The Buffalo Sabres’ blue line is changing shape this season, but it still looks like one of the team’s biggest assets. June trades sent Bowen Byram and Michael Kesselring out and brought Olen Zellweger and Louis Crevier in, giving Lindy Ruff a deeper pool of young defensemen to sort through.
At the top, the structure appears familiar. Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson formed one of the NHL’s best pairings, and Buffalo outscored opponents 46-29 with them on the ice at 5-on-5 last season.
That was the sixth-best goal ratio among defense pairs with at least 500 minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick. They kept it going in the playoffs too, finishing 7-4 in goals.
“Our top pair all year was Samuelsson and Dahlin; I’m pretty sure that pair is going to start the same,” general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen said in June.
The bigger question is how the Sabres handle Owen Power after losing Byram, the partner who helped him post what was arguably his best all-around season. Zellweger and Crevier both have a shot to slide into that opening, and both bring very different skill sets.
Zellweger looks like the closest stylistic match to Byram. At 5-foot-10, the left-shot Calgary native is built on speed, and he uses it to attack up ice, join the rush and create offense in the offensive zone.
He had 22 points last season - seven goals and 15 assists - while playing a career-high 76 games, and he also set personal bests in blocked shots with 85. In three playoff games, he added two points.
Zellweger said he’s already seen enough of Buffalo’s back end to know what kind of system he’s walking into.
“They’re all really good skaters, they all have a great head for the game. Lots of really good puck decisions,” Zellweger said of his new teammates on the back end.
“They kind of quarterback the whole system. I love watching all those guys.
… All just great players, high skill, and I think lots of potential to get better as a group.”
He spent most of last season alongside right-shot partners such as Jacob Trouba and Radko Gudas, but he does have some familiarity with Power from their time together at the IIHF World Junior Championship and World Championship. Kekäläinen pointed directly to the similarities between Zellweger and the player Buffalo moved out in June.
“Trading Bo Byram obviously created a hole,” Kekäläinen said. “This is a young player that has a lot of the same qualities.
Really good skater, speed, puck play, ability to move up the ice, whether it’s with a pass or carrying the puck out of the zone. We see a lot of potential in him.”
Zellweger said he plans to arrive ready to push for a bigger role.
“I’m gonna come in there,” added Zellweger, “and I’m gonna put my best foot forward and try to earn the most opportunity I can. Show what I can do, show that I’m ready for that bigger role starting right away this year.”
Crevier gives Buffalo a very different look. At 6-foot-8, he matches Tyler Myers as the NHL’s tallest defenseman, and his game leans heavily on size, reach and physical play.
Last season he delivered 124 hits, which would have ranked second on the Sabres behind Samuelsson’s 132, and he also fought once. His shot touched 102.83 mph, the fourth-hardest in the league.
The 25-year-old’s path to this point has been a steady climb through the Chicago organization, going from a 2020 seventh-round pick to an NHL regular. He played 78 games last season and posted career highs in goals with seven, assists with 18, blocks with 95 and hits with 124. He averaged nearly 20 minutes a night over the second half of the year and spent most of his minutes with left-shot Alex Vlasic.
Crevier also carved out a role on the penalty kill, and that could carry over in Buffalo. Samuelsson and Conor Timmins should remain the mainstays on the first PK unit, but Crevier may get chances behind them.
“You’re never gonna see me do what Dahlin does on the blue line; I’m gonna keep it simple,” he told Sabres Live. “But obviously I want to chip in offensively when I have the chance, and playing some good defense. That’s why I’m in the NHL right now: to play defense.”
Kekäläinen has made it clear Crevier is in the mix for second-pair minutes as well, and not simply a piece added to balance the Byram deal.
“He’s made himself into an NHL player, which talks about his character and drive,” the GM said. “We talk to people from our sources about that.
It’s one thing we always take seriously is you have skill, you have ability, but do you have character? Do you have competitiveness that we’re looking for in a Buffalo Sabre?
And we came to the conclusion that he has all those values that we require in our team.”
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