Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams hasn't delivered the complete roster makeover many fans were hoping for ahead of the 2025-26 season. The front office did make a couple moves to shake up the lineup amid an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought, though.
The Sabres completed two notable trades. First, they dealt rising star JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth in exchange for winger Josh Doan and defenseman Michael Kesselring. Then, they sent defenseman Connor Clifton and a second-round pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins for blueliner Conor Timmins and prospect Isaac Belliveau.
Adams was mostly quiet on the free-agent market, though he did add a few potential impact depth pieces in the form of forward Justin Danforth and goalie Alex Lyon.
Let's check out where those fresh faces land in the Sabres' early projected lineup for Opening Night, which is set for Oct. 9 when they host the New York Rangers.
Line 1: Zach Benson - Josh Norris - Tage Thompson
Buffalo's inability to land a top-line winger to replace Peterka (at least so far) puts a lot of pressure on Benson to deliver a breakthrough season. Getting to play alongside Thompson should help elevate the 2023 first-round selection's offensive game. That said, the success of this line may hinge on the health of Norris, who's never played more than 66 games in a season.
Line 2: Jason Zucker - Jiri Kulich - Alex Tuch
Zucker put together a strong first season in Buffalo with 53 points, his highest total since 2017-18 with the Minnesota Wild. His 21 goals came on the strength of a high shooting percentage (14.7%), though. This trio may struggle if he can't replicate that success and Kulich doesn't take a sizable step forward in his second full NHL campaign. The Czech center posted 24 points in 62 contests as a rookie.
Line 3: Jack Quinn - Ryan McLeod - Josh Doan
This is probably the Sabres' most intriguing line. McLeod produced strong two-way results after joining the Sabres in a trade last summer with the Edmonton Oilers. Now he'll be tasked with getting the most out of Quinn, who struggled mightily last season with just 15 goals in 74 games, and Doan, who posted strong underlying numbers at even strength in a sheltered role with Utah.
Josh Doan, acquired by BUF, is a young two-way winger with a high motor and promising passing skills who put up very strong underlying numbers (but few goals) in a fourth line role with Utah last season. #LetsGoBuffalo pic.twitter.com/rceIboCKM0
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) June 26, 2025
The potential is there for this to become one of the NHL's best third lines. That would require a bounce-back year from Quinn and for Doan to remain effective against tougher matchups, though.
Line 4: Jordan Greenway - Peyton Krebs - Justin Danforth
Giving Greenway a two-year, $8 million contract extension was a mistake. That's too much of a financial investment for a bottom-six player, and he's never been a positive on-ice contributor across eight NHL seasons, according to HockeyViz's Synthetic Goals metric.
That said, this could still be a decently effective fourth line, particularly if Krebs can build off his improved play in the season half of the 2024-25 campaign.
Pair 1: Bowen Byram - Rasmus Dahlin
Byram is still a trade candidate despite signing a two-year, $12.5 million contract extension to avoid an arbitration hearing. For now, it looks like he'll line up alongside Dahlin to open the season. It's a pair that enjoyed a lot of success last year. The Sabres outscored opponents 35-15 (70% goal share) when they were on the ice together at 5-on-5, and the duo had a 54.5% expected goals rate, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Here's the problem: Byram floundered away from Dahlin (46.9% goal share and 43.0% expected goal share, per NST). It gives Buffalo a lot less flexibility in terms of building its defense pairs.
Pair 2: Owen Power - Michael Kesselring
Sabres fans have been clamoring for the Sabres to get Power a real partner pretty much from the moment he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2021. It took four years, but Kesselring may finally be the solution after a promising start to his career in Utah. Unlocking Power's true potential after several uneven seasons would make Buffalo a far more dangerous team.
Pair 3: Mattias Samuelsson - Conor Timmins
Timmins is a restricted free agent, but so far there's been no concern the sides won't reach an agreement after his arrival from Pittsburgh. Samuelsson failed to deliver the desired results in a bigger role, but he could find his niche as a third-pair guy who handles key minutes on the penalty kill. If this pair gets off to a solid start, it could start to see opponents' top lines on a frequent basis.
Goalies: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen - Alex Lyon
UPL holds the most important key to the Sabres season. He posted a rock-solid .910 save percentage in 2023-24, but that number plummeted to an unsightly .887 last season. While an improved defense should help, he needs to play better, plain and simple.
Lyon (.902 career save percentage) is a solid veteran backup who should allow prized prospect Devon Levi to get another full season of development in the AHL. Levi has been unable to get his footing in the NHL after arriving in the Sam Reinhart trade, which has worked out tremendously for the two-time defending Cup champion Florida Panthers.
Ultimately, the Sabres missed the playoffs by 12 points last season and it's hard to say the roster moves made so far made them 12-plus points better. Adams still has time for more additions but, as it currently stands, Buffalo looks like a fringe playoff team.