The Buffalo Sabres will be a popular destination for fantasy hockey owners. But there are a few sleepers beyond the top players in the Queen City.
The Buffalo Sabres have quite a few players who will go early in fantasy drafts this season. But there will also be a few who could even wind up undrafted if fantasy owners don’t know their respective value.
Names like Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin, and Alex Tuch are shoo-ins to go in the opening rounds. Dylan Cozens, Jeff Skinner, and even Devon Levi will also go not long after, but there are three players who could have a monster 2023-24 that you could potentially snag in the latter rounds of your draft.
3 fantasy hockey sleepers for the Buffalo Sabres in 2023-24
1 – Owen Power, D
Owen Power finally gets a true stay-at-home blueliner to play alongside in either Connor Clifton, or as I made the case for, Mattias Samuelsson. Power had just 35 points last season, but if you give him a partner on the second pairing to focus almost exclusively on defense, then he can become a playmaker early and often in Year 2.
Further, look for Power to be more comfortable in his second full season with the Blue and Gold, and for the game to slow down for him. This means he will take more shots in 2023-24 as opposed to looking to give up the puck, which could create more than the four goals he scored in 2022-23.
2 – J.J. Peterka, W
J.J. Peterka enjoyed an incredible run a couple of months back at the IIHF World Championship. It was something we saw from Dylan Cozens last season, and the center parlayed his success into an incredible breakout campaign with 68 points.
Peterka capped off his rookie year with 32 points and 12 goals, but his tear at the Worlds could create a similar confidence booster that it gave Cozens. Further, Peterka will also need to step up his game with Jack Quinn slated to miss at least the first few weeks of the season, if not the entire first half. That could give Peterka plenty of scoring opportunities.
3 – Casey Mittelstadt, F
Casey Mittelstadt may very well be taking Jack Quinn’s spot to open the season on the Top 6, and that alone could increase his fantasy value. Further, Mittelstadt’s 59 points last season was quite the breakthrough.
He did struggle between October and December 2022, but from January through April, he was a Top 5 player from a scoring standpoint. If Mittelstadt picks up where he left off in April 2023, then his numbers could end up sailing north of the 60-point mark, even if he returns to the Bottom 6 following Quinn’s return.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)