Rasmus Dahlin didn’t just meet the standard for the Buffalo Sabres last season. He set it.
In a year that brought playoff hockey back to Buffalo and ended a decade-and-a-half drought, the Sabres captain was as steady as they come. Dahlin’s 2025-26 season was the kind of all-around showing teams dream about from a No. 1 defenseman: 55 assists, a career-high 74 points and 24:10 of ice time across 77 games. For a player already known for consistency, that’s what made this year stand out - the production stayed elite, and the ceiling got even higher.
The numbers from the previous season show just how little Dahlin’s game slipped, even as his output climbed. In 2024-25, he had 51 assists and 68 points in 73 games while averaging 24:14 per night.
The workload barely changed. The impact barely changed.
What changed was that Dahlin found another gear offensively, and he did it while posting a career-best shooting percentage of 9.8 percent, topping his previous high of 8.5 percent.
That matters because Dahlin is now 26 and firmly in his prime, and he’s doing it on an $11-million salary that runs for the next six seasons. That kind of contract comes with heavy expectations, but in Buffalo, there’s no sense that he’s overpaid. If anything, with the salary cap climbing and top defensemen moving into the $16-to-$18-million-per-year range, Dahlin’s deal is starting to look like a steal.
And the Sabres have every reason to value him that way. There aren’t many true No. 1 defensemen in the league, and Dahlin is one of them.
He also got his first playoff run last season, and he made it count: 10 assists and 14 points, including six power-play points, in 13 games. That’s point-per-game production in the postseason, exactly the kind of punch Buffalo needed from its captain.
The Sabres’ run ended in Round 2 with a loss to the Montreal Canadiens after a Round 1 win over the Boston Bruins, but Dahlin’s experience in those games only adds to what Buffalo can build on. If the Sabres had missed the playoffs this year, the conversation around him would look very different. Instead, winning has changed the tone around the franchise and made Dahlin’s future in Western New York feel much clearer.
His poise and patience were part of why he earned a Norris Trophy nomination this season, even though Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski won the award. Dahlin didn’t take home the trophy, but the nomination fit. So does the idea that his first Norris could be coming sooner rather than later.
There is still room for him to grow, especially when the games tighten up and the pressure spikes. But Buffalo already has a cornerstone who drives play, tilts the ice and makes good things happen whenever he’s out there.
That’s why an A+ feels right here - and why multiple A+ seasons are very much on the table. Dahlin is the kind of player a franchise can build around, and the Sabres’ next decade will go as far as he and the rest of their core can take them.
In Other News...
Three Sabres Suddenly Carry Huge Pressure To Prove Last Year Was Real
With Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram no longer in the mix, the Sabres are heading into camp with a little less margin for error and a lot more attention on the players who can help replace what those departures leave behind. Mattias Samuelsson, Jack Quinn and Josh Doan all come out of last season with legitimate momentum, and Buffalo needs those gains to look real again if it is going to push back toward the playoff race.
Samuelssons jump in production, Quinns emergence as a top-nine option and Doans growing role give the roster some needed upside, but they also raise the bar for what comes next. The Sabres do not just need those seasons to be remembered as a nice stretch, they need them to become the new standard, especially with the lineup thinner than it was a year ago and the pressure to prove last season was no fluke hanging over a key part of the forward group. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres May Finally Be Circling The Top Six Scorer Fans Want
Kirill Marchenko has quietly become one of the more intriguing names in the summer trade market, and Buffalo is at least being mentioned as a possible fit if Columbus decides to move him. The Blue Jackets winger has given teams plenty to think about after a strong season and a productive two-year stretch, and for a Sabres club still looking to add more scoring punch, that kind of player naturally lands on the radar.
The wrinkle is timing, because the chatter around Marchenko has not settled into anything concrete yet. Buffalo can keep monitoring the situation while sorting through its own forward group, and if the market does shift later in the summer, the Sabres look like the sort of team that could jump in when the price and the fit line up. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Single Game Tickets Are Here And Fans Will Feel It
The first chance to see the Sabres at home this season comes Oct. 3 against the Chicago Blackhawks, and single-game tickets are already on sale with even the cheapest seats carrying a hefty price tag. For fans eyeing the home opener, the market is reflecting more than just a date on the calendar - it is also showing the buzz around a team coming off a playoff run and the added pull of marquee home dates.
VIPTix president and CEO Nick Giammusso said the opener and holiday games are drawing the highest prices because demand is strongest for those nights, while the rest of the schedule should be more fluid as the season gets closer. For anyone not locked in on being there from the start, there is at least a chance the numbers soften later, once the market has time to settle. [Read more 🡒]