Raw Charge
Summary
The Sabres were one of the biggest surprises of the 2025-26 season. Can they build on their success or will they get swallowed up by a tough Atlantic Division? 2025-26 Record 50-23-9 (109 Points) 1st in Atlantic 2025-26 Record Against Lightning 3-0-1 2025-26 Goals For 283 (5th) 2025-26 Goals Against 240 (10th) 2025-26 Power Play 19.5% (21st) 2025-26 Penalty Kill 81.9% (4th) 2026-27 Division Odds +900 2026-27 Stanley Cup Odds +3000 Stats via NHL, Natural Stat Trick, and Hockey Reference. Odds per Hard Rock Bet as of 9/24/26 Off-season Additions Olen Zellweger, Louis Crevier, Conor Sheary, Dennis Gilbert Off-season Departures Alex Tuch, Bowen Byram, Jordan Greenway, Devon Levi, Michael Kesselring, Logan Stanley, Luke Schenn, Tanner Pearson, Zac Jones, Rookie to Watch While the Sabres have a solid young core, there probably won’t be too many rookies cracking the line-up even with all of the veteran departures. One player that should see plenty of ice time is Konsta Helenius. The 14th overall pick from the 2024 draft made his debut at the end of last season, appearing in 9 regular season games where he recorded a goal and three assists. He added another two goals in four postseason games. In Rochester he put up 21 goals in 63 games and almost doubled his point total from his rookie season. It looks like he’ll probably start the season on the third line, but he has the scoring prowess to move his way up to a top-six role. Buffalo needs some of their younger players to step up and Helenius is one of them. Preview Ahh. The Buffalo Sabres, the bane of the Lightning’s 2025-26 season. Things started off alright in their first match-up. Darren Raddysh scores at the death of regulation and then Jake Guentzel wins it in overtime. That was fun. After that it was miserable. A 6-2 drubbing at the end of February. The brutal 8-7 loss in March where the Bolts blew not one, but two two-goal leads in the third period and couldn’t even get it to overtime. Then a 4-2 loss in April that pretty much sealed the division for Buffalo (oh, and Pontus Holmberg destroyed his shoulder when it collided with an unlocked door at the bench). So yeah, the Lightning were prime-time players in the Sabres feel good return-to-the-playoffs story line. Following their second-round elimination by the Canadiens, Buffalo had an interesting off-season. Faced with several free-agent decisions (both unrestricted and restricted) they decided to go a route many teams don’t – they didn’t re-sign their big guns. Teams that are in their so-called Stanley Cup windows tend to hang on to known commodities, even if it’s at an uncomfortable cost. The Sabres decided to go in a different direction. They let Alex Tuch go. They traded Bo Byram to Chicago. Young netminder Devon Levi went to Edmonton. Their big trade deadline pick-ups Luke Schenn and Logan Stanley weren’t re-signed either. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen went a different direction. They traded for young defenseman Olen Zellweger and then locked in their young core as they signed Zach Benson, Peyton Krebs, and Noah Ostlund to young term contracts. They are betting that the young talent can step up in the void left by the departures of Tuch, Byram, and Jordan Greenway. There was also the feeling that there was a bigger deal brewing all summer long for them (cough, Connor Hellebuyck, cough) but it has yet to materialize. With their cap space whittled down to just over $2.4 million this year, it’s unlikely that they will pull anything off at this point. That leaves Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Lyon, and Colten Ellis as their netminders. You don’t see many three-goalie systems in the NHL, but it worked for them last year (at least in the regular season) and you have to wonder if they are going to try it again this season. No matter who is in net, the Sabres boast one of the deeper defensive units in the league. There is a reason they could let Byram go get paid in Chicago. Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power are legit number-one defensemen in the NHL. Mattias Samuelsson is coming into his own while Zellweger and Louis Crevier are solid young players as well. Up front the Sabres still have Tage Thompson who had a quiet 40-goal season. The big man can’t do it alone, and Buffalo is hoping Noah Ostund can build on his 11-goal, 27-point season to provide some secondary offense. The same can be said for Zach Benson, who potted 13 goals while averaging 15:33 of ice time. Both of those forwards should benefit from the Sabres’ off-season departures. Injuries have started to creep into their line-up already as Jason Zucker, who had 24 goals last season, will miss the beginning of the season as he recovers from sports hernia surgery. Luukkonen and Lyon picked up some minor injuries in the preseason, but should be ready for the start of the season. On the blueline Mattias Samuelsson is expected to miss a couple of weeks with a lower-body injury while Zellweger is dealing with a concussion. As a precaution, they signed veteran Matt Grzelcyk to a one-year contract. Injuries, even the nagging ones, have a way of interfering with success, and the Sabres are going to have to show they are a deep enough team to overcome them in order to keep pace in the Atlantic.