The Buffalo Sabres have plenty of bigger-picture questions heading into 2026-27, from replacing Alex Tuch’s production to figuring out which young forwards can grow into larger roles. But there’s another layer to watch this season: a handful of forwards are closing in on personal milestones, and several of them could hit those marks fairly early.
Tage Thompson is first in line. The centerpiece of the Ryan O'Reilly trade to the St.
Louis Blues has come a long way from his early Buffalo days, when he managed just 15 goals over his first three seasons. Since then, he’s become the goal scorer the Sabres envisioned, erupting for 38 goals in 2021-22 and settling in near the 40-goal range in the seasons since.
After reaching 200 goals and 400 points last season, Thompson is now set to pass 500 games played with Buffalo. He enters the year at 488, so that one should arrive pretty quickly.
Peyton Krebs is tracking toward a pair of landmarks too. Buffalo brought him back this offseason after his breakout season last year, and his path has some clear parallels to Thompson’s.
Krebs also arrived through a major trade, coming over in the Jack Eichel deal to Vegas, and it took time for his offense to catch up. Now, after five seasons, he has appeared in 365 games and should get to 400 somewhere around the midpoint of the season.
Before that, though, he is likely to pick up his 100th assist with the Sabres; he currently has 90. The bigger storyline with Krebs is whether he can stay anywhere near last season’s assist pace, especially with a deeper roster around him and a role that may not keep him on the top line for long stretches.
Josh Doan is the one with the clearest opportunity to turn a strong debut into something bigger. Acquired by Buffalo in a trade last year, he didn’t need any adjustment period.
He finished with 52 points and now appears to be the player who will slide into the Top 6 spot vacated by Alex Tuch. That gives Doan a real chance to build on last season and push past 100 points with the Sabres before the regular season ends.
If he gets the kind of expanded role the team seems to be setting up for him, the milestone is very much in play.
Jack Quinn is also nearing a round-number achievement, and his trajectory has been moving in the right direction for a while. Over the last three seasons, he’s improved each year, and his latest campaign was his best yet.
Quinn set career highs with 20 goals and 31 assists, leaving him just nine assists shy of 100 with Buffalo. He enters 2026-27 at 89, and reaching that mark early would be a strong sign for a former first-round pick who is heading toward restricted free agency next summer and playing for his next contract.
None of these milestones guarantees anything for the Sabres in the standings, and they won’t by themselves decide whether Buffalo gets back to the playoffs. Still, if Thompson, Krebs, Doan and Quinn keep moving forward, those individual numbers should help the team along the way.
The safest bets are the games-played milestones for Thompson and Krebs, as long as they stay healthy. The more intriguing chase belongs to Doan, who has a real shot to crack 100 points in Buffalo.
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