Yesterday, we put forth our opinion that the Buffalo Sabres need a big year out of star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin if they were going to contend for a Stanley Cup playoff berth (and end their 14-season playoff drought. And 24 hours later, we’re sticking with that notion. But this column is an addendum to yesterday’s column. Because while the Sabres need Dahlin to spearhead a defensive renaissance for this franchise, Buffalo isn’t going to be a playoff team unless something else happens in addition to Dahlin being very difficult to play against particularly in their own zone.
And that “something else” is this: the Sabres need their entire defense corps to make a major step forward this year and cut down Buffalo’s porous D-zone play. The Sabres were tied for third-from-last place in goals-against average last season at 3.50 goals-against per-game. Only one team — the Montreal Canadiens — finished outside of the playoffs last year despite posting a G.A.A. that was outside the top-16 in that department.
That tells you all you need to know about the importance of defense. When you have it, the way the Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights had it last season, you know you’ve got it. And when you don’t have it, the way the Sabres didn’t have it last year, or the year before that, or the year prior to that, you know what you’re missing.
So while the majority of the pressure defensively will be on Dahlin (and of course, Buffalo’s goaltenders) to lead the way this season, the reality is that his fellow Sabres blueliners also have to come through with big step-up years.
To be sure, Buffalo needs bigger and better years from defenseman Owen Power. The 22-year-old posted career highs in goals (7), assists (33), and points (40) last season, but there’s a troubling aspect or two about Power’s improvement that will get plenty of attention this season. For one thing, Power’s ice-time average was nearly three full minutes less than Dahlin’s.
Sabres Need This Key Player To Have Big Season If Buffalo Is To Be Playoff Team
The Buffalo Sabres need solid years from everybody to even come close to being in the mix for a Stanley Cup playoff appearance for the first time in a decade. But (and at the risk of just pointing out one of those players when it will take big efforts from most Sabres players to make Buffalo a playoff team) we’re going to focus on a player this writer believes has to have a big year to get the Sabres back in the post-season.
We get it — Power is on Buffalo’s second defense pairing, so it’s understandable why he’d have fewer minutes than Dahlin. But when you’re paying a player $8.35-million for the next six seasons, you probably want the defender to be playing more time than 21 minutes a night.
But it isn’t just Power and Dahlin that have to be good for Buffalo to be a playoff team. Freshly re-signed D-man Bowen Byram also needs a big year — to prove the Sabres were right to re-sign him at a $6.25-million salary, and to set himself up for another big payday when he becomes a UFA in the summer of 2027. And if he’s on the top pairing with Dahlin, Byram’s individual numbers should spike in a positive direction. Byram did have career-best numbers in assists (31) and points (38) last season, but with his new salary, more will be expected of him.
Value In Former Sabres Shows Buffalo Has Talent — But So Far, The Mix Has Always Been Wrong
Believe it or not, the Buffalo Sabres and their players are not inherently terrible. Sure, there are Buffalo players you may believe to be flawed, and sure, the Sabres have been consistently sub-par for the past 14 seasons — none of which have ended with Stanley Cup playoff games being played in Western New York. But if you look at some of Buffalo’s former players, you see that they have some value across the league, even though they have a stint with the Sabres on their resume.
Finally, the rest of Buffalo’s D-men also have to come through with some type of solid contribution this season. Matias Samuelsson will need to be a stable stay-at-home defender, while new acquisitions Michael Kesselring and Conor Timmins will need to make better-than-average first impressions in their own way.
There’s no area in which the Sabres are too good in order to make up for bad Sabres areas. They need everything working in their favor if they’re to be a playoff team in 2026.
And if they don’t get that — if they don’t improve significantly on defense this year — the defense corps in Western New York at this time next September will look drastically different.
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