Several key spots on the Buffalo Sabres' forward lines are up for grabs ahead of the 2025-26 NHL season, and the players who perform best throughout training camp and the preseason will be given the first crack at those vital roles when the regular season gets underway.
While cornerstones like Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch are locked into top-six usage, the team's other forwards are battling for lineup placement from head coach Lindy Ruff. Their potential playing time could rise or fall substantially over the next three weeks.
In turn, which Sabres players are facing the most pressure to perform when camp gets started? Let's examine three names Buffalo will hear a lot about leading up to the club's Oct. 9 Opening Night clash with the Eastern Conference rival New York Rangers.
Zach Benson
Anyone writing off Benson's potential to improve offensively is ignoring all of the important context clues.
We wrote about the winger's promising underlying numbers at length a few weeks ago, but here's the cliff notes version: The analytics suggest he should have scored closer to 20 goals last season despite significant 5-on-5 ice time with Peyton Krebs, who struggles mightily in the offensive zone.
Now the 20-year-old Canadian, who already owns 146 games of NHL experience, will be given an opportunity to earn a spot on the top line. Playing alongside Tage Thompson and either Josh Norris or Alex Tuch (depending on whether Tage plays center or wing) would provide a massive boost.
Will Benson ever become a 40-goal scorer? Probably not. He's still on an impressive trajectory toward becoming a high-end two-way forward, however, and getting to play with more offensively gifted teammates is the next step toward rounding out his game.
Here's the problem, at least in the short term: A slow start to camp could drop him lower in the lineup, which would once again cap his offensive upside.
Josh Norris
Norris has been plagued by injuries dating back to his time with the Ottawa Senators, and his initial foray into the Buffalo lineup after last year's arrival in the Dylan Cozens trade was brought to a premature end when he aggravated an oblique injury originated suffered with the Sens.
His ability to stay healthy is one of the most important factors to the Sabres' season, right up there with a bounce-back campaign from goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Making it through camp without any new ailments would be a terrific first step.
The 2017 first-round pick has typically been highly productive when on the ice. His best season in Ottawa was highlighted by 35 goals in 2021-22, and he made a strong impression (albeit in a tiny sample size) with two points in three games after joining Buffalo's lineup.
Norris will be given every opportunity to claim the Sabres' No. 1 center job, but the coaching staff will have little option beyond moving Jiri Kulich and Ryan McLeod up the lineup if the injury bug strikes again. The team's lines simply won't be as strong from top to bottom if that's the case.
Jack Quinn
Just when it looked like Quinn may never return to his prior form — he looked like a star on the rise when he scored 39 points in his first 77 NHL appearances — the winger found a rhythm during the latter stages of the 2024-25 campaign to provide renewed hope of a resurgence.
The 23-year-old forward, who hadn't looked the same since rupturing his Achilles during a 2023 offseason workout, tallied 15 points (five goals and 10 assists) over the Sabres' final 16 games last season. It was his best stretch of hockey in two years.
With Buffalo trading JJ Peterka, a former member of the Kid Line alongside Quinn, to the Utah Mammoth over the summer, it has a desperate need for a top-six winger to step up. Somebody who can provide consistent secondary offense as well as help on the power play.
Quinn still possesses the potential to fill that void, and his late surge last year combined with a healthy offseason lends credence to the idea he's ready to bounce back in a meaningful way. A great start to camp would help the hype to continue to build.