Authored By: Adrian Rosati

Photo Credits: Colin Gallagher / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Summer of Jarmo was in full swing for the Sabres’ new general manager as he enters his first full season at the helm. He’ll have to deal with the loss of Alex Tuch this year, but overall, the Sabres provided a mixed bag of moves for a team focused on the future.

Here is a summary of the major moves made by the Sabres this offseason:

Additions

• D Olen Zellweger — Acquired from the Anaheim Ducks
• D Dennis Gilbert — Signed as an unrestricted free agent
• F Connor Sheary — Signed as an unrestricted free agent

Subtractions

• F Alex Tuch — Traded to Washington in a sign-and-trade
• D Bowen Byram — Traded to Chicago for futures
• F Josh Dunne — Traded to Washington
• D Luke Schenn — Left in free agency

Evaluation of the Offseason

The obvious elephant in the room is the loss of Alex Tuch, who left via a sign-and-trade this offseason. Tuch was coming off a 33-goal season in which he also recorded 33 assists for 66 points. While he was just below a point-per-game player, there is no doubt that losing him is a significant blow to this team.

When the days were grim just a season ago, the Sabres had four primary scorers: Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, J.J. Peterka and Ryan McLeod. If the team needed offense, it was more than likely coming from one of those four.

With Thompson getting more preference on the wing from Ruff, it slots Norris into the first-line center role, assuming he can stay healthy, with Zach Benson potentially joining them on the top line. It’s difficult to say whether moving Krebs off the first line and replacing him with Benson provides enough of an upgrade to offset the loss of Tuch.

I like Peyton Krebs’ defensive ability, and in stretches last season, he showed that he could rise to the occasion when the team needed a spark. If Norris stays healthy, I don’t think the Sabres have taken a massive step backward up front, but there is no doubt this is a downgrade.

Re-signing Malenstyn — also known as “Malengoat” — and Benson to long-term extensions was a great move for team morale. Benson matched career highs across the board, aside from games played, as he missed time due to injury. Malenstyn provides solid depth on the wing, and if he can help get Carrick going, that could become a useful depth line.

The Defence

Now to the defence.

Obviously, losing Bowen Byram is a significant blow. I don’t think the Sabres could justify paying him No. 1 defenceman money when they already have Rasmus Dahlin, who is clearly their guy on the back end.

Instead, the Sabres made some smaller moves to fill out the roster, bringing in Olen Zellweger and Louis Crevier. Both are young pieces who bring some much-needed youth and still have plenty of room to grow.

Zellweger, on a manageable $3 million extension, does have some holes in his game, but his age and potential make him an intriguing addition. His 22 points from the third-pair left side also provide some offensive depth.

Crevier, in my opinion, takes the final spot on the third pair, with Metsa potentially filling in when needed. Crevier putting up 25 points on a bad Chicago team speaks for itself, and Metsa’s ability to move up and down the lineup makes him a valuable depth option.

Goaltending

Goaltending saw no changes this offseason.

That could potentially become an issue for the Sabres. While the team has improved in certain areas, inconsistent goaltending could still lead to stretches where Buffalo struggles to string together wins.

The First 10 Games

The Buffalo Sabres open their season on October 1, 2026 in Columbus against the Blue Jackets at 7:00 PM Eastern. They will open up with a light start of Columbus and Chicago before getting into the next 8 games against 5 different playoff teams (Wild, Stars, Mammoth, Canadiens (2x), and Flyers). Thats 6 games with playoff opponents, and 4 divisional games to boot. I think 5-5 is a reasonable bar for the Sabres to hit in the stretch. Defintiley could be in tough in games 3 and 4 against Minnesota and Dallas, before a mixed back and fourth of results with games that could go either way. Playing Montreal twice is a likely split, but with wildcards of Florida, Toronto and Utah, those games could go either way.

Conclusion

Overall, the Sabres lost a key piece up front, but their depth scoring remains largely intact. Defensively, they lost a significant player in Byram, but still have an excellent defence corp.

The biggest question mark remains goaltending. With no changes made between the pipes, the Sabres could still find themselves dealing with stretches of inconsistent play and losing streaks.

I see the Sabres as a fringe playoff team, finishing 5th in the Atlantic Division.

They could easily find themselves in a divisional playoff spot, but I think the combination of losing a key scorer and the rollercoaster that has been their goaltending makes Buffalo one of the teams most poised to regress.

That said, they should still be ahead of the tanking teams from last season. Florida, meanwhile, looks significantly better — and healthier — while the other two division playoff spot stalwarts don’t appear to be losing much steam either.

For Buffalo, the path to the playoffs is there. But they’ll need their young pieces to take another step, Norris to stay healthy, and their goaltending to become far more consistent if they want to make it happen.