The Buffalo Sabres are in a spot most franchises would kill for right now: they’re winning now, and the future looks just as sharp. After 14 straight seasons without a postseason appearance, Buffalo broke through with a 50-win campaign in 2025-26, then added the fourth-overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. Bowen Byram is gone because of that move, but the bigger picture is hard to miss - the Sabres have built themselves into a contender with serious long-term muscle.
What makes Buffalo so intriguing is how young, deep, and versatile the skater group has become. The blue line is the obvious headliner.
Rasmus Dahlin, now 26, remains the anchor and should stay a high-end defenseman well into the next decade. Owen Power is only 23 and already looks like a good No. 3 defender with more room to grow.
Olen Zellweger, acquired this summer at 22, could be nearing a top-four breakout, while 26-year-old Mattias Samuelsson also has a game that could age nicely.
Then there’s the draft pipeline, which only makes the picture brighter. Buffalo has the second and first defensemen selected in the 2025 and 2026 NHL Draft classes in Radim Mrtka and Daxon Rudolph.
Mrtka comes with plenty of trade interest around the league and has top-four upside, even if there’s some skepticism about him. Rudolph, meanwhile, was the fourth-ranked prospect on my personal board for 2026 because I believe he has a franchise defenseman ceiling.
His offensive game is really special, and his defense should only get better from here - Buffalo hit it out of the park with the Byram deal.
The depth doesn’t stop there. Adam Kleber and Luke Osburn are also worth keeping on the radar, even if neither is a lock to become a full-time NHLer.
In five years, the Sabres’ defensive chart could still look loaded from top to bottom, with Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin at the top and Rudolph, Mrtka, Zellweger, Samuelsson, Osburn, and Kleber all in the mix. The bottom line is simple: Buffalo could make no major changes on defense for the next five years and still have the best unit in hockey.
Up front, the Sabres haven’t leaned on a top-five pick at forward since 2015, but they’ve still assembled a strong group. Zach Benson and Konsta Helenius are the big names here, and both are still extremely young at 21 and 20.
Benson has already delivered excellent impacts early in his career and has arguably been the top player in what some considered a generational draft class so far. Helenius is heading into his rookie year, but he’s already flashed at the pro level and could grow into hockey’s next elite two-way top-line center if everything clicks.
Josh Doan, 24, looks like the real thing as well. He profiles as a solid second-line power forward, and there’s still room for more.
Jiří Kulich, Noah Östlund, and Jack Quinn haven’t yet locked themselves into top-six roles, but they’re still young enough to matter in a big way. Kulich and Östlund, at 22 and 23, should be on breakout watch in 2026-27.
Quinn, 24, may settle in as more of a third-line player over time, which would still be useful value.
There’s also a group of players in the 25-to-28 range that gives Buffalo some present-day backbone: Peyton Krebs, Ryan McLeod, Josh Norris, and Tage Thompson. Their long-term outlook is less certain, but Norris and Thompson are already top-six forwards and could keep that level into their 30s.
The prospect side of the offense has a couple more names worth watching. Ilia Morozov, the 20th pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, has a third-line projection in my view, though that could move either way.
Brodie Ziemer gets a similar grade. He led the University of Minnesota with 36 points as a sophomore and has turned in some encouraging performances at the World Junior Championship.
If Helenius becomes the player he looks capable of becoming, Buffalo could be rolling out one of the better first lines in the league in five years. The rest of the forward group has some uncertainty, but the cap savings on Benson and Doan - a combined $14.45 million through 2032-33 - give the Sabres a real edge. And if Kulich and Östlund take the next step, the offense is in strong shape for the long haul.
When you compare Buffalo to the rest of the league, only the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens really belong in the same conversation. Carolina, fresh off a Stanley Cup, has a young core of Jackson Blake, Seth Jarvis, K’Andre Miller, and Logan Stankoven, all locked up through 2031-32 at a combined cap hit of $26.03 million. Bradly Nadeau is another name to know there, even if he hasn’t gotten a long look yet.
Montreal is the most top-heavy of the group, with Cole Caufield, Ivan Demidov, Noah Dobson, Lane Hutson, Juraj Slafkovský, and Nick Suzuki all under 27. The Canadiens have more beyond that six as well, and after beating Buffalo in the second round, they’re not a team to dismiss.
None of this guarantees a Stanley Cup for the Sabres. But after years in the wilderness, they’re on their best path in decades.
The roster is young, deep, and already good enough to win now. That’s the rare combination every team wants, and Buffalo has it.
In Other News...
Sabres Face One Big Hellebuyck Hurdle As Talks Heat Up
With training camp drawing closer, the Sabres flirtation with Connor Hellebuyck remains one of the more intriguing threads in the background. Reports have suggested the Winnipeg goalie would be open to a move, and Buffalo has continued to weigh what a deal might look like as it searches for stability in net and tries to judge whether Hellebuyck still fits the timeline.
The difficulty is in the details, and there are plenty of them. Talks have already run into disagreement over what Buffalo would have to send back, while the Sabres are also trying to balance the appeal of adding a proven starter against the risk that comes with his recent decline and his age. For a team looking to take a real step forward, it is the kind of swing that can reshape the roster, which is why the conversation is still alive even without a clear resolution. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Goalie Battle Just Got More Complicated Than Fans Wanted
The Sabres head into the season with their crease situation still very much in the spotlight, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen remains a big part of that conversation. Buffalo is leaning on a three-goalie mix that also includes Alex Lyon and Colten Ellis, with the possibility of a bigger move always hovering in the background, and Luukkonen has made clear that Buffalo feels like a second home to him.
Even so, his place atop the depth chart is not something he can take for granted after a few uneven seasons. The Sabres need steadier play from him if they want this setup to work, and the rest of the organizations goalie picture is getting a little noisier too, with former prospect Matt Savoie facing a camp absence in Edmonton and Alex Nylander lining up a tryout opportunity in Calgary. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Extension Puts Beck Malenstyn Under Pressure To Prove Bigger Value
Beck Malenstyns long-term place in Buffalo is secure after the Sabres locked him into a six-year extension, a move that says as much about trust as it does about role. Acquired from Washington in 2024, the winger was brought in to bring energy and edge, and the early expectation remains the same: be a reliable piece on the penalty kill and a steady presence on the fourth line.
The challenge now is turning that security into something bigger. With training camp approaching and forward jobs set to be sorted out again, Malenstyn will have a chance to show he can offer more than the bottom-six profile the Sabres already know, while also strengthening his case for a heavier defensive assignment. For Buffalo, it is another one of those roster decisions where the contract is only part of the story, and the real value has to be earned on the ice. [Read more 🡒]