Buffalo Sabres: Listing 5 players and their Buffalo Bills equivalent
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres are taking a path much like their NFL cousins, the Buffalo Bills. In fact, you can even make correlations between the players.
Today, I want to talk about five notable players on the Buffalo Sabres and their Buffalo Bills equivalents. This will be the first in what I am hoping to be a four-part series comparing the Sabres to their cousins who play in Orchard Park.
One variable that motivated me to write this series stems from the likeness between the Sabres and Bills, something we touched on earlier in the month at Sabre Noise. The Sabres, like the Bills once upon a time, are experiencing a long playoff drought and another long drought since they had even won a division title.
Like the Bills, the Sabres are primarily rebuilding through the draft and the players they already have in favor of dramatic trades and free agency. Of course, the Bills did pull off one blockbuster for Stefon Diggs, but he was more of a final puzzle piece than anything else. One that fully catapulted the Bills back into one of the NFL’s elite.
Shifting gears back to our Buffalo Sabres, the same thing can happen. But before a team can become a fixture within their respective sports league, they must have a franchise player to build around. And as it turns out, the Sabres have one.
5 notable Buffalo Sabres and their Buffalo Bills equivalent: Player #1 – Rasmus Dahlin, D
Buffalo Bills Equivalent: Josh Allen, QB
Let’s face it: 2018 was a good year to be a Buffalo sports fan. The Buffalo Sabres selected Rasmus Dahlin with the first overall pick that season. Earlier in the year, the Bills took Josh Allen from the University of Wyoming at seventh overall. I shook my head, thinking Allen would be a major bust considering his spotty numbers in school.
And for a while there, Allen looked like a bust, posting a 52.8 completion percentage and a 67.9 quarterback rating. Dahlin had a better rookie season, earning a First Team spot on the All-Rookie Team and placing third for the Calder Trophy. Then, he fell flat when Ralph Krueger took over in 2019-20.
Dahlin’s bust potential peaked in March 2021 when the Sabres admitted their mistake and promoted Don Granato. The Granato Effect took over, and Dahlin ended up playing in his first All-Star Game just 11 months later.
Allen had an identical career path. Though he led the Bills to the playoffs in 2019, he did so on the heels of a strong defense and running game. Since 2019, however, he has evolved into one of the NFL’s top dual-threat quarterbacks. As for Dahlin, he is set to become one of the NHL’s elite defensemen. Talk about two players who are changing the scope of their respective franchises.