The Sabres grabbed an upset victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday afternoon 4-3. This came right after Kevyn Adams called a team meeting with captain Rasmus Dahlin, and many players talked about how they wanted to play in Buffalo. So this is great to see moving forward as the Sabres try to progress into the new year.
McLeod has been a big part of that success as he has been a solid veteran presence this year, and having a career season. He picked up his 15th goal Saturday which continues to add on to his career-high for the season. With 36 total points on the season, anything McLeod does from here on out will be his career-high.
However, it wasn’t the goal that made everyone turn heads watching McLeod on Saturday, it was his faceoff production. McLeod became just the seventh player in franchise history to take at least 20 faceoffs in a game and win 80% of them or more as was revealed by Buffalo Sabres PR.
Tonight, Ryan McLeod (16 faceoff wins, 20 faceoffs) became just the seventh Sabres skater to take 20 or more faceoffs and win 80 percent or more of them in a single game. His 16 faceoff wins are the most he has registered in a game in his career and the most by a Sabres skater… pic.twitter.com/IOhlqsJ9Cg
— Buffalo Sabres PR (@SabresPR) March 15, 2025
McLeod recorded the most faceoff wins in a game since Tage Thompson won 17 against the Red Wings on April 7th, 2024. McLeod started getting more playing time after the long break, as he got second-line reps with Alex Tuch and Jason Zucker after the Cozens trade talks broke out.
What’s next for McLeod
McLeod this offseason will be looking at a nice contract extension, it's unclear how much he will get as he has a current cap hit of 2.1 million per year. I think McLeod could get anywhere between 4 to 6 million this offseason, and if they decide to keep the second line the same as it is right now, they could have an extremely underrated second line.
McLeod brings the grit and grind that this Sabres team needs, and can spark momentum with any aspect of his game. Moving forward McLeod needs to be signed this offseason, as Kevyn Adams has made multiple moves already to keep this team in place.
If McLeod stays a Sabre this offseason, I think he can be a big reason why this team is a contender in the future.