Josh Doan had a breakout season for the Buffalo Sabres, setting career highs in goals (25) and assists (27). He would finish the season third on the team in goals, behind only Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch, and fifth in total points.
With Tuch gone and Doan hopefully building on last season, the expectation is that he will finish higher on the team in some of these categories. However, it might be the other player who signed a seven-year contract who will finish in the Top 3.
Zach Benson is poised to break out and surpass Josh Doan in points in 2026-27
Zach Benson made the jump to the NHL early in his career and had 71 games in his rookie season as an 18-year-old. He just turned 21 in May but already has over 200 career games.
In each of his three seasons, Benson has been consistently about 10-13 goal scorer with 20-30 assists. This past season was by far his best, with 13 goals and 30 assists. In the playoffs, Benson found another level with five goals and four assists in 13 games. If he keeps that per-game rate during this upcoming season, he would finish the season with 58 points.
It may be unlikely for him to keep the shooting percentage of 19.2% in the playoffs, compared to his career average of 10.2%. However, he has shown to be a successful goal scorer prior to being drafted during his time in the WHL, with 61 goals in his final 118 games.
This certainly doesn't guarantee he will make a jump to being a 30-goal scorer this season, but Benson should have more opportunities to shoot the puck. Between Tuch and Bowen Byram, the Sabres lost over 300 shots on goal from last season.
Benson has averaged only 111 shots on goal per season, but if he can get closer to 170, which Doan had last season, and maintain a shooting percentage around 15%, that would give him 25 goals. If he wins the spot on the top line opposite Tage Thompson, the assist opportunities will be there, and he could possibly get to 40.
If both of those scenarios end up happening, then Benson will have around a 65-point season and could find himself ahead of Josh Doan in these categories for the 2026-27 season.
The good news for the Sabres is that both players are expected to continue to get better and they will certainly benefit from that with them both under contract for the next seven seasons. However, it might be Benson that makes the biggest jump for this season.
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