manager Jarmo Keklinen has made it clear that long-term growth matters more than a rushed splash, and the roster plan reflects that mindset. Buffalo is managing cap space and its current composition with an eye toward a much bigger opportunity down the road, including the possibility of pursuing major free agents in 2027-28. For a team that has already shown it can surprise, the harder question now is whether patience can turn a breakthrough into something lasting. [Read more 🡒]
Bowen Byrams Final Sabres Season Put Buffalos Trade In Perspective
Bowen Byrams final season in Buffalo helped explain why the Sabres were willing to part with a player who still had clear room to grow. He took a step forward in 2025-26, finishing with seven goals and 38 points in 82 games, then added four goals and seven points in 13 playoff games, a reminder that his game was trending up even as the organization weighed its longer-term picture.
Byram was traded to Chicago in June for a package that included a 2026 fourth-overall draft pick, a return that framed the move as more than just a clean roster swap. The Blackhawks followed by locking him in on a six-year extension worth $12.5 million per season, while the Sabres are left with the kind of draft capital that could reshape the next phase of their build. [Read more 🡒]