The Buffalo Sabres finally made the Stanley Cup playoffs this past season, ending a 15-year playoff drought. But after beating the Boston Bruins in Round 1, the Sabres lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the second round. 

As part of our now-annual process of grading the Sabres, TheHockeyNews.com’s 2025-26 grades will mainly be positive. There’s room for growth in the games of just about every Sabres player, but after a season in which they took a competitive step forward, they deserve to be pleased with their grade.

And in this “Sabres Grades” file, we’re focusing on young forward Zach Benson:

Zach Benson

Position: Forward

Grade: A-

The Skinny: Coming into the 2025-26 season, Benson was a 20-year-old kid who had two seasons of NHL hockey under his belt, with modest individual numbers that included a 10-goal, 28-point performance in 75 games in the 2024-25 season. But Benson posted a career-best 30 assists and 43 points in just 65 games this past season, and in the playoffs, Benson generated five goals and nine points in 13 games. 

For that performance, Benson earned a massive raise, moving from his entry-level contract to an extension this season that pays him $7.5-million per season for the next seven seasons. If Benson can build on his 2025-26 season, that salary could quickly become one of the better bargains in the league. 

Benson’s ice time usage rose from an average of 14:49 in 2024-25 to 15:53 last year. And in the post-season, Benson’s minutes went up to 17:06 – and in the final three games of Buffalo’s series against the Habs, Benson played at least 20:04. Slowly-but-surely, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff developed more trust in Benson, and Buffalo’s major financial investment in Benson means he’s likely going to get more ice time from here on.

If Benson can ratchet up his offense totals, the Sabres will be thrilled to have him under contract at his new price tag. But in 2024-25, Benson started to emerge as the player Buffalo wanted when they selected him 13th-overall in 2023. Benson may not be big in physical stature, but he was second on the team in plus/minus with a plus-27 rating, and he’s got the makings of being one of Buffalo’s leaders.

Benson makes the Sabres harder to play against, and that’s been a criticism of the team in recent years. But Benson is currently slotting in as Buffalo’s first-line left winger, and that’s going to drastically increase the amount of opportunities he gets to take his game to the next level.

We’re confident Benson is going to make the most of the increased opportunities he gets starting in 2026-27. But judging him on where he is in the early stages of his NHL career leads us to give Benson an ‘A-’ grade. Benson may not ultimately be a Hockey Hall-of-Famer, but at this early point in his NHL days, Benson is showing why the Sabres picked him so highly a few years ago.

Benson is a gritty sparkplug who is nowhere close to his peak years as an NHLer. The Sabres’ investment in him has him secure about his salary for the next seven seasons – and by the expiration of the contract, we may be talking about this extension for Benson as one of the best moves Sabres GM Jarmo Kekalainen has made in his years running the team.

Benson plays considerably bigger than he looks, and his willingness to mix it up and play a high-impact physical game will help Buffalo as they try to stay a playoff team in the competitive Atlantic Division. Benson deserves an A- because there’s few players in the league who have an A+ (aka perfect) season. And in Benson’s case, a three-goal increase isn’t going to get you the absolutely best grade possible.sa

But really, we’re nitpicking here. Benson has started delivering on his promise in Buffalo, and you can’t have asked for much more from him than what he did last year. So another ‘A’ grade it is for a Sabres player.