Buffalo Sabres Have One of the NHL’s Most Enviable Long-Term Cores – The Hockey Writers – Buffalo Sabres

After missing out on 14 straight postseasons, the Buffalo Sabres have returned to form in a big way. They won 50 games in 2025-26 with a young roster, then went out and acquired the fourth-overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.

Even with Bowen Byram out of the picture as a result of that trade, the Sabres are in a spot every franchise wants to be: being a contender now and having one of the league’s brightest long-term futures.

Sabres Have a Stacked—And Very Young—Skater Core

The major appeal of the Sabres is how deep their skater core is and how young most of its members are. That includes some holdovers, such as Rasmus Dahlin, who is 26 years old and should remain a high-end defenseman for the better part of the next decade.

Defense

Starting with the blue line, Buffalo is easily in the best position of any team. Dahlin, as mentioned, is one of the best in the business today, and he should maintain some of that impact even in his early-to-mid 30s. Owen Power, 23, is a good No. 3 defender today with room for much more. Olen Zellweger, a skilled 22-year-old acquired this summer, could be on the cusp of a top-four breakout. Even 26-year-old Mattias Samuelsson’s game could age well.

Fortunately for the Sabres, they also have the second and first defenseman selected in the 2025 and 2026 NHL Draft classes: Radim Mrtka and Daxon Rudolph.

I’m more bearish on Mrtka than the team is, but he’s a big defender with top-four upside and plenty of trade interest around the league. As for Rudolph, he was the fourth-ranked prospect on my personal board for the 2026 class, since I believe he has a franchise defenseman ceiling. His offensive game is really special, and his defense should only improve from here—Buffalo hit it out of the park with the Byram deal.

Prospects Adam Kleber and Luke Osburn are worth mentioning, too. They may never establish a full-time NHL role, but the potential is there.

In exactly five years, the Sabres’ defensive depth chart could look like this (player and age):

Buffalo has it all figured out on the blue line. It can reasonably make no changes for the next five years and still have the best defensive group in hockey.

Forwards

The Sabres haven’t used a top-five pick on a forward since 2015, but they’ve built a strong group nonetheless.

Zach Benson and Konsta Helenius, who are just 21 and 20 years old, are the headliners. The former has had excellent impacts in his early career, arguably being the top player in what was considered by some to be a generational draft class thus far. Helenius is entering his rookie campaign, but he has already dazzled at the pro level. He could be hockey’s next elite two-way top-line center if all goes well.

Josh Doan, 24, seems to be the real deal. He’s a solid second-line power forward, and there’s reason to believe he hasn’t hit his peak yet.

Jiří Kulich, Noah Östlund, and Jack Quinn haven’t proven themselves to be top-six fixtures, but they’re 22, 23, and 24 years old, respectively. Kulich and Östlund should be on breakout watch in 2026-27, while Quinn may end up being closer to a third-line-caliber player in the long term (which is perfectly fine).

Peyton Krebs, Ryan McLeod, Josh Norris, and Tage Thompson are between the ages of 25 and 28. Their future impact is thus somewhat questionable, but the latter two are top-sixers now and could maintain that level of play into their 30s.

Prospect-wise, the Sabres are better equipped defensively, but there are some names worth noting on offense. Ilia Morozov was the 20^th pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. He has a third-line outlook in my eyes, though that’s far from definitive—he could be much better (or worse). I project Brodie Ziemer similarly. He led the University of Minnesota in point-scoring with 36 as a sophomore, and he’s had some encouraging showings at the World Junior Championship.

This is what the Sabres’ forward group could look like in five years, following the same format as the defensemen:

If Helenius becomes the player I think he can be, you won’t find many first lines better than this one. The rest of the lineup has some question marks, but the cap savings on Benson and Doan—a combined $14.45 million cap hit through 2032-33—is a significant advantage. Should Kulich and Östlund take the next step, the future of the offense will be in good hands.

Only the Hurricanes and Canadiens Compare to the Sabres

The Sabres are in the best position you can be: having a bright future and, simultaneously, one of the best current rosters in the NHL. Only the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens compare, in my eyes.

Carolina, who just won the Stanley Cup, boasts a young core of Jackson Blake, Seth Jarvis, K’Andre Miller, and Logan Stankoven. They’re locked up through 2031-32 at a combined cap hit of $26.03 million. A deeper cut on that team is Bradly Nadeau, who hasn’t gotten an extended look with the Hurricanes but has the upside to be a Stankoven-caliber player.

Montreal is the most top-heavy of the three, with Cole Caufield, Ivan Demidov, Noah Dobson, Lane Hutson, Juraj Slafkovský, and Nick Suzuki all under 27. The Canadiens have more to offer than just those six, so they’re not a team to sleep on long-term, especially after besting Buffalo in the second round.

Of course, just because the Sabres have a young team that has proven it can go relatively deep into the playoffs—something only the Hurricanes and Canadiens can also say—doesn’t mean a Stanley Cup is guaranteed. But they’re on their best path to winning one in decades. Almost every team should want to be them.