7. Buffalo Sabres – 85.5 Overall

Top 15 Prospects

Individual Breakdown:

The Sabres come in at number seven in our ranks and that is led by Zach Benson, who surprisingly stayed in the NHL all season after being just drafted in 2023. Don’t let his meager 35 point pace fool you, this kid has star written all over him and the fact that he played in the NHL the entire season as an 18-year-old is super impressive. What’s even more impressive is that only JJ Peterka finished with a better expected goal differential per 60 minutes amongst the forward group. The sky is the limit here.

In addition to a star forward, the Sabres also have a potential future star in net with Devon Levi. We already saw Levi in the NHL this season, but based on his inconsistent performance, perhaps he would have been better served by spending the entire season in the AHL. Regardless, he should be in the conversation as the starter or at least 1B for a long time.

The Sabres also have a wealth of great young forwards, which contributes greatly to their depth. These include Jiri Kulich, Matt Savoie, Isak Rsen, and Jack Quinn. I personally have Rosen much lower and Quinn higher, but the lack of vote by a few rankers from Quinn hurt him. I’d advocate moving him up your board a bit. Not much argument between the rankers on Kulich, Savoie, or Ostlund.

A glaring weakness here is on the backend, but that seems to be alright since the professional team already has Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, and now Bowen Byram, in addition to Mattias Samuelsson. You can see that the ranks drop off a cliff when you go from Quinn to Maxim Strbak, which just illustrates that shift pretty dramatically.

Team Overview:

The Sabres continue to finish in the mushy middle. After another strong start, the team faded and missed the playoffs once again. They have not qualified for the postseason since 2010-11. The team just re-hired Lindy Ruff, who coached them for 15 seasons and hope he can get them back to the promise land.

The team has many pieces in place both at the professional and prospect level. Many of their prospects like Savoie, Ostlund, Rosen, and others are ready to push for NHL jobs. That kind of depth might be what the team needs to push them over the hump and get back in the playoffs.