A young team like the Buffalo Sabres are going to suffer through eight-game losing streaks, but they are also going to trounce a few teams.
When you look at the Buffalo Sabres roster, you see a bunch of 20-somethings. And it gives them the look of an expansion team (sans the Vegas Golden Knights) in its third or fourth season. At this point, many of the castoffs are gone and replaced with young talent under a general manager insistent on building a sustainable system, which is what Kevyn Adams managed to do.
And while the Sabres continue to have their critics, with most experts having said, “We told you so,” amidst the team’s eight-game losing streak, anyone with an inner-eye will be saying that same quote when the Sabres are winning regularly. Why? Because they have three young, but experienced players on the roster who drive that point home. Let’s meet them.
1 – Rasmus Dahlin
In 18 games this season, Dahlin, 22, has eight goals and 15 assists, good for 23 points. If he keeps up this pace, he will end the season with an incredible 104 points. Dahlin, a defenseman, has also developed into one of the game’s best two-way players, given his physicality, plus his ability to get into scoring lanes and disrupt plays.
Early in his career, Dahlin struggled, and he looked more like a draft bust than anything else. Fast-forward to 2021-22, and he appeared in his first All-Star Game. This season, there is no doubt he will contend for the Norris Trophy. What you are seeing from Dahlin is exactly what you will see from Owen Power two or three years down the road.
2 – Tage Thompson
With 26 points in 19 games, Tage Thompson is on pace to score 112 this season, including 61 goals, and 61 assists. And no, that is not a typo. Clearly, Tage has developed into one of the game’s best forwards, but it wasn’t always like that.
Before the 2021-22 season, he had 35 points in 145 games before breaking out with 68 (38 + 30). While I highly doubt Jack Quinn, J.J. Peterka, and Peyton Krebs will reach Tage’s level of production this season, his development foreshadows that you will see all three of the above players at least transform into solid contributors over the next few seasons via the Don Granato Effect. And perhaps one of them will threaten to rival Tage’s production.
3 – Alex Tuch
And finally, we got Alex Tuch, who never got the opportunity to completely pan out when he was with the Golden Knights. But when the Buffalo Sabres traded for him, Tuch has been nothing short of lights out, putting up 57 points in his first 69 games with the club.
This season, Tuch has 19 points in 19 contests, and he is just now scratching the surface of his prime. Players like Tuch, just as with Tage Thompson in the above section, are proof that success in this league comes with time.
If Tuch keeps up his pace this season, he will score 82 points, 43 goals, and 39 assists. He had a good year in 2018-19 when he put up 52 points in 74 games, but was otherwise very average in Vegas. It also goes to show that, even if a player struggles or doesn’t perform quite to expectations in the early stages of their career, it doesn’t mean things are set in stone.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)
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