The debate over Zach Benson and Matvei Michkov starts with a simple question and ends in a tougher one: what kind of player actually moves you closer to a Stanley Cup?
That conversation picked up fresh steam Thursday when Scott Wheeler of The Athletic rolled out the outlet’s annual ranking of the NHL’s top young players. Michkov was placed one tier above Benson in the “future All-Star” group, but one NHL scout pushed back hard on that separation.
“Benson should be in the same tier as Michkov,” the unnamed scout told Wheeler. “If you canvassed 32 GMs and asked if they'd rather have Benson or Michkov, what percentage would pick Benson? It's actually not close for me.”
It’s not hard to see why that opinion has some traction. Benson, 21, already looks like the kind of winger built for the grind that comes later in the season. He put up nine points, with five goals and four assists, in 13 playoff games during Buffalo’s spring run, and his game is packed with the kind of details coaches love: nonstop energy, a strong two-way presence at 5-on-5, and a knack for making life miserable for the other team.
Michkov, also 21, brings a different kind of threat. The Flyers winger has already produced 114 points, including 46 goals and 68 assists, in 161 NHL games even though his ice time hasn’t always matched his talent.
With a full season of top-line work and No. 1 power-play minutes, his numbers could look a lot different. The issue so far has been the other end of the ice - defensive hiccups and too many unnecessary penalties - though he did show some improvement in the D-zone in 2025-26.
That’s the real split here. Benson offers the safer bet because he impacts the game all over the ice. Michkov is the bigger swing, the kind of offensive talent that can tilt a game on his own.
Buffalo had more than one name show up on The Athletic’s list of the NHL’s 145 best under-23 players, and there’s a case that one Sabres prospect should have been bumped even higher. The strongest argument centers on Konsta Helenius, who appears ready to climb into the next tier.
Helenius, 20, put together a massive 2025-26 season with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, finishing with 63 points - 21 goals and 42 assists - in 63 games. When Buffalo needed offense in the second round against the Montreal Canadiens, he got the call and delivered two goals in four playoff games, though the Sabres still fell in Game 7.
He kept rolling after that, heading to Switzerland and producing six points, including the game-winning overtime goal to secure gold for Finland at the 2026 IIHF World Championship.
As for Jiri Kulich, his spot on the list comes with more uncertainty. The 2022 first-round pick had started flashing his offensive upside late in the 2024-25 season, then opened last year with five points in 12 games before a blood clot ended his season.
He’s expected to be back for the start of training camp, but how quickly he gets back to full speed is still unclear. If he can get back to where he was headed, that would help Buffalo make up some of the scoring left behind by Alex Tuch.
There’s also a chance Kulich won’t be fully back until 2027-28.
In Other News...
Sabres Will Be Judged By One Matchup More Than Any Other
The Sabres do not need a lecture on why Carolina matters. The Hurricanes handled Buffalo pretty easily last season, and the matchup already looms larger than most because these teams will see a lot of each other in the 2026-27 schedule. For a Sabres group trying to measure itself against the Atlantic and Metro powers, this is the one opponent that can tell you a lot about where the roster stands.
Carolinas status only raises the bar, with the Hurricanes coming in as the defending champion and Buffalo having lost important pieces this summer. That makes the coming meetings more than just another set of regular-season games. They will be a test of whether the Sabres can close the gap, and for now, there is still plenty of room between admiration and actually turning the rivalry into something competitive. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Turn September Into A Full Fan Kickoff Before Hockey Returns
The Sabres are giving fans a full September runway into the 2026-27 season, starting with Hockey Day at the Ballpark on Sept. 5 and rolling into Hockeyfest at KeyBank Center on Sept. 12. From there, the calendar keeps building toward the preseason home opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sept. 22, with the team turning the month into a string of chances for fans to reconnect before the games start to count.
Sabretooths Preseason Bash on Sept. 26 is another marker that hockey is almost back, and the club says more details on Training Camp and other fan opportunities will come as the season gets closer. For a fan base that tends to treat the return of the Sabres like its own offseason holiday, the setup is clear enough. The bigger question is how much more the team will add to that slate before puck drop arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Rasmus Dahlins Norris Case May Depend On One New Sabres Role
Rasmus Dahlin is already in the thick of the Norris Trophy conversation after finishing third last season, and the next step in his case may not come through his point totals so much as the way the Sabres use him. Buffalo has some lineup turnover to navigate this fall, and one of the quieter questions around the team is how much more responsibility Dahlin will shoulder without changing the look of his game too much.
The penalty kill could be the most interesting part of that equation. If Lindy Ruff leans on Dahlin for more shorthanded work, it would give the defenseman another stage to show his value in every situation, especially in the kind of tight games where late defensive assignments matter most. For a player already viewed as one of the leagues premier blueliners, that extra layer could end up carrying real weight when the award race comes back around. [Read more 🡒]