2024-25
Record: 36-39-7, 7th in Atlantic Division
Playoffs: Missed Stanley Cup Playoffs
Key Losses
JJ Peterka (F – Traded to UTM), Connor Clifton (D – Traded to PIT), Sam Lafferty (F – Traded to CHI), and Jacob Bernard-Docker (D – Signed with DET)
Key Additions
Michael Kesselring (D – Trade with UTM), Josh Doan (F – Trade with UTM), Conor Timmons (D – Trade with PIT), Alex Lyon (G – Signed via FA), Justin Danworth (F – Signed via FA), and Zac Jones (D – Signed via FA)
2025-26 Preview
Looking for a Breakthrough
It feels like we say this every year, but the Buffalo Sabres are looking to finally break through and make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2011. Marred by mediocrity and poor management, the Sabres are hoping with this recent offseason shakeup that this is what they needed.
Gone is scoring forward JJ Peterka, but in are defenseman Michael Kesselring and youthful forward Josh Doan. Doan still has a long career ahead of him, but he hasn’t reached his full potential yet, but in Buffalo, that will be challenging for him to do, especially if he is slated to play fourth line minutes. Forward Justin Danworth also signed on with the Sabres, but he’s more of a depth player. So besides Tage Thomspon and Alex Tuch, where is their offense going to come from?
“One of our priorities as we work through this offseason is making our team more competitive and tougher to play against,” Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams said. “The additions of Michael and Josh will help us tremendously in both of those categories and I am excited to see them in a Sabres uniform soon. Michael fits the mold of the right-handed defensemen we have been looking for, and we are thrilled he brings both size and compete. We believe he will help add balance to our blue line while elevating the rest of the D corps. Josh is a player that has shown the ability to win at multiple levels and brings great leadership pedigree to our organization. He’s a strong two-way player who we believe will be able to provide versatility to our group.”
“He’ll [Doan] do whatever it takes to win and whatever the team needs of him,” Thompson said. “I think it’s a game that everyone in the lineup respects. A full 200-foot game. Plays edgy and hard, finishes checks, blocks shots. Does all the little things that help you win a hockey game. And obviously he’s still pretty early into his NHL career, so he’s only going to continue to get better and more confident. Obviously I’m biased because I train with him in the summer, but he does have skill and can score. It’s just not what his role’s been at the NHL level so far. But he’s one of those guys that will go to war for you and do anything to help the team win. That’s what we need. I think both those guys bring that edgy playoff hockey to the regular season, which is going to help us make the playoffs.”
“I can tell you that both of them [Doan and Kesselring] are extremely hard-working guys,” Thompson said. “Both really good character guys, guys that everyone in the locker room wants to be around and hang out with. I think they’re going to fit in with our group really nicely.”
The addition of Kesselring will bolster the Sabres top four on defense, and moving Connor Clifton to Pittsburgh helps facilitate that move too.
“He can play up and down the D corps with any of those guys,” Thompson said. “I think obviously the big, right-handed defenseman is something that’s pretty hard to come by, and he plays a very physical, edgy game. But he’s also got some speed and some skill to him, so he can get up in the play and make plays as well. I think he’ll be a solid addition to the already high-end talent we have on the back end there.”
Adding New Energy
Also with the additions of Kesselring and Doan, they are looking for them to add new energy to the Sabres locker room.
“It’s really exciting, because I think I have the skill to help get them the puck,” Kesselring said. “Obviously (my) shot’s probably one of my best attributes, so if they can set me up for good looks, I can hopefully bury. But I can skate with them, and I think I move the puck pretty well, but also bring that defensive side, be reliable for one of those two guys hopefully, and kind of give them a ‘Steady Eddie’ partner who defensively plays hard, boxes out and can get them the puck and let them play their game.”
“As a duo, we have to wear it as a badge of honor that they wanted to bring us in to help this group win,” Doan said. “It’s one of those things where we’re not going to come in and be saviors, but we can come in and help the team where we can and help the team grow in the direction that it’s trying to go.”
Added Kesselring: “As a hockey player, you want those eyes on you, you want to be the difference maker, you want to be the guy that helps the team get over the hump. Am I gonna do it in a little bit of a different way than Dahlin and Thompson? For sure. But I think I can be a valuable asset to a winning team… I know a lot of guys in that room, and I think there’s a lot of talent here. And there’s no reason we can’t turn it around pretty quick.”
Another player that was signed to bring new energy between the pipes is goaltender Alex Lyon. Lyon, who is expected to backup projected starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, plans to bring a competitiveness to the crease to help push Luukkonen, and fire up Devon Levi, who is projected third on the depth chart.
“I’m going to be the best version of myself I possibly can be, I’m going to be the most competitive version of myself I possibly can be,” Lyon said a week after joining Buffalo on a two-year deal. “And we’re gonna see where the chips fall after that.”
“My aspiration is always to play as many games as possible and wins as many games as possible,” he said. “I think that’s a good mentality to have. You have to be ultra-competitive in the goalie room but also extremely supportive at the same time. It’s a really fine balance to strike but I think that’s a strength, for sure, that I have. That’s how I approach it.”
Projected Lineup
Offense
Zach Benson — Jiri Kulich — Tage Thompson
Jason Zucker — Josh Norris — Alex Tuch
Jordan Greenway — Ryan McLeod — Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn — Peyton Krebs — Josh Doan
Defense
Bowen Byram — Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power — Michael Kesselring
Mattias Samuelsson — Conor Timmins
Goalies
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Alex Lyon
Resources
- LaBarber, Jourdon. “He’ll do whatever it takes to win” | Thompson looks forward to reunion with USA teammates Doan, Kesselring, June 26, 2025. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-tage-thompson-on-michael-kesselring-josh-doan-trade.
- Alpert, Justin. ‘Wear it as a badge of honor’ | Doan, Kesselring thrilled with new opportunity, June 26, 2025. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-michael-kesselring-josh-doan-trade-jj-peterka-utah-hockey-club.
- LaBarber, Jourdon. Sabres acquire Kesselring, Doan from Mammoth, June 26, 2025. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-trade-utah-mammoth-jj-peterka-michael-kesselring-josh-doan.
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