The Buffalo Sabres face the challenge of snapping a NHL-record 14-year playoff drought this season and after a summer in which the club traded away their second-leading scorer in JJ Peterka in exchange for winger Josh Doan and defenseman Michael Kesselring and made only depth additions in Justin Danforth, Conor Timmins, and Alex Lyon, the onus will be on internal development and their core players playing up to expectations. 

In TSN’s rankings of the Top 50 NHL players, Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin and forward Tage Thompson are listed. 

The 2018 top pick and team captain was ranked 27th on the list after a 68-point season and an impressive performance at the 2025 NHL Four Nations Face-Off. The big Swede is a force at even-strength and tied for the club lead with 21 points on the power play, but the Sabres finished 24th in the NHL with the man advantage and will need Dahlin to be more a force at the point. ,  

 Other Sabres Stories

Projecting Sabres Trade Cost - Lawson Crouse 

Six Former Sabres Who Signed Elsewhere

Thompson was ranked 45th on the list after bouncing back from an injury-plagued 2023-24 with a 44-goal performance last season. The main critique of the big forward is at the defensive end of the ice, which is less of a liability when playing the wing, where he was red-hot in the second half of last year. Thompson is now legitimately on the radar for Team USA for the Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina after scoring the tournament winning goal in the 2025 World Championships.  

The Sabres at the start of the season appear to be opting to keep the big forward on the wing after adding center Josh Norris, but they may find it necessary to move him up the middle if Norris’s injury history reveals itself again.  

Follow Michael on X, Instagram  @MikeInBuffalo