Four months after their run to the second round of the 2026 NHL Playoffs, the Buffalo Sabres are back at it. Training camp opens this week, and the reigning Atlantic Division champs will spend the next stretch sorting through a roster that looks good on paper - and a lot less settled than it did last spring.
The biggest change from last season’s team is obvious. Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram are gone, and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen has only made a few outside additions to the NHL roster, with Olen Zellweger and Louis Crevier leading the way. Buffalo is banking heavily on internal growth to cover the production that walked out the door at both ends of the ice.
That leaves Lindy Ruff with plenty to sort out before the regular season opener on Oct. 1, when the Sabres visit the Columbus Blue Jackets. There are real battles coming in camp, and the lineup could look plenty different by the time the games count.
Up front, the first big question is where Tage Thompson starts. If he’s at center, that changes the whole shape of the forward group. Ruff has usually leaned toward using the 6-foot-6 scorer on the wing when the roster is at full strength, but that decision will ripple through the rest of the lineup either way.
Josh Norris is another major piece of the puzzle. When he’s healthy, he makes the coaching staff’s job much easier. He put up 34 points in 44 games last season, but staying available has been the challenge throughout his career.
For now, Buffalo appears to have one more top-nine forward than spots available, which is why Noah Ostlund is slotted on the bottom line despite his new contract extension. Injuries will eventually open things up, and that could create room for Sam Carrick to step in as the fourth-line center. If there’s no opening early, Buffalo would be giving up one of its faceoff strengths by keeping him out.
There’s also some roster flexibility to watch because Ostlund, Jiri Kulich and Konsta Helenius are the club’s waiver-exempt forwards. Buffalo could send one of them to Rochester for a stretch - Kulich, coming back from a long layoff, is mentioned as a possibility - to preserve depth. Even if that happens, all three are expected to be in the mix later in the season.
The top end of the forward group may not stack up with the league’s deepest Cup favorites, but the balance throughout the top nine gives Buffalo a chance to roll lines and keep legs fresh over an 84-game season.
One other forward to watch is Jake Richard. He’s headed to Rochester to start the year, but his summer has been strong enough to put him on the radar for a midseason call-up if the Sabres need offense.
On defense, the top pair looks straightforward: Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson are expected to run it back after a strong season together in 2025-26. After that, things get much less certain.
Owen Power’s partner could change depending on the matchup and the situation. Crevier is an interesting fit because of what he brings defensively, which could help take some of the pressure off Power and let the former No. 1 overall pick push more offensively.
Zellweger should be part of that mix as well. Buffalo brought him in from Anaheim for his skating and his ability to move play up the ice, though that hasn’t yet turned into elite NHL offense. His defensive game still comes with questions.
Because of that, Ruff may end up mixing and matching on the second pair based on the score. Crevier, Zellweger and Conor Timmins all could see regular minutes there. If Crevier and Timmins end up on the third pair at times, they probably won’t spend much of that time together because neither is a strong puck mover.
For the seventh defenseman role, Zach Metsa appears to have the edge over Dennis Gilbert. Gilbert would give Buffalo more physicality, though, and that could matter after the departures of Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn in free agency.
Daxon Rudolph and Radim Mrtka are also names to keep in the pipeline if they prove ready for the NHL over the next 12 months.
In goal, the Connor Hellebuyck talk never turned into a deal, so Buffalo is heading into camp with the same three-goalie setup it used last season. That means Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen gets another shot to claim the starter’s job. He’s shown flashes, including a .909 save percentage in 35 games last season, but inconsistency has followed him around in Buffalo.
Alex Lyon remains a steady backup, while the most interesting question is whether Colten Ellis can push into starter territory. The rookie posted a .903 SV% in 16 games and showed enough to make this a real conversation.
A Hellebuyck trade still sounds like it would fit, especially with Buffalo carrying extra forwards, but Winnipeg’s asking price has stayed high and nobody has been willing to meet it. For now, that leaves the Sabres where they started: if the trade never happens, Ruff will likely keep riding the hot hand in net throughout the 2026-27 season.
In Other News...
Sabres Just Made A Long-Term Bet On A Young Forward
The Sabres have decided they are not waiting to see whether Alexander Ostlund becomes a bigger part of their present before locking him into their future. Buffalo signed the young forward to a long-term deal that reflects the organizations belief that his value goes beyond the role he has filled so far, with Ostlund spending much of his NHL time in a bottom-six spot while also bouncing between Buffalo and Rochester.
Ostlund, the 16th overall pick in 2022, is now part of a broader roster plan that keeps several core pieces under team control through at least 2029-30. The length of the commitment says plenty about how the Sabres view his trajectory, and so does the structure of the deal, which gives him protections later on as Buffalo tries to build a more stable lineup around its young group. [Read more 🡒]
Jiri Kulich Now Faces A Huge Sabres Question At Center
Jiri Kulich has been back on the ice, and for the Sabres that alone is an encouraging development after a long stretch without him in an NHL game. The young forward has been skating and training again, and the early word around him has been positive from both Radim Mrtka and head coach Lindy Ruff, which gives Buffalo a little more reason to keep an eye on him heading into camp.
The bigger issue now is where Kulich fits in a roster that still needs answers down the middle. Buffalos struggles at the faceoff dot last season made center a glaring area of concern, and Kulich is expected to get a real look for a top-line job when training camp opens. He will have to show he can handle that responsibility quickly, because the Sabres need more than just health here - they need a center who can help stabilize a key weakness. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Just Made Their Belief In Noah Ostlund Impossible To Miss
Noah Ostlunds rise from a 2022 first-round pick to a player Buffalo wants locked into its future has been quick and unmistakable. After two seasons in Sweden, the forward came over to Rochester and then made enough of an impression in his rookie NHL season that the Sabres moved to secure him as part of their long-term plans.
The extension gives Buffalo another young piece to build around, and it also keeps Ostlund in the same conversation as the clubs other core names already under contract deep into the decade. For a team trying to stabilize its direction, the message here is clear: the Sabres are betting big that Ostlunds early promise is only the start. [Read more 🡒]