Why the Buffalo Sabres will rule the Atlantic in three years: Part II
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres should contend this season, but they should also be raring to rule the Atlantic Division within the next three years.
The Buffalo Sabres and the Rochester Americans were both good hockey teams last season. And while the Sabres fell just shy of making the playoffs, the Amerks made it all the way to the Conference Final. The common denominator is that the Sabres and Amerks have landed the ideal formula for one (Amerks) to feed the other (Sabres).
No, we won’t see every Amerk coming up through the system become Sabres – that’s an impossible feat, especially when you factor in those inevitable trades around the deadline. But as I implied in Part I, any Sabre who is not part of the team’s inner-core could go elsewhere, and there is always a good chance someone from the Amerks serves as their immediate replacements.
For example, the Sabres have identified their current core with the following players:
- Jeff Skinner
- Tage Thompson
- Alex Tuch
- Rasmus Dahlin
- Mattias Samuelsson
- Owen Power
- Dylan Cozens
Deep Buffalo Sabres organization may help the team win perennially
Several other players could become part of that core:
- Devon Levi
- Jack Quinn
- J.J. Peterka
- Peyton Krebs
- Casey Mittelstadt
- Jordan Greenway
- Connor Clifton
The players listed at the top are those who have gotten huge deals, or will eventually ink a huge deal (Dahlin, Power – both currently eligible, Tuch – eligible 2025-26). And those in the second group could join them, but that number will probably be limited to two or three – likely Devon Levi if he excels as a franchise goaltender and up to two others.