Last season, Tage Thompson, JJ Peterka, Alex Tuch, Rasmus Dahlin, and Jeff Skinner finished with 20-plus goals. They might have had a sixth player if they kept Casey Mittelstadt, who had 14 when the Sabres traded him to the Colorado Avalanche.
Dylan Cozens came close with 18, and a drop-off took place thereafter, with Kyle Okposo scoring 12 before the Blue and Gold sent him to the Florida Panthers. So far in 2024-25, the Sabres only have one player to reach that mark, and it’s center Tage Thompson, who has 21 at the time of this writing.
But there are a couple who may hit the 20-goal mark by the end of the month. Jason Zucker and Alex Tuch have 16 and 15, respectively, and while it may sound farfetched that they’ll hit 20 by January 31st, they’re both only a hat trick and another multiple-goal game from getting there.
Still, unless a major injury occurs to either player, they’re shoo-ins to find the net at least 20 times by the end of the season. From there, things get sketchy, even if the Sabres find themselves 15th in scoring heading into Wednesday’s slate of games.
Sabres rank 15th in scoring, but may lack many 20-goal scorers
JJ Peterka clocks in behind Alex Tuch with 11 goals, and for a while there, I would’ve said he’d be a surefire 20-goal scorer this season. While Peterka hasn’t been scoring often, posting just an 11.6 shooting percentage, he’s been productive elsewhere with 23 assists. That number leads all Sabres forwards and is second on the team behind only Rasmus Dahlin.
Speaking of Dahlin, he’s currently got six goals, and it doesn’t look like he’ll snag 20 unless we see him find the net 14 times in the final 35 games. Not that it’s impossible for Dahlin, who’s gone on hot streaks in the past. But like Peterka, he’s taken on more of a playmaker role.
Ryan McLeod and Dylan Cozens are next with 10 goals apiece, and at this point, McLeod is much more likely to hit 20 than Cozens. Looking at shooting percentage, McLeod’s finding twine 20.8 percent of the time while Cozens can’t climb out of the single digits. If McLeod starts shooting the puck more, scoring 20 is nowhere near out of the question.
We’re all talking about Jiri Kulich’s big game from last night, but he still has just eight goals on the year. Ditto for second-year player Zach Benson, while Jack Quinn is ahead of them both with nine. Of the three, I’m giving Quinn the edge here, as he seems to have found his groove a little more consistently in recent games.
I’ll have to admit I was a little shocked to have seen such low numbers, even if we’re still just past the halfway mark this season. With the Sabres looking like one of the better-scoring teams out there, seeing just Tage grace the 20-plus mark made me double-take.