The regular season is creeping ever closer for the Buffalo Sabres, and with preseason and prospect camps drawing even closer, there will be plenty of hockey action on the way very soon. With all of that on the near horizon, it is time to look at which players will likely be leading this team on the stats sheet by the end of the season. Some choices will feel more obvious than others, but with a lineup that features a lot of returning players, the variety is fairly limited. That is not to say that the excitement surrounding how many goals will be scored, how many wins will be had, or how many hits will be thrown will be diminished in any way; if anything, having re-hired coach Lindy Ruff back behind the bench will only enhance some of these stats. Now, let’s have a look to see how things stack up compared to last season’s expectations.
Sabres’ Offensive Leaders
Last season, the Sabres took a step back from the dominance that they were showing in the prior 2022-23 season scoring pace, as they were plagued with some key injuries to Tage Thompson and Jack Quinn for extended periods of time. On top of that, they never really found the right rhythm to be the same kind of offensive threat that they used to be, and it caused a significant decline in their production as a whole. This led to Thompson being the leading goal scorer with 29, Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin being tied for the points lead with 59, and Dahlin having the assists lead with 39. All of them can do better, and other young guns are waiting to push the envelope on the offensive side too.
Going into this season, the expectations are for all of them to grow and bump those numbers up by a good amount; not by anything astronomical, but certainly by a noticeable amount that will have them in the playoff hunt with other top teams in the league. JJ Peterka is a player to watch as he continues to grow in his role in the top six and he may challenge as one of the top-scoring players. Quinn is also healthy and is poised for a breakout season in a lot of ways. Quinn being a top-tier goal-scoring talent has all the right tools to push for the title on the team, and it would not shock me to see him racing with Thompson all season for it.
Sabres’ Defensive Leaders
The Sabres’ defensive core is really the same as it was last season. Excluding the late-season acquisition of Bowen Byram from the Colorado Avalanche, the core still consists of Dahlin, Owen Power, Mattias Samuelsson, Henri Jokiharju, and Connor Clifton along with Jacob Bryson rotated in as the seventh defender. Jokiharju only got a one-year contract extension over the summer, so he may not be a long-term option, but for this season, he is back and will be a key part of their defense again. The Sabres have a good balance on their blue line for what is needed to be done, but it has always been execution and experience that has plagued them. Structure and a proper system should see them produce some better numbers this season.
Having Byram with them for the full season will add a nice dynamic for sure, as they now have three top-end defensive talents to run around on their blue line. All of them are offensively inclined but they still have respectable defensive abilities. Of the three, I can see Power emerging as one of the better defensive stat leaders if he buys into Ruff’s system, and I can see Byram getting more physical and offensive boosts from it. Dahlin is an all-around package, so he will get good numbers regardless of who his defensive partner ends up being. As one of the best overall players on the team, he will be a major stat leader on some defensive and offensive fronts.
Sabres’ Goaltending Leaders
I have to admit that it does feel rather nice going into a season with full knowledge and confidence about who the starting goaltender is for the Sabres. After years upon years of goalie rotations and injuries that gave us the goalie carousel, it is beyond refreshing to know that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is the starter right out of the gate. He earned it after a huge 2023-24 season where he took over the crease and owned it; some nights dragging the Sabres to wins they had no business being in. Backing him up will likely be young sensation Devon Levi, who spent the majority of last season with the Rochester Americans and earned his way back up to the NHL. Between the two of them, the Sabres have a solid tandem to work with.
Luukkonen will carry the bulk of the starts, and that means he will carry the bulk of the stats as well. As the starting goaltender, he will be the one facing the most rubber, and therefore end up with the more inflated stats between the two goaltenders. This is not to say that Levi could not take over some of them as the backup by any means, as he has shown to be a stellar goalie in his short NHL stints. As the season progresses, do not be surprised to see Levi get on some hot streaks where he even outperforms Luukkonen.
Sabres’ Stat Leader Predictions
With all of these players in mind, the following are the ones that I predict will lead the Sabres in the major stat categories for the 2024-25 NHL season:
- Goals – Tage Thompson – 43
- Assists – Rasmus Dahlin – 58
- Points – Tage Thompson – 85
- Shots – Tage Thompson – 288
- Power-Play Goals – JJ Peterka – 10
- Power-Play Assists – Rasmus Dahlin – 17
- Shorthanded goals – Dylan Cozens – 5
- Faceoff Percentage – Dylan Cozens – 53%
- Hits – Connor Clifton – 235
- Blocked Shots – Owen Power – 160
- Plus/Minus – Owen Power – plus-28
- Goals Against Average – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen – 2.59
- Save Percentage – Devon Levi – .914
- Goalie Games Played – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen – 65
- Wins – Ukko-Pekka Luukonen – 34
- Shutouts – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen – 3
The Sabres are mostly going to have the same lineup as a whole barring their new fourth line, and newcomer Ryan McLeod who was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers for former prospect Matt Savoie, so they do not exactly have much room for any rookies to break into their lineup this season, but if one does, it would likely either be Konsta Helenius or Jiri Kulich so either of them would end up leading rookie scoring with similar numbers; likely around 12 goals and 15 assists if they played the full season. Kulich could maybe score 15 if he saw any power-play time.
Related – Sabres’ 3 Biggest Weaknesses for 2024-25 Season
Most of the stat categories will be fairly close between a few of the players. Dahlin will be a clear favorite for offense among the defensive players, but Power may take a step forward to close that gap on him this season along with Byram. For the offense, Tuch, Thompson, and Peterka will all likely hover around the same points mark with Thompson being slightly above them if he is healthy, then Cozens, and Quinn will be closely behind them. With so many factors needing to come together for improvement, the itch to see how things play out on the ice is getting harder not to scratch. Enough waiting around, let’s finally get to some hockey.
